Want healthy kids? Skip the gym

Since the early 90s, schools have been cutting back on physical education classes (sometimes cutting them out altogether) in order to give kids more time in the classroom. A few years ago, people started to blame the lack of P.E. classes for the skyrocketing obesity epidemic among our nation's youth. The debate has been raging for years now.

But a study just released by Britain's Peninsula Medical School could put an end to the arguing. According to this new study, P.E. classes won't keep kids from getting fat. Biostatistician Alissa Fremeax, who was the head statistical analyst of the study, concluded that the results mean that "trying to force a kid to exercise may not work."

No kidding! That's because all of these people have the wrong idea about exercise and good health. Exercise has long been an overrated element in our health-obsessed society. The fact that politicians and school systems are equating health with physical education is an idea that's seeped into our popular consciousness thanks to the media and the health club industry - not because of science.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't think it's healthy for kids to sit in front of the boob tube all day long playing video games until their fingers fall off. Send these kids outside to organize their own game of kickball, or hopscotch, or whatever it is kids do these days.

But ultimately, that's not going to be what keeps them healthy. That comes from what they put into their bodies.

Have you seen what kids eat these days? Parents allows their kids to stuff their faces 24/7 with all manner of chemical substances people have the nerve to call food. Cereals, chips, cookies, sodas, candy, chicken nuggets, soy burgers… the list goes on. Most of it is so filled with sugar these kids could pork up just by looking at it!

I'm sure you get my drift. You can't allow kids to put this junk food in their bodies and expect them to be able to burn it off in an hour or two of gym each week. They'd have to ditch their academic classes altogether and run laps all day long to begin to burn off the calories that they're taking in. At the end of the day, they may be thinner, but they still won't be any healthier.

Forget worrying about how many hours of exercise your kids are getting. The best way to have healthy kids is to feed them healthy food.

Potential dangers of antioxidants

Speaking of metabolism, there's a new study that claims that people should steer clear of antioxidants such as vitamin C and vitamin E if they're exercising to help prevent diabetes.

Nutritionists from Germany's University of Jena studied exercising men, half of whom where given doses of the vitamins. They were then measured for insulin sensitivity. The researchers found that the vitamin group showed no improvement in insulin sensitivity, and their bodies also had impaired function when it came to the natural defense against oxidant damage.

According to the study author Dr. Michael Ristow, "If you exercise to promote health, you shouldn't take large amounts of antioxidants … [they] cause certain effects that inhibit otherwise positive effects of exercise, dieting, and other interventions."

First of all, this study was too small for me to give it any credit at all. But even if there were a shred of truth to it, there's an easy way to fix this problem. Skip the gym, and keep loading up on the antioxidants, especially vitamins C and E.