Children's Health

Five reasons why banning Flamin' Hot Cheetos is flaming stupid

Of all the things on the planet to get people's knickers in a twist, this week it happens to be Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Several public schools in California, New Mexico and Illinois have banned these spicy red snacks, claiming they are unhealthy, germy, messy, addictive and salty. Sure, a tiny bag of F ... More >>

Whole Foods partnering with local ranchers to serve organic meat in stores, schools

Whole Foods is providing Colorado with a whole lot of local beef these days. In Basalt, a newly opened franchise is teaming up with Crystal River Meats, a Carbondale-based sustainable food company, to provide youth in the RE-1 school district with natural ground beef for school lunches throughout th ... More >>

Marijuana: Doctors face off over Amendment 64

The campaigns for and against Amendment 64, the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act, continue to engage in endorsement wars. The latest salvos? Opponents are hyping a letter decrying Amendment 64 connected to Dr. Claudia Kunrath and the Colorado chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (read i ... More >>

My five worst school lunches

Public school students are being awfully whiny about their school lunches right now. The reason is because the United States Department of Agriculture just restructured standards for school lunches for the first time in over a decade, and now students have to eat more fruits, vegetables and whole gr ... More >>

ACLU announces breastfeeding settlement with Jeffco school claiming it did nothing wrong

The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado announced today that it has reached a settlement with a Jefferson County charter school that allegedly refused to renew a teacher's contract after she complained about a lack of breastfeeding accommodations. The ACLU and the woman at the center of this ... More >>

Colorado ranks lowest in obesity rate study: We're still the skinniest state

Those summer bike rides to the local farmers' market have apparently paid off. Once again, Colorado ranks lowest on the state-by-state adult obesity rate analysis conducted by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Maybe it's because there are so many appealing outd ... More >>

Breastfeeding protest at Pirates Cove: Advocate aims for positive, educational event

At this writing, breastfeeding advocates are gathering at Pirates Cove Family Aquatic Center in Englewood for what they're calling a "Nurse-In" -- an event intended to remind the public that nursing a baby in a public place is perfectly legal and entirely acceptable. Why Pirates Cove? Co-organizer ... More >>

Jared Polis hopes to reverse "pizza is a vegetable" loophole

Representative Jared Polis wants to introduce legislation that promises to reverse Congress's controversial decision to keep pizza lsbeled a "vegetable" in school lunches. "What Congress has done, believe it or not, is defied logic," Polis said in front of a crowd of lunchtime students at Louisville ... More >>

Even before pizza, ketchup was almost a vegetable

Before the 'Pizza as a vegetable' debacle made national headlines and inspired legislation from District 2's House Representative Jared Polis, there was the original school lunch controversy: the battle over ketchup.

Breastfeeding: Student draft policy in motion before TV report, Metro says

Thanks to a certain Time magazine cover photo, breastfeeding is a hot topic -- one 7News localized with the story of a Metro State student who said her grade was docked for taking time out of class to pump breast milk. But a Metro spokesman says the school was tackling the issue before being prodded ... More >>

Lasley Elementary gets a new salad bar as part of HBO's The Weight of the Nation

Lakewood mayor Bob Murphy stood in front of Lasley Elementary students today and talked about how the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff view obesity as a national security issue, since 27 percent of all applicants for the armed forces are too obese to serve. The rest of the festivities were more upbeat, bu ... More >>

Five ways to make public-school food and drinks healthier

When money and ethics collide, the crash is usually fun to watch. But when you throw public school meals into that mix, you get an ugly food fight with few winners and lots of losers -- and those losers are kids who are just trying to eat their lunches and get to recess.

St. Baldrick's charity event at Fado today

Fado Irish Pub, 1735 19th Street, is hosting a charity event today as part of Paddython 2012, a week-long celebration of all things Irish; a bottomless Stella happy hour and music from That Eighties Band are just part of the festivities. Today Fado will donate 20 percent of all food sales to the St. ... More >>

Vine Street hosts an event to raise money for kids with cancer

Vine Street Pub, along with a group of fifth-graders from Bromwell Elementary School, will host a fundraiser on Sunday night for the Raymond Wentz Foundation, which helps raise money for parents whose children have cancer and are dealing with the medical costs associated with chemotherapy. To get p ... More >>

Colorado Children's Campaign says state's children becoming both more hungry and obese

Dr. Steve Berman (left), Angela Glover Blackwell and Bill Shore discuss childhood hunger.​Colorado's children suffer from two seemingly contradictory food-related health problems: hunger and obesity. That's the word from the Colorado Children's Campaign, a nonprofit advocacy organization focus ... More >>

Food Day activities will bloom at the Denver Botanic Gardens

​Denver's Food Day activities are rooted at the Denver Botanic Gardens, 1007 York Street, which has partnered with several community groups for an eleven-hour extravaganza that's part of a nationwide campaign to promote affordable food in a sustainable way. The activities, which will run fr ... More >>

The Kitchen owners are lauded for farm-to-table leadership in Entrepreneur magazine

The Kitchen​When Kimbal Musk and Hugo Matheson opened their newest restaurant, Boulder's Kitchen [Next Door], earlier this year, Musk was clear that the new space is about expanding the farm-to-table concept, which the flagship Kitchen pioneered, into something everyone can take part in: "We t ... More >>

Active Child

Monday, September 19, hi-dive, 720-570-4500.

Breast-milk pumping results in job loss?: ACLU takes action on behalf of Heather Burgbacher

​Did a Jefferson County charter school decide not to renew the contract of veteran teacher Heather Burgbacher because she pumped breast milk at work? That's the contention of the ACLU of Colorado, which has taken legal action on Burgbacher's behalf that could lead to a lawsuit against Jeffco ... More >>

Death to the brown bags: school lunches vs. homemade, a fight to the finish

​Is the concept of students bringing lunch from home dying a hideous death -- just like live social interaction and Gilbert Gottfried's career? At Little Village Academy on Chicago's west side, students are not allowed to bring lunches from home unless they have a medical excuse, so they have ... More >>

The link between depression and music is just as obvious as you think

​Think back to your teenage years. Chances are, if you were like any of us, you spent the majority of your time listening to music, reading the liner notes through and through and playing air guitar half-naked in your room. Doesn't sound that depressing, but a recent study in Pediatrics & Adol ... More >>

The Elephant in the Living Room lands at the Oriental Theater

Fadó Irish Pub kicks off its St. Paddy's Day celebrations today with a hair-raising charity event

​St. Paddy's Day isn't until next Thursday, but already, Fadó Irish Pub and Restaurant, the behemoth Irish-themed watering hole, roughly the size of Dublin, is gearing up to paint the town green -- starting with your bald head.

Michelle Obama orders ribs at Restaurant Kelly Liken, gets called "fat" by Rush Limbaugh

Dominique Taylor, Vail Daily​Michelle Obama spent her Presidents' Weekend without the president and with her daughters in Vail, where she skied, dined and managed to get the conservative media so riled up they called her fat. We know that the First Lady has made battling childhood obesity her ... More >>

Indra Lusero's pitch to help Colorado midwives is catching heat in the legislature

Trans fat-eating mom can make a fat baby!

​Were you a pleasingly plump baby? If so, you might have a case against your mother -- if she was ingesting trans fat by the gallon while breastfeeding. Alex Anderson, assistant professor at the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences, and his team studied 96 women and their babies and ca ... More >>

Last night: School of Seven Bells - 09/24/10

Tom MurphyPeter Black​ SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS With Active Child and DJ Peter Black 09.24.10 | Larimer Lounge, Denver Peter Black kicked off the evening with an hour-long set of remixes he's done for various artists, including songs by Chris & Cosey, Blonde Redhead and Glasser. Black moved in ... More >>

Breastfeeding mom told to "wrap it up" at LoveSac store: Possible nurse-in protest?

Kristine Lauria, "lactivist."​Not all stores and businesses in Colorado understand the state's breastfeeding laws. But an increasing number of women here do, and they're standing up for their rights. Example: Following negative publicity generated by Sandy Snow being asked to leave a Colorado ... More >>

Breastfeeding mea culpa from Colorado Rockies

Sandy and Ashlie.​The Rockies may have lost to the Red Sox last night, but they won with Sandy Snow. Earlier this season, Snow had been breastfeeding her daughter, Ashlie, at a game when Coors Field personnel asked her to move out of view, even though only Ashlie's toes were exposed. Snow was ... More >>

Tam Huynh and Thuy Nguyen plead guilty to being the Enfamil Bandits: Babies everywhere rejoice

Tam Huynh admitted having a criminal formula.​Most young parents will tell you that baby formula is so expensive it could be made out of gold. But for Tam Huynh and Thuy Nguyen, it was basically the equivalent of poker chips and narcotics. That's the story told by the Jefferson County Distric ... More >>

Strange Sauce: The week in national food news

​Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign against childhood obesity kicked off yesterday in full force. Among her goals are the demand for promoting more exercise within school curriculums, teaching children about healthy food choices, and ensuring that nutritional information will be less misle ... More >>

Why Coloradans need to get fatter

A new survey finds that Colorado has the lowest percentage of overweight adults in these United States, and the tenth lowest percentage of obese children. But is that a good thing? Not according to student Shane Neely, who in late 2007 presented a speech in a Boulder classroom entitled, "Why Obesi ... More >>

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In Sickness and in Wealth

Medicaid patients could be facing death by a thousand cuts.