May is National Water Safety Month, and at the Y, we believe in the importance of teaching people of all ages how to be safe in and around water. Here, our Aquatics Team put together some quick water safety tips. Achieve basic swim skills: take swim lessons to learn how to get comfortable in the water, float, tread, kick and how to safely enter/exit the water. Buddies swim together: swimming with a friend helps keep [...]
By Diane Romond Every child deserves to live in a safe and loving household, yet for hundreds of thousands of children abuse and neglect are a tragic reality. At least one in seven children have experienced child abuse or neglect in the past year, the CDC reports. Since 1983, April has been designated Child Abuse Prevention Month in the United States. This annual observance is dedicated to raising awareness and preventing child abuse. Child Abuse [...]
By: Alexandra Loop Hi Everyone! Happy almost Earth Day. This year, Earth Day falls on Friday, April 22. At the Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA, we’ll be celebrating the day by giving out free reusable shopping bags to our members (while supplies last) on April 22 in exchange for recycling your clean, plastic shopping bags with us. In case you haven’t heard, starting May 4, there is a “plastic bag ban” in New Jersey and reusable bags [...]
Thank you for reading the Nutrition Bites blog! For the last installment during National Nutrition Month, I want to talk about hydration and why it’s important to drink enough water. Did you know that water makes up roughly 60% of the human body? Staying properly hydrated has numerous health benefits, including: Drinking enough water keeps your skin hydrated. Skin is mostly composed of water and if you become dehydrated, this can lead to skin disorders [...]
Thanks for reading! This week, we're going to talk about dietary fats, which are actually critical nutrients that provide the human body with energy and support cell function. They contain 9 calories per gram and there are four different types found in foods: saturated fats, transfats, monounsaturated fats, and polyunsaturated fats. The function of these fats is to keep the body warm and protect organs. They also help the body absorb nutrients, produce important hormones, [...]
Welcome back to our Nutrition Bites blog! This week, we want to talk about carbohydrates, which often get a bad reputation even though certain types are really helpful to the body, providing it with the energy it needs to function properly. Did you know that carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram and are used in the human body as its preferred source of energy? They also come in the forms of simple and complex. Complex [...]
For our first blog installment, we want to talk about protein. Now, what do you think of when you hear protein? Maybe, cheese, eggs, chicken, fish? These are all great sources of protein. When I hear protein, I think about how critical it is to the repair and regeneration of muscle tissue and how proteins provide much-needed amino acids to the body’s muscle tissue. This helps to ensure optimal recovery following a tough workout, or [...]
