If you feel like you’re barely treading water when it comes to drinking your water, don’t despair. There are lots of little secrets—time-honored tricks that those elusive “water drinkers” use—that even you can try to transform yourself into an H2O-guzzling machine.

For best results, try the two that Spark your interest immediately, then add one each week until you’re getting all the water you need. And remember, there is no magic number. The recommended eight cups a day is not a one-size fits all. You’ll need more if you’re sweating through workouts; less if you eat a lot of water-rich fruits and vegetables.

1. Try comfort water
This is a great tactic for coffee and tea drinkers. While you’re waiting for the coffee to brew, nuke a glass of water (or herbal tea), squeeze in a bit of lemon and sip while you wait. Try another cup of warm water after you’ve had a mug or two of coffee. Hot water is also a great treat on a cold afternoon or evening. Invest in a new kind of herbal tea every time you grocery shop until you’ve found a couple that are just right.

3. Sip up
Gulping all that water can seem daunting. So get a package of straws to slowly sip it instead. You can even pick up a water bottle with built-in straw.

4. Become a connoisseur
Think of water drinking like wine tasting. Taste the various brands and types of bottled waters available (sparkling, spring, mineral, vitamin-enhanced, reverse osmosis, filtered, fruit-flavored, etc). Be sure to read the labels as some “waters” have significantly added calories. Many bottles of water contain two to three cups of water.

5. Drink water and drive
Keep your water bottle next to you every time you hop into the car, or buy a package of bottled water to keep in the car. Whenever you’re driving about, your water will be within easy reach from your car’s cup holder. Think about other places you can stash some water bottles (under your desk, next to the couch, in your purse, and more).

7. Fill your dinner glass
Set a glass of water at each place setting at the dinner table just like restaurants do. Don’t fret about drinking it all—just place it there. By sipping water between every few bites, you’ll slow you down and enjoy your meal more, while also meeting your water needs.

8. Filter out
Sometimes tap water just isn’t very good. If your well or city water leaves a bad taste in your mouth, change it. Get a faucet or pitcher filter to keep out the bad and leave in the good.

9. Pace yourself
Holding (and drinking from) a cup of water will help you pace yourself at social events, parties and dinners that offer tempting food and drink. Try drinking a cup of water between bites of the calorie abomination you’re faced with. It is hard to eat an entire piece of cake if you have to drink a glass of water between every single bite! To keep the wine, beer, or liquor from ruining your calorie count, drink a cup of water for every glass of alcohol you consume. (I’m a wine drinker, so I fill up my wine glass with water every time I empty it of wine.) Not only does this help to limit your consumption, but it helps counteract alcohol’s dehydrating effects. And when you have a glass in hand—no matter what’s in it—you won’t be bombarded with more drink offers in the meantime.

11. Combine habits
Get in the habit of drinking a cup of water when you do other things in your daily routine. Love long baths? Fill your water bottle when filling the tub. Working out? Keep your bottle beside you. Heading for bed? Set a glass on the nightstand. Reading by the fire? Always bring a cup of tea along. Develop water habits that go with your routines.

12. Reward your hard workf
Make a habit of having special water after each workout, for example. This can be water you gussy up yourself with a slice of lemon or lime, a fruit-flavored water, or  a tall sparking mineral water.

Just a couple of these tricks can push you across the eight-cup finish line fairly painlessly. So raise a glass and tell your metabolism who’s the boss. Sometimes, simply conquering your water goal is enough to set you on the right path in even more areas. Cheers!

But how can this make sense, since snacking theoretically adds calories?

Snacking doesn’t serve to replace a meal. In fact, you should spread meals and snacks out by an hour or two, and snacks should total a couple hundred calories or less.

Munching between meals can actually reduce your overall caloric intake by curbing overeating at your next meal. By controlling later binging, snacking can help you stay on track. You can actually use this to your advantage. If you know you are going out to a big dinner with friends later, for example, make sure you have a healthy snack before you head out so you’re less likely to order (and finish) a large entrée.

• Fill a small plate with your snack, and leave the kitchen. Just walk away. When your plate is empty, snack time is over. 
• Never bring the entire container with you in front of the television or computer. Enjoy your snack without distraction and you won’t be tempted to reach for more.
• If you stand around the snack table chatting at a party, you may find yourself reaching for food when the conversation lulls. This can often lead to an unintentional binge because you simply aren’t paying attention to what you are eating. 
• Limit yourself to a single serving. 
• Plan out your snacks just like you would a meal. Is one cookie worth the calorie cost, when you could eat a plate of fresh fruit instead? 

Don’t sabotage your diet with unhealthy nibbles throughout the day; stick to nourishing foods whenever possible. If you know you have a weakness for junk food, do yourself a favor and don’t purchase these items next time you are at the grocery store. Then you won’t have to fight the temptation of ice cream or potato chips when hunger pangs hit

The most common nutrition myth is probably that sugar causes diabetes. If you have diabetes, you do need to watch your sugar and carbohydrate intake, with the help of your Registered Dietitian, to properly manage your blood sugar level. However, if you do not have diabetes, sugar intake will not cause you to develop the disease. The main risk factors for Type 2 diabetes are a diet high in calories, being overweight, and an inactive lifestyle.

2. All Fats are bad

It’s a long-held nutrition myth that all fats are bad. But the fact is, we all need fat. Fats aid nutrient absorption and nerve transmission, and they help to maintain cell membrane integrity – to name just a few of their useful purposes. However, when consumed in excessive amounts, fats contribute to weight gain, heart disease and certain types of cancers.

Not all fats are created equal. Some fats can actually help promote good health, while others increase the risk for heart disease. The key is to replace bad fats (saturated fats and trans fats) with good fats (monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats)

3. Brown Sugar is better than White Sugar

The brown sugar sold at grocery stores is actually white granulated sugar with added molasses. Yes, brown sugar contains minute amounts of minerals. But unless you eat a gigantic portion of brown sugar every day, the mineral content difference between brown sugar and white sugar is absolutely insignificant. The idea that brown and white sugar have big differences is another common nutrition myth.

4. Brown Eggs are more nutritious than White Eggs

Contrary to a widely believed nutrition myth, eggshell color has nothing to do with the quality, flavor, nutritive value, cooking characteristics, or shell thickness of an egg. The eggshell color only depends upon the breed of the hen.

According to the Egg Nutrition Council, “white shelled eggs are produced by hens with white feathers and white ear lobes and brown shelled eggs are produced by hens with red feathers and red ear lobes. There is no difference in taste or nutrition content between white and brown colored eggs”.

5. Avoid Seafood To Lower Blood Cholesterol

I still can’t believe it, but I heard this nutrition myth from my own doctor! In fact, the dietary cholesterol found in seafood and other meats has little effect on blood cholesterol in most people. Saturated fats and trans fatty acids are the most important factors that raise blood cholesterol.

Saturated fats are usually found in meat products and packaged foods, and trans fatty acids are found in packaged snack foods, deep-fried foods or firm margarine containing hydrogenated oil.

6.Avoid seafood to lower blood cholesterol

I still can’t believe it, but I heard this nutrition myth from my own doctor! In fact, the dietary cholesterol found in seafood and other meats has little effect on blood cholesterol in most people. Saturated fats and trans fatty acids are the most important factors that raise blood cholesterol.

7. Avoid carbohydrate to lose weight

The key message that many low-carb diets convey is that carbohydrates promote insulin production, which in turn results in weight gain. Therefore by reducing carbohydrate intake, you can lose weight. Unfortunately, this is just another nutrition myth.

Many low-carb diets actually do not provide sufficient carbohydrates to your body for daily maintenance. Therefore your body will begin to burn stored carbohydrates (glycogen) for energy. When your body starts burning glycogen, water is released. Therefore the drastic initial drop of weight at the beginning of a low-carb diet is mostly the water that you lose as a result of burning glycogen.

The truth is that low-carb diets are also often calorie-restricted! Followers only eat an average of 1000 – 1400 calories daily, compared to an average intake of 1800 – 2200 calories for most people. To lose one pound a week, you only need to eat 500 fewer calories per day in your normal diet. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if you eat a high- or low-carb diet, you will lose weight if you decrease your caloric intake to less than needed to maintain your weight.

8. Eating for 2 is necessary during pregnancy

Energy requirements vary among individuals. Unfortunately, the idea that pregnancy is an ice cream free-for-all is a nutrition myth. It is generally recommended that pregnant women increase their daily intake by 100 kcal in the first trimester and 300 kcal in the second and third trimesters. An extra snack before bedtime consisting of a fruit, a serving of milk or yogurt, and a few biscuits is often enough.

A daily prenatal multivitamin supplement is often recommended during pregnancy, but not a daily bowl of ice cream!

9. Skipping meals can help lose weight

Many people think that by skipping a meal, they will be eating less food and therefore lose weight. As we now know, this is a nutrition myth. People who think skipping meals means weight loss do not understand how our bodies work.

If you skip a meal, your body will think that you are in starvation mode and therefore slow down the metabolism to compensate. You then tend to overeat at the next meal. Often, skipping a meal and then eating too much at the next one means that you have a higher total caloric intake than if you just ate more frequently throughout the day. A better approach is to eat smaller frequent healthy meals and snacks to keep your blood sugar balanced.

10. Red meat is bad for health

I often hear people saying that they do not eat red meat. When I ask why they don’t, or even what they consider to be red meat, the answers vary dramatically.

It is true that some studies have linked red meat with increased risk of heart disease, partly due to the saturated fat content. In fact, even chicken can contain as much saturated fat as lean cuts of beef or pork. For instance, a serving of sirloin beef or pork tenderloin has less saturated fats than the same serving size of chicken thigh with skin. It is true that poultry like chicken and turkey is naturally lower in saturated fats. But it is only true IF you do not eat the skin.

Born with a mild form of spina bifida, Troutman worried her child would also have the condition. So she did what health-care experts say is the best first step toward preventing birth defects: She visited her physician for an exam well before she and her husband tried to conceive.

“Before I decided to have children, I went to the doctor to make sure everything would be OK,” Troutman remembers.

He advised her to take a daily multivitamin supplement containing folic acid, a B vitamin that would decrease her chances of having a baby with spina bifida. Troutman took the vitamins for five months before conceiving her son, Evan, who was born in August 1993 with a normal, healthy spine.

“Even if he had been born with spina bifida,” Troutman says, “I felt secure knowing that I had done everything I could to prevent it.”

Of the 4 million infants born annually in the United States, about 3 to 5 percent are born with birth defects, according to the March of Dimes. Birth defects account for 20 percent of all infant deaths in the United States, more than from any other single cause.

“For the majority of birth defects, the cause is unknown,” says Franz Rosa, M.D., a pediatrician, formerly with the Food and Drug Administration, who monitored reports of prescription drugs causing birth defects. Rosa cites a list of drugs that are known to be birth-defect causing, but he says they only account for a small percentage of all malformations.

“There’s a lot we just don’t know,” Rosa says. “Most birth defects are not preventable and mothers should not feel guilty about causing defects that they really didn’t. Worrying too much is not good for pregnancies.”

What experts do know is that most birth defects occur in the first three months of pregnancy, when the organs are forming. It is in these crucial first few weeks–often before a woman even knows she’s pregnant–that an embryo is most susceptible to teratogens, substances that can cause defects. However, some birth defects do occur later in pregnancy as well.

“The key is what your life is like at the time you become pregnant,” says Deborah Smith, M.D., an obstetrician and gynecologist in FDA’s Office of Women’s Health. “Are you getting enough folic acid, are you immune to rubella, are you avoiding alcohol and smoking? These are some of the things we know are important.”

Despite the benefits of seeing a doctor before conceiving, only 26 percent of women planning a pregnancy do so, according to the March of Dimes. Furthermore, health experts estimate more than 50 percent of pregnancies are unplanned. That’s why a healthy lifestyle for all women who could become pregnant–even if they don’t intend to–is the best way to minimize the risk of birth defects.

Healthy Diet

The maxim “You are what you eat” is sterling advice during the first three months of pregnancy.

Studies of women who had endured starvation during World War II illustrate the importance of diet early in pregnancy. Contrary to what researchers expected, it was not the babies born during food deprivation that had the most malformations, but those conceived during food deprivation.

One nutrient known to prevent birth defects is folic acid, the B vitamin Tammy Troutman took before her pregnancy. Folic acid is the chemical form of folate, which is found in green leafy vegetables, citrus fruits, and legumes. Folate aids in cell division, and taking extra folic acid reduces a woman’s chance of having a child with spina bifida and other abnormalities of the spine and brain.

Spina bifida occurs when the vertebrae do not close completely. It is one of several conditions known as neural tube defects, because the neural tube is the portion of the embryo that develops into the brain and spinal column. In very mild cases, spina bifida causes few or minor problems, but in more severe cases, the spinal cord protrudes through the vertebrae into a sac outside the child’s body. This impairs the child’s mobility and other neurological functions and requires surgery to repair the opening.

To help prevent neural tube defects, the U.S. Public Health Service has recommended that all women of childbearing age who are capable of becoming pregnant consume 0.4 milligrams (mg) of folic acid per day. (For pregnant or lactating women, the daily value increases to 0.8 mg per day.) It is especially important that women take in sufficient folate before they become pregnant.

FDA recently published regulations requiring manufacturers to add folic acid to enriched grain products such as flour, noodles, bread, rolls, buns, farina, cornmeal, grits, and rice by January 1998. (See “How Folate Can Help Prevent Birth Defects” in the September 1996 FDA Consumer.)

Although the main challenge in pregnancy is getting enough nutrients, too much of a good thing is not good for a developing baby, either. Vitamins A and D are the most notable examples. Both can be toxic at levels higher than the recommended daily allowance. Such levels are rarely reached through food intake; however, women taking dietary supplements need to be aware of this risk and the amount of these vitamins they are taking. Women who take vitamin and mineral supplements should discuss with a health-care professional what vitamins are safe to continue taking during pregnancy.

Only a few foods are completely off-limits during pregnancy. These include raw or undercooked meat, such as “pink-in-the-middle” burgers, and raw or undercooked seafood. Bacteria from these can cause severe food poisoning, which is dangerous to a fetus and very unpleasant for the mother.

Soft drinks, coffee, tea, and other caffeinated drinks can be used in moderation. Although large doses of caffeine have caused skeletal defects in rats, one or two cups of coffee daily are not considered dangerous for developing fetuses.

Alcohol should be avoided at all times during pregnancy because it leads to low birth weight and can cause deformities as well.

According to the March of Dimes, alcohol is the most common known cause of fetal damage in the country and the leading cause of preventable mental retardation. Pregnant women who drink alcohol, especially in large amounts, put their babies at risk for fetal alcohol syndrome, which causes growth retardation, facial deformities such as a small head, thin upper lip, and small jaw bone, an underdeveloped thymus gland, and mental deficiencies or developmental delays.

If a woman has had a glass or two of wine before finding out she was pregnant, she probably has not harmed her child. But since no one knows the exact amount of alcohol that is dangerous, it’s best to avoid alcohol when pregnancy is possible.

Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies

A pregnant woman who has a serious medical condition may face a greater than normal risk that her child will have a birth defect.

Diabetes, for example, can complicate a pregnancy in many ways. Women who must take insulin daily to control their blood sugar are three or four times more likely to have a baby with major birth defects than are other mothers. That’s not to say they should abandon insulin, however. Without it, many diabetic women and their babies wouldn’t survive pregnancy at all.

Birth defects among diabetics can be greatly reduced if women get their blood sugar levels under control before becoming pregnant and strictly manage their diets throughout pregnancy. Gestational diabetes, which develops during pregnancy, can also be harmful to mother and child, but it can be controlled through diet or medication.

Epilepsy also increases a woman’s chance of having a baby with a birth defect. It’s not clear whether the disease itself or the drugs used to control it cause malformations, but in either case, the woman’s neurologist and obstetrician should work together to find the safest course of treatment for the epilepsy and pregnancy.

Rubella, toxoplasmosis, cytomegalovirus, and syphilis can cause birth defects in the infants of women who have these infectious diseases. Rubella infection during early pregnancy can cause abnormalities of the heart, eyes and ears. Any woman planning a pregnancy should be tested for rubella immunity and vaccinated if necessary. She must wait three months after vaccination before becoming pregnant, however, because the vaccine itself can endanger a developing fetus.

Toxoplasmosis is transmitted only through raw meat and cat feces, both of which pregnant women should try to avoid. The disease causes malformations of the brain, liver and spleen if a fetus becomes infected in the first trimester.

If a woman has syphilis, she should be treated with antibiotics before pregnancy. If not treated by at least the fourth month, syphilis can cause bone and tooth deformities in the baby, as well as nervous system and brain damage.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a herpes virus that causes no real problem–and sometimes not even symptoms–for adults and children. In pregnancy, however, it can damage the fetus’ brain, eyes or ears. Because most people contract the infection, whose symptoms are very much like a cold, when they are children, most adults are immune to it. Pregnant women who do not know if they’ve had CMV and who work with large groups of young children should discuss the situation with their health-care providers.

Sometimes it is not a disease that causes birth defects, but the medication used to treat it. Unfortunately, no one knows for certain how most drugs will affect a developing fetus. Historically, most women of childbearing age have been excluded from clinical trials of new drugs, and, although that is changing, drug manufacturers are understandably reluctant to involve pregnant women in clinical trials for new drugs. Therefore, the effects of many drugs are not known until they are in wider use after market approval.

To be on the safe side, a pregnant woman shouldn’t take any drug unless it is absolutely necessary and not until she’s checked with her health-care provider. However, even physicians have little information when prescribing medication for pregnant women. What is known about most drugs in pregnancy is based either on animal studies or on reports of problems after the drug is on the market. To give guidance about pregnancy safety, FDA requires that manufacturers include in the professional labeling for each drug which one of several categories, reflecting information from studies available at the time the label was developed.

Two examples: Taxol (paclitaxel), used to treat ovarian and breast cancer, may in some instances be appropriate in pregnancy even though it causes birth defects in animals and is therefore believed to cause fetal harm in humans. The benefits of its use to fight life-threatening cancers may outweigh the potential harm to a fetus.

Accutane (isotretinoin) should never be used in pregnancy. It is highly effective for treating severe cystic acne, but it causes serious birth defects. There are other drugs available to treat acne, and the disease is not life-threatening to the mother.

Who Should Paint the Nursery?

Chemicals–whether it’s paint in the nursery or exhaust fumes in a parking garage–have long been suspected of causing birth defects. It’s important for pregnant women to realize that most birth defects are not caused by a single factor, nor are they usually caused by faint traces of toxins. Scientists believe it takes a combination of factors to trigger a congenital malformation.

“Most birth defects have one or more genetic factors and one or more environmental factors,” explains Richard Leavitt, director of science information at the March of Dimes.

Most of the chemicals a pregnant woman encounters pose little threat compared with the harm in smoking, drinking alcohol, or eating a poor diet.

“Most environmental exposure is at a low level compared to things you put in your mouth or inhale purposefully into your lungs,” Leavitt says. “Public health warnings are aimed at the many to help the relatively few avoid a problem.”

Daily, heavy exposure to chemicals may be dangerous, however. If a pregnant woman must work around fumes or chemicals, such as in a dry-cleaning business, art studio, or factory, she should use gloves, masks and adequate ventilation. But if she just gets a whiff of dry-cleaning fluid while picking up her laundry from the cleaners, there’s little need to worry, Leavitt says.

Some environmental toxins such as lead are best avoided at any time, but especially during pregnancy. Scraping leaded paint off an old house window, drinking water from a pipe soldered with lead, or drinking out of decorative pottery containing lead can all potentially cause lead poisoning–and mental retardation–in a fetus. (See “Dangers of Lead Still Linger” in the January-February 1998 FDA Consumer.)

Radiation is also dangerous to developing babies. A pregnant woman who works in an x-ray department of a hospital must take precautions to avoid exposure. Elective dental x-rays should be postponed until delivery, and any nonpregnant woman who has an x-ray should have her reproductive organs shielded with a lead apron.

Taking hot baths, using saunas, or exercising in hot, humid weather can raise a woman’s core temperature and have the potential to cause birth defects, especially in the first trimester. Lukewarm baths and moderate exercise are fine, however.

And what about computers or video display terminals? Although they have at times been accused of causing harm, there’s probably no need to worry. Recent studies have not found any relationship between computer terminals and miscarriages.

And as for who should paint the nursery–today’s paints don’t contain lead and therefore probably aren’t dangerous. But there are other reasons to find someone else to do this task. The repetitive motion of painting can be a strain on back muscles already under pressure from the extra weight of pregnancy, and standing on your feet for hours can make advanced pregnancy miserable. If someone else can do it, pass this chore along.

Of all the environmental harms, undoubtedly the most harmful is one women can control–smoking. Although there is no evidence smoking causes birth defects, it deprives the fetus of oxygen and leads to a number of problems. If all pregnant women avoided smoking, the United States would see a 5 percent reduction in miscarriages, a 20 percent reduction in low-birth-weight births, and an 8 percent reduction in premature deliveries in this country, according to the March of Dimes.

In the Family

Finally, a number of birth defects are inherited. They are usually triggered when the child inherits a matching pair of disease-causing genes, one from each parent. This is most often an issue for couples of similar ethnic or geographic origins.

For example, African-American couples are most at risk for having a child with sickle cell anemia. According to the March of Dimes, couples of Ashkenazic Jewish or French Canadian descent may be carriers of Tay-Sachs disease. People who know of genetic disorders in their families, or those who have already had one child with a disorder are also at a greater risk, as are couples who are closely related, such as first cousins. Genetic testing is available to determine the risk of passing some genetic disorders to an unborn child. Once a pregnancy begins, prenatal testing is available to detect a number of disorders, as well.

Some genetic abnormalities, such as Down syndrome (a genetic abnormality that causes mental retardation, short stature, and flattened features), increase with the parents’ ages. Women over 35 are at higher risk of having a child with Down syndrome–about 1 in 100 for a 40-year-old, compared to 1 in 10,000 for a 20-year-old mother or 3 in 1,000 for a 35-year-old mother. And it’s not always just the mother’s age that matters. An estimated 25 percent of Down syndrome cases can be attributed to increased age of the father.

Finally, it’s important to remember that for most healthy women, the incidence of birth defects is very low–less than 3 percent. And of malformations that do occur, the most common are also the most treatable. Cleft palate and club foot, two of the more common birth defects, can be surgically repaired. Many heart malformations can be repaired with surgery so that children live normal lives.

For the most part, health experts say, a woman can do a lot to ensure the health of her child by maintaining a healthy lifestyle

Accutane and Birth Defects

Accutane (isotretinoin), a relative of vitamin A, is approved to treat severe cystic acne that doesn’t respond to other drugs. It has some serious side effects, though, especially if a woman taking it becomes pregnant.

The drug’s manufacturer has included strong warnings in the package labeling to inform doctors and patients about the birth defects this drug can cause.

Pregnant women who take Accutane even for a short time are at great risk of having a baby with severe facial birth defects, malformed thymus glands, and mental retardation.

The risk is so great that any woman of childbearing age who is taking Accutane–even if she’s not sexually active–must also use effective contraception at least one month before beginning Accutane, while using the drug, and for one month after stopping.

But during your preteen and teenage years, you can reduce your risk of fractured bones later in life with calcium-rich foods and physical activity.

Bone Behavior

Your body’s 206 living bones continually undergo a buildup, breakdown process called remodeling.

The body starts to form most of its bone mass before puberty, the beginning of sexual development, building 75 to 85 percent of the skeleton during adolescence. Women reach their peak bone mass by around age 25 to 30, while men build bone until about age 30 to 35. The amount of peak bone mass you reach depends largely on your genes. Then gradually, with age, the breakdown outpaces the buildup, and in late middle age bone density lessens when needed calcium is withdrawn from bone for such tasks as blood clotting and muscle contractions, including beating by the heart.

“You can’t do anything about the genes you’re dealt,” says Mona Calvo, Ph.D., a calcium expert for the Food and Drug Administration. “As a teenager, though, you can make the most of things you do control that can build your bones and help reduce the risk of fractures when you are older.”

Supporting the skeleton with healthful habits now so it can support you later in life is especially important if you have an increased risk of osteoporosis–for example, if you’re female or have a thin, small-boned frame. These habits are proper diet, exercise, and avoiding bone risks–lifestyle choices that are bad for bone, like smoking.

Eat Your Way to Strong Bones

The main mineral in bones is calcium, one of whose functions is to add strength and stiffness to bones, which they need to support the body. To lengthen long bones during growth, the body builds a scaffold of protein and fills this in with calcium-rich mineral. From the time you’re 11 until you’re 24, you need about 1,200 milligrams (mg) of calcium each day.

Adolescent bodies are tailor-made to “bone up” on calcium. Calvo says that with the start of puberty, “your body is at a higher capacity to absorb and retain calcium.”

Bone also needs vitamin D, to move calcium from the intestine to the bloodstream and into bone. You can get vitamin D from short, normal day-to-day exposure of your arms and legs to sun and from foods fortified with the vitamin. Also needed are vitamin A, vitamin C, magnesium and zinc, as well as protein for the growing bone scaffold.

Mother Nature provides many foods with these nutrients. One stands out, however, as “almost a perfect package,” according to Calvo. “Milk is rich in calcium and high-quality protein. Nearly all U.S. milk has vitamins D and A added. And it has magnesium and zinc.”

Still, as excellent as milk is for bones, it and other dairy products are not the only foods that contain calcium. All groups in the Food Guide Pyramid, in fact, offer calcium sources–from the pyramid’s grain-based foods that you need the most of, to the produce and high-protein groups in the middle, and even to the fats and sweets “use sparingly” group at the top. The importance of choosing calcium sources from the different food groups is that each group offers its unique package of other nutrients as well.

To learn how much calcium is in a food, you can read the food label’s Nutrition Facts panel. Look for the “percent Daily Value” (%DV) set by FDA for calcium. The calcium DV is 1,000 mg. But if you are 11 to 24 years old, your growing bones need more–the recommended 1,200 mg. So, each day’s calcium %DVs in the foods you eat should add up to 120 percent.

Because many foods are now fortified with calcium, your investigation of labels may turn up surprising sources. To identify foods with at least 10%DV of calcium per serving, FDA allows these terms on their labels:

• 20%DV or more: “High in Calcium,” “Rich in Calcium,” “Excellent Source of Calcium”
• 10% to 19%DV: “Contains Calcium,” “Provides Calcium,” “Good Source of Calcium”
• 10%DV calcium or more added: “Calcium-Enriched,” “Calcium-Fortified,” “More Calcium.”

An easy daily plan is to drink a calcium source at every meal and eat one calcium food as a snack, says Ruth Welch, a registered dietitian with FDA.

If the lactose sugar in dairy products causes problems like gas, bloating or diarrhea, try lactose-reduced or lactose-free milk. When fortified, these products can have up to 50%DV for calcium in one serving. Also available are lactase drops and tablets, which can help you digest dairy products like ice milk, yogurt, and cheese.

Get Enough Weight-Bearing Exercise

Growing bone is especially sensitive to the impact of weight and pull of muscle during exercise, and responds by building stronger, denser bones. That’s why it’s especially important when you’re growing a lot to be physically active on a regular basis.

And as far as bone is concerned, Calvo says impact activity like jumping up and down appears to be the best. “But the important thing is to get off the couch and get moving at some activity. It really is a matter of ‘Use it now, or lose it later’.”

Such activities include sports and exercise, including football, basketball, baseball, jogging, dancing, jumping rope, inline skating, skateboarding, bicycling, ballet, hiking, skiing, karate, swimming, rowing a canoe, bowling, and weight-training. And when your parents make you mow the lawn, rake leaves, or wash and wax the car, they’re doing your muscles and bones a favor.

FDA’s Welch adds, “Day-to-day activities that start in the teen years, like walking the dog or using stairs instead of elevators, can become life-long habits for healthy bones.”

Avoid Bone Risks

Some habits in the teenage years can steal calcium from your bones or increase the need for it, weakening the skeleton for life.

Skipping meals is risky for bone, Welch says. In our three-meal-a-day society, skipping a meal may reduce by a third your chance of getting your 120%DV for calcium–simply by eliminating one occasion to eat.

Replacing milk with nondairy drinks like soda pop or fruit-flavored teas or drinks is another eating habit that prevents bones from getting the calcium and other nutrients they need.

In a survey comparing 1994 daily beverage intakes with those in the late 1970s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture found a switch from milk to other drinks among young people:

• Milk drinkers among teenagers dropped from three-fourths to little more than half.
• Two to three times more children and teenagers drank non-citrus fruit juices.
• Teenage boys nearly tripled their intake of soft drinks, three-fourths of them drinking about 34 ounces; two-thirds of teenage girls drank 23 ounces.

Alcohol abuse and cigarette smoking can hurt bone. Calvo says, “Alcohol abuse can cause loss of calcium, magnesium and zinc in the urine. Many who abuse alcohol also have poor diets and malnourished, weaker bones.” Cigarette smoke is also toxic to bone and can influence how much exercise you get because it affects your stamina, she says.

Eating disorders can weaken bone. The repeated vomiting in bulimia and extreme dieting in the appetite disorder anorexia can upset the body’s balance of calcium and important hormones likebone-protective estrogen, decreasing bone density. And extreme exercising by young women with or without eating disorders can postpone or stop menstruation, when blood levels of estrogen are reduced.

Small Changes for Big Benefits

As a disorder of aging, osteoporosis may seem far away for worry when you’re 15. But, small changes today for better bones tomorrow may be more important than you might guess.

Laura Bacharach, M.D., of Stanford University, wrote in Nutrition & the M.D. last year that adolescents who make “even a 5 percent gain in bone mass can reduce the risk of osteoporosis by 40 percent.” And this is in addition to “immediate benefits of feeling stronger and more fit now with these changes!”

“Calcium! Do You Get It?”

Unlike boys, growing girls typically have low calcium intakes. Concerned about the low intakes, the Food and Drug Administration recently developed a pilot education program, funded by the agency’s Office of Women’s Health, just for girls ages 11 to 14. “Calcium! Do You Get It?” encourages girls to get enough calcium and exercise for healthy bones and to carry these healthy behaviors throughout life. This article includes much of the information in the program.

Girls Don’t Get Enough Calcium

Between the ages 11 and 24, people need at least 1,200 milligrams (mg) of calcium every day. A 1995 survey by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, however, found that girls and young women 12 to 19 got only 777 mg of the mineral daily, overall. Intake by boys and young men in the same age group was 1,176 mg daily.

Daily calcium intake by preteen girls was far short of the recommended level also in 1990-1992 and fell with age, wrote Ann Albertson, M.S., R.D., and others recently in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Calcium consumption was only 781 mg at ages 11 to 12, 751 at ages 13 to 14, and a mere 602 mg–barely half what it should be–at ages 15 to 18.

Why is calcium intake in girls and young women so low?

USDA’s Agricultural Economic Report No. 746 gives some clues. Compared with other children, female adolescents:

• drink the least amount of fluid milk
• have the highest tendency to skip morning meals, which offer the most calcium because of milk and cereals
• have the highest share of calories from fast-food places, which have a calcium density much lower than foods prepared at home, schools or restaurants.

Panic Disorder

Panic disorder includes repeated episodes of intense fear that strike often and without warning. Physical symptoms include:

• Chest pain
• Heart palpitations
• Shortness of breath
• Dizziness
• Abdominal distress
• Feelings of unreality
• Fear of dying.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by repeated, unwanted thoughts or compulsive behaviors that seem impossible to stop or control.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) consists of persistent symptoms that occur after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event, such as:

• Rape or other criminal assault
• War
• Child abuse
• Natural or human-caused disasters
• Crashes.

Nightmares; flashbacks; numbing of emotions; depression; and feeling angry, irritable, or distracted are common. It is also common for people with PTSD to be easily startled. Family members of victims can also develop this disorder.

Phobias

The three types of phobias are social phobia, specific phobias and agoraphobia. People with social phobia have an overwhelming and disabling fear of scrutiny, embarrassment, or humiliation in social situations, which leads to avoidance of many potentially pleasurable and meaningful activities. People with a specific phobia experience extreme, disabling, and irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger. The fear leads to avoidance of objects or situations, and can cause people to limit their lives unnecessarily. Agoraphobia involves intense fear and avoidance of any place or situation where escape might be difficult or help unavailable in the event of developing sudden panic-like symptoms. Agoraphobia rarely occurs in the absence of panic disorder.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized anxiety disorder is defined as constant, exaggerated worrisome thoughts and tension about everyday, routine life events and activities. These thoughts must last at least six months to be classified as generalized anxiety disorder. People with this condition almost always anticipate the worst, even though there is little reason to expect it. These feelings are accompanied by physical symptoms, such as:

• Fatigue
• Trembling
• Muscle tension
• Headache
• Nausea.

What Causes It?

Scientists aren’t quite sure why some people get anxiety disorders. Different people exposed to the same situation can react in very different ways. Part of this difference may be in the genes they have inherited.

Anxiety disorders run in families, so if a parent has an anxiety disorder, the children have a higher chance of developing one of these conditions. This may be due to the genes they’ve inherited, but the environment a child is raised in may be important, too. Ultimately, it’s probably an interaction between a person’s genetic predisposition and environment.

Scientists have recently been gaining insights into the development of anxiety disorders. Children of parents with panic disorders have a higher incidence of behavioral disorders very early in life, before you would think major environmental impacts would occur.

A growing body of evidence shows that infants who tend to be shy, timid, and constrained in social situations — even in the first few weeks of life — have higher rates of anxiety disorders when they get older.

Symptoms

Symptoms of anxiety can differ based on the specific anxiety disorder a person has. However, all anxiety disorders are linked together by common symptoms that include excessive, irrational fear and dread. Because these are also possible symptoms of other conditions, people who believe they have anxiety symptoms are encouraged to see a doctor for proper diagnosis.

Adolescents and Anxiety

Scientists have found that adolescence is an important period for the diagnosis and treatment of an anxiety disorder. Of adolescents who have any one of the mood or anxiety disorders, 42 percent still have an anxiety or depressive disorder in adulthood. In contrast, only 5 percent of adolescents who were healthy go on to develop one of the disorders. It is likely that if we aggressively treat adolescents who suffer from mood and anxiety disorders, we can prevent many of these disorders from becoming chronic.

Treatment Options

Anxiety treatment can be effective at any age. If you think you may have an anxiety disorder, don’t hesitate to discuss it with your healthcare provider. There are many different types of treatments available, and these can be tailored to specific problems. In some cases, psychotherapy, or counseling, is sufficient. In other cases, medication alone can be effective. Some people may need both.

A number of medications that were originally approved for treating depression have been found to be effective for anxiety disorders as well. Some of the newest of these antidepressants are called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Other antianxiety medications include groups of drugs called benzodiazepines and beta-blockers. If one medication is not effective, others can be tried. New medications are currently under development to treat anxiety symptoms.

Two clinically proven effective forms of psychotherapy used to treat anxiety disorders are behavioral therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Behavioral therapy focuses on changing specific actions, and uses several techniques to stop unwanted behaviors. In addition to the behavioral therapy techniques, cognitive-behavioral therapy teaches patients to understand and change their thinking patterns so that they can react differently to the situations that cause them anxiety.

(Click Anxiety Treatment for a closer look at the treatment options for this condition.)

Anxiety and Other Conditions

It is common for an anxiety disorder to accompany depression, eating disorders, substance abuse, or another anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders can also co-exist with illnesses such as cancer or heart disease. In such instances, the accompanying disorders will also need to be treated. Before beginning any treatment, however, it is important to have a thorough medical examination to rule out other possible causes of symptoms.

(Click Anxiety and Cancer for more information.)

Statistics on Anxiety

Each year, approximately 19.1 million American adults ages 18 to 54 (about 13.3 percent of people in this age group) have an anxiety disorder.

Anxiety disorders frequently co-occur with depressive disorders, eating disorders, or substance abuse. Many people have more than one anxiety disorder.

Women are more likely than men to have an anxiety disorder. Approximately twice as many women as men suffer from panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, and specific phobia, though about equal numbers of women and men have obsessive-compulsive disorder and social phobia. ]]> http://wjnz.com/wjnzblog/?feed=rss2&p=87 1 http://wjnz.com/wjnzblog/?p=81 http://wjnz.com/wjnzblog/?p=81#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:35:56 +0000 Kristen http://wjnz.com/wjnzblog/?p=81 Kids love attention, and they’ll get it anyway they can. If they can’t get your attention by doing good things, they’ll get it by doing things they know are wrong. If the only time you acknowledge that your kids are around is when they do something wrong, they’ll continue to do wrong things. To a child, negative attention is better than no attention. This is very important, so repeat that again: Negative attention is better than no attention.

Spending time with your kids is the best way to give them your attention. No matter if you stay at home or work outside the home, you can still give quality time to your kids. Quality time doesn’t mean the whole family sitting for four hours watching TV. It means turning the TV off and playing games together, reading books, going for walks – anything!

Giving kids your attention means listening to them when they talk. I don’t mean half-way listening and saying “uh huh” like we do to our spouses when they’re talking about their day at work. I mean sitting down, looking children in the eye, and listening. Ask questions. Be interested. It shows that you’re paying attention even if your question turns to, “So you say you painted the cat blue?”

Raising kids is not the time to be selfish with your time. You can be selfish later on when they’re grown and having kids of their own. If you feel guilty about not being able to spend enough time with your kids, resist trying to buy their attention. You don’t have to have every weekend a Disneyland-day. And you don’t have to continually buy them gifts as a means of letting them know you love them. The answer is “time”. Time is what they want most from you.

Keep those hands busy! Kids will look for something to do if you don’t provide some sort of entertainment. This doesn’t mean you have to put on a constant show for them (although your kids would probably enjoy that). It also doesn’t mean you have to fall off the scale on the other end and never allow them the time to be quiet and get creative with their own play. However, if you don’t keep kids busy most of the time, they may choose to color on the wall, string toilet paper all over the bathroom, or pull all the towels out of the cabinet.

Your kids, no matter what age, are on some type of schedule. They get up, eat breakfast, eat lunch, eat dinner, etc. What do they do the rest of the time? Fill up some of the empty spots in their schedules with activities. Have them help you do something around the house or get them involved in a project. This is how day care workers are able to keep so many kids under control – they fill up the day with activities.

The idea behind this topic is that if your children are kept busy, they can’t get into trouble. Keeping busy doesn’t mean that you have to enroll your children into every conceivable activity. It means keeping them active enough that they don’t have the time, or need, to look for activities to keep boredom from setting in.

Millions of American teens are starting the school year as responsible, confident and successful members of their communities. What are the odds? Actually, pretty good, according to Teens Today research from Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD).

A survey of more than 2,700 middle- and high-school students revealed that most young people have a positive sense of self. They are feeling good about their progress on the key developmental tasks of establishing an identity, they are achieving independence and they are building meaningful relationships with peers.

Despite commonly held beliefs that adolescence is defined by anxiety, upheaval and acting out – “storm and stress,” a phrase coined by G. Stanley Hall, the first president of the American Psychological Association – there is significant evidence from SADD that the majority of teens feel happy almost every day and perceive themselves as friendly (77 percent), honest (72 percent) and smart (72 percent).

Similarly, more than six in 10 say they can handle change well and are liked by others.

In his book, “The Good Teen,” Tufts University professor Richard M. Lerner also offers rebuttal to definitions of this developmental stage that necessarily link it to conflict with parents, mood disruptions and risky behavior. Conversely, his study of about 4,000 adolescents found ample existence among young people of what he calls the “five Cs”: competence, confidence, connection, character and caring. These may coalesce, says Lerner, in a sixth C, contribution.

Even better news can be found in the fact that, according to Teens Today, most teens say their relationships with their parents make them feel good about themselves (82 percent), their parents respect them (68 percent) and they feel close to their parents (60 percent).

Additionally, an online survey of 1,250 adults and teens conducted by Opinion Research Corporation revealed that up to 67 percent of America’s young people say they actually want to spend more time with their parents.

Who’da thunk it?

Even during the turbulent transitional years of adolescence, teens seem to value time with their family above all else. That’s a really good thing! Indeed, young people who spend time with their parents, talk with them and feel close to them are overwhelmingly less likely to drink (62 percent versus 43 percent) or to use other drugs (87 percent versus 77 percent) than are those who don’t, says Teens Today.

In a special edition of Newsweek about adolescence, a teen from Illinois playfully jabbed at adults who presume that young people are simply obsessed with alcohol, drugs and sex. Instead, 17-year-old Brad concluded that, while he may not be America’s “stereotypical” teen, he is, against all odds, doing just fine.

It is also interesting to note that many teens who do not have good communication with their parents say they wish they did.

Results from other studies reinforce the value of family time and support.

For example, a September 2007 report from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University states that, compared to teens who have frequent family dinners (five or more per week), those who have infrequent family dinners (two or fewer) are three and a half times more likely to have abused prescription drugs, three times more likely to have used marijuana and one and a half times more likely to have consumed alcohol.

Here, too, recent news from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy confounds the expectations of many: Today there are 860,000 fewer young people using illegal drugs than there were in 2001.

For many, family time seems more an ideal than a realistic proposition in an age of single-parent and two-working-parent households.

Teens themselves appear caught up in a whirlwind of academic, athletic and other extracurricular activities, leaving them little time or energy to pursue stronger family ties. But there is a way to get what you both want.

As a parent, you should become involved in the activities your teenager participates in. Volunteer to be a coach for your teen’s sport team or Girl/Boy Scout troop leader. If you participate in activities such as golf or tennis, include him/her in a game. If you are scheduled for a business conference out of town and your budget will allow it, make plans to bring your teen along.

Now is a perfect time to bring adult perceptions about teenagers in line with those of teenagers themselves.

Stephen Wallace, the national chairman and CEO of SADD Inc., was a school psychologist and adolescent counselor. Courtesy of the Providence Journal.

According to Neil Bernstein, a clinical psychologist and author of How to Keep Your Teen Out of Trouble and What To Do If You Can’t, moodiness, self-absorption, and obsession with peer approval are all run of the teenage mill. However, if you notice your teenager getting out of control, experimenting with drugs, or abusing alcohol, it may be time for a wake-up call – for both of you. Don’t expect lightening to strike some sense into your teen. Although parents may feel that they are being pushed away during the teen years, it’s your responsibility to firmly push back. Here’s how to get things moving in a positive direction:

• Set limits. “Parents need to set limits, and the younger the children are, the easier it will be,” says Bernstein. Make sure you stick to what you say. Once teens know that you mean business, they’ll stop trying to undermine your authority.

• Be reasonable. Let them know what the bottom line is, but explain your reasons for making it so. “Once they’re teens, you can’t just say ‘because I said so’ – they won’t listen,” Bernstein says. By creating unreasonable rules and restrictions, you’ll be telling your teen that you aren’t prepared to approach them rationally – and they’ll respond in kind.

• Negotiate. There’s nothing wrong with a little give and take, and teens will appreciate playing a part in the process. Make sure to match your rules with sound reasoning, and let your teen know that with maturity comes increased freedom. Think of your teenager’s privileges in terms of a ladder: as they get older and prove that they can be responsible, move their curfew up a rung, give them increased phone or Internet privileges, or let them choose what limits they would like to negotiate. If they prove themselves irresponsible, move their privileges down a rung, and let them know exactly why.

• Communicate. According to Bernstein, communication is the number one thing that parents need to do better. Although the idea of a heart-to-heart with your teen may sound like the stuff of fantasy, parents can talk to their teen if they do it right. Bernstein recommends approaching teens “at the right time,” and not when they’re angry, busy, or tired. “Start on a positive note,” he suggests. Try making a joke or telling him you’re proud of what he’s doing right. In other words, don’t start with “We need to talk, young man!” 

For most teens, pushing the boundaries is a normal sign of growing up and growing out of childhood limitations. If your teen’s behavior is way out of control, however, don’t think you need to handle it all yourself. Contact your school counselor who can give you advice, observe your child at school, and connect you with further resources.

“Maybe they made it, like me,” Mr. Stephens, now 21, said of the other convicts he was released with. “Or, maybe they fell back into old habits.”

Half of all Rikers inmates serving city sentences of a year or less are back in jail within a year, according to the Correction Department. Juvenile advocates argue that Queensborough Plaza — where they estimate 10 teenage convicts are dropped off each week — is for many of them the first step on a path back to jail, as they slip back into the city alone, without help assimilating. Even department officials say the plaza, having always been the closest transportation hub to Rikers since it opened as a jail in 1932, is not the ideal place for any newly released convict, young or old.

“It’s the time when they’re most vulnerable,” said Kathleen Coughlin, the Correction Department deputy commissioner.

Over the past three years, the Correction Department has offered adults — who make up the bulk of the 13,500 daily inmate population at Rikers — an alternative to being dropped off at Queensborough Plaza, in addition to the option of being picked up by friends or family.

Upon release from Rikers, adults can instead get a ride directly to job sites or aftercare programs sponsored by nonprofits. Now some nonprofits that serve the small population of young inmates at Rikers are also offering juveniles this option. Experts in the field say aftercare programs are crucial to preventing recidivism.

But while many adults embrace the opportunity, the response from young inmates has been lukewarm. It seems many, even those returning repeatedly to jail, prefer to fend for themselves.

“I’m taking a cab straight to my girlfriend’s house,” said Radell Murray, 18, an inmate who said he was serving his fourth sentence at Rikers in two years for charges including assault and selling crack.

The illusion of invincibility that plagues young inmates is mostly absent among the adult inmate population, said Merle Lefkowitz, the deputy executive director of Rikers Island Discharge Enhancement.

The Correction Department started the RIDE program for adults in 2003, shortly after its newly appointed commissioner, Martin F. Horn, met with city agencies and nonprofits to address inmate needs. Today several nonprofits with offices on Rikers Island assist adult inmates with aftercare planning and offer rides upon their release.

More than two-thirds of those released from prison or jail nationwide are readmitted within three years, Ms. Coughlin said. “Our early numbers on this indicate that if we keep people engaged 90 days after jail, we have about a 70 percent rate of keeping them out,” she said.

This year, for inmates age 16 to 18, the department financed the Adolescent Re-entry Initiative program, run by the nonprofit Vera Institute of Justice, Ms. Coughlin said. And two nonprofits, the Fortune Society and Friends of Island Academy, each recently bought vans to transport juveniles home or to their own aftercare programs.

But so far, adult inmates appear far more interested in aftercare, with half the population signing up with RIDE, Ms. Lefkowitz said. As for those who do not plan for their lives after jail, “unfortunately, we’ll have another shot at them because they’ll end up back here,” she said.

That is why juvenile advocates say they have been considering new ways to ensure that young inmates sign up for aftercare. In the past 17 years, Friends of Island Academy has provided counseling, education and job training to 4,500 young convicts who have found their way to its Midtown office, said its director, Beth Navon. The organization recently began holding a weekly outreach workshop at Island Academy, the New York City alternative high school on Rikers Island, where it is now trying to encourage young inmates to take its van directly to its offices upon their release.

On a recent Tuesday, Charles Crum, 18, an inmate, listened attentively during a “Know Your Rights” workshop led by a Friends of Island Academy staff member, Tongo Eisen-Martin.

Mr. Crum said that after he was kicked out of high school he began “being bad,” by robbing people and dealing crack. Today he is working to earn his G.E.D. at Island Academy, where peers call him “Far Rock,” after his neighborhood of Far Rockaway, Queens. He and a dozen others vied for Mr. Eisen-Martin’s attention by shouting out personal experiences.

“They be stopping me for no reason,” said Carlos Rivas, 18, who is serving four months for robbery. “Sometimes they don’t have anything on you, they just lie.”

“We’re not constitutional superheroes; this is really all just to live to fight another day in court, you know what I’m saying?” Mr. Eisen-Martin replied to Mr. Rivas, after explaining his rights under police questioning.

The weekly presence and persistence at the academy have persuaded some to take a chance on the van that Friends of Island Academy bought with a $10,000 private grant. And Ms. Navon said she was applying for another grant to finance an additional weekly workshop at the academy, allowing Mr. Eisen-Martin to reach out to more young inmates regarding planning for their lives after jail.

Lorenzo Ross, 18, a resident of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, serving his second sentence for gun possession, said he had planned to reform after his first stay at Rikers, “but I repeat the same mistakes.” When he is released in February, he said, he plans instead to take the Friends van to its office at 330 West 38th Street.

“I want to take advantage of everything they’re offering,” Mr. Ross said.

But aftercare does not work for all, Ms. Navon said. Many come from abusive or neglectful households, with little education and job training.

Of the about 800 adolescents on Rikers Island at any give time, half are junior high school dropouts and half are reading below a sixth-grade level, said Frank Dody, the principal of Island Academy.

Ms. Navon said 80 percent of those who had completed the Friends of Island Academy programs had not returned to jail.

Mr. Stephens — who was arrested in 2002 after beating up a classmate and stealing his money during a fight in the cafeteria — has not gone back to Rikers since he served his six-month sentence.

His parole officer referred him to Friends of Island Academy after his high school refused to readmit him.

Mr. Stephens earned his G.E.D. through Friends and now works there as a youth leader.

He said more young convicts would benefit by choosing the Friends van, “especially teenagers whose families are blind to the fact that they’re free.”

“It’s sort of like somebody out there cares you’re home,” he said.

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