Pencil Online

Diet Diary

2010-02-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

Writing down every morsel doubles weight loss

Dieters who kept daily food diaries were more successful, new study says

By Steve Mitchell

MSNBC contributor

In the struggle to lose weight, picking up a pen might be just as useful as putting down the fork.

That’s according to a new study that found that people who kept daily food diaries lost twice as much weight or more as those who didn’t keep a tally of their meals.

Nearly 1,700 Kaiser Permanente study participants agreed to exercise and adopt a healthy diet, but those who took the extra step of keeping track of what they consumed got something of a booster charge in their weight loss.

“There’s a myth in this country now that weight loss is almost impossible and very few can lose weight,” said Victor Stevens, a researcher at Kaiser’s Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore., and co-author of the study, which appears in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

“But we showed that with a simple, straightforward approach, nearly 70 percent of participants were able to lose enough weight to make significant improvements in their health.”

Overall, two-thirds of the study subjects lost nine pounds or more during the six-month study. But those who kept a food diary every day of the week dropped up to 20 pounds, more than twice as much as those who didn't record their every bite.

That held true for Julie Satterwhite, 46, a yo-yo dieter in Portland, Ore., who previously struggled to lose weight. She credits the food diary with helping her shed 30 pounds during the study and in turn being able to reduce the dosage of her high-cholesterol medication by half.

After the study ended, she continued to lose weight over an additional eight months by using the food diary on her own. All told, she lost 55 pounds, dropping from 205 pounds to her target goal of 150.

The weight loss also was good for her joints. Satterwhite has an arthritic knee, so the reduced weight on it felt like “a huge improvement,” she said.

Dieters don't want to write it down
“It had a very big impact,” Satterwhite said of the diary. “If I was walking through the kitchen and wanted to grab a cookie or a brownie, I would think twice because I knew I had to write it down.”

That was a common experience among those who kept diaries, noted Stevens. “Study participants said, ‘I thought about eating a second helping of chocolate cake but I didn’t because I didn’t want to see it in my food diary,” he said.

The food diaries helped people see where extra calories were coming from, and also to recognize the hidden calories in familiar foods.

“For example, a bagel,” Satterwhite said. “They’re much higher in calories than you think they are.”

Karen Donato, the coordinator for overweight and obesity applications at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in Bethesda, Md., thinks one of the big effects of the diary is that it can help people realize when they’re just eating out of boredom or stress.

“A lot of times people do mindless eating, under stress, at their desks, bored, just eat things without thinking about it,” she said. “This strategy can help people avoid that.”

Free food diary, menu planner
The NHLBI website offers free a food diary and a menu planner that automatically calculates calories in common food items.

Participants were asked to keep food diaries by writing down anything they ate or drank that had calories. For those unaccustomed to calorie-counting, Stevens recommended using a calorie guide available online or in bookstores for at least the first month to help figure how much they’re consuming.

Most people only eat about 30 to 40 different things, so with a little practice, they usually quickly learn how many calories are in the food they’re eating, so they don’t have to keep looking it up every time, Stevens added.

The Kaiser study included 1,685 overweight or obese adults with an average age of 55, who were taking medication for high blood pressure or high cholesterol. They attended weekly group sessions that encouraged cutting back on calories and moderate exercise of 30 minutes per day. The participants also were encouraged to consume a low-fat, healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables and to keep a daily food diary of what they ate.

Of the 70 percent that lost nine pounds or more, their weight was still dropping when the study ended, so it’s likely they would have continued losing even more had the program continued, the researchers said.

Satterwhite said it was easier to maintain the weight loss using the food diary than her past efforts using Slim-Fast, the Atkins high-protein regime or other fad diets.

“The difference was that it was a slower stable lifestyle change than doing some crash diet that you see on TV or read about in a magazine,” she said.

Some struggle with food diaries
But keeping track of food can pose a challenge for some, said Lora Burke, a professor of nursing and epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. She noted that she recently completed an unpublished study involving food diaries where some participants said it was too burdensome to record what they ate. These same participants also were the least successful in losing weight.

Based on these findings, Burke is now conducting a trial to test different approaches for keeping food diaries, such as Internet programs, personal digital recording devices and simple paper and pencil, to see which ones people find the easiest to use.

“Given the variation in how individuals adopt this strategy, we may need to promote an array of approaches for diverse groups to be successful,” she said.

Reported by http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/25573436/

Deadly

2010-02-13T11:48:00.000-08:00

Toddler OK after pencil lodges through his neck

18-month-old found it on playground; it barely missed his carotid artery

For toddler Auston Banks, the difference between life and death amounted to the lack of a pencil sharpener.

The 18-month-old tot was frolicking with his family at a Meridian, Idaho, playground when one of the more bizarre accidents imaginable happened. He picked up a stray pencil from the ground, and then collided with a girl on a swing. The force of the collision jammed the pencil into the back of Auston’s throat and sent his family on a frantic, life-and-death run to the emergency room.

Miraculously, Auston survived his predicament, and his thankful parents Ty and Amber Banks happily showed off their recovering son live on TODAY Wednesday.

“We feel tons of relief,” Amber Banks told Meredith Vieira as she held energetic Auston in her arms. “It’s the best thing I could ask for with the worst thing that could happen to me.”

A sudden cry
The drama unfolded May 9 as Ty and Amber took Austen and his 3-year-old brother Brandon to a playground near their home. “We go out every morning before lunchtime and we play to let the kids run their energy out before nap time,” Amber related.

“I looked over at him, he was playing with his older brother,” she told Vieira. “I turned back to talk to somebody and it wasn’t 20 seconds later I heard this high-pitched sound — not even like a scream, because his tongue was pinned down.

“He was lying on his back in front of the swing. I said, ‘You’re all right,’ and brushed his back off and saw the pencil sticking out, and thought he was chewing on a broken piece of pencil.

“So I went to pull it out — and it had no give.”

St. Luke’s Children Hospital is only a 5-minute drive from the playground, but it still seemed like an eternity for the parents. Ty Banks caught every red light along the way. “It just took forever,” the day told Vieira. “I was freaking out, I was scared.”

TODAY

Doctors performed surgery to remove the pencil lodged through the back of Auston’s neck.

Amber said she could literally feel the life draining from her son’s body as the 6-inch green pencil protruded from his mouth.

“We came to the light directly at the hospital and it was red,” she said. “All of the sudden he just went limp in my arms. I had his hands pinned down so he couldn’t pull the pencil, and I put my hands on his chest. I could barely, barely feel him breathing.

“I said, ‘Ty, you’ve got to run this light, we’re losing our baby.”

A near miss
Upon arriving at the hospital, doctors at St. Luke’s discovered a near-miss of amazing proportions. X rays showed the pencil tip was dull, and had missed his spine while pushing his carotid artery to the side.

“The doctor told me that if it would have been a sharpened pencil, it probably wouldn’t have moved the vein over; it would have went right through it,” Amber explained. If it had, Auston likely would have bled to death before he ever reached the hospital.

Doctors successfully removed the pencil from Auston’s mouth in surgery captured by the local NBC affiliate’s cameras. Three days later, the toddler was out of the hospital and back to running around with his family.

TODAY

On TODAY, Auston’s mom showed the scar that remains from his dangerous encounter with a pencil on the playground.

Amber Banks says she found the girl who had dropped the pencil on the playground, but instead of scolding her, the grateful mom thanked for wearing the pencil down to the nub before discarding it. That act likely saved her son’s life — but Amber admitted her nerves are still on edge over the one-in-a-million accident.

“It is really emotional — we came really close to losing our baby,” Amber said, choking back tears. “It’s just really hard to think how close I was to never seeing him again.”

Auston sucked on his pacifier during his star turn on TODAY interview — and sent Vieira scurrying across the set to retrieve his “binky” when he spit it out. Amber Banks said the family has instituted a new rule to keep foreign objects out of the tot’s mouth.

“I told Ty he’s not leaving the house without his binky,” she told Vieira. “If he would have had his binky on the playground that day, he wouldn’t have had any chance of the pencil getting in his mouth.”

Reported by http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/30718479/?GT1=43001

Child's Best

2010-02-10T10:30:00.000-08:00

Best Pencil Writing

Practicing writers need to be immersed in a print rich environment as
well as to have the opportunity to experiment with writing. When
experimenting, we make sure that each child is using their "best
pencil". For some children this is a pencil or marker while for others
it is a computer or stamps. We take each writing lesson and
determine the goal for each individual child. Again, each child is
provided with their "best pencil" while following the standard
Writer's Workshop curriculum. Providing every child with
the appropriate writing tool allows them to work to their fullest
potential.
Writer's Workshop

During Writer's Workshop students work on particular teaching
points explained during a mini-lesson. Often, children are divided
into groups and a mini-lesson is taught to what the children in the
group need to work on. This ensures that each child is working
on their own level and to their highest potential. To help children
focus on teaching points, scaffolds are provided. One of these
scaffolds is paper that is specific to each unit or lesson. This
paper is designed to help children remember to add pictures
and text as well as to help organize their thoughts.

Every child follows the class curriculum and every child is given
the tools and supports they need. Some children are typing on
the computer while others are writing with a pencil. The "pencil"
may be different, but the idea is the same. Children typing on the
computer are provided with the same scaffold as handwriters.
Their paper is located within powerpoint on the computer as
opposed to on paper on the table.

Magnetic Letters

One of the intial to steps to
writing is the ability to match
letters in order to create words.
We have created a magnetic
matching game that familiarizes
children with the idea that letters
are linked together to create
words.

Using names of teachers and
friends helps children to feel
successful. The game uses
laminated letters fixed to
magnetized airconditioning
foam. It is substantial enough
for most children to manipulate
and easily sticks to magnetic
cookie trays.

Intellikeys Keyboards

Often children who use computers for writing use Intellikeys
keyboards. Like most things in our classroom these are created
for each individual. They are designed with the strengths of each
child in mind. The key layout, key sensitivity and key pictures can
all be changed to fit the needs of each individual.

There are two basic formats for the keyboards. This is a QWERTY
keyboard without pictures. This is for children who have the ability
to type with two hands. We also have a QWERTY keyboard with
letters and pictures for children who need wordwall hook words for
extra support. The size and spacing of this keyboard can be altered
depending on each child's access.

This is a single-handed key board. It is designed for children who
type with one hand at a time. The keys have high frequency letters
concentrated in the center of the board. Similarly to the QWERTY
keyboard this keyboard can be adapted to meet the strengths of
each child.

Slant Boards

Students use slant boards to
write, allowing their arm and
hand to be in optimal writing
position.

Alphabet Charts

The class uses alphabet charts as a reference for forming letters
and remembering letter sounds. This chart is in ABC format.
We also offer QWERTY charts designed to help children
become accustomed to keyboard layout.

Reported by http://www.teachingeverychild.com/Best_Pencil_Writing.html

Lead not Lead but Lead

2010-02-09T16:58:00.000-08:00

What is the power of the might pencil...write your heart out.
Use the power to express yourself and influence positive ideas.

Stay blogged in...

Scribble

2010-02-02T18:42:00.000-08:00

The art of writing is dying with the art of _____________.
I wonder what the sales of pencils has been since 2003?
I find that even a thankful person does NOT even write a thank you card.
Why send it through the e-mail?
You can't send your friend through the e-mail, can you?

Something to think about.

Making of Pencils

2010-02-01T17:37:00.000-08:00

The Story of Pencils Lesson Plan:

At a sawmill Incense-cedarⁱ logs are first cut into lumber called "Pencil Stock" or "Pencil Squaresⁱ". This lumber product is dried to a uniform moisture content in a dry kiln and then shipped to the Slatⁱ factory.

1. At the Slat factory Pencil Stock is cut into "Pencil Blocksⁱ" a bit longer than the normal length of a pencil. The small amount of extra length is called "trim allowance" that is important at the pencil factory later.

2. Pencil Blocks are cut into "Pencil Slats" using specially designed circular saws. These saws are very thin in order to reduce the amount of "waste" in the form of "sawdust". Due to the natural grain and defect characteristics of the wood the slats are sorted by width and grade for further processing. Slats without defects are called "full ply". Some slats are cut to smaller widths (called "narrow ply") or shorter lengths (called "memos") in order to eliminate the defects and to produce a variety of useable grades and plies of pencil slats.

3. Pencil Slats are treated with wax and stain in order to provide uniform color and improve the machining and sharpening characteristics of the wood for future processing. The slats pass through a final inspection process and then are packaged and shipped to "Pencil Factories" all over the world.

4. At the Pencil Factory a "Groover machine" cuts grooves into the slats to accept the writing core (or "lead").

Groover and lead layer linked in a single process - Steps 4 to 6

5. Writing cores -- made from a mixture of graphite and clay -- are placed into the grooves. Other pencils may use wax based cores for coloring pencils as well as many other formulations used to make cosmetic pencilsⁱ.

6. A second grooved slat is glued onto the first -- making a "sandwich." This is done with a machine called a "lead layer" where the sandwhiches are then "clamped" to hold them together tightly while the glue dries.

7. Once the glue dries the sandwiches are transfered to equipment called a "Shaper" and are first "trimmed" to assure that the sandwhich is square and that all the pencils will be the proper length, then the sandwich is machined into pencil shapes such as hexagonal, round or triangular.

8. The individual pencils cut from the sandwich are ready for further processing. Any defective pencils such as uncentered leads or chipped wood are discarded at this point.

9. Next each pencil is painted in a machine receiving from 4 to 10 coats of lacquer depending on the desired quality of the finish and the color of lacquer. A recess is cut to accept the ferrule.

After painting some pencils are wrapped with decorative film or foils with fancy designs although most pencils are imprinted with the brand name by stamping the foil into the surface of the pencil.

10. On a "tipping" machine an eraser and a ferrule (the metal ring that holds the eraser to the pencil)are crimped into place on each pencil.

Eraser Tipping Machine

Following tipping pencils are packaged in many different ways for shipment to distributors, wholesalers or direct to retail stores where you buy your pencils.

Reported by http://www.pencils.com/pencil-information/pencil-making

Pencil

2008-11-07T20:56:00.000-08:00

"A pencil is a writing or drawing instrument consisting of a thin stick of pigment (usually graphite, but can also be coloured pigment or charcoal) and clay, usually encased in a thin wood cylinder, though paper and plastic sheaths are also used. Pencils are distinct from pens, which use a liquid marking material."

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pencil

Writing Pencil, Mechanical, Lead

2008-10-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

Pencil is a needed tool in school.