Everyone knows a balanced diet is essential to one’s health. Do not let the title fool you, kids’ foods are the best tasting food, so the following list of nutritious yet delicious food is what you need for an active  and healthy life:

1. Beef (made in Alberta): protein and B vitamins, niacin, zinc and iron, minerals that all growing bodies need.
2. Eggs: full of gold standard protein, a dozen necessary vitamins and minerals, and contain a huge concentration of choline — a nutrient vital for brain development.
3. Milk: Calcium and phosphorous along with protein, energy fueling carbohydrates, Vitamin A, D and magnesium.
4. Berries: Blueberries, strawberries and raspberries are all key to providing potassium, vitamin C, fiber, carbohydrates and free-radical fighting antioxidants.
5. Tuna Fish: protein, niacin, B vitamins, iron and zinc. It’s low in fat and the fat it does have is the healthier Omega 3 kind. These unsaturated fats help brain development. WARNING: mercury levels in tuna means it should be eaten sparingly
6. Yogurt: every serving of yogurt contains calcium, protein, carbohydrates, vitamin B, zinc and phosphorus. This is your alternative ice cream!
7. Cheese: full of calcium, protein and vitamin B12. Not only that, but cheese contains phosphorus, a bone-building mineral. In addition, it prevents dental cavities.
8. Whole Grain: rich in folic acid, iron, zinc and B vitamins and some are fortified with vitamin D and calcium as well.
9. Broccoli: plenty of vitamins and minerals, which helps your eyesight and helps to ward off cell damage.
10. Sweet potatoes: tasty vegetables contain potassium, vitamin C, fiber, folate, vitamin A, calcium and iron, to name a few. Sweet potatoes rank as one of the most nutritional vegetables on the planet.

Blogger’s Pick: The winner of all superfood is Milk. It is no doubt the best drink on the planet and you can never have enough of it.

So, yeah, this is a perfect food list for young kids, when comes to diet for adults and older kids, generally, you want less fat, more vitamin and minerals. Of course, fiber and protein along with some carbohydrates are good for you also.

There you have it, a list of super nutritious yet delicious food for a healthy and active lifestyle.

Learn more about each of the superfoods being introduced here, visit HowStuffWorks.com.

  This book starts about one week before the finals exams in grade twelve, and follows the character Quentin Jacobsen.  Not a total loser,  just a normal guy that’s not part of the “in crowd”. He is accompanied by two interesting friends, Ben and Radar.

  Ben is a small Asian guy that is crazy for girls but some unfortunate events cause his chances of getting a girlfriend to become slim. He is an outrageous character. Radar is a tall African American; he is the more mature one in the trio, and he acts as their common sense. He is all around a nice guy – too bad he’s haunted by a dark family secret (which has to do with ancient Christian traditions), lol. 

  One night, Margo – Quentin’s former friend/high school crush/queen of the school- shows up at his window and takes him on the wildest adventure he has ever had. The next day she disappears.      

Anyone feel like running? Well, on October 11th, which happens to be this Sunday, you can walk or run for 5km or 10km respectively and feel good about  doing so! Calgary’s Alzheimer Society is holding the Thanksgiving Memory Walk and Run at Eau Claire Market. The event will take place from 10am to 12 noon.

You can register online for this great opportunity to run and help raise money for the Alzheimer Society. Still not convinced? Check out the great fun people are having here! Go and register now!

Sogo Active wants Canadian youth from coast to coast to get active and have fun! It’s the sickest way to live healthy.

You may not know about all the activities available near you. That’s why Sogo Active partners with community organizations called Community Hosts, who have facilities and experience. Get Sogo to make active connections, teams and plans with your friends. Use Sogo to track your progress and share your info, challenges and successes.

This is your chance to try new things and get active. Do things that you enjoy and you can make a difference in your community. You can even use Sogo Active Community Hosts to get the facilities, equipment and resources you need to support your Sogo group and get moving.

Sign up is free so go get inspired! So go connect with your community! SO… GO!

Whether it is the long weekend, family tradition time, or just your love of turkey, Thanksgiving is on October 12th. This is a great chance to learn more about this holiday. Did you know the first Thanksgiving was in 1621? The Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast, acknowledged as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. The meal has become a symbol of cooperation and interaction between English colonists and Native Americans. Though many consider it a feast, it actually was a long tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops. British settlers after a long journey prayed and pledged “Thanksgiving” to God for their healthy arrival. Some scholars acknowledge this as the first Thanksgiving among European settlers that has been recorded. Wherever the celebrations have been held, many have been grateful and over time we have given this holiday great importance. For centuries, many have given thanks and gathered yearly for their Thanksgiving meal with family, friends, and a large amount of food.

The Calgary International Film Festival has now drawn to a close, but the films that our city was lucky enough to experience will continue to make their tours around the world.  One such film that has particular relevance to the youth of our city is “My Suicide“.

I’m Archibald Holden Buster Williams. Most people call me Archie. I’m obsessed with movies, making my way through the world’s insanity, and, yeah, a perfect girl named Sierra. Also: I’m going to kill myself. On camera, for my video class’ final project. Is this a high-school publicity stunt, or the only way to cope with hypocrisy and a media-overloaded, ad-saturated society? I’m going to find out. Welcome to my movie.

After the screening Friday, David Lee Miller (Director, Producer, Writer) described the movie as ultimately a tale of the teenage condition.  Indeed, it was a story of what it really means to live, exploring the “realities of life, death…and the intense media overload and hypocrisy that bombard all teenagers“.

Miller is the co-founder of Regenerate, an organization that tries to prevent youth suicide and trafficking, which played a key role in the development of the film, and “achieves its mission by enabling youth with production and post production technologies, and professional working environments“.

Only greater evidence that youth all over the world are doing truly awesome things.  Here’s looking forward to a DVD release of “My Suicide” so that you too can have the chance to enjoy it.

Miao Miao has to be one of the best movies ever.  Directed by CHENG Hsiao-Tse, the film is about a girl who falls in love with a CD store owner, who is grieving after the death of his boyfriend, and the lead singer of his band. Ai, Miao Miao’s friend, helps her ask the CD store owner out, but Ai soon realizes that she has feelings for Miao Miao as well.

Miao Miao is the first film that CHENG Hsiao-Tse has directed.

It has great music, and a good plot.

The movie is in Japanese, but it has subtitles in English. 

Its a great movie and I think everyone should see it.

As we mentioned in September, the His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama passed through our wonderful city this week as part of the NOW conference.  Academics, volunteers, non-profit organizations, and all the youth attended various sessions throughout the course of the conference, one of which was presented by a Canadian, Sol Guy.  He spoke to his experiences with his 4Real project.

After airing an entire season on MuchMusic, MTV, and CTV, 4Real is now focused on connecting individuals with “people, projects and tools to make change real”.  Get connected – join up today.

Say hello to “Ardi,” a hominid who lived in what is now Ethiopia about 4.4 million years ago . The 110-pound, 4-foot female roamed forests a million years before the infamous Lucy, who was long thought to be the earliest skeleton of a human.

A study of Ardi, under way since the first bones were discovered in 1994, indicates the species lived in the woodlands and could climb on all fours along tree branches, but the development of their arms and legs indicates they didn’t spend much time in the trees. And they could walk upright, on two legs, when on the ground.

Formally dubbed Ardipithecus ramidus — which means root of the ground ape — the find is detailed in 11 research papers published Thursday by the journal Science.

“This is one of the most important discoveries for the study of human evolution,” said David Pilbeam , curator of paleoanthropology at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.

“It is relatively complete in that it preserves head, hands, feet and some critical parts in between. It represents a genus plausibly ancestral to Australopithecus — itself ancestral to our genus Homo,” said Pilbeam, who was not part of the research teams.

Scientists assembled the skeleton from 125 pieces.

Ardi was found in Ethiopia‘s Afar Rift, where many fossils of ancient plants and animals have been discovered. Findings near the skeleton indicate that at the time it was a wooded environment. Fossils of 29 species of birds and 20 species of small mammals were found at the site. Geologist Giday WoldeGabriel of Los Alamos National Laboratory was able to use volcanic layers above and below the fossil to date it to 4.4 million years ago! The pelvis and hip show the gluteal muscles were positioned so she could walk upright. Her feet were rigid enough for walking but still had a grasping big toe for use in climbing.

 Click here to read more information about this amazing discovery!

Yup, October is upon us already…but not to fear! First Thursday is here?!

First Thursday is Calgary’s monthly cultural crawl that happens on the first Thursday of every month—I love self explanatory names, don’t you?

So what’s involved? Let’s just say… theatre, art openings, food and drink specials, live music, and MORE! If this is your kind of thing, come on down to the Cultural District today, October 1st, to check out the events that are on all day, from 9am to 2am. (Although I should hope none of you are out this late…)

There is even a free historical walking tour of Calgary’s downtown area. Afterwards, when you’re tired, you can wind down by checking out the works of numerous artists at Art Central. Or you can attend one of the many art and theatre openings. OR you can visit one of the restaurants in the area for dinner or a snack!

With access to theatre, live music, and great restaurants all within a few blocks, the Cultural District is the place to come to experience Calgary’s arts and culture scene.

This is definitely a great opportunity to explore Calgary and to get to know it better. Besides, next month may bring snow… and exploring in the freezing cold just doesn’t seem as exciting. Well, at least it isn’t to me—the cold and I don’t get along very well. Anyways, to check out the schedule of events happening, click here!

This kid is five years old, and he’s already better at trumpet than many trumpeters with years of experience! Geoffrey Gallante can really play the trumpet, and he first started playing at the age of three!

Geoffrey has been featured on many news casts and has been the star of the stage countless times. From the moment this little boy picked up the instrument, he was not only a natural, you could tell he was a prodigy. While his classmates are still learning their ABCs, Geoffrey can regularily read and play music with trained professionals.

He makes it look so easy, even with those tiny lungs of his. To say the least I am very jealous of this little boy.

Trick or Treat! Smell my feet! Give me something good to eat!

This famous rhyme will be echoed all over Calgary in just 31 short days. Halloween, the favourite holiday of so many kids, is celebrated on October 31st. People dress up in costumes, go trick-or-treating, go to haunted attractions, and give out candy.

Most people are familiar with Halloween and love the holiday, but always have trouble thinking of costume ideas for the day. This cool website gives you lots of costumes you can make yourself and look awesome on the day. Just click here. Some of the coolest ideas include  the Joker from Batman, Ricky and Lucy, and so many others.

Check this site out and you won’t disappointed. You’ll find something you love that is easy to make!

Jai Al-Attas, a 25 year old director from Australia, just presented his punk rock documentary One Nine Nine Four at The Calgary International Film Festival, to a very wild crowd. The film was very well set up, informing audiences of what truly was happening in the punk rock scene when everyone was still wearing leather pants, way too much hairspray and still listening to hair bands, and just how quickly it began to explode and be played on radio stations everywhere. The film is narrated by Tony Hawk and provides interesting insight into the bands and record labels; with interviews with Tom Delonge (Blink-182), Fat Mike (NOFX, Fat Wreck Chords), Brett Gurewitz (Bad Religion, Epitaph) and several other influential punk rockers. Through out the film there seemed to be a lot of focus on Green Day, who in the film is accredited with killing grunge rock and Nirvana, bringing punk rock to the forefront. However, by focusing on a handful of bands instead of the whole scene  the movie was very controlled and easy to follow. The film gave true depictions of what the industry was like; playing in warehouses, bands having their music featured in skateboarding and surfing videos, DIY records and labels, and the eventual rise of their own summer tour, Warped Tour.

If you love the whole punk rock scene I would definitely recommend this movie. The amount of information piled into the 90 minute documentary was momentous and I have not watched a music film like this one to date.

I give it four and a half crowd surfers out of five.

Tired of your parents always asking you to turn down that noise coming from your amp? Well drop off your band’s demo and bio to The New Black Centre for Music & Art and you could just get the chance to turn it up a whole lot louder. If your band has members all under the age of 18, CalgarySun.com & Red Rocks Concert Series are hosting an event just for you, Kick-Start 2009. One lucky winner from Kick-Start 2009 will be chosen by CalgarySun.com and The New Black Centre to win a full day in the studio, 12 jam sessions at The New Black Centre AND a spot in the upcoming show in the Red Rocks Concert Series. But get a move on it because the deadline is this Friday, October 2nd at noon.

Rock on!