10 Years of Study Data Finds African American Girls Benefit When They Eat Breakfast

The pathway to better health for teenage girls starts with the first meal of the day and when they make a good-for-me choice their odds of having a healthier body weight and lower cholesterol improve. Based on analysis of the girls’ food diaries, breakfast cereal eaters tended to have lower waist-to-height ratios, an indicator of healthy body weight, lower total cholesterol and lower LDL cholesterol.

 One of the healthiest breakfast choices in the 10-year study was fortified ready-to-eat cereal, which helped boost the nutrient content in the girls’ diets. Analyses of the study results found that ’tween and teen girls who regularly ate cereal for breakfast relative to 24 other reported breakfast foods were less likely to be overweight, had healthier body weights and lower cholesterol. A recent report indicates that 24 percent of African-American girls aged 12 to 17 are overweight, compared to 15 percent of white girls.

“Starting the day right with a bowl of cereal topped with fruit, milk and a glass of orange juice is a smart choice and one that more girls need to make,” Palmer said. “I’m asking girls to pledge on Facebook to eat breakfast so they can help themselves and someone in need, too.” Palmer is encouraging girls aged 14 to 17, to visit www.facebook.com/IHEARTBKFST as a step toward better health and to lend a helping hand to girls in need.

 I<3BKFST, translated as I HEART BREAKFAST, is designed to appeal to and help educate teens and their parents and guardians and it borrows its name from the popular text symbol for love <3. Teens may visit Facebook.com/IHEARTBKFST, where they will first like the IHEARTBKFST page and then pledge to eat breakfast

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15-year-old goes to Harvard after being accepted to 13 colleges

Saheela Ibraheem wasn't sure any college would want to admit a 15-year-old. So the Piscataway teen hedged her bets and filled out applications to 14 schools from New Jersey to California.

"It's the age thing. I wanted to make sure I had options," said Saheela, a senior at the Wardlaw-Hartridge School. In the end, 13 colleges accepted her -- including six of the eight Ivy League schools.

After weeks of debate, Saheela settled on Harvard. She will be among the youngest members of the school's freshman class.

Remembering 9/11...A View from Harlem

As I curled up on my couch last week, flipping through television channels and eager to find something to watch for some sort of Thursday-night entertainment, I realized that I was out of luck. The Office was a repeat, I'm not a big fan of Wipeout and I had stopped watching Degrassi: The Next Generation by the time I was 15. I continued my quest to try and find something worth watching when I came across a documentary about Sept. 11. With the flip of a channel, I was instantly taken back to the most devastating day in my lifetime.

 Ten years ago, on that Tuesday morning, I sat in my sixth-grade homeroom class on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, waiting for my father to pick me up and unsure about what exactly was going on. There was a rumor spreading around school that the World Trade Center had been hit by planes. At first I was skeptical, but the faces of utter disbelief and sadness among my peers and teachers confirmed it for me. We sat in the classroom in silence, listening to the radio, waiting for what would happen next. When my father arrived, I ran into his arms -- an embrace that some of my classmates would never have with their parents again. The car ride back to Harlem was filled with questions. What exactly happened, Daddy? What is a terrorist? Were they going to start hitting random buildings? Would the

Adam Clayton Powell building on 125th Street, located a few blocks from my house, be next? Were we safe? It wasn't until I arrived home and turned on the television that it really hit me. Right before my eyes was footage of the twin towers -- a place where I had once gone for a fourth-grade school trip -- crumbling as soot-covered civilians ran for safety. I saw damage from the plane that crashed into a section of the Pentagon and witnessed a billowing cloud of smoke rising from a field after Flight 93 went down near Shanksville, Pa. To continue please click here:

China Anne McClain Talks About Her New Disney Series A.N.T. FARM

I know I'm not the only one excited to see a brown girl on Disney! In the Disney series A.N.T. FARM, China Anne McClain plays a musical genius who must navigate high school with a bunch of other gifted youngsters as they pursue their passions.

What is A.N.T FARM about? 
China: A.N.T. Farm is a show basically about high school and the A.N.T. program, and A.N.T. stands for Advanced Natural Talent. Everyone in the program is very gifted in whatever it is they do. I’m a musical prodigy. You know, mathematics and arts. So the characters are 11 and 12 and the high schoolers don’t want them there. And my character is China Sparks. She is very complicated. She doesn’t care about what the high schoolers think about her. She is just going to make the most of her high school experience.

Are there any similarities between you and your character Chyna? 
China: There are some similarities. I can play some of the instruments she does. But generally not all of them. I guess I am kind of complicated in a way. Not as much as she is. But I really love her. I see some similarities between us.

In your mind, what would be the one word you would describe your character with — what does she embody? 
China: Confidence. She doesn’t care what anyone thinks about her. She is who she is and she’s okay with that. I love that about her. She’s not seeking to be liked. She just doesn’t want to be bullied.

For more of China's interview, click here: