Posted tagged ‘children nutrition’

Eat less, move more

March 12, 2010
obesity and minorities, diabetes, heart disease and stroke risk for minorities, deck stacked against minority kids, black, hispanic, latino and latina children have greater chance of being overweight, obesity epidemic greater for minority children and teens

Latino and African American children are at higher risk for obesity.

Black and Hispanic have the deck stacked against them according to new research in the journal Pediatrics.

Much to the amazement of researchers, infants, babies and toddlers show high rates of obesity and inflammation that damages blood vessels.

Some of the risk factors reported by AP medical writer Lindsey Tanner include pregnant women smoking; feeding infants solid food before 4 months; parents over-feeding young children; babies between 6 and 24 months  not getting enough sleep; and little kids having TVs, fast food and sweet drinks in their rooms.

It’s easier to put junior in the bedroom with a sippy cup and happy meal in front of the screen than to convince him to eat broccoli with the family.

Taking care of children takes T I M E. Lots of it. Daily.

I spent years cooking for and feeding my four children. They cooked and ate with me. I expected them to eat vegetables and they did. I didn’t track their temporary likes and dislikes or cater to them.  We almost always had dessert — after a family dinner that included vegetables — and ate it in moderation.

I never encouraged video games. My two sons eventually scraped together money to buy one. I encouraged them to play outside. We often played outdoors as a family — walking the dog, playing frisbee or dodge ball, skiing, swimming, and biking.

A simple formula to better health: eat less and move more. Moving more is fun, especially when done together.

Riding bikes together is a fun way to move more and eat less.

A simple formula to be healthier: move more and eat less.

“Food Inc.” is a must-see

November 30, 2009
childhood obesity epidemic, how to get kids to eat vegetables, diet and exercise, good parenting tips, eating locally, raising backyard chickens, backyard chickens and kids

If you haven't seen "Food Inc.," rent it and watch with friends and families. It will impact how you think, buy, grow and eat.

“Food Inc.” will change the way you think about food, which will influence you to change what you buy, grow and eat.

I started keeping backyard chickens this year so everything I eat isn’t transported 1500 miles. Raising chickens is a fantastic family hobby because it gets children involved in growing food and teaches them where food comes from. Like growing vegetables, it may influence your children to make different food choices.

Keeping chickens is not as much work as having a dog. The attention chickens require is worth the payoff of fresh eggs and freshly butchered free range chickens — if you go that route. With or without butchering, the eggs are a fabulous reward.

eating local, raising chickens, backyard chickens, childhood obesity epidemic, diet and exercise, how to get children to eat vegetables, eating habits, omnivore's dilemma, eating local

That's me, putting the roof on my chicken coop.

“Food Inc.” influenced me to continue keeping chickens because they’re local and free range, and to splurge on more organic products at the grocery store. This is hard because I have the frugal gene, inherited from my parents who came of age in the Great Depression. I started small by buying organic carrots and Stonyfield Organic Yogurt. I don’t buy all organic, but some, which makes a difference.

What really upset me on the film was this prediction: people born after 2000 will have a one-in-three chance of being diabetic; for minorities, it’s a one-in-two probability.

That’s frightening. Our food is causing a health epidemic.

The good news:

1. Parents can influence children to make different decisions around food. We can raise chickens and grow vegetables, cook at home more, pack lunches and expect children to eat wholesome food, free from excess sugar, fat and salt.

2. Consumers can vote with our pocketbooks. Every time we buy a burger or a gallon of milk, we influence how food is grown, transported and sold.

Rent ”Food Inc.” and watch it with friends and family. It will influence how you think, buy, grow food and eat.

Your health and your children’s health depend on it.

Now is the time for mindful eating

November 23, 2009

With five brothers and three sisters, I learned to act quickly when good food was available. We always had enough to eat, but the first time I saw leftovers on meat was when I visited my husband’s family at age 22.

My mother advised my ever-hungry brothers, “Have some bread and gravy, a peanut butter sandwich or a can of soup if you’re still hungry.”

They taught me to have a good offense when snacks and desserts were served. Luckily, I followed my brothers and sisters outside to play in the yard, so the grab-and-stuff eating habits didn’t make me obese.

Back then, parents encouraged their children to walk to school and play outside, so I worked off the second desserts and potato chips. High fructose corn syrup wasn’t yet on the food pyramid.

With childhood obesity predicted to skyrocket to one-in-five obese children by 2010, parents must take preventative action.

Mindful eating is the practice of eating slowly, paying attention to the scent, sensation and taste of what you are chewing and swallowing.

Mindful eating means remembering the people who grew, harvested, transported, sold and prepared the food. When we remember the effort behind food, it’s harder to waste it.

Try this exercise to eat more mindfully with your family, borrowed from the Unitarian Universalist Winter 2009 magazine.

www.sarahdbelle.wordpress.com, childhood obesity, family wellness, family fitness, children healthy eating habits, teens, anorexia, teenage girls, healthy body image, moderation, mindful eating, thanksgiving day, celebrate food

This photo is from a fellow blogger, http://www.sarahdbelle.wordpress.com. Sarah writes about food and her struggle with anorexia.

1. choose two fruits or vegetables that everyone in the family can eat, for example, strawberries and carrots. Have enough for everyone to eat one of each.

2. Wash the produce, slice and arrange them artfully on two serving plates, one for strawberries, one for carrots.

3. Pass the strawberries. Invite each person to take one and slowly, quietly chew it. “Take your time. Chew throughly and deliberately, to fully experience the texture and flavor. Imagine the earth, the sun, the water and the air that nurtured the strawberry. Taste the sunlight in the strawberry.”

4. Next, pass the tray of carrots and say the same thing for the carrots.

5. Share a moment of silence.

6. Talk about what it was like to each simple foods together, silently. What did you learn about eating? About strawberries? About carrots?

7. What would it be like to eat a whole meal in mindful silence? Could you do it? Why or why not?

Enjoy a happy and mindful Thanksgiving Day dinner with your family.

A Thanksgiving challenge

November 20, 2009
good parenting advice, raising children, raising good kids, parenting how to, how to parent, parenting strategies. good parenting book

Two of my nephews pull the meat off the Thanksgiving Day centerpiece. Chores develop resiliency, responsibility and self-esteem.

With Thanksgiving coming, parents can try something new with cornucopia of unfamiliar foods.

I challenge parents to:

1. NOT prepare special foods for children’s Thanksgiving meal, no matter how “picky” they are. Special foods creates entitlement and reinforce pickiness. It’s too much work . You are not their servants! They can learn to be adventuresome.

2. Say NOTHING and I mean NOTHING about the foods that are served. Invite children and teens to “Try it.”

3. Treat their inquiries, hesitations or quiet rejections to the food like a dead tennis ball. Act like your children are talking about different kinds of leaves falling from  trees. It takes three days to die of dehydration and three weeks to die of hunger.

For one day, I challenge you to subdue the natural desire to monitor their food except to moderate their consumption of chips, high-fructose syrup drinks and dessert. If they are still hungry after Thanksgiving dinner, allow them to solve the problem when you get home.

At family meals in the next few days, emphasize manners. At my house we ask, “What would Grandma say about the way you’re slurping that soup?” Ask your children how they should act at Thanksgiving dinner. They know.

Impress upon them how to be a good guest. Good guests never yell, “Yuck!” when a food is offered. They politely say, “No thank you.” Good guests take moderate amounts of special treats. Do not allow them to gobble up all of the shrimp or other treats.

The root of discipline is “disciple” which is Greek for “student.” Our children are our students. We are their first teachers. Your children and your Thanksgiving dinner hosts will appreciate well-mannered youngsters. You will enjoy the day more if they are prepared on how to act and you haven’t prepared special foods (unless your child has a medical condition).

Children respond to our expectations — verbal and non-verbal. Practice being an actor. When we change our behavior and expectations, children and teenagers will make other choices. The older the child, the longer the re-training takes. Parents must be stalwart when setting new expectations. You can do it!

I look forward to hearing comments on parents who use this strategy.


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