Food, Nutrition & Healthy Eating Tips Tell your kids the truth Fact: On average, kids get about 38 percent of their calories from fats, mostly the bad hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated and trans-fats. Bad fats create free-radicals in the body which destroy your good cells, even your brain cells. These fats are known to seriously contribute to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, allergies, poor skin, and so many more sickly conditions. All fried foods are filled with bad fats. Stay away from them, especially French fries. Let them know that what they eat and drink can make the winning difference. Fact: The brain changes and grows. Naturally nourishing foods, especially essential fatty acids, can actually increase the size, fluidity, and strength of brain cells. They also increase the number of information sending and receiving sites found on the network of neurons, and increase the speed at which the information is transferred. Sound like a good plan? Then choose the good food plan. Focus on eating a variety of God-made foods instead of altered process foods. Make good fats (essential fatty acids) a high priority (olive, fish, flaxseed, canola oils, nuts, and seeds). You kids can experience the well-fueled brain advantage as a student, athlete, and artist. Diets: Should kids be on one? The obesity rate is at 16 percent, 4 times more than in the 1960's. One in three kids are overweight. These statistics add up to a probable disease condition in the future, be it diabetes, heart or auto-immune disease, even cancer. Good diets are sensible plans that keep kids well, optimally productive, and serve as a foundation for a lifelong lifestyle of balanced mental and physical health. Junk food diets do just the opposite. Most commercial diets are designed for adults who weigh around 145 pounds or more, not for growing kids. For these, a health professional should be consulted.
Consulting with health professionals for diets is always adviseable, especially for children who are excessively overweight. The Mediterranean Diet and Food Circles guidelines will give your family healthy balanced nutrition. Physical Activity Kids must be active regardless of what they are eating. A sluggish circulatory system means nutrients are not being well distributed throughout the body. Unused muscles atrophy. Unused calories show up as stored fat. Whether they walk the dog, play ball, or hip hop, get your kids moving. Five Days On, Two Days Off This Really Works! From Sunday dinner through Friday lunch, serve your kids nourishing foods and lots of water. Friday night tell them they can eat whatever they want. From Saturday to mid-day Sunday morning offer them junk food. Sunday evening, return to serving Better Choices meals. This is an effective weaning process. In time, you will find your kids won’t crave as much junk food, even on the weekends. Exception: Kids who play sports, perform, or have academic challenges on the weekends need to wait until after they are finished to have treats, well-deserved treats. Kid Tip Phrases Turn-off: "This is healthy for you." or "But it's good for you." Better: "You really are what you eat. Andre Agassi set winning records after he paid attention to nutrition." Periodically we will be changing the Kid Tips. An entire chapter in the book, Are Your Kids Running on Empty?, is devoted to ideas that work with kids. Check it out. USE THE BETTER CHOICES GROCERY LIST and THE HEALTHY RECIPES FOR KIDS FOUND ON OUR CD COOKBOOK (Mom, I'm Hungry. What's for Dinner?) and YOU WILL BE AT LEAST 50% THERE! Please email us any Nutrition Tips that work for you. We look forward to receiving them. Some chosen ones may be put on this webpage for others to see. (ellenbriggs@familyfoodexperts.com ) |
