Information on childhood obesity is everywhere you look. It is on every parenting website and every health and parenting magazine you can find. Ironically, even with this awareness, many of us think we are doing just fine. I used my new favorite quote in a talk today to a school district, "Talking about nutrition is like talking about religion or politics", and I went on to explain that we all have our belief system about what is healthy and what is not, and we are all in different places with our knowledge on the topic (kind of like religion and politics). Parents were nodding in agreement. In a trendy world of "super foods" and very specific and important phytochemicals that protect us from disease such as cancer and all the tricky and other trendy lingo, I have to let you in on a the secret that eating healthy is not that "tricky". Imagine if we all ate 2.5 cups-3 cups of COLORFUL vegetables a day and 1.5-2 cups of fruit a day. Eating that would make a significant difference in our population’s health. Most of us know to eat more fruits and vegetables. God made us special and says that "Your body is a temple" but yet 65% of adults are overweight and now our children are following in our footsteps. The culprits are everywhere but children learn from their home environment. It starts at home, but it takes a community to create change.
Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground-everything that has the breath of life in it-I give every green plant for food." And it was so. Genesis 1:29
The food marketers and manufacturers and lobbyists are running the show and moms need to take it back. Children gravitate toward the "packages". Even our local High School found that more students would eat a salad if they put it into a plastic container! Mothers spend 94% of the food dollars and therefore have discretion of what is in the pantry. We are also in charge of dinner planning and if dinner is planned, meals are much healthier.
Do not conform yourself to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is the good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2
I received a call from a P.E. teacher last night who asked me for information on nutrition facts labels. She wanted to give students guidelines on what to look for in a food label while searching for "healthy" snacks during their week long assessment of knowledge and skills state exams. I was embarrassed that I couldn’t answer her fluently, and even suggested that she tell them to bring an apple…she agreed, but that didn’t help her with her task. I don’t look at labels first. I explained that I go straight to the ingredient panel and look for a whole grain as the first ingredient, no sugar in the first 5 ingredients, no high fructose corn syrup at all, no hydrogenated oil, no artificial anything including colors or artificial flavoring. My concern is that we are reading labels instead of buying REAL whole foods that do not need one. A snack is really supposed to be a plant food like fruit, vegetables, or a whole grain (includes popcorn-and pop the real thing on the stove-not the microwave kind), or whole grain brown rice that needs to cook for 50 minutes. You can freeze leftover rice to defrost for a busy night. Try giving your child a sweet potato after school or an artichoke to snack on. Sounds weird doesn’t it? Helping our children rethink what a snack is may save them from childhood disease that was typically adult onset diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it. 1 Corinthians 10:13
We gave a health talk to EVERY student in our elementary school on healthy choices and media. We had bell peppers cuts up, edamame, kiwi, star fruit and cheese for them to taste. On the other side we had less healthy snacks but taught them what to look for in these packages. We talked about anytime foods and sometime foods. I showed them an almond in the shell. Not one child grades K-5 knew what it was. I think one child thought it was a walnut. At least they knew it was a nut. Now, this doesn’t mean they are not eating nuts, it just points out the fact that they do not know what plants look like which is another part of the problem. My mom and dad always had nuts on the coffee table with a nutcracker. What a healthy snack! By the time you crack one you have already burned the calories you consumed!! I am exaggerating but you get my point. One handful of nuts is a serving of protein. That means 5 full handfuls would meet most people’s daily requirement of protein. Are we buying salted or natural? We want children to enjoy the unsalted nuts and we need to monitor portions with the ready to throw in your mouth mindless eating type of snacks. However, grapes are a ready to throw in your mouth kind of snack and that is a great choice!
My business partner gave a super market botany class showing the parts of the plants and had kids trying radishes! It takes a community to make a difference in our children’s health and parents were grateful that their children heard the "health talk" from somebody else besides mom. The truth is, ultimately, the choice will be theirs and we need to educate our children or they will be in a mess of health problems and disease at a very young age.
Here is what you can do. It is can be easy to change.
Replace one packaged snack your child eats today with a fruit or veggie and let him know he is twice as healthy today as he was yesterday. After this becomes a habit, then add another good habit. Baby steps will turn into giant leaps
Talk to your child about the food commercials and ads that are on television. Ask him questions about what he thinks and share information with him about the nutritional value or if he thinks that cereal can really make him fly (or whatever the ad is for)
Limit screen time. "They" say the rules are 2 hours a day and this includes homework computer time as well as recreation screen time. Maybe recreation can be 30 minutes a day after homework or go outside and play
Water. Explain to your child he is made of water. We are about 70% water so every cell in our body relies on water to take all of the nutrients we consume to all the right places. So why are we giving our children anything else besides water, milk for strong bones and teeth or possibly sometimes juice? Warning: Your child will probably still want the "fancy" drink even after you explain how good water is for them
Cut up fruits and veggies and have them readily available for your children to snack on
Write the week’s dinner menu down on paper and shop for those items. If you know a night or two will be hectic, cook extra beans or chicken the night before to throw in a corn tortilla to go and grab some baby carrots. Eating healthy can be convenient and fast too
EMPOWER your child with the POWER OF CHOICE. Give him the right options to choose from
i.e, and orange or an apple, water or milk, and broccoli or spinach with dinner?
Together we can make a difference in our children’s health. Having the right foods available is important to their future.
