Eating For Health

Look around and you will see so many kids who are overweight.   Often these kids also have parents who are overweight.   CDC reports that childhood obesity in the USA has become a very serious problem.   Being overweight puts adults and children at risk for poor health.   How many kids in the US are obese? For kids ages 2-19 years of age: 18.5% are obese which equates to 13.7 million obese kids in the USA 13.9 % of kids ages 2-5 are obese 18.4% of 6-11-year olds are obese And 1 out of 5 or 20.6% of 12-19-year olds are obese Moms (and Dads) play an important role in helping prevent obesity in their kids.   Medical Press has a good article discussing 5 healthy habits of Moms that can reduce obesity risk in their kids.   The article published by the journal BMJ discusses research about 17,000 female nurses and their 24,289 kids and looked at five healthy habits of the moms.   These 5 healthy habits lowered their kids risk of being ove...

Last week I shared 4 of the Healthy Eating Habits the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition recommends.   The Council has Eight Healthy Eating Goals , and this week we will look at the remaining 4 healthy eating habits you can adopt in 2017.   So many people think healthy eating means giving up food.   But for many people, healthy eating means adding food to your day – adding more fruits and vegetables, adding whole grains.   Yesterday, I was in a grocery store and the mother of a toddler was buying a carton of "Juice Drink" boxes.   She probably thought this was a healthy choice but she was really buying mostly sugar water for her young child.   Had she bought real juice she would have been offering her toddler something with nutritional value rather than a drink of empty calories.   Making some small changes in the foods we choose to eat and buy each day can have a major impact on our health.   Simply buying real juice instea...

So many kids’ diets today are lacking in fruits and veggies.   A lot of greasy fries but little or no fresh fruit and veggies.   A simple goal for all of us, but especially for kids is “5 A DAY”.   At least five servings of fruit and veggies a day.   I say at least, because I’ve always taught “5 A DAY” but one of my students thought eating 6 a day was too much.   Not true.   In fact, the World Health Organization recommends 9 servings a day.   But aiming for at least “5 A DAY” is a good start.     CDC has a good fact sheet and recommendations, let’s look at some of them.   10 Ways to Help Kids Eat More Fruits and Veggies Make it easy - Keep a bowl of fresh fruit on the counter.    Also, refrigerate cut up fruits and vegetables in small bags for easy snacks.   So much fresh produce is available right now. Keep it visible. Serve fruits and vegetables at every meal.   Fruit for breakfast, 2 servings of fruit/veget...