Tag Archives: child obesity

7 Tips to Combat Child Obesity

Posted on November 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

Let’s face it folks.  There is no way we can rely on school to help children fight child hood obesity.  It seems that real phys ed in the schools is truly a thing of the past.  Remember dodge ball, floor hockey, basketball and red-rover?  They’ve been replaced by anything that is non-competitive, non-physical and non-energetic.

Eating breakfast in the morning and disappearing until the streetlights came on is also a thing of the past.  If we aren’t over scheduling our kids (to make up for the loss of school activities) we are allowing them to sit in front of Xbox, Wii, PS whatever is current and texting on the couch while listening to their iPods and iPhones.  Aye, aye, aye…oy vei!

I play sports right here! #Fail

Times have changed.  Food has changed.  Activities have changed.

You need to make sure you are doing everything you can to help your kids grow up healthy and physically active.  Studies have shown that children that are over-weight become adults that are over-weight.  Diabetes is growing at alarming rates and with that also comes heart disease, joint and muscle problems and a shortened life expectancy.

So as a parent, you need to take control.  Here are 6 simple steps that can help you fight back for your children’s sake.

1.)  Get active.  This can be as simple as getting up after dinner and going for a 20 minute brisk walk or enrolling them in an activity that gets them moving for an hour or two per week.

2.)  Family fitness first.  When was the last time you went for a family bike ride, roller blade or played a game of basketball or street hockey together.  It’s fun and gets everyone involved!

3.)  Trim the fat.  When you are preparing meals avoid using gobs of butter or oil and choose leaner cuts of meat and trim excess fat of the meats you cook.

4.)  Plan and prepare.  Sit down on Sunday morning and create your menu for the week then go get the ingredients you need.  If time permits, make the family meals that day so they are ready to go.  Adding a salad to grilled chicken breast and roasted potatoes makes for a quick, easy and healthy meal.  This will help you avoid the drive-thru or the delivery meals.

5.)  Trash the junk.  Kids love to snack on what ever is easy and convenient.  That usually means chips and candy, so get rid of it.  When it’s not in the house, it’s not available for them.

6.)  Supply super snacks.  Since you’re getting rid of the crappy snacks, make sure you have good stuff around.  Grapes, apples, oranges, bananas, baby carrot sticks, sweet peppers, celery all make great choices.  Cut some up and have them ready for after school or for mid day grazing.

7.)  Sack the sugar.  KIDS DON’T NEED POP.  Growing bodies need water.  Get rid of sugary drinks like pop, fruit juice and sports drinks.  Unless little Johnny is on the ice 6 hours a day, chances are the sports drinks are just going through him.  Fruit juice? Yup… 100% pure means lots of sugar in a glass.  Sure its natural sugar, but think about how many oranges would make a glass of orange juice, there is too much of a good thing except, more water!!!

You may be surprised how easy these are to make happen in your home.  In fact, do it for just a few days and you’ll kids will be coming up with suggestions or reminding you that its time to walk or ask if you want to play a game killer game of H-O-R-S-E on the driveway.

Now that’s a snack!

You can learn more about child obesity here

First Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Maybe governments do need to dictate

Posted on June 8, 2012 | 6 Comments

I usually like to do Friday Fitness Funnies but I saw a tweet yesterday that got me fired up, so you’ll have to wait for the funny, while I bring you the serious

The gist of the tweet was that government should have no business in having any say in what people eat.   It was actually 5 tweets in total because the tweeter could not summarize their thoughts, kind of lame in and of itself.  Perhaps, the person should have posted their little rant on Facebook.

A week ago Mayor Bloomberg of NYC laid out his plan to ban sugary sodas…( pop for us Canadians. )

Holy outrage…this created a media firestorm.

The outrage was stupid for lack of a better word.  If people actually read or listened to his position, it is not to ban soda/pop, it is to reduce the serving size….so buh-bye big gulps.  If you want a 32oz sugary soda at a restaurant, it will have to be served in 2 glasses.

Here is an interview he did:

People are DYING from obesity related diseases….you know heart disease, diabetes.
The government has to step in because obesity is costing US billions…billions with a B.
These are preventable diseases and the public is getting mad because they want to limit how much sugar you suck back.  Nanny state? Maybe, but when the people can’t, won’t don’t make decisions in their best interest that effect all of us, maybe the government does need to step in.
I don’t want to be taxed any more and I don’t want to pay for you and all of your tests because you are too lazy to get up and exercise everyday and I don’t want to pay for your laziness because you are too lazy to cook a meal.
People have the right to choose…..
McDonalds is not forcing people to eat at their restaurants….they are servicing the demand.  If people weren’t buying they would not be selling.

Rounder McDonald

Many people in society choose lazy.  Health and being healthy is not a concern to them.

Go out and lap them!

The stats should scare you straight but so many people are ignoring them.
The government has to step in because what is going on now is not working.
I know a few of you are saying “you can’t tell me what to eat.”
Well, someone has to because you are not making the right choices that are in your best interest, so I’m making a stand for what is in my best interest.  I would prefer my tax dollars to help the needy, not the lazy.  I want the money that goes to treating health care issues that are truly preventable to research the things that are not preventable.
IT IS JUST FLIPPIN’ FOOD….. that seems to have become a drug for many.
You have to exercise – end of discussion.  You have to eat right, healthy and for nutrition, not for your ‘fix’.
People have turned food which is fuel, into a drug as addicting as meth.
Food is the most widely ABUSED anti anxiety drug and exercise is the most  potent and under utilized anti-depressant.
Remember the quote from Austin Powers character, “I eat because I’m fat and I’m fat because I eat, it’s a vicious cycle.” Break the cycle, eat great food, nutritious food, healthy food.
STOP IT….food will not fix your emotional problems and any satisfaction you get from eating high fat food is temporary while the effects can be long term.

OK, Friday Fitness Funny…but so true!

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Posted in Exercise, Nutrition

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Don’t quit on your kids health!

Posted on June 5, 2012 | 1 Comment

Does it start in childhood…giving up, not trying, quitting? and does this lead to our adult behaviors??

When did we become so wishy-washy?  When did we let the children rule the roost….the tail wagging the dog?

Childhood obesity is a topic near and dear to my heart because I lived it. When I see overweight kids and hear their parents blame outside factors, it gets me seeing red.

A book came out in the spring called Bringing Up Bebe. A story of an American family who moved to France and the essence of the book is that there are less overweight kids in France because they eat better.

The book touches on parenting. The writer says that French parents don’t give in to buying chicken nuggets or fishy crackers because that is all the child will eat. Families eat real food that is prepared not handed out of a window to you in your car via a paper bag.

Children are given the same meal as the parents and that is that. There’s no ‘restaurant approach’.  1 meal, 1 choice.   The author also highlights that vegetables are served as the first part of the meal to ensure that everyone eats their vegetables. This is not a new trend in France. This is the way it has been happening for years. This is how these French parents were raised and are raising their kids the same way.

Now, I know a lot of you are saying, oh but they eat all of that butter, cream and other decadent foods….perhaps.  These kids have clean palates, they experience and know what real food tastes like. Whereas, over here these kids are raised on rainbow fishy crackers, processed mystery meat, and sugar.  Their palates are coated in chemicals, they have no idea what real food tastes like.  The kids in France don’t tote around bags of over processed crackers or bags of gummy snacks or endless amounts of juice out of a box that really isn’t juice.

*Spoiler Alert.  Real food, unprocessed food is filling and satisfying.  TAAA-DAAA!!! Shocker, I know, actually, you know it too! When you eat a real meal that isn’t full of chemicals or additives you rave about what a great meal it was.

Here’s my question after looking into this book…are kids of today and kids of tomorrow being raised to be quitters?

Here is a very typical dialogue that goes on each and everyday:
Mom: Eat your broccoli
Kid: No, I don’t like it, I only like chicken nuggets.
Mom: OK, I will make you some chicken nuggets.

Both are quitters.  The major difference is the child doesn’t know any better and the Mom doesn’t want her poor little manipulative angel to starve.

We-parents/caregivers are teaching our kids to give up and to not try.  You can’t blame it on society.  These life lessons are learned at home.

When did we give up the ability to TRY?

I have blogged about this before and I will ask again, do you think your kids will magically start eating broccoli when they are 25?  Heck no! Why would they?

Well, they might when they wake up with diabetes or are 100lbs overweight and SURPRISE you as their parent had a role to play in that. So you think you have ‘Mom guilt’ now for taking an hour to exercise, think how you will feel when your child is overweight as a youngster and is STILL overweight and sickly as an adult and you know that you played a role in that!

I think we have become a society of quitters – ouch, that was a strong one!

I see it each and everyday.  People come to me for personal training or come to boot camp and THEY QUIT because it is tough.  Getting fat and out of shape is super easy.

Eat crap + sit on the couch + watch mind numbing shows = fat!

Squats, lunges, push ups require effort and it takes more effort if you are carrying extra weight and so many people quit.  Everyone wants easy but easy is lazy. I can say all of this because I have lived it and I know.

It’s time to toughen up.

Toughen up as a parent – toughen up as a person and be healthy already.

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Death, disease, disability, what are you waiting for?

Posted on June 1, 2012 | 5 Comments

Watch this

If you don’t think that carrying around extra weight is no big deal….well here’s your reality check, it is.
If you needed a wake up call, consider THIS IS IT!
Think that you can wait until your schedule changes or when the kids don’t have sports or on and on…..
You can’t.
The longer you wait to get your health in order the longer and harder it will be.  That’s a fact.  Aside from tighter clothes and feeling uncomfortable, are you really ok with having the associated diseases that come along with being overweight?
  • Diabetes
  • Cancer
  • High Cholesterol
  • Heart Disease & High Blood Pressure
  • Stroke
  • Sleep Apnea
  • Fatty Liver
  • Depression
  • Should I go on??

You don’t think that 25lbs of extra fat on your body is no big deal.  That is until the day you wake up and have a to start your daily routine of poking yourself with insulin needles to stay alive or you  have stroke or heart attack and can’t speak to tell your family you need help.

If nothing else, be a role model for your kids.
Growing up as an overweight child I can tell you how painful it is.  I BEG OF YOU to not let your kids suffer.  They will.  They might not say it.  They might not show it, but they will feel it.
You being overweight is on you.  You did it.  It’s time to fix it.  I’m here to help.

Is there a better reason?

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Posted in Exercise, Inspiration, Nutrition

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Do you let yor kids eat this?

Posted on February 24, 2012 | 2 Comments

For me food is food. Actual, real food.  I admit, I am a supporter of “Green face” eating. Green face means that your food is grown or it has a face.  Don’t get hung up on the face part.

Lean sources of protein and an array of veggies.

That is the opposite of faux food.  That is the “food” that is all manufactured food.  It’s been created food.  It comes in many wonderful colours, has wonderful sounding names and generally has an incredible marketing budget behind it so that you’ll be more likely to buy it based on “pretty”.

One of the faux foods that tops my list is cereal. If there is a cartoon on the box, it is a red alert not to eat it!!

Food manufacturers are trying to lure parents in by saying that these sugary concoctions to start your day are “better” because they are now made with whole grains. Ummm, not really.  The great thing about labeling laws is that  you can say things (over inflate) that only need to be part true.  In that sugary bowl of mess, you might get 1 gram of fiber. Having an apple will get you a minimum of 4 grams of fiber.

Not so lucky are ya

Lucky Charms are on my hit list today. If you are feeding this “cereal” to your kids, you will be “lucky” if they don’t end up with a weight problem.
Let’s keep this real shall we.

It’s a bowl of candy you are serving to your kids. Brightly coloured marshmallows–that’s candy.

You jack your kids blood sugar sky-high first thing in the morning, so they crash at school.  Then they start looking for another hit of sugar to keep the high going #addict.

So, let’s go over what are in these brightly coloured sugar bombs. Yellow dye #5 & 6.  That sounds yummy…yellow dye. Studies have indicated that Yellow 5&6 as potential causes of behavioural problems and hyperactivity. Add that to the spike in blood sugar and it’s no wonder why ADHD is being misdiagnosed.

Here’s another tasty ingredient that is in your not so lucky charms.  Trisodium Phospate. This delish add-in is found in many toilet bowl cleaners….oh yes, toilet cleaner!  Maybe appropriate if your child has a potty mouth, but…

Now I know a lot of people will be calling me a fear monger……the truth hurts. If you want to stay in denial, well, so be it.  But, these manufactured foods are toxic and dangerous and consumption year after year will add up.

If you are investing money into your children’s future with academics, sports, RESP’s, then why, WHY, would you knowingly feed them garbage?

Take the time to make food, good food.  Healthy eating habits will last a life-time…do everything you can to make it a long life.

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Healthy food choices

Posted on August 17, 2011 | 1 Comment

Well, it’s the middle of August and BTS is just around the corner.  BTS? (Back to school).

I don’t know what it’s like in your house, but I know in mine the school lunches are a mixed bag or love and hate.  I love putting great healthy meals together for them…I hate doing it day in and day out, times 3 children.  You start to lose options after October and it feels like you’re putting the same things in every day.

So, to help prepare you for the inevitable, “Mom, I don’t like that, or why can’t I have those?” I thought I would offer some options and what we do in our house to give you some help in good choices for your little ones.

Oh, and I know the pre-packaged, prepared with preservatives, probably not real food options are real easy and save time, but try to avoid these for obvious reasons.

Fruit cocktail in heavy syrup or Fruit?

Choose Fruit

Why: Fruit is nature’s candy! It is an excellent source of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.  Fruit is an essential part of any healthy diet. However, any fruit canned in syrup adds sugar that you don’t need or want + I don’t think it even tastes like fruit once you destroy it. A ½ cup serving of syrupy fruit cocktail contains 24g of carbohydrate and 23g of sugar. (Think of the teachers for goodness sake…20 kids times 23 grams of sugar = ARGHH)

Craisins, raisins or other dried fruit?

Choose Raisins

Why: Craisins, while sounding exotic and daring, are just sugar-coated dried cranberries and sunflower oil(crazy!). Need I say more?   As far as dried fruit goes, raisins are about the best.  Just like regular fruit as far as nutrition goes, but punched into a tiny little container.  Other dried fruit options are numerous, but beware honey or sugar-coated.  Secret tip…frozen green grapes!! Awesomeness

Pasta Salad or egg salad

Choose: Egg Salad

Why: Pasta salad, even healthier option pasta, is still just carbohydrates (sugar) which will just get stored as fat. Eggs are a good combination of protein, carbohydrates, minerals and if you use Olive Oil Mayo, you get a healthy fat! Egg salad is quick & easy to make.

More next week to help you prepare!!

 

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Parenting 1 – 0 – Dumb

Posted on July 19, 2011 | 4 Comments

So, I’m in my favourite city in the world at a conference.  I’m lucky enough that my family was able to come with me so in the evening the other night we go to one of the best restaurants in the area.

Now this restaurant isn’t the best because it has the finest cuts of meat, or savory side dishes.  It doesn’t have an extensive wine list or even desserts that would make Betty Crocker jealous.  This restaurant is one of the best because it has a simple philosophy.  Goodness from the garden to you.

You walk in and are greeted by a 55 foot long salad and vegetable bar.  Four salads that are made like Crunchy Island Pineapple or Spinach and then an array of different greens, vegetables, dressings, oils, toppings, then more cold salads like tuna, or broccoli.

The next choice on the menu is one of six home-made soups with all fresh ingredients like the vegetable medley, turkey and lentil chili, cauliflower or chicken noodle with thumb size chunks of chicken in an almost clear broth!

Baked sweet potatoes, fresh fruit, cottage cheese, a couple of hand-made pasta choices to top it all off.  It is nothing short of spectacular for anyone looking for wholesome goodness, fresh food and no preservatives, additives, artificial colouring or flavours.

And the price…LOL…feeding a family of five for under 40 bucks!!

But, the real reason why I am telling you this is because the other night when we were there a family of four sat near us with two young children who were less than ‘well behaved’.  You might call them freakin’ horrible!!

Mom and dad seemed a little oblivious to their little devils.  And what did our star parents choose to satisfy their arc angels in training while surrounded by the finest God and farmers have to offer?? Mc Friggin Donalds!! That’s right two Miserable Meals for the Brother’s Grimm.

Now I’m not about to begin to tell someone how to parent, or tell a restaurant that maybe they shouldn’t allow someone to bring another restaurants meals in their building.  (I was going to say competition, but that’s like saying I’m competition for Michael Phipps in swimming.)

I wanted to grab the parents and shake them and say, “What are you doing bringing that crap in here and why would you feed it to your children when there is a buffet of incredible colours, flavours and tastes just waiting to be consumed?”

I’m so happy that my children will eat so many different vegetables.  No, it’s not their first choice to grab a broccoli tree, green pepper ring or a carrot stick, but I know that I can take them to a restaurant like this and they will eat well, fill up and not complain that there isn’t anything to eat.

We let them know from a very early age that vegetables were a big part of their diet and they in turn have responded by including four or five varieties in their top ten foods to eat at any given time.

This isn’t the first time that we have seen this kind of thing from parents in restaurants, at least this set didn’t pull out the dvd player to entrance the little darlings, and I know it won’t be the last.

But it makes me wonder, does the over prepared, processed and stabilized ‘food’ that some children consume have any parallels to their behaviour?  OK, truth is it doesn’t make me wonder at all…I know it has a lot to do with it.  Parents that allow their children to drink pop at breakfast, eat sugar for lunch and follow it all up with a healthy fixin of crap for supper are bound to have children that may require a little extra room.

That isn’t to say that children that are fed perfect diets won’t be highly active and bouncing off the walls from time to time, but it’s a whole different type of energy that’s causing that jolt.

Don’t be that parent.  Give your children every possible advantage as their young bodies grow and mature.  Give them great food choices that nourish and build.  Be that parent.

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Whos fault is fat? Update

Posted on June 20, 2011 | 2 Comments

Big debate…..many issues, many sides, and many make that, very many opinions.

The Toronto Star is doing an obesity series and it is a good read.

Here are the links so far to what’s been said.

We are fat so what’s Ontario doing about it?

Canada’s youth face obesity epidemic

Big Bucks, few controls in the wild west of weight loss

NEW June 21 (Part IV)

It’s time to fight obesity, opposition parties say

My take on this one…no, the time to fight obesity was a decade ago.  The time to fight obestiy was when governemnt decided to remove real physical education from school cirrculums.  The time to fight obesity was when heart disease, diabetes and cholesterol rates started to rise across all demographics and entered into age groups never seeing the diseases realted to fat before. 

Now is not the time to fight obesity…now is the time to fight a generation that has been brought up thinking fat is ok and who believe that, “it’s not my fault.”  Fix the thinking and then we can fix obesity.  Put priorities back on real fitness education and responsibility.

What are your opinions on the issue?

Are you fine with our tax dollars being spent on health related issues that can be avoided?

Do you think it is genetics and that exercise and nutrition are not the issue, or do you think the food manufacturers have done wrong by society? 

Could this be a parenting issue, fast and big lifestyles = fast food obese society?

I would love to know your thoughts on the issues that are being discussed.  Tell me your thoughts and you know, in the next few days, I will let you know what I think.

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Are you a parent…or a push-over?

Posted on March 23, 2011 | 25 Comments

I will start this post by saying that if you aren’t up for a dose of truth and reality then you should probably close this page now and not read any further.

I was on vacation last week with my family and I have to tell you about our experience at a restaurant one night when we were out for dinner.  Actually there were two incidents that happened that night that left me stunned and enraged.

First, there was a family seated at the table next to us and the kids were wild!  Screaming, running around standing on their chairs, feet on the table…it was madness.  Now, as a parent I do understand that eating out can be a challenge…but that’s where parenting comes in to play.

As a parent it is your job to teach right from wrong…at the very least maybe give a good healthy, “Stop it!”  As these kids were getting more and more out of control the mom, who up to this point was doing her best to completely ignore her children, pulled out a portable dvd player from her purse and plopped it in front of these kids to quiet them.  The food hadn’t even hit the table yet!  From there they went into a trance.  The food came but they didn’t eat or drink and barely blinked.

I am guessing that it is likely a part of their normal routine–plop the kids in front of the magic baby sitter (aka TV) to eat a meal.  Who carries a portable dvd in their purse???  What has this family taught their kids?

Responsible parenting is tough.  It’s pretty much the hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done.

The second incident that night stared a family that came into the restaurant with their little darlings in tow and in hand, a big bag from a fast food restaurant that starts with Mc.  OMG, really?

You are going to eat at a great restaurant with an incredible variety of healthy options but, you are bringing in junk food for the kids, how absolutely awful.  I listened as the mother explained to the waiter that the kids just wouldn’t eat anything but that faux food. My thought…wow, you have failed as a parent.  (My husband even took the opportunity to Tweet out the #fail).  You have taught them that it is ok not to eat healthy food.  You have laid the foundation for a lifetime of excuses, bad habits, potential health problems…way to go.

Again, parenting is tough and yes there will be times that kids don’t want to eat but if you give them fries, pop (soda for my American friends) and fried food as the alternative you are giving them a death sentence.  How are you going to feel when you child is diagnosed with high blood pressure or diabetes?  How are you going to help you kids cope when they become obese?  What favours are you doing for them by going to the drive thru for those fries??

It’s lazy.  Yup, I said it.  You aren’t up for the potential melt down?  You want to let the little ones control the menu options? Just spineless enough to let them get what they want as opposed to what they need? Toughen up as the parent, its a life or death matter.  Trust me, as a former obese kid/teen it was awful and it still stays with me.

I get emails and comments from people each and everyday from clients and friends telling me, “I don’t like that healthy food”, “salad is boring”, “just a little cheat is OK right?”   I could write a book on lame excuses.

So is it exciting and fulfilling to be overweight or unhappy with how you look/feel?  How fabulous do you feel when you can’t fit into your pants?  When you are huffing and puffing because you had to walk a flight of stairs, is that exciting?  Suffering from lower body joint pain because the stress your knees, hips and ankles are under supporting extra weight….that has to be a good time, right???

You have to eat real food and you have to take that 10 minutes to make it.  Is that so overwhelming???  puh-lease???

Excuses for not eating properly will give you obesity, knee pain, back pain, health issues (diabetes, high cholesterol, and on and on).

So when you eat that sleeve of cookies or have that cake or drive thru for your dinner think about it.  What are you doing? Why would you self inflict this on yourself or your family?

What do you want to teach your children?  That it’s ok to eat like crap?  It’s ok to ignore your kids and let the electronics watch over them?  Don’t make healthy choices…make convenient ones?

Or do you want to teach your children healthy choices for life.  That you care enough for them to make tough choices for their benefit.  That they are the most important people on earth and you want them to be great adults?  Remember, you are not raising children, you are creating responsible adults.

Agree or disagree? Let me know your thoughts.  Even, add some of your strategies for healthier kids, parenting skills, tips and tricks.  Love to know what you think!

 

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Posted in General, Nutrition

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Kids Choices are Your Choices

Posted on January 24, 2011 | 5 Comments

Some of you might remember I did a blog post awhile back about Jamie Oliver and his, “Food Revolution”.  For a quick re-cap, Jamie went to a town in West Virginia and did his best to educate the town, the schools and the children about proper nutrition.

I applaud him for his efforts and how simply he showed how good nutrition didn’t have to be complicated, expensive or cumbersome.  He made it fast, fun and easy.  What the real challenge for him would be how the town would adopt to the changes and if good health was truly something the town would embrace.

One of Jamie’s targeted foods to stop eating is Chicken Nuggets.  At one time chicken nuggets were made from extruded chicken.  Jamie has had great success at home in England with this experiment where he shows kids how they are made.

The purpose of this experiment was to show the difference between great food and food products.  Jamie says that this experiment has never failed!! Until now…

What does this mean?  To me it’s simple…North American diets have been so saturated with crap that kids see these food products as ‘normal’.  A cute shape, some deep-frying and slick packaging and our kids say, “That’s what I want!!”

Well, I’m not one for blaming the kids.  Kids are products of their environment in many regards and this is one of them.  If we as parents choose, yes choose to give our kids crap, why would you expect them to make good choices?  If they see the drive thru as the quick and easy way to nutrition, then why would we ever think that as they grow, they will make sound decisions.

This is real food

This is not food

Sure, we can blame someone else for this problem…government, advertisers, food product producers, etc.  But, in the end, look no further than the mirror.  Chances are, your lifestyle has led to the choices that kids are making for snacks, for lunch and for nutrition in general.  They have seen a lack of time for you to prepare wholesome healthy meals and your settle for convenience mentality.

There are many families where a sit down meal with real food is a treat, not the norm.  The standard meal is from a box, a delivery car or a drive thru.  At one time it used to be the opposite way around.  Pizza once every couple of weeks from the local pizza joint was a special treat.  What happened?

Do you know you can actually make your own pizza incredibly healthy, cheaper and as a family experience at home?  We do it all the time.  No salt, no preservatives, nothing from a can…just great ingredients that the kids choose for their own personal pizza that they make.  They love doing it and when they get involved, they will eat with less difficulty.

And it’s not just pizza…what about getting your kids to mix the meat for hamburgers and make the patties themselves? Use whole wheat mini-buns and give them the options for toppings.  Guacamole, salsa, lettuce, tomato all add great flavour and don’t add to the incredible fat and saturated fat content of many commercial burgers.

The options are limit less and with a little planning, some time set aside on a Saturday or Sunday and you can make great meal options that are quick, convenient and healthy.

It really is up to you.  There is no one to blame but yourself if your kids have the option of candy or fruit, or carrot sticks or chocolate bars.  If you remove the bad choices then the rest of the choices are pretty simple and healthy.

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