My name is Jenny (I am the little sister of the creator of this blog) and I currently work as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in Georgia. I have been in practice since 2006 and have observed the effects of obesity on the lives of young children across the country. As with many medical professionals, I share a great passion for childhood obesity and am very active in the prevention. I hope that I can give some helpful isnight and tips through these blogs and my many experiences I have on a day to day basis dealing with parents and children.
It is not only families battling weight issues who can benefit from making positive changes when it comes to food choices, because everyone's brain, organs, and body needs healthy food in order to thrive. Every family should take a look their daily diet and decide where they can replace poor nutrition habits with good nutrition habits.
So now the question is, how do we make the change? Every day at my practice parents and children acknowledge their dietary problems and can even tell me the solution, but they just can't make the change. My answer, start small and be realistic. Baby steps will get you much further than leaps and bounds in the end. Make one goal, for example eating more fruits and vegetables (fruit cups, canned fruit and fruit snacks don't count). A good way to incorporate more fruits and veggies into your diet is by making all of your snack choices be a fruit or a veg or by just adding them to all of your favorite snacks and meals. What you'll find is that once you incorporate more fruits and veggies into your diet, you will automatically, without thinking, be cutting down on all of the sugar and starch filled items such as chips, candy, cookies, breads etc.
Some of my Favorite Examples of Easy Food Switchovers:
What we Love to eat (that's bad for us) and What we should eat (and will learn to love) instead:
* Bowl of Fruit Loops (or other sugary cereal) - instead try Honey Nut Cheerios or oatmeal with sliced berries or bananas
* Ice cream - instead eat yogurt and/or cottage cheese with berries
* Chips/crackers - instead eat Celery/Carrott sticks with PB, low fat cheese, or light dressing
* Cake/cookies - instead try Organic or Sugar-free pudding with berries
* Spaghetti with meatballs - try Whole wheat pasta with spinach and/or broccoli, peppers, and ground white meat of chicken/turk mixed in to the sauce (p.s. the smaller you cut up the veggies, the less the kids notice they are there; even try pureeing the veggies in a blender or food processor and then adding them to the tomato sauce)
* Bake potato with butter and cheese - instead eat a sweet potato, or just a salad
* Chicken nuggets - instead eat Morning star or Applegate Famrs meatless nuggets or make your own baked chicken fingers by cutting up strips of raw chicken, dipping them in flour, then egg whites, then Panko or low fat bread crumbs, bake on 350 for 20 min (flipping sides after 10 min), or until they are fully cooked; they freeze and reheat well too.
* French fries or tater tots - if you must eat french fries, buy frozen natural potato wedges and bake them (do NOT fry), or make your own baked fries out of sweet potatoes
* Lunchables (which are deceiving because they appear nutritious, but really are packed with chemicals and preservatives, sodium, fat, and sugar that children don't need) - instead pack a homemade lunch of a deli meat sandwich on wholewheat bread, carrot sticks, pretzels, and a cup of applesauce. If your kids love the crackers, cheese, and meat Lunchables, then pack your own crackers, cut up cheese, and cubes of fresh deli meat.
* White bread - instead buy whole wheat bread; whole wheat is actually sweeter than white bread, is packed with nutrients and has less refined sugar and carbs than white bread (that means less weight that's added to the tummy)
Fruits & Veggies
Fruits and vegetables are not just an important part of a balanced diet - they are essential!! Our bodies require the vitamins and minerals found in fruits and vegetables EVERY DAY in order to grow, support healthy organ function, stay alert, and to prevent disease and illness. Our bodies cannot maintain a healthy state living only on processed foods (that's all those foods in boxes and bags). 5 servings of fruits and vegetables should be a part of meals and snacks every day - and fruit flavored food and drinks do not count as a source of fruit either. Fresh fruit and vegetables have much higher amounts of nutrients than those that come from a can. If fresh produce is not available, then frozen is better than canned. Serving sizes for children are obviously smaller than an adult: a few cooked baby carrot sticks, half an apple cut into thin slices, or 1/4 cup of broccoli is a serving size for a child. When you think about it that way and serve at least 1 fruit or veggie at every meal and snack, you'll be getting in 5 servings easily. And replacing desserts with fresh fruit, even fruit topped with a dab of whipped cream, cuts down on a whole lot of added sugar without giving up the sweetness. Now, what to do about all that juice that kids drink....
No Juice! What do I give my child now? Water!!!! I really believe that water and milk are really all you need. After the age of 1 it is recommend that toddlers consume 16-24 oz of 2% and whole milk daily to help their developing brains and bones. I encourage parents to introduce water in a sippy cup as early as 6 months. At 6 months they are not consuming water as a means of hydration, but just playing with the sippy cup and getting the hang of it. By 9 months, I hope that children will have started to master the use of the sippy cup, or a cup with a lid and a straw, and are drinking water with each meal. Children will of course continue to obtain a larger portion of calories and fat from breastmilk and formula in between their meals. After the age of 1, it is recommended that toddlers consume 16-24 oz of 2% or whole milk in order to help their developing brains and bones. Just because they are 1 does not now mean they need juice. Fruit juice is not a substitute for eating fruits because you miss out on the natural fibers in the fruit and are usually consuming mass amounts of additional added sugars. Most importantly, if your child is drinking juice then they likely are no longer going to want to drink water.
Problem: "My child refuses to drink water." Simple solution - slowly thin the juice with water over many days to weeks. Kids are smart, they will pick up on it if you do this too quickly. For the really stubborn bigger kids, Crystal Light and Organic variations are also good options instead of juice and soda. I also can't stress enough the importance of discontinuing the use of sports drinks. A well trained marathon runner does not even need to rehydrate with Gatorade. The only necessary time for rehydration with a sports drink would be within 30 min to 1 hour after strenuous exercise for teenaged kids. I recommend cutting the sports drink in half with water. And NO soda! Truly, the amount of sugar in one can or 16 oz bottle of soda is all the added sugar one adult needs per day! The sugar, chemicals, and carbonation in the soda contribute to obesity, poor health, low energy (after the sugar crash of course), and poor bone growth/bone density.
Problem: "My child would rather drink juice/milk than eat." It is easy to fill up on fluids before a meal. Either do not allow your child anything to drink, other than water, until they have consumed 1/2 of their meal/snack, or offer only water with their meal and offer milk during snack times instead.
Strategies for Starting Good Eating Habits in Kids
Make it a family change: The best way to eating and living a healthy lifestyle is keeping it simple, manageble and family centered. Changing eating habits is not just for kids. Parents - you are your children's role model...your children are a product of their environment, therefore you have to make the changes for yourself before you can make them for your child.
Get the kids involved: Take your children grocery shopping and involve them in the process. It's a great way to teach them about new foods, to compare nutrition information labels, and to get them to try new things. Involve your children in planning weekly meals and even cooking. When children take part in cooking, they are more apt to try eating what they have made. Check out a previous post on cooking with your child.
Eat together: Sit down and have a family meal. Research has shown that there are major benefits to having at least one family meal a day. It's a great time to talk, laugh, enjoy each other's company, and to enjoy the food. Remember to turn the TV off though; it's hard to really pay attention to each other when there is other entertainment on. A family meal should be a time when everyone ignores the technology that disconnects us from each other during the rest of the day; so turn off the phones and the computer too and if you need a little help getting the conversation going, you can always play a game! My favorite meal time games are Two Truths and a Lie and an old drinking game turned dinner game, Never Have I Ever. In Two Truths and a Lie your children must tell you three things that happened during their day, two must be truths and one a lie; it is up to everyone else to figure out which is the lie. In Never Have I Ever, everyone takes turns stating something that they have never eaten or done and anyone else who has takes a bite of their food; for example: Never have I ever eaten brussel sprouts or never have I ever colored a picture with my toes.
The important take home message here is to make eating habit changes to include more fresh food in your family's diet, taking out added fat and sugar, in order to improve weight, health, attention, life, and self image. Make the changes together and find sources of support to make the changes permanent. Your kids rely on you to give them the tools to have the healthiest life possible, since they don't yet have the knowledge or ability to do it themselves. They learn from you and your actions, so the changes must start with you!
Helpful Resources:
* ilunchbox.com - Child portion sizes and other important nutrition information
* Food Guide Pyramid - info on how many servings of each food group a child or an adult should have
* Kid's Health.org - great information on health, nutrition, exercise, feelings, illnesses, etc with specific pages for parents, kids, and teens
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