The Party is Growing Healthy Kids

Paradise greetings,

Today I woke up with a big smile and a happy heart. Thinking about what women can do when we come together with a purpose, my spirit soars. When everyone does a little, we can do so much!

Last night, Growing Healthy Kids' mission to act deliberately to raise awareness about how to halt and reverse childhood obesity was highlighted in the company of incredible, caring women. I am in gratitude and awe of everyone's participation at the first Chicks with Checks' Party with a Purpose. Thank you to Donna Vernon and the Chicks with Checks for providing a platform for our work and our results to gain traction.

It was great to share the hot-off-the-press news at the party that Growing Healthy Kids was just notified that we are a recipient of an Annie's Homegrown Grants for Gardens! This grant will provide foods for creating the healthy snacks which the kids just love! We have a responsibility to respect where our foods come from and to provide good nutrition for children to thrive, a belief we share with Annie's Natural and Organic Foods. Thank you to Annie's Foods.

Growing Healthy Kids has also been selected as one of three recipients for Annie's contest on Facebook beginning the end of this week. More on that when we get details. I am SOOOO excited about all these developments, as it means we can now really kick up some serious garden dust with healthy foods and snacks for kids (once Florida thaws out, of course).

So, here's your question...what is your favorite kid-friendly healthy snack??

From the Arctic tundra previously know as "where the tropics begin", it is with great gratitude that I begin my work today to act deliberately to improve the health - and lives - of children, one garden, and one child at a time.

To your perfect health.

Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids

Party with a Purpose for Growing Healthy Kids

Paradise Greetings,

Tomorrow is a big day for Growing Healthy Kids!! We are the first beneficiary of Chicks with Checks, a socially conscious networking organization started by the amazing Ann Newell up the coast in the Carolinas. Tomorrow is the Vero Beach chapter's first Party with a Purpose and we are so excited to be the lead dog!

Growing Healthy Kids is raising awareness about children who have been influenced and peer pressured to consume more calories than they are spending in physical activity and normal growth and development and as a result are at unhealthy weights. Who are these persons of influence? You decide.

Being overweight or obese increases one's risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, skeletal problems, arthritis, sleep apnea, and psychological problems like depression. The risk for some cancers also increases with excess weight.

It's one thing if an adult chooses to eat and drink too many calories and not balance it with the calories they are burning. Any idea how many calories YOU ate and drank today in food and drinks?? It's another thing when adults turn a blind eye to kids who are eating 3 days worth of calories, salt, and fat when they have a drive-by dinner from McDonald's, Burger King, or KFC. Balancing the energy equations for overweight and obese children is OUR job and it's time for us to get to work. NOW. The health - and lives - of one out of three kids is America is depending on it.

We must act deliberately to increase awareness about how to halt and reverse obesity in children. This is what Growing Healthy Kids is all about. We are gently and playfully teaching children in Indian River County how to have fun (planting and maintaining vegetable gardens) and to prepare and eat healthier foods. I swear to you, when the kids try the healthy foods we make together, you'd think they'd never eaten real food before. They love the choices they are getting!

So come Party with a Purpose tomorrow in Vero Beach. Call the head chick - Donna Vernon - at 772 569-2390 for more information. For me, it's back to the drawing board to plan the next month's programs for the kids and our first parent workshop. See you tomorrow evening!

To your perfect health.

Nancy Heinrich

Founder, Growing Healthy Kids