Plants, Passion, and Growing Healthy Kids

Paradise greetings,

This week's job is getting our teaching gardens planted. Last week I attended a workshop called, "Planning Your Spring Garden," by our county extension agent. She said it's time to plant lettuce, spinach, cauliflower, and other "cool weather" plants now.

So we're "springing" into action, digging in the dirt, and growing healthy kids! By Friday night, in my volunteer time the kids and I will have planted our "salad gardens" throughout the county.

At last week's salad party for the younger children who attend The Willow School, all the kids delighted in having salad using lettuce they had grown! They learned how to make a sharp vinegrette dressing. It was awesome watching them crunch down on fresh veggies full of vitamins!

By making small changes in what our children eat and teaching them how to eat healthy using fresh ingredients (let's see, we picked the lettuce, washed it, and 5 minutes later we were eating it - yes, that's FRESH!!) we will get them - and us - to healthier weights.

I am passionate about making a difference in teaching kids - and their families - that simple changes in what and how we eat and move restore the energy balance between the calories we eat and drink and the calories we spend. The way I see it, the more we collaborate, the bigger the results and the healthier the kids. It takes a Healthy Village to Raise Healthy Kids. How healthy is YOUR village?

Because I cannot stand by while obese children struggle with carrying 70 or 100 excess pounds, I am committed to being a voice for raising awareness among school personnel, after-school program personnel, and parents.

Let me know if you can help us plant the salad gardens in Indian River County this week! Go plant your own! And please send me a message and tell us what does YOUR favorite chopped salad contain? I'll forward all responses to The First Lady, Michelle Obama, so she knows we are ALL working - and playing - together in America's garden to get kids fit!

Growing Healthy Kids - one garden and one child at a time.

To your perfect health,
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids

Record highs and the beans are blooming!

Paradise greetings,

With a foot of new snow in Des Moines, we are blessed to live in the tropics, enjoying record highs while the rest of the nation shivers. This morning, while driving my son to school I glimpsed an incredible sunrise. After dropping him off, I altered my morning work plan and drove over the bridge to South Beach. What a perfect way to begin an awesome day! Some stretching and gentle breathing exercises to wake up the bod with the power of the mighty sun bathing Earth in magnificent beauty.

The glory of nature. This is what Growing Healthy Kids is about. Connecting kids with the glory of nature. Learning that the healthiest foods come from the earth. Learning how to grow them. How to harvest them. How to prepare them. How to enjoy them. Respecting nature. Respecting ourselves. Respecting each other. We can overcome the nature deficit kids have by acting deliberately and with purpose.

Yesterday I visited the garden at The Willow School. The beans have the most beautiful, dainty purple blossoms on them and are ready to get staked. The lettuce is big enough that I asked the kindergarders when we are going to have our first salad party. The bean and lettuce seeds were provided by Florida Department of Health's Cancer Prevention section. Eating healthier foods such as fruits and vegetables is important for preventing cancer.

This morning on the news, scientists were celebrating the decreased cancer rates one minute, then talking about their expectation that cancer will be increasing because of the American obesity epidemic. This is why we are planting gardens.

Growing Healthy Kids - improving the health - and lives - of kids, one garden and one child at a time.

To your perfect health,

Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids