POWERFUL PUMPKIN COOKIES

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS

"Dramatic increases in childhood overweight and obesity in the United States since 1980 are an important public health focus.  Despite efforts over the past decade to prevent and control overweight and obesity, recent reports from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) show sustained high prevalence, with 17 percent of children and adolescents with a body mass index (BMI) above the 95th percentile for age and gender...To summarize, two major postmortem studies have demonstrated that the presence of obesity in childhood and adolescence is associated with increased evidence of atherosclerosis at autopsy, especially in males.  Because of the strong association with elevated blood pressure, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance (IR), obesity is even more powerfully correlated with atherosclerosis; this association has been shown for each of these risk factors in all of the major pediatric epidemiologic studies." 

                        --Expert Panel on Integrated Guidelines for 

                          Cardiovascular Health and Risk Reduction 

                           in Children and Adolescents

                           National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Inspiring kids to eat more of the good foods and less of the bad plus getting regular PHYSICAL FUN! is at the heart of what the Growing Healthy Kids movement is all about.  Last week I heard from a friend of mine who reported that she, after reading several  WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS columns, was inspired to start a Wellness Wednesdays Walk to motivate herself and several other mothers to start exercising more.  This is what I talking about!  

Some of the words that come to mind when I hear from people inspired by the WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS column include:

Inspire � change � movement � kids � health � fun � families � together � mentoring � loving � kindness � respect  - happiness � friendships � helping � community.

Who knew this beautiful pumpkin could turn into
healthy cookies for kids?

Since this is the last Wednesday in October, I am sharing the newest recipe from our busy Growing Healthy Kids Test Kitchen.  This cookie was featured at a Main Street Vero Beach event last weekend.  Our new Gluten-free Pumpkin Cookies were sampled by several hundred people and all the reviews were over the top �delicious�!   Here is the recipe:

GROWING HEALTHY KIDS:  Our Recipe Collection

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cookies

 

SIFT TOGETHER dry ingredients in a large bowl:

• 2-1/4 cups Bob�s Red Mill Gluten-free baking mix
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• � teaspoon baking powder
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
• 1-1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• � teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon xanthum gum

USE AN ELECTRIC HAND MIXER and mix in a large bowl:

• �  cup Florida crystals demerara sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 12 Tablespoons butter (1-1/2 sticks)

ADD these to the wet mixture:

• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• � cup pumpkin (used fresh cooked pumpkin if available; otherwise, substitute canned pumpkin)

ADD wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until mixed.  DROP about � cup on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.  

BAKE about 12-15 minutes at 375. 

WHEN COOLED, ice with a glaze made from:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 Tablespoons fresh orange juice**

** For demonstration purposes, Natalie�s Orchid Island Orange Juice was used in the preparation of this recipe. 

READERS of WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS know that the mission of Growing Healthy Kids, Inc., is to raise awareness about the critical importance of reversing the childhood obesity epidemic.  Our children�s health � and lives � are at stake.  Every week, more evidence emerges that cannot be ignored.  The fact is that our bodies are simply not designed to be carrying around extra weight.  When children become overweight and then stay that way as adults, they are being sentenced prematurely to diseases usually thought of as old people�s diseases.  Another study of 1,500 adults prior to bariatric surgery has just been released and found that those who were obese at age 18 were more likely to have diabetes, asthma, polycystic ovarian syndrome, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, lower extremity edema and other obesity-related diseases.  To read the abstract of the study in the journal Pediatrics, click here.

In gratitude,

Nancy Heinrich

Founder, Growing Healthy Kids

3 TIPS TO KEEP YOUR KIDS HEALTHY

WELLNESS WEDNESDAY

�If we cut our skin or break a bone, we take it for granted that the body will heal.  But we can also heal from heart disease, weight problems, and diabetes-yet that will never happen if we do not get away from the foods that are causing the problem and take advantage of foods that heal.�  
                                               -- Neal Barnard, MD                                                                             

Later today I will be giving a talk which I hope will be the first of many talks in my education campaign for parents (for details about today's talk, go to the end of this column).  If we don�t start eating less of the foods that cause disease, as Dr. Barnard suggests, and start eating more of the foods that promote health, then our nationala childhood obesity epidemic will continue to take a great toll.  When kids are diagnosed with obesity, their risk for obesity-related diseases usually diagnosed in older adults will fuel new epidemics of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, sleep disorders, joint problems, and more in younger and younger folks. 

We Americans love to have freedom of choice.  We want to have choices about what we can eat, what doctor we see, and what school our children can attend.  The problem is that we have so many choices, we are killing ourselves with the wrong foods.  So, back to my talk called, �How to Feed Your Kids for LIFE-tips for eating more of the good and less of the bad�.  One food that is causing the problems mentioned by Dr. Barnard is refined sugar, which is why you can be sure that we will be talking about sugar and its impact on kids.  

Did you know there are more than 75 different names for sugar?  The fact is that sugar has no vitamins, no minerals, no protein, no enzymes, and no nutritional value.  It does contain calories.  Sugar is a carbohydrate (the BAD kind) and we are eating way too much of it.  Sugar will kill you, not heal you.  The added sugars in the processed foods we love to choose to eat are making us fat and causing us to develop diabetes, depression, joint diseases, hypoglycemia, and more. 

Serve fresh fruit for a delicious dessert!

Here are 3 simple tips to get you started keeping your kids healthy: 

TIP 1:  If you are a parent and want to put your family on the path for a lifetime of better health free of disease, then start reading food labels to identify how much sugar is in a serving.  

TIP 2 :  Compare labels and choose the food with the lowest amount of sugar. 

TIP 3:  Start reading the ingredients for sugars, starting by learning to spot any ingredients that end in ��ose� and ��tol�.  

Use your parent power and be a role model for eating more of the good foods � and less of the bad.  Let your kids see you reading food labels while you are shopping for foods.  Exercise that great American freedom of choice and choose health!  

 

School will soon be out and if you and your kids are ready to �play in the dirt� as we like to do in the garden-based Growing Healthy Kids movement, then you�ve got to check out what the Man in Overalls (and cofounder of the Tallahassee Food Network) is doing in Tallahassee, Florida.  Click here.

Next, if you are concerned about what your kids are (or are not) eating at school, or if you have joined your son or daughter for lunch in their school cafeteria and you didn�t like what you saw, then get educated by learning more about the farm to school efforts.  The more you know, the more you will be able to be a voice for improving access to locally grown foods at school.  Lots of good info for parents when you click here:

Life is about enjoying good food, so here is an easy, fast, and inexpensive recipe for all us working parents.  Enjoy making this delicious main dish for a fun, healthy dinner.  Let the kids help with chopping and slicing the greens!

Fast Pasta and Greens

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

1. One 10-ounce package whole grain pasta (Growing Healthy Kids� Seal of Approval goes to the Dreamfields brand)
2. One 16-ounce jar pasta sauce (our favorite:  whatever�s on sale) 
3. 1 large bunch kale, roughly chopped, stems removed
4. 1 zucchini, sliced
5. 1-3/4 cups sliced mushrooms

Directions:

Heat a pot of water to boiling.  Add pasta to the water and set a timer for 3 minutes less than the pasta cooking directions recommend.  While the pasta is cooking, heat the pasta sauce in a covered saucepan over medium heat until it just begins to bubble.  Reduce heat to low and simmer gently until ready to use. When the timer goes off, add the kale to the water and cook about 3 more minutes until the kale is tender. 

While everything is cooking, put the zucchini in a nonstick skillet over medium heat and dry fry until just brown, then flip the slices over and brown the other side.  Push the zucchini to the side, then add the mushrooms and stir-fry until soft.  Remove from heat.  When pasta and greens are cooked, drain them and put in a large casserole dish.  Add the hot pasta sauce and stir.  Put mushrooms and zucchini on top and serve. 

Check out the boxes of Dreamfields pasta from a recent Growing Healthy Kids program
at Vero Beach Elementary School.  The kids loved the recipe and the pasta!!

Recipe is from Fork Over Knives: The How-To Companion to the Feature Documentary Forks Over Knives, 2011.

Details:  Today's talk will be at the Vero Beach Main Library on 21st Street, 2nd floor, 3:45 PM sharp! And yes, you will learn a lot of practical tips about how to eat less sugar. 

In gratitude,
Nancy Heinrich, MPH
Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.

WHAT ARE YOU GROWING?

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS

�People need to start growing their own food.� My friend, Kelly Nosler, stood up and said this during the lively community discussion at The Majestic Theatre following the recent screening of A Place at the Table.  Kelly is a 4^th generation Indian River County resident working to bring new technology to classrooms, to families, and to neighborhoods so that people have affordable access to locally grown foods.   This is one of the strategies for solving the childhood obesity epidemic in America.  Buy a packet of seeds for your kids and see what happens when you plant them (the seeds, not the kids!). 

COMING SOON!  The annual Growing Healthy Kids Poster Contest will be announced this month.  This year�s contest will be held during the summer so your kids can create great art AND help us teach kids and parents around the world with their voices. 

One of the winning posters from last year's GHK contest.

Last week I taught two classes to adults who are caregivers for people with diabetes.  I was astounded, as usual, by the number of questions from the audiences about how food affects our health.  A lot of the questions were about getting to a healthier weight.  Many had questions about sodas, diet sodas, and foods labeled "sugar-free".  

An article in the April 29, 2013 online Wall Street Journal (WSJ) caught my attention about the magnitude of the impact that eating and drinking foods filled with refined sugars, sugar alcohols, and artificial sweeteners is having on the health of our children.  In Children on Track for a Heart Attack, writer Ron Winslow discussed a new study based on nearly 900 children and young adults about the hardening of the arteries showing up in kids.  When this occurs, it is a sign of accelerated aging, according to Dr. Elaine Urbina, head of preventive cardiology at Cincinnati Children�s Hospital Medical Center.  It raises the risk of dangerous outcomes relatively early in adult life.  Winslow writes, �The good news is that doctors believe health can be restored to young people�s arteries with regular physical activity and a healthy diet.  This includes cutting back on sugary beverages and foods high in carbohydrates such as potatoes, white rice and pasta.�

Speaking of carbs, in another interesting WSJ article about a gathering of chefs at the James Beard Foundation Awards, I found another �sign� I have to share with you:  [Chef Jesse] Schenker has recently made headlines less for the food he was preparing than for his weight loss (about 55 pounds). He said he�s kept it off. �Seafood and vegetables,� he advised. �Cut out the carbs and the sugar.�

The fact is that obesity is the leading risk factor for diabetes.  If children are overweight or obese and have family members with type 2 diabetes, their risk for developing this disease at a profoundly young age is greatly increased.  As we know, if a youth is diagnosed with diabetes by age 15, it will subtract at least 17 years  from their lifespan. 

If you have a family member with diabetes, then do something to improve your own health literacy.  Get a copy of an educational DVD I produced that has a profound impact on anyone who watches it.  It is true to my mission of creating easily digestible ways to shift your health outcomes and improve your health literacy.  Here is the link:  

Healthy Living, Healthy Eating, Health Diabetes educational video

I�d love to hear from you.  What are YOU growing this summer in your kitchen garden?

In gratitude,

Nancy Heinrich

Founder, Growing Healthy Kids