Recent Study Reveals Kids Who "Struggle with Hunger"

In the August 26th Vero Beach Press Journal, journalist Lisa Bolivar reported on the findings of a study released the day before. According to the Treasure Coast Food Bank and Feeding America, a national hunger relief organization, about 30.5% of kids in the Treasure Coast region of Florida �struggle with hunger.�

The findings centered around a term I hear more and more frequently: food insecurity. It means a lack of a stable food supply.

We must find the courage to talk about food insecurity. Why? Because all kids deserve access to food. Healthy food. Fresh food. Good food.
So let�s talk about food and kids. Why is there food insecurity? How can we morally allow a child to go hungry?

I choose to teach kids and families how to prepare healthy meals and snacks economically using fresh foods. The dollar menu at McDonalds is not the answer to our food insecurity crisis. We have a problem and we have to talk about it. Call your neighborhood elementary or middle school principal and ask them how many kids they serve are in situations where they are �food insecure� and go home to empty kitchen shelves, if they are the lucky ones who have a place to call home.

If we are going to solve the childhood obesity crisis, where kids are eating too many calories and too much fat, white flour, white sugar, and salt, we must talk about food. Too much of it for some. Too little of it for others. Not the right balance for many.

Food and shelter are basic rights. If we don�t have access to good foods, then how can we expect kids to achieve the greatness that each child is capable of?

It�s time to do something to protect the health - and lives - of America's children. What will YOU choose to do?

Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.

"Because failure to reverse childhood obesity is not an option"

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