Healthy Pizza

Paradise greetings,

This morning's Vero Beach Press Journal featured Russ Lemmon's column on page one with this heading: "Should schools really be pushing pizza?" Russ talked about the banner at an elementary school from a national pizza chain. These banners - and relationships - are at public schools all around Indian River County. According to Russ, Domino's Pizza is giving the schools a minimum of $100/month.

Like Russ says, Domino's is not "doing anything sinister" because "school principals can choose whatever fundraiser they want to do, as long as it's within the School District's guidelines," said the school district's spokeswoman.

Guess what? Sounds like it's time to update the School District's guidelines and policies so they assist school principals to make healthier choices for the kids they serve.

We need leadership from our leaders in education that say we give preference to partnerships with food companies and products which are low in saturated and trans fats. We need leadership that teaches parents that it is not OK for a child to be obese. Who is teaching parents that if children who are obese as adolescents are more likely to be obese as adults? Who is teaching parents and school staff that obesity is a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, bone and joint disorders, some cancers, and more?

What's the healthiest pizza Domino's makes? What the unhealthiest?

I looked up the nutritional information for one slice of a large Domino's meatzzza pizza pie: 370 calories/slice (1/8 of the pie), with 157.5 mg grams of fat and 950 mg of sodium PER SLICE!!! One slice contains enough fat calories for 2-1/2 DAYS and it's the wrong kind of fat (saturated). Now multiply all this times 2 or 3 slices and no wonder kids are drowning in fat and the size of two children.

The nutritional information is out there on the internet - use it and make healthier choices.

Growing Healthy Kids made some kick-ass whole grain healthy pizzas for our kick-off garden event on October 13th that had all the kids - and staff - scrambling for some. Our results are that when when we give kids a choice, they choose to eat healthier.

What's your recipe for healthy kid-friendly pizza? I'd love to hear from you as we build new partnerships for improving the health - and lives - of children, one garden and one child at a time.

To your perfect health.

Nancy Heinrich

Founder, Growing Healthy Kids

Welcome to the Garden Adventure

Paradise greetings to you!

I'm Nancy Heinrich, founder of Growing Healthy Kids. This new organization is building gardens for children as a way to teach kids, their families, and their communities about the importance of eating locally grown, fresh, whole foods. So many kids in America are spending hours and hours in front of computers and game systems and are attending schools where physical education programs have been cut back or eliminated.

We are creating innovative ways to teach, empower, and motivate kids to go outside and learning about the simplicity of health from the perspective of where foods come from and where they go, from seed to table. The idea for Growing Healthy Kids was "planted" by the national cooperative agreement between Kiwanis Clubs and Boys and Girls Clubs of America to work together to improve the lives of kids.

We are working in partnership with three organizations to improve the health - and lives - of children, one garden and one child at a time. Boys and Girls Clubs of Indian River County, which serves about 1400 kids, and Youth Guidance Mentoring & Activities Program, which serves about 700 kids who have a parent in jail or in prison, are the kids we serve.

Please follow us as we share the story of building vegetable gardens for kids, teach them how to put together kid-friendly foods using fresh ingredients, and watch as they teach us lessons about how we each can choose to live healthy.

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