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

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