NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

The Launch of Wellness Wednesdays

2013 IS STARTING with new energy on the planet, new momentum in personal growth, and new resolutions for better health.   Growing Healthy Kids, Inc. is an organization and movement providing global leadership to improve the health and lives of children by raising awareness about the consequences of childhood obesity and pathways to knowledge.  As a parent, I know about the responsibility, energy, and work needed to raise a healthy child.  I also know that it is up to us, the parents, to take the responsibility to reverse, halt, and prevent childhood obesity in America.  No one is going to do it for us.  Not our politicians.  Not our school board members.  Not America�s CEOs.  Not our children�s pediatricians.  Not the McDonalds manager.   Not the staff at your kids' day care facility.  

WE CAN reverse the childhood obesity epidemic.  We will do it one child and one parent at a time.  

PARENTS HAVE THE POWER in this fight.  This fight is about our children�s health and their lives.  This fight is about consciously making changes that can prevent kids from facing diseases usually reserved for older adults like diabetes, sleep apnea, and joint disorders such as arthritis, and from the psychological damage that can last a lifetime if adults stand by silently.  As a parent, you are the one who needs to get the skin in the game because in this game, failure is not an option. 

AS PROMISED LAST WEEK, the theme of this week�s Growing Healthy Kids blog is to launch a year of weekly information, facts, resources, recipes, and fun stuff that you can use with your family to make a difference.  

IN LAUNCHING THE 2013 WELLNESS WEDNESDAY SERIES, I am asking you to make a commitment to your children�s health.

• Will you DARE TO CARE about your kids� health by setting them up for a lifetime of success and teaching them how to maintain a healthy weight? 
• Will you DARE TO CARE about how often you eat dinner together as a family? 
• Will you DARE TO COMMIT to changes that can and will result in a lifetime of real health for your kids and you?   
• Will you DARE TO COMMIT to cut back on the added sugars and fats your family eats in the boxed and processed foods you buy?
• Will you DARE TO COMMIT to finding out if your child drinks the flavored milk for lunch at school that contains 7 teaspoons of added sugar or the milk without added sugars?
• Will you DARE TO COMMIT to making better choices about food and exercise?
• Will you DARE TO CARE to be a better role model?

KEEPING New Year�s Resolutions health goals starts with making the decision to commit.  Once you are committed and engaged to the process of GROWING HEALTHY KIDS, then we can learn together.  You�ve heard the expression, �It takes a village to raise a child.�  Well, it is going to take the whole village to raise HEALTHY children, as each child who is not at a healthy weight struggles, often silently, knowing they are different from other kids.   They may suffer from the emotional pain and embarrassment from being the victim of bullying and name-calling.  It is highly likely they will have psychological scars that come from the taunting, the whispers, and the looks from other kids passing them in the hallway at school.     

I COMMIT TO PROVIDE LEADERSHIP by bringing you a year of weekly educational blogs and talking with you about the questions you should be asking your school principal, cafeteria manager, and pediatrician. 

DARE TO CARE.  DARE TO COMMIT.  Join me each week on www.GrowingHealthyKids.blogspot.com for the 2013 Wellness Wednesdays series.  

BECAUSE FAILURE TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN�S HEALTH IS NOT AN OPTION. Because this is our village and these are our children.

In gratitude,

Nancy L. Heinrich, MPH

Founder, Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.

The Seed Lady Visits Doughboy's Donuts

I am always talking with people about healthy eating and healthy cooking.  As an epidemiologist, I study diseases and their root causes.  Obesity is a disease directly related to the excess consumption of sugar in its many forms.  Just yesterday, someone was telling me about a father they knew who bragged about his kid drinking 10 sodas every day.  I call that child abuse. Excess sugar consumption leads to inflammation in the body which leads to diseases such as diabetes and arthritis.  No child deserves those diseases. 

This morning, after a great morning walk and workout, I stopped by Doughboy's Donuts in Vero Beach, Florida to treat myself to one of their insanely delicious Red Velvet donuts.  (Yes, it is OK in my book to have an occasional donut.  It is not OK to eat them every day.) 

The woman at the counter looked at me and said, "Are you the Seed Lady?"  I answered, "Yes," although that was the first time someone had formally addressed me that way.  I then asked how she knew me. 

She then told me that last summer her son volunteered through Boys and Girls Clubs of Indian River County for one of our projects building a very large garden in north Indian River County.  She said he had really enjoyed the work and the project.  I thanked her for speaking to me and then invited her son to join us in an upcoming volunteer service leadership project.  I hope to hear from him, as that would just make this Seed Lady's day! 

In gratitude to ALL the kids who volunteer with Growing Healthy Kids,
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
"Improving the health - and lives - of America's children, one child and one garden at a time"

PS - Shout-out to Doughboy's Donuts -- apparently I'm not the only one who loves your Red Velvet donuts becauses you were out of them this morning!  The blueberry donut, however, was almost as delicious!