Sunday Morning Lesson: "Practice What I Preach"

Paradise Greetings,

It's raining now (I live in the tropics). A couple of hours ago, however, was the perfect time for my Sunday Morning Practice What I Preach Lesson: my early morning walk/run!

Even though the air was so thick with humidity you could slice it with a butter knife, I laced up my walking shoes, put on my UAB alumni t-shirt, stretched for a few minutes and took off for my morning exercise.

When I am working with a group of parents who are overweight or who have children at unhealthy weights, I always talk about setting goals. Do you have an exercise goal of your own?? The general rule of thumb for the minimum amount of daily exercise we need is this: 30 minutes most if not every day for adults and 60 minutes or more every day for kids.

To get to a healthier weight, use my proven strategy: "Eat Smarter and Move More". If your goal is to lose 5 pounds over the next 4 weeks, then use the "Move More" component and increase your exercise time. If you usually walk 25-30 minutes 3 days a week, then start walking 30-35 minutes 4 days a week in the next week. That's what I did this morning on my Sunday Morning Practice What I Preach walk. And you know what? I feel great! Adding 5 minutes was painless. The additional 5 minutes of sweating felt great! My heart is happy and yours will be, too, when you set a fitness goal and JUST DO IT! Be a positive role model in the life of a child --teach them my Sunday Morning Practice What I Preach lesson.

My Sunday morning lesson to you ends with this reminder...The epidemic of childhood obesity in America requires that we each act deliberately to be part of the solution.

Growing Healthy Kids - improving the health - and lives - of America's children, one child and one garden at a time.



To your perfect health.


Nancy Heinrich


Founder, Growing Healthy Kids


PS - This is one of my favorite family vacation photos when the younger cousins walked their way through, up, down, and around Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming!

Planting Seeds for Growing Healthy Kids

Paradise Greetings,

Notice anything unusual about this photo? The kids are 100% engaged in planting seeds in the teaching gardens at the Boys and Girls Club - and getting some extra physical fitness added into their day without ANY protest! I just love teaching the kids how easy it is to eat smarter and move more!! This photo was taken yesterday during my regular weekly Growing Healthy Kids program. Some of the seeds we planted a month ago didn't make it because of the unusually cold weather we're having (coldest winter since 1958) so it was time to plant again. After all, according to our friend, Spencer Porteous, plants need sun, water, and love to grow!

Radishes, lettuce and green peppers are coming up now. We have another head of cauliflower about ready for harvest, so more "mashed cotatoes" next week! Despite our extreme weather the past couple of months, the green peppers we planted on October 13 are still alive and producing new peppers. The boys were absolutely intrigued using my camera to get close up pictures of the tiny peppers. I loved it when one of the kids said to me, "We need to plant more marigolds." And so we will...

All the kids went home with a packet of seeds compliments of the cancer prevention program at Florida Department of Health with instructions to sow them this weekend. Each child also received their own garden tool to use at home. You would have thought it was Christmas!
Growing Healthy Kids-improving the health of America's children, one garden and one child at a time.

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

When Given the Choice, Kids Choose Health

Paradise greetings,

It's chilly in the tropics this morning, as I send prayers to all the people of Haiti. I pray that a strong and powerful infrastructure will be built there so the country can blossom as paradise. I have served many Haitian clients in my work here in South Florida when I worked for Florida Department of Health and each of them is special to me. They are kind, thoughtful, with a very strong work ethic and so full of love for their children and their families. We have much we can learn from them as we serve them in their time of grief and need.

This past Saturday, Growing Healthy Kids held its January 2010 program for some of the "unmatched" children served by Youth Guidance Mentoring & Activities Program. We met on a beautiful morning at Riverside Park for 2-1/2 hours of learning about healthy foods, quiet reflection on the natural beauty and significance of Veterans Memorial Island, and an orientation to the fitness trail. All these kids and most of the adults who attended Saturday live in Indian River County, yet more than half had never been on the fitness trail or to Memorial Island, with its breathtaking views of the Intracoastal Waterway and its solitude.

What delighted me the most was watching children play, watching their expressions when they tried the snack for the first time with smiles popping up all over, and hearing their "yes" when I said several times, "let's jog to the next trail". It was MAGIC!

There were harsh realities. Several children, because they are overweight, do not get enough exercise, and are eating more calories than their bodies need, did not join in at several fitness trail stations. Next month, I will be more deliberate in speaking with the volunteers about being positive role models for fitness. Children watch us. Monkey see, monkey do.

The healthy snack I brought for everyone, thanks to the generosity of Publix Supermarkets, was Growing Healthy Kids PB&B sandwiches, served in the Danish tradition called "open-faced sandwiches". One slice whole grain bread, 1-2 tablespoons natural peanut butter, 1/2 sliced banana, 5-6 raisins. Cut into six pieces. That's it! The bread I used was Arnold's Healthy Multi-Grain Bread because it contains 4 grams of dietary fiber per slice and the first ingredient includes the word "whole" (also known as "the Nancy rule" for choosing breads and pasta - "4 or more and "whole"). The peanut butter I used was Smucker's creamy natural peanut butter, which has no added sugar. By comparison, I showed kids the food label of another national brand of peanut butter well known to kids. This other brand had added sugar and added unhealthy fats. The lesson was "less is more".

When several kids said, "This is really good and I can make this snack by myself," I smiled and said, "Yes, yes!"

Growing Healthy Kids - 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