FITNESS AND FAMILIES

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS

 �We as parents are our children�s first and best role models, and this is particularly true when it comes to their health�We can�t lie around on the couch eating French fries and candy bars and expect our kids to eat carrots and run around the block.�

                                         --Michelle Obama at the Building 

                                         a Healthier Future Summit, 3/8/13

The facts are staggering:

• One out of every 7 low income preschool children is obese. 
• Kids spend an average of 8 hours a day in front of a screen.  
• Girls who are obese will have an earlier puberty than normal. 
• Obesity and physical inactivity are leading risk factors for type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. 
• Children who are obese are more likely to be obese as adults.

As parents, we need to take responsibility for our children�s health.  It is not the job of their teachers or doctors.  It is up to parents.  To add years to their lives, add life to their years.  Are your kids getting enough fitness?  Most kids are NOT getting the minimum of what they need at school.  The minimum recommendation for children ages 6-17 is 60 minutes every day.  

Family walks are part of my family's traditions.  Make them part of yours, too.  That's my brother, Bill, in the middle at a recent family gathering in Kentucky walking with his children, Erika and Neils (on left side) and our nephew Christopher and his girlfriend, Chen (on right side).

Kids need a mix of 3 different types of fitness:

1. Aerobic activity (this should be the majority of the 60 minutes/day, consisting of brisk walking or running)
2. Muscle strengthening (at least 3 days a week, consisting of gymnastics or pushups)
3. Bone strengthening (at least 3 days a week, consisting of exercise such as jump rope or running)

Take the lead.  Start by looking at yourself first.  Are you getting enough exercise?  Are you a good role model for your children?  As my friend, Sam, says, �Don�t talk, do.�  To learn more about the benefits of physical activity, click here.

 

Recently, I did a shoutout asking for ideas from you about what kids wanted to make.  My friend, Jill, responded that her daughter loves eggplant and she asked for eggplant recipes.  That started my quest for the perfect Baba Ganoush recipe (a Middle Eastern eggplant dip).  I found it and now you and your kids can enjoy Baba Ganoush plus 2 other amazing recipes that are super healthy, delicious, and fun to make with kids.  Click here.

In gratitude,

Nancy Heinrich

Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.

BACK TO SCHOOL LUNCHES

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."
                                                  -- Steve Jobs

Summer vacation for America�s kids is coming to a close and the first day of school is almost here.  What was the best part of YOUR summer vacation?  

Lead the way for a great school year by innovating with school lunches.  The best school lunch your kids will get is the one they make with you.  Getting the right balance of good carbohydrates, lean protein, and the healthy fats can make the difference in your kids' success at school (and your success at work).  

Let�s start by planning:

1.  Pick out a great lunch box for each of your kids (and one for you so you can take healthy lunches to work).  Google �bento lunch boxes� for new ideas.  What is a bento?  Quite simply, a bento is a visually appealing lunch in a box.  According to Wikipedia, a bento is �a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine.  A traditional bento holds rice, fish or meat, with pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container.�  Remember to plan for a way to keep the lunch cool with an icepack inside an insulated lunch bag.  Some of the containers I have been using in our Growing Healthy Kids� programs are the square and rectangular plastic boxes with built-in cooler packs.  Check out stores like TJMaxx and Homegoods for a great selection. 

Ready to learn how to make a bento box? Click here to watch the video!

Click here for an overview of how to make a bento lunch.

2.  Take a walk with your kids through your favorite food market or big box stores like Costco and Sam�s Club.  Make a list of 10 foods that store well and can be bought in bulk (to keep costs down).  Here are some ideas:

• Nuts (almonds, walnuts, pistachios, pecans, etc.)
• Dried fruits (bananas, apples, apricots, peaches, cherries, blueberries)
• Dark chocolate squares (Ghirardelli has always been my favorite brand since visiting Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco throughout my childhood growing up in California.)
• Pretzel sticks
• Triscuit crackers
• Miniature whole grain bagels (which can be frozen)

3.  Now make a list of protein foods that can be easily prepared once or twice a week.  Here are some ideas:

• Hard boiled eggs
• Quinoa salad
• Hummus (pack with celery, carrots, or cucumbers)
• Tuna
• Canned wild salmon
• Wrap sandwiches made with whole grain breads (check out flat-outs and La Tortilla Factory�s choices).  These can be used with sliced cheeses and low-fat meats like turkey. 
• Peanut butter or almond butter (make your own cracker sandwiches with whole grain crackers or flatbreads)
• Whole grain pasta salad (use Dreamfields rotini pasta as the base)

4.  Keep a chart in the kitchen of the seasonal fruits and veggies where you live so you can incorporate those into the plan.  Fresh is best! Buy from your local farmers whenever possible.  


5.  Buy a stainless steel water bottle.  Your kids can fill it with water each night and place it in the fridge to chill overnight.  Make a family pledge to stop using disposable plastic water bottles.  Go back to school in style with the stainless steel Growing Healthy Kids water bottle--click here.

6.  Create a weekly lunch menu with your kids.  Keep a notebook for this so you can note which lunch items were a hit!   

Email your favorite summer adventures to us and we will post some in the next couple of issues of WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS.  Email us at growinghealthykidsnow@gmail.com.  

In gratitude,

Nancy Heinrich

Growing Healthy Kids, Inc. 

3 HABITS FOR HEALTHY FAMILIES

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS

�It is extraordinarily difficult to fight the headwinds of our society that has promoted obesity in our children.  We have a lot to do to truly tackle this epidemic.�  

                                   --Lawrence J. Cheskin, M.D., F.A.C.P.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:  Where do I buy food?  How much of my weekly food expenses are spent on vegetables, fruits, and whole grains?  How much am I spending on prepared foods that come in boxes?  Is my child getting a healthy meal at school?  How many hours of �screen time� is my child having on average every day?  How often do my child and I exercise together?

We�ve all heard this phrase:  �It takes a village to raise a child.�  I like to say, �It takes an educated village to raise a healthy child.�  Children deserve access to foods that will help them maintain healthy weights.  Children deserve to be surrounded by informed adults who will provide guidance and love to help shape children and youth into healthy and happy adults. 

Improving health literacy of adults is a big part of what we are doing in the Growing Healthy Kids movement to reduce, halt, and prevent childhood obesity.  As Dr. Cheskin said, we have a lot to do to tackle the childhood obesity epidemic in light of all the added sugar, fats, and salts found in packaged foods and the pharmaceutical industry looking to profit from overweight and obese adults and kids who develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes as a result. Here are three habits which can position your family for better health:

HABIT ONE.  Keep a log for 3 days of how much time your child � and you - are spending on �screen time� a day.   Include TV time, computer time, and texting time.  Use the logs to determine if your child is spending too much time watching TV and playing computer games and not enough time outside playing.  How much screen time is too much for children?  Current recommendations from American Academy of Pediatrics are to limit screen time to no more than 1 to 2 hours of quality programming a day. By comparison, a 1999 study found that children spent an average of 6 hours and 32 minutes a day in front of a screen. Click here to read the full statement from American Academy of Pediatrics.

HABIT TWO.  Rate your plate.  Half of your dinner plate should be veggies.  To be able to have fresh vegetables every week, find out what is in season and what your local farmers are growing.  Veggies at the height of their growing season can be bought for the best price.  Click here to find a local farmer near you.

HABIT THREE.  Cut your sugar consumption in half.  Sugar contains what we call �empty calories� � calories with no nutritional value.  Start with sodas and fruit juice.  At the Growing Healthy Kids program, we teach kids two rules:  �Drink water not soda� and �Eat fresh fruit.�  Soda is loaded with sugar.  Become a nutrition detective:  divide the grams of sugar per serving by 4.  The result is the number of teaspoons of sugar one serving contains.  A typical carton of flavored milk served in public schools contains about 7 added teaspoons of sugar.  Start the new school year off right and find out what your kids will be drinking at school by scheduling to have lunch with them at least once a month. 

Kids love to grate the zucchini and carrots!

Zucchini patties with fresh cilatro

As promised to our readers several weeks ago, here is the debut of our newest addition to the Growing Healthy Kids Recipe Collection, featuring zucchini, a great vegetable that is abundant this time of year and easy on the family food budget. These store well for a day or two and make a great healthy lunchbox item!

GROWING HEALTHY KIDS:  Our Recipe Collection

Zucchini Patties

IN A MEDIUM BOWL, place:

• �  2 cups grated zucchini (about 1 large or 2 medium)
• �  � cup onion, shredded
• �  1 small carrot, grated finely
• �  1/2 cup potato flour (I like Bob's Red Mill brand)
• �  1 teaspoon baking powder
• �  � teaspoon sea salt
• �  � teaspoon pepper
• �  1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (optional)
• �  1/3 cup Braggs Nutritional Yeast (or substitute grated Parmesan cheese) (optional)

IN ANOTHER BOWL, whip until they �hold a peak�:

• �  2 egg whites

FOLD egg whites into zucchini mixture and gently mix well. 

Add a little more flour if mixture is too wet.

MIX in a shallow plate or small bowl:

• �  1 cup panko bread crumbs
• �  2 Tablespoons smoked paprika

USING a measuring cup (1/4 cup), scoop batter and roll into balls.  Roll lightly in panko and flatten to about � inch.  

Fry on griddle, using spray oil.  Patties should be about 3� in diameter. 

  

COOK for about 5 minutes, then flip and cook about 3 more 

minutes.

SERVE with a spoon of fat-free sour cream, salsa, and 

chopped cilantro or flat leaf parsley.  

Hope you enjoy putting these 3 habits to work for your family�s health.  Enjoy the remaining few days and weeks of summer vacation before the kids return to school!  

In gratitude,

Nancy Heinrich

Founder, Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.

WHAT IS KILLING OUR KIDS?

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS

"We can make a commitment to promote vegetables and fruits and whole grains on every part of every menu.  We can make portion sizes smaller and emphasize quality over quantity.  And we can help create a culture � imagine this � where our kids ask for healthy options instead of resisting them."

                                                                           

                              --Michelle Obama, First Lady

Jason told me that he is having problems with his eyes and his feet.  I asked him, �When was the last time you were screened for diabetes?� and he replied that it was more than 7 years ago.  Then he talked about his kids.  He said his son was �almost as big as I am.�  Then, his voice dropped and he added that his 15 year old daughter is also almost as big as he is.  He asked me how to help them.  I said, �Lead by example and help yourself first.  Act as if you are at a healthy weight yourself.  Let them know that you are changing what you eat and are going to eat 2 more cups of in season and locally grown vegetables this week.  Start changing one thing each week to get on the path to better health and a healthier life.� 

Can you guess what this is?

How do parents help their kids who are obese?  Health starts at home, in the discussions we have at the dinner table, in our attitude towards exercise and fitness.  Health starts in the kitchen, in the foods we prepare for and with our families. 

Childhood obesity is a problem because:

• Kids who are obese are more likely to be bullied
• Kids who are obese are more likely to be obese as adults
• Being obese increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, joint problems, high blood pressure and certain cancers
• Kids who are obese are more likely to suffer from poor self-image throughout their entire lives
• Kids diagnosed with type 2 diabetes can be expected to have a shorter lifespan of about 17 years than kids without diabetes

How do I help my kids get back to a healthier weight?

• Commit to making one change a week in your eating or fitness habits. 
• Write down your own health goal.  Be specific.  Use S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-specific).

How do I know if I am at a healthy weight or not? 

Start by looking at yourself in the mirror.  Do you like how your body looks?  How do your clothes fit?  Are they tight?  Do you have to buy new clothes every few months because you need a bigger size?

For most of us, we know if we need to lose some weight and some inches.  A good reference point is to determine your Body Mass Index (BMI).  For adults it is simply based on the relationship between our height and our weight.  BMI for kids (ages 2-19) is based on their height, weight, plus their age and their gender (male or female).  The BMI is not a perfect tool but it is a useful tool.  Find out your BMI number by clicking here.  

Click here for some great, kid-friendly foods and ideas that kids of all ages will love!

Let�s do something meaningful about our children�s health by showing them that we can about our own health.  Children need good role models and it is up to each of us to be that role model.  The consequences of ignoring obesity in America's children are too high and too extreme to ignore.   Act as if�..

A picture from my 4th of July vacation on St. Simons Island, Georgia last weekend!

The Growing Healthy Kids movement is about inspiring, educating, and improving the health literacy of Americans so we can reverse, halt, and prevent childhood obesity and obesity-related diseases in children.  Together, we can improve the health � and lives � of America�s children, one child at a time.

In gratitude,

Nancy Heinrich

Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.

TIPS FOR PREVENTING HEART DISEASE

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS

February is American Heart Month.  This is the month when we raise awareness about the signs and symptoms of heart disease and steps we can take (like walking every day) to prevent heart disease.

The human heart - the engine for human life.  Take care of your engine so it can take care of you.

If you have heart disease, such as high blood pressure and/or high cholesterol in your family, AND you are overweight, did you know that losing as little as 5 to 10% of your weight can have a substantial impact on lowering your blood pressure and improving your cholesterol?  It's true.  One of the primary reasons why I started the Growing Healthy Kids movement and focus on solutions to childhood obesity was because of the results I saw among adults in my wellness classes who became educated about how they could get to a healthier weight and come off insulin and blood pressure medicines. When I worked with older adults taking ten or twelve medications and a couple of months later they started coming off their medications as their weight came down, I knew we had to take bold action to educate parents. 

Children who are overweight and obese are being diagnosed with high blood pressure and high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.  Children are being medicated with drugs that have never been tested on children.  Children who are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes as teenagers will live about 17 years less than normal.  

We know that children who are not at healthy weights will have shorter lifespans than our lifespans - UNLESS WE BECOME EDUCATED AND COMMIT TO HALT, REVERSE, AND PREVENT CHILDHOOD OBESITY...one child at a time. 

The best prescription we can write is one for education.  Education for parents about how to cut back the saturated fats in foods, like switching from whole milk to 2% or 1% milk.  Cutting back on trips to McDonald's for 10 piece orders of McNuggets and burgers and fries loaded with 3 days worth of sodium - and a guaranteed case of high blood pressure sooner, not later.  Education for teachers, principals and cafeteria managers, so that they will do whatever it takes - no matter what - to bring in locally grown fruits and vegetables to their school cafeterias.  Education for our business leaders so they will invest in the health of America's children through their employees' own health literacy.  

Being overweight is one of the leading risk factors for heart disease.  It ranks up at the top, just like smoking.  American Heart Month, in my opinion, should be all about America�s problem with eating the wrong kinds of foods and not exercising enough.  Too much of the wrong foods and not enough of the right foods.  Too much salt will raise your blood pressure.  Eating more calories than you need will cause you to gain weight.  Eating too much fat - mainly too much of the bad fats (saturated and trans) - leads to heart disease.

Obesity and heart disease are connected, just like heart disease and diabetes are connected.  If you have diabetes, for example, you are at 2-4 times higher risk for a heart attack or a stroke than someone without diabetes.   Heart attacks are the number one cause of death in the United States.  

Everything is connected.  �When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.�  (quote by John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club)

If you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and/or diabetes in your family, take a few minutes to watch this clip from THE WEIGHT OF THE NATION.  It might just change your life by motivating you to start making small changes that will lead to big results.

Click here to watch a clip from the HBO special, THE WEIGHT OF THE NATION:

http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/watch/bonus-shorts/obesity-research-and-the-national-institutes-of-health

In gratitude,

Nancy Heinrich

Founder, Growing Healthy Kids

PS - Growing Healthy Kids will be hosting screenings of THE WEIGHT OF THE NATION in 2013 as part of our Wellness Wednesdays series.  If your organization would like to collaborate with us on a screening, please contact me at growinghealthykidsnow@gmail.com.  I look forward to hearing from you!

HEALTH TIPS FOR 2013

EVERYWHERE I GO, I talk with parents and grandparents faced with the harsh reality and knowledge that, somehow, their child or grandchild is not at a healthy weight.  Sometimes the reality rears its head when your child suddenly refuses to go to school one day.  Or when the school principal calls to say your daughter is in their office crying because someone called her fat. 

What I say to you as a parent is the same thing I say to adults who are told by their doctors that if they do not lose some weight, they will develop diabetes.  If they already have diabetes, without losing some weight, they likely will encounter the reality of its ugly complications such as loss of circulation in the feet, amputation of toes or a foot, a heart attack, loss of vision, and more.  We know how to  prevent diabetes.  We can learn how to prevent more weight gain and then make a plan to get to a healthier weight.

You may ask yourself, �Where did all this fat come from?�  or �How did my daughter (or son) gain all this extra weight?�  The answer is simple:   by eating and drinking more food, drink, and calories than they (and we) need and use.  Extra weight does not suddenly appear overnight.  We don�t go to bed 180 pounds one night and suddenly wake up the next morning weighing 215 pounds.  It�s the same way with kids as it is with us adults.  They don�t go to sleep one night weighing 55 pounds and wake up the next morning weighing 80 pounds.  

Woman eating fast food french fries.

We all gain extra weight the same way - one pound at a time.  Five pounds here, three pounds here, another two pounds here � it adds up over time.  Every time you take the kids to McDonalds, it adds up faster.  Check this out:  a double quarter pounder with cheese, a large coke, and a large fries has 1,560 calories (almost a whole day�s worth of calories), 1280 mg of sodium (more than half of what we should eat in a day), and a whopping 86 grams of carbs (the sugar in the coke contains  �empty� calories with no nutritional value).  Go to www.mcdonalds.comto learn the nutritional value of what your kids eat there. 

Children having fun running.

�So, now what do I do to help my children?�  You start one day and one week at a time to make changes.  The universal law is that small changes lead to big results.  

Right now, starting today, the first day of 2013, you can make the decision to make small changes.  This week you start moving.  Take a walk.  Don�t assume that your kids are getting enough exercise in school, because they are not, especially if they live in Florida.  The education leaders in Florida should be ashamed of themselves for stripping physical education out of our schools and our children�s health and daily lives (personal opinion).   In the county where I live, kids in elementary school get 30 minutes a day of P.E.  Remember that kids needs 60 minutes a day of P.E.  So start moving.  Be the example they need.  Take a walk every day with your child while they are on winter break.  Play basketball with them.  Jump a rope.  Don�t allow them to sit inside all day.  Get outside and play.  Just for the heck of it.  For the health of it.  Now. 

It takes responsibility to develop new habits.  As parents, we are responsible for our children�s health, for what they eat, for making sure they get exercise every day, for getting their homework assignments done and turned in, and their science fair project deadlines met.  Take responsibility for their health.  Stay tuned to this blog for weekly lessons in 2013 you can use at home (and at work) to improve your children�s health � and your own.  Together, we can lose the extra weight.  To access a Body Mass Index (BMI) calculator for you and your children, go to www.cdc.gov.

Thanks for taking responsibility. 

Perfect health,

Nancy Heinrich

To order a copy of my new book for parents, NOURISH AND FLOURISH, go to amazon.com now.