WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS: School Lunch Tips for Parents

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS:  School Lunch Tips for Parents

"Higher sugar, fat, and salt make you want to eat more," a high-level food industry executive told me.  I had already read this in the scientific literature and heard it in conversations with neuroscientists and psychologists.  Now an insider was saying the same thing.  My source was a leading food consultant, a Henry Ford of mass-produced food who had agreed to part the curtain for me, at least a bit, to reveal how his industry operates.  To protect his business, he did not want to be identified."

-- David A. Kessler, M.D., The End of Overeating (Dr. Kessler served as commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration under presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and is a pediatrician.)

It�s August and the kids are heading back to school.  During my talks in the southeast U.S. on how to prevent and reduce childhood obesity, I speak with lots of parents concerned about the quality of what their kids are (or are not) eating at school.  One suggestion I give parents of elementary age kids is to eat lunch with your kids (or breakfast if they eat it at school).  With all the changes in the school lunch program, a lot of schools have not figured out that kids don�t like changes and if you change something you better let the kids test it first or the food all goes into the garbage can next to the cafeteria door.  I liken it to �The Rule of Law� that says government needs to tell you well in advance of a change and not just spring it on you. 

Here are four back-to-school lunch tips for parents:

1.  If your child buys lunch at school or is on the free and reduced meal program, then schedule to eat lunch at least once a month (and at least twice a month during the first month that school is in session) with your child, selecting your lunch from the same choices your child has in the school cafeteria.

2.   Let your child pick out a new lunchbox that uses minicontainers.  These are great for including small portions of several healthy veggies, fruits, and proteins so that the foods don�t touch each other (kid rule number 1).  I was in Target last weekend and saw a cool Rubbermaid product for under $10 that included an icepack.  Pack a bottle of water instead of a drink with added sugar. 

3.  Create your own family test kitchen where your child can design his or her own lunchable staple such as a whole grain roll-up sandwich or a whole grain pasta salad.  Both can be made and packed the night before for an out-the-door-in-a-hurry school lunch. 

4.  Check the sugar content on the milk sold at your school�s cafeteria and steer your kids to lower sugar products.  In the school district where I live, most of the kids choose the chocolate and strawberry milks which have a whooping 7 teaspoons of added sugar (28 grams) per serving!  This is more sugar than kids under the age of 9 should have in an entire day!  Low fat white milk is a much smarter choice than the sugar-filled strawberry or chocolate milk served in schools.

I would love to hear from you about what works for getting your kids to eat more whole grains, fresh vegetables and fruits for lunch.  Send me an email at growinghealthykidsnow@gmail.com! 

Remember to keep a big bowl of fresh fruit and veggies on the table so the kids can grab a healthy snack on their way into the house after school!    

In gratitude,

Nancy Heinrich

Founder, Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.

PS - Moms and Dads, check out this site I found in last week's Relish magazine about a dad who prepares easy-to-make, everyday food for his wife and three sons.  Click here. 

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS: Becoming a Nutrition Detective

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS:  Becoming a Nutrition Detective

"Evolutionarily, sugar was available to our ancestors as fruit for only a few months a year (at harvest time), or as honey, which was guarded by bees.  But in recent years, sugar has been added to nearly all processed foods, limiting consumer choice.  Nature made sugar hard to get; man made it easy."                                                             --Dr. Robert Lustig

Last fall, health literacy came into the lives of 25 young people in the form of a new afterschool program conducted by Growing Healthy Kids at the Gifford Youth Activity Center in Vero Beach, Florida. I�m not sure who had more fun � the kids or the staff who participated in the program!  The kids got to play in the kitchen every week as they learned lessons about what it means to eat good foods.  We shredded, grated, and mixed our way to some great recipes.  At the last class, each child took home copies of the recipes they had made and tasted, along with their very own "Eat Rainbows" aprons to remind them to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables every day. 

Classroom time before playtime in the kitchen

Fresh vegetables and herbs can really make foods taste fresh AND delicious!

The Smokin' Salmon burger was a bit hit!

Having fun in the kitchen!

I recently contacted the Center�s director, the amazing Angelia Perry, about teaching a new program this summer.  Without hesitating, she said yes.  Tomorrow is the first class and I am so excited because the children are going to learn how to be a nutrition detective! 

We have an obesity epidemic in America.  Two in three adults are overweight or obese but one in three children is overweight or obese.  When I was growing up in Sacramento, California we played outside after school every day, walked to school, and had P.E. every day through high school.  We didn�t have McDonalds and Coca-Cola getting kids addicted to sugar, just like crack cocaine gets people addicted. 

Eating too much sugar is something most kids (and many adults) do every day without even knowing it.  The excess calories are stored at fat.  The fact is sugar is highly addictive and food manufacturers know it.  Sugar is added to most processed foods.  We have become complacent about knowing what we are eating.  Take something as American as a bowl of breakfast cereal and figure out how much sugar you are eating every morning.  Look at the Nutrition Facts label to determine how many grams of sugar are in a serving.  Then determine how many servings are in that big cereal bowl of yours.  So many food manufacturers create serving sizes that are teeny tiny compared with what we really pour in our bowls.  Divide the total grams of sugar by 4 to get the number of teaspoons of sugar you are eating.

Your next lesson in becoming a nutrition detective will be in next week�s Wellness Wednesdays when we will talk about what a day�s worth of sugar should be vs what people really eat a day. When you go to the grocery store, compare labels and choose the breakfast cereals that is lowest in added sugar.  

To order an "Eat Rainbows" apron and remind your kids to plan meals and snacks with plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits, click here.  Happy Summer!

In gratitude,

Nancy Heinrich

Founder, Growing Healthy Kids, Inc. 

TOO MUCH SUGAR

How often do you read food labels?  Are you looking at the sugar content of the foods you and your family eat?

Reading food labels is a simple strategy that can raise your awareness about where the hidden sugars are in the packaged and processed foods you buy.  It can also help you reduce the amount of refined, or processed, sugars your kids are eating. 

Eating too much sugar leads to obesity.  Obesity leads to heart disease, diabetes, bone and joint disorders, and sleep apnea.  Our kids don�t deserve these preventable diseases, so why do we continue to feed them massive amounts of refined sugars? 

Start reading labels. Don�t buy foods that have more than 4 or 5 grams of sugar per serving.  Choose foods with less sugar per serving, not more.  Read the ingredients of any food label that contains more 5 ingredients because sugar is hidden by food manufacturers. 

Too much sugar causes inflammation in the body.  Inflammation is the fire that starts a chain reaction of disease processes.  Our children deserve better.   Serve fresh fruit as part of healthy lunches and snacks, not pop tarts, sodas, and M&Ms.    

To learn more about how refined sugar is toxic to the body, check out the April 1, 2012 interview with Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CBS 60 Minutes:  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-57407203-10391709/sugar-and-kids-the-toxic-truth/

Nancy L. Heinrich, MPH

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