Balsamic Vinaigrette will Spring You Into Health!

One way to improve the health of America's children and reverse the childhood obesity epidemic which is already bringing older adult diseases like type 2 diabetes into many children's world is to teach the adults.

At THE GIANT SALAD PARTIES (TM) developed by Growing Healthy Kids, Inc. we teach kids -- of all ages -- how to eat smarter and healthier. The key thing is we ALWAYS make it fun! Here is one of the recipes we are currently featuring at Growing Healthy Kids' educational events in Indian River County, Florida. Please DO try this at home with your own kids.

MIX together:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

WHISK IN: 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

SERVE with a salad of locally grown vegetables like the ones I use that Nat Rew and Rebecca and Mark Hornbuckle are growing at Veggies of Vero (www.veggiesofvero.com).

Are you and your kids ready to learn more about healthy eating?? Then JOIN ME at The Club at Vero on Saturday, March 26 from 2 to 5 PM for SPRING INTO SPRING, an expo and business networking event. Michael Gifford (he's the one in the picture giving me a FABULOUS chair massage at the Growing Healthy Kids Variety Store) will be giving complementary chair massages and I will be teaching how you can easily and economically SPRING INTO HEALTH using recipes such as the Balsamic Vinagrette recipe above.

For information on vendor tables, call Barbara Petrillo at 772-205-7133 or email her at barb4jewels@yahoo.com.

Growing Healthy Kids is a movement to improve the health - and lives - of America's chldren, one child and one garden at a time. Because failure to halt, reverse, and prevent childhood obesity is not an option.

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

photo credit: Ella Chabot, Get Shot by Ella

Childhood Obesity Organization gets new Youth Voice

Today is an exciting day. In a couple of hours we will hold the first-of-its-kind training in Florida to give youth a voice in halting,reversing, and preventing childhood obesity. In a unique collaboration between Growing Healthy Kids, Inc. and the Kiwanis Key Clubs, we begin engaging and mobilizing high school students in the recently funded GROWING HEALTHY KIDS: OUR HEALTH, OUR LIVES, OUR VOICE project in Indian River County, Florida.

This second semester service leadership project is one of the current round of projects funded by Youth Service America. We will keep you posted as the project progesses.

GROWING HEALTHY KIDS is a movement to improve 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

Growing Healthy Kids Restores Energy Balance to Children's Health (and gives notice that childhood obesity has got to go!!)

Growing Healthy Kids teaches kids and adults that "small stuff matters" in its educational programs and workshops about healthy eating and physical activity. We recommend you start at the beginning with step one: assess your own weight and find out your own Body Mass Index. Are YOU at a healthy weight?? Go to www.cdc.gov to find the online BMI calculator for adults (height and weight) and kids (height, weight, age, and sex). If we are going to restore the energy balance for kids (to get them eating the right amount of food for the energy they use and need to maintain their bodies in tip-top condition), we better know where we stand. With 2 in 3 adults overweight or obese, who will mentor kids about how to get to a healthy weight if all they see is fat adults?

Help Growing Healthy Kids teach, empower, and inspire kids AND adults how to halt, reverse, and prevent childhood obesity. Join us next Thursday at STAX Restaurant at our MEET THE DESIGNERS party to follow-up our first annual event held last week at Windsor Beach Club. Your preregistration for the MEET THE DESIGNERS party is kindly requested by the restaurant, please go to

Event management for Growing Healthy Kids Celebrates with a "Meet the Designers" Party powered by Eventbrite

Join the brilliant designers who are collaborating with Growing Healthy Kids to make a difference in 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

"A Magical Afternoon" for Growing Healthy Kids

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of the first annual event, A FUSION OF FASHION AND FUN, for Growing Healthy Kids! We are raising awareness about how to improve the quality of foods that children are eating at home, at school, at day cares, and at afterschool programs. One of the things I asked attendees at A FUSION OF FASHION AND FUN to do is to call the principal of the elementary school closest to where you live or work and schedule a visit to have breakfast or lunch. Then let me know what you would do to improve the quality of what kids are eating. Then go outside and plant some seeds and watch them grow!

Thank you to everyone who attended A FUSION OF FASHION AND FUN! Thank you for being part of our first annual event. Thank you for daring to have the courage to be part of the solution to the childhood obesity challenge in Indian River County, Florida.

Special thank you's go to:
Debbie DeBie for her incredible work as event planner - we couldn't have done it without you!
Barbara Petrillo (http://www.barb4jewels.com/) and Ella Chabot (http://www.shotbyella.com/) for their incredible designs of clothing and jewelry that were featured as inspirations and infusions of the positive. Your collaborations and electric creativity are the spark for the FUSION, the FUN, and the FASHIONS that everyone will clamoring to wear!
Elton Thomas for being the Master of Ceremonies and for coordinating a beautiful and elegant fashion show
Kim George for providing http://www.irculture.com/ as the host website for event information and tickets

Donna Anselmo of Bold Marketing Solutions for handling the event's media relations
Pritti Prakash for introducing me to Elton Thomas (http://www.splashonefm.com/)
Karen Swanson, Karen Frank, and Cindy Hejlik for helping plan the event and to Brian Frank for helping with day of event logistics
STAX Restaurant for hosting our planning meetings and keeping our water glasses filled and great appetizers on the table
Windsor of Florida for inviting Growing Healthy Kids to host its first annual event at the Windsor Beach Club and to Chef Brian of Windsor for your beautiful and delicious foods
Vero Beach Magazine for writing about our event in your January 2011 issue (thanks to your article, we may be working this semester with the UCF School of Nursing to help educate nurses!)
Youth Guidance Mentoring & Activities Program for providing staff to help with event registrations
Treasure Coast-Vero Kiwanis Club members for supporting the community projects of Growing Healthy Kids

Thank you's to our wonderful Event Sponsors:
Nelson Wealth Management Group (Merrill Lynch)
Helen DeBie
Seacoast National Bank
GreensPlus
SeneGence
Disney's Vero Beach Resort
Don's Import Auto Service
Nancy Orlando
The Firm, LLC
Shot by Ella Photoart, LLC
The Petrillo Collection
Ambrosius
Penelope's Boutique and Twirl (thanks for providing the beautiful pants, shorts, skirts, jackets, and children's tutus for A FUSION OF FASHION AND FUN)
Mark's at the Pointe
The Space Arranger
MaxAchiever LLC
Top Drawer Cabinetry & Carpentry LLC
Bold Marketing Solutions, Inc.

Thank you's to our Event Supporters:
Facial Rejuvenation by Dr. Gerald Pierone
Eco-Colour Designs
Publix Super Markets
Staples
Decorative Arts
Jetson TV & Appliance
Blue Ribbon Boarding & Grooming
Riverside Theater
Sebastian Gym
Florida Kids
Bags by "B"
Kiva's Organic Contour
Alternative Medicine Family Care Center
Hands for Healing
River Grille
Patti's Bistro & Catering
The Etched Heart
Bags 'N Rags
Essential Healing Therapy
Island Smoothie Cafe

The Village Store
Vic's Pizza

When you do business with any of these businesses and individuals, please thank them for supporting Growing Healthy Kids and helping us to improve the health - and lives - of America's children, child and one garden at a time.

To quote one of the event's attendees, "A FUSION OF FASHION AND FUN was a magical afternoon!!"

With deep gratitude and sincere appreciation to everyone for helping create A FUSION OF FASHION AND FUN so we can add fuel to our work that teaching adults that childhood obesity is not OK and must be reversed, I thank you all.

To your perfect health,
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
http://www.growinghealthykids.me/

New Designer Fashions Remind Adults that it Takes a Community to Raise a Healthy Child

Here's an idea: What if what we wear is an "infusion of the positive" messages that remind us to make good choices about food and exercise? We're working to do just that! As you know, our team of dedicated Growing Healthy Kids volunteers is preparing to hold our first annual fashion show in Vero Beach, Florida to raise awareness about how each of us can help solve the childhood obesity challenge facing our country.

Growing Healthy Kids is ready to dress you for success so you can help us reach and teach others. Designed by Ella Chabot, the new Growing Healthy Kids Get Shot by Ella design collection features the first release of designs to empower and educate with an infusion of the positive. Ella has been collaborating with me in this movement to teach adults and kids.

The basic adult T-shirt is 100% cotton in a beautiful natural color. The Growing Healthy Kids logo is on the front left side and on the back.

The fabulous "Eat Rainbows" ladies T is also being released today. This design beautifully illustrates that when you "eat the colors of the rainbow" with a variety of fruits and vegetables, your health will be on cloud 9! It features artwork Ella created from a child's project in one of our monthly GHK events for children served by Youth Guidance Mentoring and Activities Program.

To place your order, just go to http://www.growinghealthykids.me/ and click on "store".

More products will be released after A Fusion of Fashion and Fun (www.IRCulture.com/gala.cfm) featuring the designs of Ella Chabot and Barb Petrillo!

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

To your perfect health,
Nancy Heinrich

Author Debbie Macomber Meets Growing Healthy Kids

Today was an awesome day! Just after finishing last minute details with the planning committee for A Fashion of Fusion and Fun (the first annual event for Growing Healthy Kids to be held at the exclusive Windsor Beach Club in Vero Beach!), I dashed to Panera's to tape a radio interview with Rhett Palmer (www.RhettPalmer.com). As Rhett concluded our interview, local resident and writer extraordinaire Debbie Macomber (www.DebbieMacomber.com) walked over to say "hi". Rhett introduced me to Debbie and shared with her about Growing Healthy Kids' work and programs educating adults and children.

Debbie immediately connected to what I told her. She said that as a child she always thought she was overweight. She said as an adult when she looked back at pictures of herself as a child, she realized that she wasn't overweight, but that her self-image was influenced by others and by the media.

Let's start by being honest with ourselves in assessing our current state of health. Do my clothes fit too snug? What do I look like in my birthday suit? Would my blood pressure come down if I lost a few of these extra pounds? (answer: yes) Do I run out of energy and stamina before everyone else? Do I think it's OK to be overweight just because everyone around me is?

If we are going to help kids get to and stay at healthier weight, we have to help ourselves. Take a look at yourself - literally! Check your Body Mass Index (BMI) at http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/index.html. If we are going to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic that threatens the health - and lives - of millions of American children, then ask yourself this question: am I one of the 2 in 3 American adults who is overweight or obese and if so, what am I willing to do about it?

Growing Healthy Kids is a movement to improve the health - and lives - of America's children, one child and one garden at a time. Will you join us?

For tickets to A Fusion of Fashion and Fun next Tuesday, February 1, go to www.IRCulture.com/gala.cfm or call 772-359-8382.

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

For more resources and tips you can use:
http://www.growinghealthykids.me/
http://www.healthydiabetescoach.com/

First Lady Goes to Walmart and Lowers Prices

Yesterday's news had a great photo of First Lady Michelle Obama in front of a beautiful produce display in a Walmart store announcing the lowering of prices on fresh fruit and vegetables. This is a great step for helping American families purchase more fruits and veggies.

Solving the childhood obesity challenge requires strategic planning and the First Lady is able to get the attention of America's largest retailer. Congratulations to her!

Now, when Walmart (www.walmart.com) is ready to get to work improving the health of its own employees, just give me a call. My number is 772.453.3413. Every time I shop at Walmart for things for my healthy cooking classes to show people how to eat healthy AND economically, I engage in conversation with employees there and I always hear the same thing: "I sure wish I could go to your classes. I have diabetes and I could really use some help."

Solving the childhood obesity challenge requires that adults lead by example. Walmart, are you listening?

Growing Healthy Kids, Inc. is a movement to improve 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

For tickets to our first annual event - A FUSION OF FASHION AND FUN - in Vero Beach, Florida, go to www.IRCulture.com/gala.cfm.