Controlling Children's Nutrition
As many know I am a huge supporter
of fighting childhood obesity. It is one of my biggest pet peeves to see an
unhealthy child and it also hurts my heart. There are different ways foods are
presented to our children, through our home, through school, and through
friends. There are some we can control and some we can't. So how should we
approach what we can control?
At Home:
When a kid comes home from school,
if they are not rushing to their friends, they are rushing to the fridge. I
know I did since I went a whole 3 hours without eating (in kid time that is light-years!).
Kids want something fast and efficient so they can get to "doing
homework" (aka playing video games, calling friends, or doing extracurricular
activities). They also want something that taste good. So given something fast
like an apple vs a bag of chips the kid is going for the chips. Also dinner and
breakfast are parent’s responsibility. Honestly, most kids don't like
vegetables so they won't eat them. So how do we keep our kids healthy at home
1.
Keep unhealthy fast snacks out of the house.
a.
Honestly, a teenager will not go
through the trouble to make brownies. The kids want to eat so they will go
through some trouble to make food but nothing that takes more than 10 minutes.
Carl (my hubby) use to go come home, grab apple slices, put cinnamon on them,
microwave them and then munch. (I know, shocking my husband likes something
besides pizza). It was fast and a habit which brings me to my next one.
2.
Get them in the habit of healthy eating.
a.
Get them into the habit of eating a
snack at home that way when they go to their friends they won't snack
unhealthily there.
3.
Find their favorite vegetable and make sure they have some
available.
a.
My favorite veggies are peas and
carrots. I ate frozen peas as a snack and enjoyed a bowl of cooked
carrots, butter and parsley when I was a teen. Mom made a lot of those since
they were easy which worked because I would eat them. (NOTE: corn and mashed
potatoes are not vegetables. They are starches and should be treated as bread.)
At School:
It was 4 years before my time when
they stopped making homemade meals at school. I remember the rumors of the ice
cream bar that would await me in jr high and the freshly made lasagna. Talk
about a disappointment when I got to jr high to find processed food and day old
pizza with no ice cream bar. It saved the school lots of money but it dramatically
lowered the standards and quality of nutritional food to resort to processed
and frozen foods. Plus kids do not know much about nutrition so the dippy
little cheerleaders who survive on green salads lacking in protein wither away.
(This is my theory of why cheerleaders have the reputation of being dumb, they
have no carbs to fuel the brain.) What can you do about it?- Pack them (or teach them to pack) a healthy snack.
a.
In secondary education there are
breaks between classes which allow them a chance to grab a celery stick. The
schools can provide only so much; give them that extra something by providing
that extra something. There is also time in recess for snacks. Ask teachers
(especially in elementary) if snacks are allowed in the classroom.
- Petition to eliminate unhealthy snacks from the vending machine if they are still there.
a.
I am honestly not against
caffeinated sodas (mostly because I understand the need for the caffeine boost)
but I am against things like chips and sugar candy in the vending machine.
Sugar candies can result in a very quick boost and a very quick “bonk”
especially if the kids are doing sports after school. Keep them out of the
vending machines!
- Pack them a lunch!
a.
Classic PB&J takes no time at
all and honestly is one of the healthiest things you can have (If you use the
right stuff of course). Make sure they are homemade so that there is a control
of sugar, sodium and fat intake.
With Friends:
Honestly the hardest one to control.
I only have one suggestion,
1.
Educate them
a.
An educated child will make the
right choice. Teach them about drugs, sex and food choices. This is very
important for growing children to understand things so that they can make the
choice. If they make a mistake then they make a mistake (hopefully not a
harmful one) and they will learn from the consequences. If the child has
allergies, educate to them why they can not have the cake if they are allergic
to eggs is VERY important. You can not just say, “You can’t have that cake you
are allergic”, kids don’t exactly understand what that means until they suffer consequences
and learn from them (allergic reaction, BIG consequence and BIG learning). By
forcing the child to not eat healthy at a friend’s will back fire. Kids will
rebel. It is what they do. By educating them about healthy eating will in most
cases result in better outcomes.
Really though, if you are freaking out because
the kid went on a candy gorge at a friend’s house after Halloween, I think you
should take a step back and understand kids are kids. They eat sweets, smell
funny, can’t control their weird emotions, and tend to be crit’ed by stationary
walls. We love them for it and can only control so much. Control your own home
first. I have noticed that healthy parents have healthy kids around them. Do
what you can with your schools including keeping sporting activates and recess.
Nothing gets the in school jitters out like recess, don’t let them get rid of
it! Help fight childhood obesity and eating disorders. Let our youth have a
good start to the wretches that lay ahead of them.
Note these
are my opinion and observations. If you disagree then by all means disagree,
even on my page. I am up for good conversations to broaden my own horizons.
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