Mondays are a great day to renew Family Health vows. Every Monday, you will find some healthy tip to help your family start the week off on a Healthy Note!

Start your week off right, by learning exactly how much food each of your child actually needs. The beginning of school offers a great opportunity to discuss lunch choices, healthier choices and portion sizes. But it all starts with knowing what your child’s body actually needs to keep healthy.

If you are not sure, use the meal planner, it will tell you exactly how many calories AND more importantly, how to “spend” those calories. (how many servings of each of the food groups is needed for a balanced, healthy diet)

I know I am usually blogging about children nutrition but this number was too scary so I had to read the article. And since parents are the prime role model for children’s food habits…. there’s lot so reason to pay attention.

This study was based off an analysis of the weight gains in American since 1970’s. If the same trend line continues than we end up with the warning….nine out of ten Americans will be overweight or obese.

Currently, there are about 2/3s or 66% of American who are overweight or obese…and about 1/3 of our kids. There have been some recent studies that have shown some “flattening” of the trend, so perhaps some of us are starting to change our habits.

That is what is boils down to. Can we change some of our habits? Can we take the stairs instead of the elevator? Can we walk some places instead of drive? Can we grab a piece of fruit rather than a bag of chips? We can change our destiny by working on some key habits.

And the good news. Small changes do add up, so we don’t have to change everything all at once.

Families are on the road for a short drive and an enjoyable “staycation” during the last couple of weeks before school starts.  With gas being so expensive, many families are opting out of the usual big travel plans and driving shorter distances for family fun time.  But when driving it can be challenging to keep your children on a healthy nutritious “road” while on the road!

Here is a great little article that gives some practical suggestions about traveling and eating healthy.

Plan ahead is the key.

• Bring a cooler with your kids favorite healthy snacks so you don’t have to stop at the oh-so-many-convenient stores that feature the latest high fats, high sugar foods.

• Don’t forget the disposal eating utensils so that you can easily serve up that delicious healthy dish you prepared.

• Dry healthy snacks are good for eating while in the car (nuts, granola, look for high fiber mixes)

• A planned stop at a rest stop or park for long drives is a great opportunity for the kids to enjoy a family picnic and stretch those legs.  Maybe even through around a football, frisbee or dodgeball.

The point really is to not let the outing dictate your food (cause you know what is mainly available on the road…and not so healthy) but to take a little time and plan the meal/snacks for the road so that fun, healthy and family vacation are combined into one happy memory.

It seems with the childhood obesity crisis our nation is facing researchers have begun to study the nutrition habits of preschoolers.  We know that habits are being learned…formed during this time.   Washington University is studying how to get preschoolers to eat more fruits and vegetables.

According to the research, it starts with the parents.  Well, this seems pretty obvious but here is a nice article that summed several studies that shows how parents can really make a difference in their child’s eating habits.

Parents, you are the most important role model for your kids.  You decide what food is purchased, what the meal will be etc.

So here is a couple of suggestions:

• make fruits and vegetables part of your child everyday life.
• have them help pick out the fruits and veggies at the grocery store
• have them name the veggies and fruits as they help put them away
• have a vegetable and fruit as part of each of your three meals
• don’t fight with your child if they won’t eat it
• encourage them to just have one bite
• if they still refuse, then ask them to name the color of the vegetable or fruit
• make talking about the fruit or vegetable part of the meal conversation
• introduce a new vegetable and fruit each day to your child
• keep reintroducing the fruits and vegetables

One study showed that a child may need to interact with a food at least 10 times before they will try it.

Keep it simple, keep it fun.  We want them to associate fun memories with fruits and vegetables, not bad experiences like “my mom got mad at me ’cause I didn’t eat my vegetables.

According to a study done at Ulm Unversity, skipping breakfast not only affects children’s ability to stay alert during school but actually may affect boys and girls differently.

Here is what the study found after looking at 104 boarding schools students aged 13 to 20:

• all children reported feeling more alert during testing
• boys reported being in a better mood
• Boys scored better on visuospatial memory

Well the key message is that breakfast is important. Despite the craziness of the morning and everyone getting ready for school and work, we need to make time for breakfast. It will help kids be more alert and help with their memory. Many schools have breakfast programs if you don’t have to time to make it, but you gotta get to school early enough so that they have time to eat their breakfast.

So either way, it means getting up a half an hour earlier so Breakfast is a “must” for the day.

For some helpful breakfast tips, read our Article: Tips for Kids Healthy Breakfasts written by a mother and dietitian.

Mondays are a great day to renew Family Health vows. Every Monday, you will find some healthy tip to help your family start the week off on a Healthy Note!

Before eating your family meal, take a moment to look at the various foods on the plate. Make a fun game and see how many of the food groups you will be eating. Try to make sure you have one from each of the food groups!

Well, according to this article, England’s government has now created a new national policy measuring program that essentially will send height and weight measurements home as part of a school report card.

Here is a few interesting notes:

• they will not state the child’s BMI (they should have a BMI to age percentile for their country, though)

Telling these measures without the BMI score (in my opinion) does not give parents good information.  Why, you ask.  Well,  weight has to determined “healthy, overweight etc, relative to height.  If you weigh 50 pounds and are 3 foot tall that is very different than a 50 pound person that is 4 1/2 feet tall.  So that is why we have a BMI measurement.  It gives a relative number based on these two factors and helps us gauge if we are at a healthy weight.

Just in case you don’t know, for adults:

• below 18.5  Underweight
• 18.5-24.9 Normal
• 25-29.9 Overweight  (66% of us Americans are here or in the next one)
• 30 and above:  obese

Okay, back to kids,  but kids are growing and so BMI scores are not so easy to use as a guage for their weight status because we have to factor where they are on the growth chart.  So we use:  BMI to age percentile  (to read more and check out what your child’s BMI score is click here.

I am not sure how this will completely help parents when England doesn’t give them all the information.

And then one other note:

• obese children will not be catorgized as obese, they will use the words:  “extremely overweight”.

We have this problem here in the US.

What can we learn from this.  How many of you go to the doctor and he/she tells you what your child’s height and weight is.  Do they calculate the BMI score?  Do they tell you what it means?  Here is a pediatric sheet (scroll to the bottom of the page)  you can take to your child’s annual visit to discuss key points like BMI score so that you as parents are getting all the key health points discussed.  Early detection is the key and prevention is the solution.  So information is everything!

I was at an obesity conference a few months ago and it’s a “hot” topic.  Should we tell parents that their child is obese,  some health organizations say “YES”.  Other health and governing bodies say “NO”.  Too harsh.

Does it really matter?  Here is where government and organizations can get bogged down over something so trivial.  The child is at risk for serious life long health issues.  Who cares what you label it, the meaning is the same.  So shouldn’t we just be honest and just give them all the information they need!  It’s not about the label, it is about helping that child and family move towards a healthier lifestyle.

And it has to start today.  Don’t focus on what your child has been eating…  Let’s focus on making one change this week.  I have fun agreements that you can print up to use a discussion guide for changing food habits.  As always, keep it simple, one goal at a time and be patient.  Changing habits takes time.

Here is the update on the report just published on top 13 restaurant chains and the calories in the kids meals.  The benchmark was 430 calories.   Meals offered to children should not exceed this amount for one sitting (one meal) based on the recommended total calorie intake for 4-8 year olds.

The center found that 93% of the 1,474 possible choices exceeded the 430 calorie allowance for one meal.

• Chillis has 700 possible kids meal combinations:  94% are too high in calories
  • The report found that many combinations added up to over 1000 calories in one meal.

• Burger King has Big Kids meals that include double cheeseburger, fries and chocolate milk that reaches 910 calories
• Other restaurants mentioned were Jack in the Box, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Whacky, Sonic, Wendy’s, Dairy Queen,  Arby’s, Chick-fil-A, Taco Bell and Dennys who all had meals that were too high in calories for children
• Subway faired better with 6 out of 18 Fresh Fit for Kids meals

What did the Restaurant’s respond:  they offer choices and it is up to the parents to guide their children in what they should eat.

I have been reading a few blogs who also are tauting the same message.  Don’t discount the power of early nutrition education.  If kids had a better sense of what their bodies needed, it might make it easier for parents and kids to work together in creating healthier meals.  But nutrition education is dominated by high sugar and high fat food companies marketing the wonder and deliciousness and fun of their foods.  Makes it hard.

Just remember, little steps do make a difference.  Every small change is a step to a healthier child.  Start by talking with your kids and making small agreements. If your child drinks coke every day, (I really hope they don’t) then try making an agreement to drink coke every other day and substitute water.  Small steps do make a difference.

What’s the buzz this week? A nonprofit organization has released a report about the calories in kids meals! From the top 13 chain restaurants. The report card was not too good for most of these restaurants. But really, are you surprised?

• 93% of the food offered to kids were over 430 calories.

I think that there are several challenges we parents face.

• how do you know how much calories your kids are supposed to be eating? maybe you think, 500 calories doesn’t sound too bad
• when you go out to to eat, you may be thinking or trusting that when it says “kids menu” that it is sized appropriately for children.
• maybe your child is not overweight so you don’t think you need to worry about their calorie intake
• maybe your child is overweight and you don’t want to harp on them or embarrass them by selecting a lighter meal

So how can I help. First, find out what your child’s calorie intake should be on a regular basis. Yes regular basis, because it’s okay to once in a while eat a little more than we need. Go to the meal planner and enter in three peices of information and you will know what your child’s body needs.

With just a little planning you can find out the calories for most of the major restaurants. If your like most families, you probably frequent 2 or 3 that are convenient for those family outings. Most restaurants have their nutrition information for their menus listed online under some kind of “nutrition” heading. Print out the menu and review it with your kids. Pick out some food choices that are lower in calorie. Help your child begin to think about “larger burger” skip dessert, maybe they will need to play in the backyard or do something active to burn it off. Everything in balance.

But make it an enjoyable experience so look over the menu of your favorite restaurant on a Sunday afternoon not right before you are going to go there.

If your child is overweight or if your child is not overweight, they are in the process of forming habits. All children need to learn about nutrition.

That means they need your help in learning how to make healthy choices now. You are their best role model…afterall. Would you teach math to person right before they are about to look for a job? No, math gets taught when kids are young, over time because it takes time to build that foundation. Nutrition is the foundation subject for good health. Kids need to learn it over time so they too build a strong foundation to help them make better lifestyle choices now and later.

But, I know I always say this, but it is so true. We have got to make it fun. Why? Otherwise, they will not want to learn about it. They will associate bad memories with the topic and shy away from it. We have to be smart like the high sugar companies. We have to make it fun and enjoyable.

Perhaps it is easier to say than do! but what if I told you that if we don’t start to help our children form better habits:

• they will have a shorter lifespan than you
• they have a 1 in 3 chance of developing diabetes before they are 30 years old
• overweight children will most likely be overweight adults
• early heart disease is being found in elementary school children

It is worth the time and effort to make nutrition a priority. Let them create their own balanced meal online and learn what their body needs with our Build-a-Meal game. Use just some of your time everyday to help your child learn about healthy choices.

Send me your ideas and suggestions. I am committed to helping you make nutrition fun for your family.

Mondays are a great day to renew Family Health vows. Every Monday, you will find some healthy tip to help your family start the week off on a Healthy Note!

On vacation this week? Look for walking tours. Wherever you are, there’s bound to be an organized or self-guided tour. So hoof it to see the sites. There’s no telling what you may find. It’s the best way to discover those out-of-the-way shops, interesting architectural details, little-known museums, forgotten parks and hidden gardens