It is almost St Patrick’s Day and that means put your lucky “Green On”.

Holidays are a fun way to incorporate nutrition and healthy eating habits!  St Patrick’s Day is certainly no exception.  We have created some very cute and positive nutrition messaging for St Patrick’s Day.

Have the kids learn about nutrition with our “The Lucky Food Pyramid” in which each food group tells you how they bring you luck.  For a fun coloring activity to promote positive nutrition- print the ‘Find and Color’ Lucky Green Vegetables page. Celebrate the luck of St Patrick’s Day and eating healthy with nutrition bookmarks, coloring pages, word scramble puzzles, mazes and more.

Lucky green means lucky green fruits and vegetables!

Oh and the pot at the end of the rainbow.  Yup, it is full of healthy foods from the food pyramid!  And lots more healthy nutrition fun- over 7 Lucky St Patrick’s Day printable activity pages for kids.

Check out our free St Patrick’s Day Nutrition Activities and Coloring Pages and promote nutrition in a fun way!

Our kids may be having too many snacks and they are not the healthy kind.  This new study just released by University of Carolina, may be fuel for the big debate “should we tax sugary drinks and junk food”.

A recent study shows the following concerning trends:

• kids are moving towards three snack a day
• more than 27% of their daily calories are coming from snacks
• salty snacks and candy have the largest increase
• desserts and sweetened beverages are still the main
• Children increased their caloric intake by 113 calories per day from 1977 to 2006

This is a great time to talk to kids about healthy snacks during National Nutrition Month!  They are probably talking about it at school.  There are some ways to control snacking habits and more importantly, help kids learn to choose healthier snacks.  Here is some tips to help you teach your children when to snack and what to snack on.  Once kids are teenagers and more independent, it gets very difficult (some parents may just say “impossible”) to control their habits.  So it is best to start when they are young.  And remember, you do have control over the snacks in your home.

Read Healthy Snacks for the Kids (this article talks about summer time but the tips are still very applicable to helping kids choose healthy snacks.

American Dietetic Association gives us 25 Healthy Snack Ideas

Help kids change their habits with our cute kid-friendly “Healthy Snacks” agreement

Then make and fun and track their snack habits with this kid-friendly “Healthy Snacks” tracking sheet

Kids Coloring Page – Chef Solus Healthy Snacks

A new study released by Yale shows that marketers are using characters, athletes and toys/games to entice children to purchase their food products.

Here is what the study found:

• Foods that were not very healthy or had a lower nutritional value had more kids’ marketing on their packaging
• 71% of packaging involved licensed characters, with 57% of those aimed at  children younger than 12 years of age
• other kinds of promotions, such as athletes, sporting events, toys and games, increased from 5% of the total in 2006 to 53% in 2008

Are we surprised by this?  We know and marketers know that kids are attracted to visual cues that are fun and colorful.  Using characters and games appeals to kids.  We were kids once, we know this!

This is why we have to fight FUN with FUN!  Nutrition games and characters that represent nutrition is one way to engage children and keep their attention so they enjoy learning.  We don’t mind doing things that are fun and kids are the same.

Join us in spreading the word to other parents and schools that nutrition is fun.  Let’s work together to introduce kids to characters that promote healthy eating and help put more FUN into nutrition.

Free Resources:

Chef Solus and the Explorers Nutrition Stories

Fun Nutrition- Kids’ Food Pyramid Games

It’s National Nutrition Month® and a great reminder to all of us about the importance of eating healthy.

The American Dietetic Association promotes March as National Nutrition Month®.  This organization reminds us every year that nutrition is a very important part of our well-being.  In fact, a key component, especially for our children.  Each year, the ADA challenges us to find ways to improve our nutrition.  This year, they are asking us to build “Nutrition from the Ground Up”.

I was thinking about that, what does that really mean?

I think that building nutrition from the ground up means that nutrition really starts at home.  Food associations, preferences and habits are really formed at a young age at home.  Kids are learning every day from their parents about nutrition and how important it really is (or not).  And we, parents, are solidifying our family’s habits every day by the foods we choose to buy, the meals we decide to cook, the way we eat our meals etc.

I believe that if we are going to improve our nutrition and overall well-being, then we need to start with our foundation (the ground floor!)  - our home.

But sometimes it can be challenging to come up with a plan of action to change your family’s eating habits.  We know that with everyone’s busy schedule, who has time?    I think that nutrition habits at home don’t have to be drastic.  In fact, sometimes it is the little changes that can really help you and your family “build nutrition from the ground up!”

We want to help you.  We have a very simple “3 steps to a healthier family” to help you begin.  Three doesn’t sound too overwhelming and our suggestions our very doable.

1. Decide as a family that nutrition is important.  National Nutrition Month gives you a great reason to talk as a family about nutrition and how nutrition impacts a body’s health.
2. Evaluate your current eating habits.  Think about the kinds of foods you eat, meal time for the family, snacks, fast foods, cooking and eating out routines
3. Pick just one or two changes your family will make together to improve your nutrition

Building nutrition from the ground up starts with acknowledgment that it is important.

And remember, it is important to change habits gradually and to keep positive.  Oh, and keep it fun!

Resources:

Learn more about National Nutrition Month and healthy eating- Many topics of interest to parents from the American Dietetic Association

Helping Kids Develop a Taste for Healthy Foods-  American Dietetic Association

“Improving your family’s nutrition one step at a time“- ‘Nourish Healthy Kids – March Edition’

Setting Family Goals and Fun Tracking sheets for the family- Printable healthy eating and physical activity trackers

Note to bloggers:  National Nutrition Month® is asking bloggers to share their ideas and thoughts this month on “What it means to you to build nutrition from the ground up”.  Read more information about how to participate in this campaign.

Michelle Obama has really helped promote a new trend and a very healthy one,  fresh farm foods.

I know many schools are trying to incorporate fresh grown fruits and vegetables into their cafeteria program and their nutrition education programs.  I ran across this fairly new organization and wanted to share it with you.

Farm to School brings healthy food from local farms to school children nationwide. The program teaches students about the path from farm to fork, and instills healthy eating habits that can last a lifetime. At the same time, use of local produce in school meals and educational activities provides a new direct market for farmers in the area and mitigates environmental impacts of transporting food long distances.

They have created a network to help parents and teachers find this type of program into their local schools.   Meeting local farmers and learning about how foods are grown are all part of helping kids love nutrition!

Find a Farm to School Program by clicking on your state.

Related Resources- from our website Nourish Interactive:

Fruits and vegetables worksheets

Food pyramid food groups – fun coloring and learning sheets

Can you tell if your child is overweight?

According to a new study, you may be underestimating your child’s weight. A large proportion of the parents of overweight children—and especially mothers, who are surveyed more often—do not perceive their children as overweight. In some studies, the percentage of parents who don’t realize (or won’t admit) that their child is overweight has been reported to be as high as 80% to 90%.

One thought was that we have a greater percentage of overweight and obese children.  So overweight kids don’t stand out as much as they used to twenty years ago.

Regardless, of the reasons, it is important to first start with a pediatric check up and see where your child is on the growth chart.  You can also use our BMI calculator designed for kids but remember this is just one measurement and has to be combined with other factors.  If your child is indeed overweight, then working with a dietitian is recommended. The basics will still apply:

Don’t single out your child, work as a family to eat healthier

Set one or two goals for changing eating habits and track them.

Be patient, positive and encouraging.

General guidelines of areas to work towards:

• Find activities that your child and family can do together and work towards being active for at least one hour every day.
• Increase fruits and vegetables.
• Decrease sugary and fatty foods that don’t offer nutrition,  just calories.
• Get plenty of sleep.
• Limit TV time and screen time to 2 hours or less a day
• Eat breakfast every morning

Resources from Nourish Interactive:

Printable Nutrition Tips and Tools for Parents

Healthy Parenting Nutrition Articles- ‘Nourish Healthy Kids’ newsletter articles and tips

Free Nutrition Education Games for Kids!- Fun interactive games and tools

Healthy Nutrition Tips Calendar -Printable PDF

Printable Healthy Nutrition Tips Calendar

Start your week by doing the Monday 2000! Stay within the recommended 2000 calorie limit by snacking on 
fruits, vegetables and low-fat cheese.  Help your kids learn from you how to snack smarter!

As we come to the end of February, National Heart Health Month here are some great tips to keep in mind all year long.The American Heart Association’s top ten ways to help kids develop healthy habits.  This should sound pretty familiar, but it is always good to have a reminder.

If you are doing all of these, don’t worry.  What’s important is to start making changes now and gradually change.  Pick one item on the list and work on that.  Set a goal and be positive.  Remember, it takes time to change our habits and every positive change is a step toward a healthier child.
Here are the top 10 tips for helping children develop a healthy heart -  drum roll please!

1. Be a positive role model.  Kids are little sponges and absorb your habits.
2. Be active as a family. Here is some “Being Active” tips and ideas.
3. Limit screen time.  For more help, read “how to limit TV time”
4. Find activities that kids like to do.  Here is a list of ideas.
5. Be supportive.  No nagging please.
6. Set Goals and limits.  Here is a list of kid friendly goals and tracking sheets
7. Avoid rewarding kids with food
8. Make dinnertime, family time.
9. Make it fun to read food labels.  Here is a fun game for kids to learn how to read food labels.
10. Stay involved.  Make healthy choices a priority for the family.

Source AHA

I came across this video about kids being active.  I love the music.  Made me get up from my computer and break out some moves.

With the weather still being pretty cold, here is a fun aerobics video for kids, you can even do the DVD with them. Make being physically active a fun part of your day together.

This is a fun way to encourage kids to be physically active for 60 ‘Move It Minutes’ a Day. You can get a taste of the DVD from this youtube video.  Show it to the kids and see if they start to move.  Finding different ways to get your kids having fun while they are active is the key to helping them build this as a life long habit!

Fit Factor for Kids Website and DVD

Resources from Nourish Interactive- The fun way to learn about nutrition:

Move It Minutes- Printable Daily Physical Activity Tracking Sheet

Get Kids Moving Tips- Healthy Family Article

Family Fitness Tips, Being Active and Fit

More Resources:

Let’s Move - New initiative for improving kids health, nutrition and increasing daily physical activity.

The Kaiser Family Foundation released a report in January showing just how much time kids were spending on entertainment media, like tv, video, computer, ipod etc in a typical day.  The study was conducted with kids from 8 to 18 years old.

You may surprised to read these results:

There is a lot of correlations and stats about what was found.  But let me just make it simple.

Kids are spending way too much time in front of the screen.  Cell phones and ipods are adding to that.  What was interesting was according to this study, only 3 out of 10 young people said they had rules about how much time they could spend in front of the screen.

Some other interesting finds:

• big increase in mobile media usage – cell phones and ipod
• 64%of young people said the TV is usually on during dinner time
• 45% said the TV was on most of the day

Read the full report from Kaiser

Related resources: Reducing tv – screen time articles- printable goal trackers

How to limit your child’s TV habits in a positive way- ‘Managing TV Time’ -Nourish Healthy Kids Article

Ideas for ’screen free’ alternative activities- ‘TV and screen free’ list of ideas- fun activities for kids.( printable pdf)

Limiting TV time-  printable time tracker for kids -Printable daily/weekly limiting screen time goal sheets for kids

Set a Limit TV time (or whatever media device) Kids GOAL sheet- Printable agreement sheet