A consumer watchdog group is threatening to sue McDonalds for placing toys in their Happy Meals. With the growing concern about our children’s lack of nutrition and healthy habits, McDonalds is now under fire.

The group is claiming that by placing toys in their happy meals, McDonalds is luring kids to want to eat their high fatty meals.  The group states that this is deceptive marketing practices and in violation of four state laws.

Well, there will certainly be arguments on both sides with many people blaming the parents for not just saying “NO”.  But I have to say, being a parent, I am not so quick to blame them.  I mean kids recognize the golden arches before they can even talk!  Now that says a lot about the marketing towards kids.  It is hard to fight millions of dollars of advertising.

Here in the Bay Area, Santa Clara was the first county to pass a law against putting toys in unhealthy foods.  Will this make a difference in kids choices?  It certainly won’t hurt.

We are facing a serious issue and just like everything else, it may mean some drastic measures.

Whatever happens, it probably won’t be soon (most likely).

Parents, you can prepare your children for eating out and setting some expectations.  For example, they could order the happy meal but must have milk instead of soda or fruit instead of french fries.  In other words. there is room for some healthy food.  And in all fairness to McDonalds, they do have some healthier choices.

Here is our printable  guide and tips that you could use with your child before you eat out.  Once you get there, it is much harder to set expectations.  Kids are much more negotiable when you are deciding whether you will take them there.  Use your leverage to vie for some healthy choices.

I’m Maggie LaBarbera, RN founder of Nourish Interactive- The Fun Way to Learn About Nutrition. I am excited to announce that four of my games are finalists in Apps for Healthy Kids Contest, sponsored by the “Let’s Move” Campaign.The Let’s Move Campaign is lead by our First Lady, Michelle Obama with a mission to fight childhood obesity.

The public is encouraged to vote for their favorite games which will determine the winner of the Popular Award. Popular Choice is where you come in! You can support our free healthy nutrition games by voting for the 4 games

Update- Vote soon the contest ends August 14th! Chef Solus’ Food Pyramid Adventure Game has the best chance, of the four games we have in the finals, of winning- you can help by going directly to this link:

Chef Solus’ on Apps for Healthy Kids to vote for this one game!
It take about 3 minutes.

We are so proud to be part of this contest and join other game developers in finding fun and creative solutions for kids. This recognition would really go a long way in helping us to reach more children and produce more free games and tools in English and Spanish! And that is what we want to do but need your help.

Large international gaming companies, hospitals, and universities have games in finals, they have access to a huge network of employees and associates to get support from for votes. We are a small California start-up made up of moms who are RNs and RDs and we can’t win without your support!

About Apps for Healthy Kids Challenge
Michelle Obama is looking for innovative ways to reach out to children and help them learn the importance of healthy eating and being active.  She launched this contest to challenge the nation to come up with creative tools and games that are fun and would engage children all the while promoting healthy choices.  Once again, the Obamas are seeing the value of technology and the importance of FUN when reaching out to children.

Well, FUN and healthy choices and games!  Yes, that is exactly what Nourish Interactive is all about.  Helping kids be healthier through early and FUN online games and tools.  So we were very excited about this challenge and more excited that our games have been been accepted into the contest!

We hope you choose to vote for us, you can vote for 1 game or all 4 games that we have in the contest.

Register HERE- Let’s Move Apps for Healthy Kids

Each link below will bring you to the contest page where you can try the game and vote!

Chef Solus and the Food Pyramid Adventure The food pyramid comes to life as kids travel through each slice and learn about the food groups in this fun adventure game

Healthy Harvest Maze kids learn about fruits and vegetables as they travel through a farm maze and harvest fruits and vegetables

Ride the Food Label kids learn how to read a food label and take a little virtual quiz

Kevin’s Build a Meal kids create a customize meal based on the USDA guidelines as they enter a virtual kitchen, school cafeteria and grocery store

Please check out our games and vote- we really appreciate your vote!

You can help spread the word and show support for our games by placing this banner on your webpage, blog, facebook, myspace, twitter! Please help us spread the word and to show your support copy and paste code:

<a href=”http://nourishinteractive.com/healthy-kids-games-contest” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://nourishinteractive.com/images/nutrition-games/Badge-childhood-obesity-apps-forhealthykids-contest.gif” /></a>

Thank you so much for your continued support!

About our Website and Games

Maggie LaBarbera, RN

We are a based company that is dedicated to supporting parents by providing them with useful information to help them improve their families health and nutrition and are devoted to educating children about the importance of nutrition and exercise.  We have over 37,000 members and 4000+ organizations that use our FREE website and educational games to help teach children and families about the importance of healthy eating and daily exercise!

We believe in the power of prevention and that starts by investing in our children’s health today. We acknowledge and support the key roles of both the parents and the health educators. All games are available in English or Spanish and the kids’ pages and games are completely ad- free. Read more about the Nourish Interactive and it’s mission.

Sincerely,

Maggie LaBarbera and The Nourish Interactive Team

( Moms, RNs and Registered Dietitians who believe all children should have access to quality early nutrition education. We hope you visit our website it’s fun and free!)

Related Resources:

See all of our free nutrition games and read about the nutrition concepts they teach- We have over 20 interactive nutrition education games for kids!

Nutrition Tools for Teaching-  online tools, lesson plans and printable healthy tips for schools,  youth centers, community websites

For Parents Healthy family tips sheets, mini wellness articles with kid-friendly tips, and more!

You may be interested in our visitor and member comments

See our showcase of organizations, schools, cities, websites and bloggers who share our free games with their communities

Sign up for free membership

Contest Information

Read more about our submission

Read the rules for contest

Contest Prizes and Judging

Last Saturday was National Get Outdoors Day. This is a new remembrance day so many of us may have missed it. But not to worry because all these special health oriented holidays are here for one reason, and that is to serve as a prompt, a gentle reminder, that we all need to take steps to eat healthier and be active every day.

What I love about these little special days, is you can turn to the kids and help them get jazzed about doing something active because it is a ‘new’ event! You can tell the kids, “hey we need to celebrate “National Get Outdoors Day” what special outdoors activity should we do?”  Make it important and a fun celebration for the family.  Kids pick up on our excitement (unless their teens!) and the littlest things can generate enthusiasm!

So next weekend, have the family celebrate this new event by picking some special outdoor activity to do as a family together.  It also gives the family an opportunity to talk about what fun outdoor activities you might enjoy and the importance of getting outdoors and playing.  Fresh air and fun!  Being active is so important for the body and with our new high tech environment, kids need some reminding – in a fun positive way.

Here are some ideas and resources to help you get started:

Tips from the organization that promotes Get Outdoors Day

Children and Nature Organization and the Grass Stain Guru great outdoor suggestions for families

Fun outdoor activities list-  physical activity ideas and outdoor games for kids PDF

Being active and fit tips

Being active agreement page

Physical activity tracking sheets

Walking tracking sheets

Show ‘em what you got!

Become a role model for your children! Start the week by organizing an outdoor game like softball or volleyball that the whole family can enjoy.

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!

Thanks to Healthy Monday organization for sharing their Monday tips.

It’s Father’s Day this weekend and we have some new and very cute free cards and “Best Father of the Year” certificates for kids.  We managed to sneak in some healthy foods and messages in them.

Holidays are a really wonderful opportunity because kids are excited and they know it is a special day.  Kids want to be involved and here is a fun way to let them make some special gift of time coupons and customize cards for their special dad.

Please feel free to pass this along and let’s get kids having fun while promoting healthy eating.

Happy Father’s Day to all the wonderful dads around the world!

More fun father’s day activities

Show ‘em what you got!

Become a role model for your children! Start the week by organizing an outdoor game like softball or volleyball that the whole family can enjoy.

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!

Thanks to Healthy Monday organization for sharing their Monday tips.

Resources:

Turn Off the TV Tips – Fun Activities for Kids

Family Fitness Tips, Being Active and Fit

I remember reading my children stories right before they went to sleep.  Of course that was when they were little and that was quite a while ago.  But I still keep an eye out for cute stories that parents can read to their children that have a healthy message.

Well, I found a cute story with a healthy message that your child might enjoy for storytime.  It’s called Sending you Sammy by Sarah Butland.  A cute little story with happy artwork about a little boy who is chosen to be a superhero because he likes healthy foods.  He becomes BananaBoy and is tasked to help his friends eat healthier too.

What I love is story time is another fun and memorable time to promote healthy eating in a fun and positive way.  I tested it out on my 6 year old niece and she had lots of questions which gave me the opportunity to talk about the importance of healthy foods and how it makes her grow and do well in school and have energy to have fun and more.

Read more about the book and upcoming events associated with Adventures of Sammy.  For kids, Sarah has created a free fanclub.

You can find the book at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com

That is what this is all about.  It is about reaching out to children in many different ways and introducing healthy foods in fun, creative and positive ways.   There are many ways to introduce nutrition and reinforce it.

We have started a list of healthy storytime books for kids below. If you have a special or creative way that you help your children eat healthier, please share it with us by leaving a comment.

Links to books:

Sending you Sammy- Book

We Eat Food That’s Fresh- Book and CD

Havoc at the Hillside Market- Book

There has been quite a bit of buzz about a new law passed in Santa Clara County in California.  The new law essentials bans restaurants from using toys to lure kids to meals high in fat, sugar and calories.

It is true that a toy does not make kids gain weight, it is the food.  And, yes it is also true that parents have the ultimately authority to not buy unhealthy foods for their kids.

But let’s face it.  this is marketing at its finest and parents need some help.  It is very challenging to combat the billions of dollars of advertising the food industry spends to entice kids to want their foods.  And adding that little extra toy only makes the meal that much more enticing.

I am not trying to make excuses for parents who can’t say no to their kids, but I understand that their job is not easy.  Kids can recognize the “McDonalds” golden archers before they can really talk!  I remember being a kids and wanting the cereal with the toy inside it.  I also remember how much my kids wanted the “Happy Meal”, not so much for the food but for the toy it was promoting.  Kids like toys.

There are so many studies showing how adding a fun character, game, or toy helps kids build a positive mind  association with that food.

So is the ban the ultimate solution,? No, but it can help.  We have a growing problem of unhealthy kids.  We are talking about heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes and poor nutrition and it is going to take a great deal of creative organizations, laws and support from all areas of our society to change our current situation.

At Nourish Interactive, we believe strongly in early nutrition education for kids while they are still forming their food habits.   And helping kids build an association with fun and nutrition is also part of our mission.   We think it is important for kids to have fun while they learn about nutrition.  We hope our characters, nutrition games and fun nutrition activities are helping kids move towards healthy foods.

Related information:
California County bans toys in happy meals

I am happy to share with you some exciting news.  Nourish Interactive has teamed up with Fresh Choice Restaurants to promote healthy eating to kids.

To combat all the junk food marketing, we need to also provide fun “marketing” or education about healthy foods.  ie. “It is fun to eat healthy foods!”  That is our goal and by extending ourselves into this restaurant, we can work together to offer kids healthy foods while they are learning about healthy eating in a positive way.

We are very excited about this partnership because Fresh Choice is very much aligned with our goals to promote healthy eating in a fun and positive way.  Fresh Choice has their own farm and serves fresh produce as part of their daily menu.

I can honestly say, that when my children were young, we went to this restaurant because it was affordable, catered to families and their foods were nutritious.  You won’t find a 600 calorie burger at this restaurant.  But the selection is healthy and varied enough so that the kids and adults could all find dishes that were delicious.  That is not always easy to find as a parent.

And as part of our partnership,

• we will be promoting nutrition to kids in the restaurant through fun positive messaging.  For example, this month, kids will receive a free nutrition coloring page to enjoy as the family enjoys their meal
• offering a free kids meal coupon to kids that play the new Yummy Drops game (our new online game that promotes the fruit group. )

About our In-Restaurant Nutrition Education for Kids

We are starting with a farm to table education series.  It is surprising but many kids don’t really know where fruits and vegetables come from.  Our goal is to help them learn in a fun way where fruits and vegetables come from as they journey from the farm to the restaurant.  There is much research indicating that helping kids connect with fresh fruits and vegetables will peak their interest and taste buds to eat more of them.  We know that most kids do not get their adequate servings of fruits and vegetables and our mission is to change that.

And this is just the start.  We have lots of other ideas on how to reach out to kids during their restaurant experience to promote healthy food choices!

Look for Chef Solus and the produce bunch at the Fresh Choice Restaurant!

How to get your Free Kids Meal Coupon:

Just have your child play the Yummy Drops game (also available in Spanish) and then at the end of the game,  click on the link that says “Open your surprise”.   This will open a pdf that has a little maze game, certificate for being an Ace Pilot and delivering fresh fruits, and a free kids’ meal coupon for Fresh Choice Restaurants and Zoopa Restaurants.

Just print the kids meal coupon and bring it the nearest Fresh Choice or Zoopa Restaurant.

Located in the California, Washington and Texas (Find a Fersh Choice or Zoopa Restaurant near you)

“Farm Fresh Food Coloring Page” for kids- Fresh Choice “Fun Pages”

More About Fresh Choice and Why We Feel They Are A Great Partner

These were the characteristics about this Restaurant that really impressed me:

Fresh Choice is committed to healthy foods (See their menu for yourself):

• all their fresh fruits and vegetables come from local farms, including their own Fresh Choice farm
• their dishes are designed to use the seasonal fruits and vegetables, everything is fresh (really just picked)
• all their foods are well labeled and every dish has the calories listed to help patrons make informed portion selections
• Fresh Choice offers a very impressive spread of healthy foods, mostly great salads, vegetables and fruits
• their dips, dressings and desserts are all available in the low calorie versions
• they also have healthy pizzas! that taste great and kids love

Cater to families:

• they are very affordable for families
• they have a casual environment which is great for kids
• they work with the community to promote reading through their “Lettuce Read” program
• they support fund raising for schools

Fresh Choice commitment to the environment:

• participates in the ClimateSmart program to reduce greenhouse gases.  Their changes are estimated to reduce 8.8 million pounds of greenhouse emissions (equivalent to taking 731 cars off the road each year.)

Quick Resources:

Free Kids Meal Coupon- Play Game – get your free kids meal coupon, while your child hears some positive messaging about fruits

Yummy Drops Game in Spanish

Fresh Choice Partnership page

Fresh Choice Restaurant locations

Fresh Choice Menu

Were you able to turn off that TV last week?  If you missed it or were not able to formally participate during the national “Turn Off the TV” week, you can still participate.

It is really never too late teach the kids the importance of limiting their screen time.  In fact, now is a perfect time to focus your family’s time away from the TV onto other activities!  You can make it a fun family event, a challenge really.  Kids like challenges if they are presented in a fun way.

What is most important, is that many families will find it easier to reduce TV time to the recommended 2 hours or less following an event or activity like this.

Keep it fun and positive so kids will look forward to it rather than dread it.  And keep them involved – they have great ideas.

Resources to help you get started- it’s important and it can really help your children/family reduce the amount of time they watch TV.

National Turn Your TV Off – teaches kids about being active and fighting childhood obesity

Turn off the TV” guide.

Printable- Limiting TV Time Hours Kids Agreement Sheet

Printable TV Pledge- Family and Kids Turn Off TV Week

Reducing Kids TV Time Weekly Goals Tracking Chart- Printable Chart for Tracking Screen Time-

Healthy Tips-Kids Healthy Snack Food Ideas

Turn Off The TV Tips- Fun Activities For Kids

There are thousands of studies indicating a negative effect on kids that watch too much TV (over 2 hours a day).

Children living in households with multiple televisions tended to engage in more sedentary behaviors (Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 2007)

Children eat foods high in fat/sugar while watching TV. Children requested the foods they had seen advertised on weekend morning children’s TV broadcasts  (Pediatrics International 2006)

If you are still not convinced that this is important,  here are some statements from leading organizations:

1. The American Academy of Pediatrics urges parents to avoid television and other electronic media for children two years of age and under.–AAP statement, August 2, 1999

2. Overweight U.S. babies are more numerous since 1980, a study in the journal Obesity found, growing to 6% from 3% of those under 6 months old. Wall Street Journal 2006

3. Seventy percent of day-care centers use TV during a typical day.–Tashman, Billy, “Sorry Ernie, TV isn’t Teaching,” New York Times, Nov. 12, 1994

4. In a study of preschoolers (ages 1-4), a child’s risk of being overweight increased by six percent for every hour of television watched per day.  If that child had a TV in his or her bedroom, the odds of being overweight jumped an additional thirty-one percent for every hour watched.  Preschool children with TVs in their bedroom watched an additional 4.8 hours of TV or videos every week.–Dennison, et.al. 2002

5. Research now indicates that for every hour of television children watch each day, their risk of developing attention-related problems later increases by ten percent.  For example, if a child watches three hours of television each day, the child would be thirty percent more likely to develop attention deficit disorder.–D. Christakis, Pediatrics, April 2004

6. One in four children under the age of two years has a TV in his or her bedroom.–Zero to Six: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers, Kaiser Family Foundation and the Children’s Digital Media Centers, 2003

7. The more TV preschoolers watch, the less well they do academically in the first grade; also, The more TV preschoolers watch, the less well-socialized they are in the first grade.–Burton, Sydney, James Calonico and Dennis McSeveney, “Effects of Preschool Television Watching on First-Grade Children,” Journal of Communication, Summer 1979

8. Children in households where the TV is on “always” or “most of the time” are less likely to read than are children in other homes. Zero to Six: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers, Kaiser Family Foundation and the Children’s Digital Media Centers, 2003

Children six and under spend an average of two hours a day using screen media, about the same amount of time they spend playing outside, and well over the amount they spend reading or being read to (39 minutes).–Zero to Six: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers, Kaiser Family Foundation and the Children’s Digital Media Centers, 2003

(Source:  Screentime.org)