Everyone is busy getting their kids back to school.  What a perfect time to take a little break and bring the kids to a Family Night that will mix fruits and vegetables and lots of FUN.  Nourish Interactive has been working with Fresh Choice to reach out to kids and promote healthy eating.  With September being National Childhood Obesity Awareness month, it is a reminder to us how important healthy foods and daily activity is for kids.

We are happy to let our San Mateo, CA and nearby Peninsula cities know that the Fresh Choice Restaurant in San Mateo will host its First Family Night.  Nourish Interactive will be there with nutrition education games to make fruits and vegetables fun for kids.

Click to go to Facebook Event Page!

Take a night off from cooking and enjoy fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables from their local farm while the kids have some fun learning about healthy food choices.

Just a few of the FREE & FUN nutrition activities for kids:

• Take a picture with Chef Solus
• Play Nourish Interactive Games- winner of Parents’ Choice Seal and Children’s Library Association Award
• Play tic-tac-toe   The vegetables versus Chef Solus
• Coloring fruits and vegetables while kids learn where produce really comes from!
• Spin the wheel, land on a fruit or vegetable and win a prize!
• Healthy eating out tips for parents to take home.
• Each child will have their name entered into a contest and have a chance to win a Wii game system.

Play the Yummy Drops Fruit Game and automatically get a FREE Kids meal coupon for Fresh Choice Restaurant!

More information:

Family Night event at Fresh Choice Restaurant in San Mateo, CA

Fresh Choice and Nourish Interactive Partnership

Nourish Interactive partnered with Fresh Choice!

Sleep: the ultimate school supply

Start the school year off right by getting your kids back on a healthy sleep schedule! Have them go to bed at the same time each night and get a consistent amount of sleep.

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.

Related resources:

Getting into sleep routine for back to school- video by St Christopher’s Hospital

Back to school sleeping requirements and tips – from The Sleep Doctor

I get asked sometimes what to do for your children when everything you have tried has not worked. Your child will simply not eat any or very little fruits and vegetables.  Kids can be very picky eaters and stubborn, too.

I always recommend continued patience and don’t give up trying to introduce fruits and vegetables in different experiences that can be really fun for kids.  Like planting a vegetable and involving the child so they can see it grow from a little seed.  That can really pique their interest.

But in the meantime, how do you ensure your child is getting the necessary vitamins and minerals they need that only comes from fruits and vegetables.  Although fresh is best, sometimes a child does need a supplement.

I am not an expert at supplements but there is one that my husband and I take every morning and one that I buy for my grandniece who is five years old.  And that is Juice Plus.  It is not a manufactured vitamin but actually made from 17 fruits and vegetables.

As I said, it is not a vitamin or mineral, it is actually whole food supplement.  It is made from 17 different fruits and vegetables that are juiced and then dried at low temperatures so that the water and sugar,  salt and the bulk are removed leaving just the concentrated powder from the fruits and vegetables.  This powder is put inside capsules and chewables for kids.

I am not paid to tell you about this special nutrient.  I just really believe in the importance of fruits and vegetables and wanted to share with you something that my family takes to get all our nutrients. I do eat lots of fruits and vegetables every day but sometimes I don’t get all the servings my body needs.  I know my little five year old is one of those very stubborn picky eaters.   That was when I found out they also had a the kids chewables Juice Plus.

When I find a healthy snack or in this case, supplement that I really think is great, I want to pass that on to you.

Here is a link to their general Juice Plus website where you can get more information about their kids chewables and all the research and science behind their product.

Resources:

Picky Eaters Printable Guide for Parents

Follow the rainbow

Fruits and vegetables of different hues offer a wide range of nutrients. This week make a dish for your family with green spinach, orange carrots, black beans or red berries for a healthy, colorful meal everyone will 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.

Be a Mom on a Mission to Help Chef Solus fight childhood obesity and improve childhood nutrition!

I am a nurse and a mom who founded a free, bilingual nutrition education website to promote healthy eating to children through fun interactive nutrition games.  I am in a national contest “Apps for Healthy Kids” (part of the Michelle Obama “Let’s Move” campaign to fight childhood obesity).  This contest gives me an opportunity to really reach those families that don’t know we are here to help them.

I am looking for a limited number mom bloggers to partner with me in the fight against childhood obesity and improve children’s nutrition.  We only have a few days left in this national contest (contest ends August 14^th 12 pm EST, 9am PST ) and we need your help to mobilize moms and supporters to vote. Here is how we can help you by helping us win this contest:

• You can show your potential advertisers and clients that you helped our website win a national contest.  This will show how powerful your blog or other social channels are as a marketing vehicle.  You will also get an exclusive badge to show your success if we win!
• You can share your banner 150×150 or 200×200 for mom owned business, marketing, family friendly products or services to our website visitors and parent members. (If we win the contest all the more traffic to the page)

• ie. For participating, we will post your content for one full year as a “thank you” for your support on a special ‘Hall of Fame of moms who sent Chef Solus to DC” on a resource page for parents.  If we do not win, we will still post your image, link and text for three months on a parents’ page on our website.

• We will also give you a special badge to post on your site promoting your marketing muscle!  “I helped Chef Solus win the Apps for Healthy Kids Contest!”

• You will be aligning yourself with an event that will have national exposure

• You will be working for a great cause, our children.  In the end, that is what this is all about.

All you have to do is help us spread the word about the contest and let your readers and friends know how to vote for our game on your website, blog, facebook, twitter and any other social system you use.

To participate just:

• Email me at support (at) nourishinteractive.com or Respond to this blog in the comments section, make sure to give email so we can contact you today. (Make sure to add: support (at) nourishinteractive.com to your address book/white list to receive our email.)

• We will provide you with a special image badge to put on your site (sample shown above) to show you are Mom on a Mission to send Chef Solus to DC

• Post short article (you can see it at bottom of this post) for you to post on your networks (twitter, facebook, blog, e-news, or other social network)

• Send us a link of the posted article on your blog, facebook, twitter, e-newsletter or other social channels and encourage moms and supporters to vote throughout your network.
• *In addition you can also ask fans, friends, family to vote by sending them an email recommending they vote!
  Direct link to vote is: http://www.appsforhealthykids.com/application-gallery/chef-solus-and-the-food-pyramid-adventure or Share link to our website contest page http://www.nourishinteractive.com/healthy-kids-games-contest which gives some reasons why they may want to vote for us!

• After the contest, we will place your banner 150×150 or 200×200 with link to your site on our special resource page for parents called our Chef Solus’ Hall of Fame Wall, along with a two-line description of your website or blog.

• We will post an image and link for each of the social media you use to promote our game.

• Please note that you must be a family friendly site, we will notify you immediately if your site is not appropriate for our visitors.
• Only selected approved moms will be involved in Moms on Mission to send Chef Solus to DC.
• This offer ends when we have reached capacity for our ‘Hall of Fame Wall’ – we will announce when it is closed here.

There is only a few days left of the contest- Do you want to help mobilize moms and supporters to take quick action to vote for Chef Solus (and support a woman/mom owned business) in this national contest? The leading finalists at this time are all men! We need your help moms- we know we can do it with your help! If you are interested and feel to you can support this mission, please comment below to get approval started*

* Remember we will screen all sites/blogs and products to make sure they are appropriate for our family friendly, safe-surf website, please wait to hear from us before working on this.

Once you hear from us and we send you the badge and it will be time to get moving to send Chef Solus to DC, so he can reach more children and families with his free nutrition games, fun interactive tools and positive healthy messaging. Thank you  for your support!

All of our games are free and available in English and Spanish- see them here http://bit.ly/chefsolusgames
Learn more about animated ‘Chef Solus and the Food Pyramid Adventure Game’ and check out all 20 of our free FUN games and learning tools.  Click here to play Chef Solus Food Pyramid Game- first 2 levels require no sign up, or sign up to play all 7 levels and get progress reports. It’s FUN and FREE!

“Together we can give children the knowledge, facts and skills to develop healthy habits for a lifetime!” Maggie LaBarbera RN

About NourishInteractive.com

We are a family oriented free bilingual website that teaches children and families about nutrition through fun interactive nutrition games, tools and content. My website is run by health care professionals.  We have been listed by the USDA as one of the top websites to fight childhood obesity and just received the American Library award for Best Kids Websites.  We have grown to almost a half a million page views per month through word of mouth. Website haas Google PR of 5, Average 5 min and 5-6 page views per visitor these number goes up during school year!

Here is mini article to post on your blog/site:

Maggie LaBarbera is a nurse and a mother who started, NourishInteractive.com, a free bilingual nutrition website for kids.  She launched this website in 2008 because of her concern about the growing problem of childhood obesity.  Childhood obesity is at the forefront of the national news with 60% of our children overweight or obese.   The website provides parents, educators and children with interactive games and nutrition tools that make learning about healthy eating fun.

Michelle Obama also believes that we need creative and fun solutions that will engage children and help them form healthy habits.  That is why she held a national contest “Apps for healthy Kids” part of the “Let’s Move” national campaign.

NourishInteractive.com has entered the “Chef Solus Food Pyramid Adventure” game in the Michelle Obama contest.  She needs your support to win.  A vote for her game is a vote for helping prevent childhood obesity.

It will only take you a few minutes of your time so please support this important cause.  Our children are counting on you!  You can vote for the Nourish Interactive game by clicking here.  Please vote before noon August 14^th.

Remind me Monday

You’re more likely to attain your family’s health goals with constant reinforcement. So make a list of family’s desired behavior changes every Monday and keep your goals in sight by posting a reminder on the refrigerator for yourself and 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!

Thanks to Healthy Monday organization for sharing their Monday tips.

There is lots of talk this month about the accuracy of BMI calculations and kids.

A new study published in Pediatrics is suggesting that measuring a child’s neck circumference could be a better tool for quickly assessing children’s potential weight status.   After evaluating 1102 children, this study indicated that neck circumference correlated with age, BMI and waist circumference.

• Optimal Neck Circumference cutoff indicative of high BMI in boys ranged from 28.5 to 39.0 cm.
• Corresponding values in girls ranged from 27.0 to 34.6 cm.

We will have to keep our eye on this potential tool.

BMI has always had the limitation of not being able to differentiate between fat and muscle.  Because children are growing and height can be different for the same age children, that has to be accounted for when determining BMI significance.  This is why, kids have their BMI calculated and placed on a growth chart so it determines how their BMI score compares with other children of their age and provides a percentile.  Kids with a BMI percentile of greater than 85% (meaning their weight on the growth chart is higher than 85% of the kids their age in America) are considered overweight.

But once again, this is a tool, a guide but not definitive.  I think it is good that researchers are still evaluating other possible tools that may be easier and more accurate in helping determining children at risk.

I think what is most important is

how healthy is your child’s diet

• are they getting enough fruits and vegetables and fiber to help them develop properly and build strong immune systems
• are they limiting or avoiding processed foods that can be loaded with chemicals that may affect their brain and personality
• are they active every day

Being healthy is not only dependent upon weight.

Read more information on BMI

Use our BMI percentile tool and calculate your child’s score

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.

Do we know what is really a healthy diet?  According to a recent study, 81% parents thought their child was having a healthy diet when in fact they were not.  It seems that parents assessed their child’s diet by looking at the three main meals they ate a day.  If the meals were balanced, then the parents rated the child’s diet as healthy.

This is part of a healthy diet for kids but you also have to look at:

• the amount of food eating (portion control)
• the snacks eating before and after meals (how many, what are they eating)
• processed foods versus natural ingredients
• junk food intake

These other variables can take a healthy balanced meal into a very unhealthy overall diet.

I have a little challenge for you-

I am going to recommend that you do a little family activity for 3 days.  And that is to help your child use a food journal and write down everything he/she eats.  Include the bits of this and nibbles of that.  Keep it light and fun for the kids so it doesn’t seem like a chore.  Maybe even a contest, who can complete and post their journal first each night.  Heck, the whole family could do it.

• Then you can use a meal planner and see what your child should be eating compared to what they are actually eating.  Look at the types of food they are eating.
• You will see where some family eating habit changes need to be made
• Next, pick one or two eating habits that you and your child are going to work on.

Little by little, you can change your family’s eating habit and it won’t feel so drastic.

You may be surprised at how easy it is to make one or two changes!  All adding up to a healthy child and healthier family.

We have some tools to help you get started:

Setting healthy goals with children

Goals and Food Journals – free, cute printables for kids

Think beyond the fryer

When eating out this week choose steamed, broiled or grilled dishes instead of greasy fried foods for your family. It’s a simple switch that will drastically cut your family’s saturated fat intake!

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.