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Easy Tips for Healthier Kids
The main feature in our March issue explores childhood obesity – and what parents can do about it. This short piece provides a few helpful strategies for parents hoping to jumpstart healthy nutritional changes for their families.
By Patty James
We’ve all heard the startling statistics about the dwindling health of our nation’s children:
- 16 percent of children ages 6 to 19 are overweight or obese
- Overweight children are more likely to develop the associated diseases of Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease leading to a shorten life expectancy. Kids’ life expectancy is now lower than that of their parents
- In 2007, eight percent of 12 to 17 year olds had a Major Depressive Episode (MDE)
- Only 35 percent of adolescents meet current physical activity recommendations.
- Children’s intake of sodium, saturated fat and calories did not meet quality standards in any age group
What can we do? With such busy and stressful lives how can we help our children live healthier lives? It doesn’t have to be hard, but it does take planning.
The first step: plan
The easiest way to begin is to take a few moments on your day off to plan meals and snacks for the week. Be sure to have your child help you; they are more likely to embrace change when they are part of the process. Explain why you’re doing what you’re doing; become a health educator. If you have purchased sugary cereal in the past and are now stocking your home with healthier choices, explain that sugar offers no nutrients at all, doing nothing but adding ‘empty’ calories to their diet, something neither one of you needs. Kids are smart and want to understand. Explain that together you will create healthier habits.
Try your best to balance your meals with appropriate protein, fats and carbohydrates. Let’s say this is your Monday menu:
- Granola and Yogurt for breakfast
- A granola bar for a snack
- A sandwich with sliced turkey for lunch with an apple
- Chicken, rice and broccoli for dinner
After looking at it a bit longer, you will notice that there is a lack of vegetables and fruit and an overabundance of carbohydrates. Here are some simple changes you could make:
- Granola and Yogurt for breakfast
- An orange with some nuts and seeds for a snack
- The turkey sandwich is on whole grain bread (preferably 3 grams of dietary fiber per slice) with lettuce and/or sprouts and perhaps sliced tomatoes or grated carrots
- Perhaps the afternoon snack is raw veggies, celery and peanut butter, for example
- Bake the chicken, lightly steam the broccoli and make sure that the rice is brown rice
It can really be that simple.
Snacks are often a large part of your child’s daily caloric intake, so plan for snacks as well. Have carrot and celery sticks, red pepper and jicama slices, as examples, available at all times as well as fruit and some easy spreads for protein such as nut butters and hummus.
What makes your child tick?
What is important to your child? If she’s on the tennis team, in the band, or on the debate team, could she do what she loves without the energy and mental clarity that good health provides? Is your teen concerned about the looks of his skin? Weight management? A family history of diabetes? Speak to their concerns and desires and they will work with you. Everyone likes to be spoken to as an intelligent person, and everyone likes to be part of the process, including your kids. One note here, you are in charge, so if your child is less than enthusiastic about changes you are making, make them anyway, but explain you are doing it out of love and that it is your responsibility to look after their health.
Do what I say, not what I do
This won’t work. You must set a good example. If you start your day with nothing but a cup of coffee, consume a lot of junk food, have a drink the moment you walk in the door at night and never exercise, this sends a very clear message to your child. You do this, but I’ll do something else.
To paraphrase (and take much liberty with) Gandhi, “you must be the change you wish to see in your children.” Look deep into yourself and find out why you have the habits you do. Are you a stress eater or drinker? Do you eat out of boredom? Do you smoke? Work on healthy habits together. Conversely, if you are a healthy person with good habits, yet feed your child more unhealthy food than you know they should consume because it’s simply easier, then first of all forgive yourself, and start with step one above (Plan). There are many cookbooks and ideas out there to help you create simple, nutritious meals.
Begin with small changes
Don’t set yourself up for failure. We all love enthusiasm, but a complete overhaul might be too extreme for you and your family. You could begin with just having healthier snacks in the house and not bringing any more junk food into your home. Goodness knows there is enough of it in the world at large without making available at home too. No one knows you and your family better than you, so be realistic about what changes you can maintain. Make your health plan sustainable. Start small and develop one or two new habits at a time. Soon you will have many health-supporting habits for you and your child. One day your child will thank you. This I know for sure.
Patty James is a Certified Natural Chef with a Master’s degree in Holistic Nutrition and is founder and director of the Patty James Cooking School and Nutrition Center, the first certified organic cooking school and nutrition center in the country. She also runs Shine the Light On America’s Kids, an organization whose mission is to shine the light on all aspects of kids health in America. She is the author of More Vegetables, Please!
www.PattyJames.com and www.ShineTheLightOnKids.org
