Here’s to healthy kids
Here’s to healthy kids
The Healthy Kids Programme aims to promote healthy eating and active living among children.
Read more on The Star
Categories: Healthy Recipes Tags: Healthy, Here’s, Kids
Boxing Workouts for Kids : Teaching Kids how to Diet Safely in Boxing
Teach young boxers how to eat nutritious meals full of lean protein and vegetables. Get safe dieting tips for kids in this free family sports, health and fitness video lesson. Expert: Bill Feldman Contact: www.theboxingchef.com Bio: Bill Feldman, otherwise known as “The Boxing Chef”, is a restaurateur and certified sports trainer located in New York City. He has been featured on CNN and FoxNews.com. Filmmaker: Paul Muller
Healthy Foods for Kids
How do you create healthy recipes for your kids that they will actually enjoy? Not the easiest task always. We all know that eating healthy is a requirement of staying fit, but it an be a daunting task when you have one or more children.
Kids have very peculiar tastes. One day they need peanut butter and grape jelly, the next they can’t eat anything but pizza! Some kids absolutely love the sauce on pizza, but they won’t touch spaghetti because it has tomato sauce on it! They can be strange at some times, but they are still your kids. How do you deal with it? Well hopefully we will offer some ideas here.
Healthy Recipes aren’t hard to come by, but they can be difficult to make sometimes, and other times they just won’t cut the mustard. You need ideas that your kids will enjoy on a regular basis so that you can rest easy knowing they are eating their food and, more importantly, enjoying it. If your kids don’t like what they are being fed, they will turn irritable, grumpy, and throw tantrums. So, here are some quick tips…
Make food fun
Healthy recipes don’t always include boring oatmeal and plain yogurt, though those are good places to start breakfasts instead of sugary cereals. One way to get your kids engaged in the food they eat is to let them be involved in the process of making the meal plan, and helping to make the food. If your child is still too young to help with decisions, they can always fetch bowls, spoons, etc. to feel involved in the process.
Kids always want McDonald’s? Well make it into a game…
Ask your kids in the morning, during the day, or even the day before what they want for dinner. However, tell them there are rules. The child who wins the game gets what he/she wants for dinner, and they get to help make it. So, what are these “rules”?
Rule #1- It has to be something you can make at home Rule #2- It has to have at least one vegetable included Rule #3- You can’t have eaten it in the last three days Rule #4- It can’t have any candy in it (duh…) Rule #5- If more than one child, then there has to be more than one dish. The child that doesn’t “win” the main dish contest gets to choose the side dish.
So how do you choose who wins? Well, you can either choose the kid who is the most enthusiastic about it, or you can be very arbitrary and draw numbers out of a hat. To make it fair, perhaps try switching off between kids every night.
Your kids know nothing about healthy recipes, of course, so have them use a cookbook. You can get any cookbook under the sun at Amazon.com, or just use one you already have and like.
Another thing you can try is to ask your children what meals they like best. Then, when they weed through the pizza, spaghetti, and macaroni and cheese to real food, you can simply ask if they want to learn how to make it. This helps in two respects:
It teaches your children the basics of making meals Your children will most likely enjoy their food more because they had the idea and learned what kind of effort is involved in cooking the meal and learning how to make healthy recipes in the future. Healthy Recipe Choices
If your children are really young, then just get them eating what you like (keeping it healthy and small of course) and then you can sort of side-step the “picky-eater” syndrome later on. If, on the other hand your children already have their mind made up about not wanting to try new choices, then try these healthy recipe alternatives to their possible favorites.
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Use whole wheat pasta instead of regular white pasta, or use gluten free pasta. Add garlic to the pasta sauce for the added heart-healthy benefits Use anti-biotic and hormone free meat for the meatballs (even if they are frozen and pre-made) Cut, or have them cut, everything into smaller pieces so it is more easily digested USE SMALLER PORTIONS!
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Use spelt bread or sprouted grain bread Use organic, anti-biotic, and hormone free cheeses Buy organic tomato soup that doesn’t have sugar added to it USE SMALLER PORTIONS!
Pizza
Buy thin crust pizzas if you can Cut the slices smaller so kids think they are still eating two slices even if it’s only one cut into smaller pieces Have a salad before digging into the pizza Never get the buffet- even if it’s cheaper. Everyone will eat way more than they need to! Try to incorporate some veggies (ie: mushrooms, olives, peppers) to get them used to eating them. Only have pizza on rare occasions. It’s by no means healthy and it tends to pile up in the stomach Breakfasts
Healthy recipe choices for breakfast aren’t always so easy. Kids like their Coco-Puffs, Trix, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch of course. However, their bodies aren’t big fans of it. Instead, try some of these options as often as you can to get them off their sugary starts.
Oatmeal
Use the regular flavor of oatmeal, even if it is the instant stuff Add cinnamon to put a little extra flavor in Use a small amount of honey to sweeten it instead of sugar Mix in berries for added health benefits as well as taste Add apple slices to the meal and cinnamon for added flavor
Yogurt
Only buy lowfat plain yogurt. (It’s the added sugars and fruits that make it bad for you) Add fresh fruit, or canned peaches in order to add flavor. Put some oats in the yogurt for fiber Top with a little honey for the sweet factor
Smoothies
Smoothies are fun and easy to make. They can taste great and are quick fixes that you can take with you whenever. For kids, keep the serving size below 8 ounces because they do tend to pack a lot of calories and sugar (all from good sources, but nonetheless).
My favorite recipe is very simple (for two 8 oz servings):
Start with one cup of milk in the blender Add one banana Add about four strawberries Put in about two tablespoons of peanut butter (personally I like almond butter) Add 1/4 cup of plain lowfat yogurt Blend well until the mixture is red and the peanut butter is off the sides. Enjoy!
For many more smoothie recipes, check out Men’s health’s website for smoothies. Just remember to use much smaller portions for your little ones.
Like we mentioned before, healthy recipes aren’t hard to come by, they just require patience, preparation, and planning. Get these three skills down, and you will be able to ward off the obesity bully for your kids!
Categories: Healthy Recipes Tags: Foods, Healthy, Kids
Summer reading gets plug from US officials to keep kids sharp
Summer reading gets plug from US officials to keep kids sharp
Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood told a very important audience Wednesday about a very important train.
Read more on The Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo! News
Healthy Recipes for Kids : Quick Enchiladas Recipe
Learn how to make enchiladas, a quick and easy food recipe for kids in this freecooking video. Expert: Lisa La Barre Contact: www.labarrenutrition.com Bio: Lisa La Barre is AFPA certified, a WAPF member, and a personal nutritionist in Beverly Hills. She has almost 10 years of health care experience working for top pharmaceutical companies. Filmmaker: Nili Nathan
Categories: Healthy Recipes Tags: Enchiladas, Healthy, Kids, Quick, Recipe, Recipes
‘Marshmallow Test’ May Help Predict Kids’ Success
‘Marshmallow Test’ May Help Predict Kids’ Success
Imagine being able to predict the future of your child’s success, from SAT scores to whether or not they will excel in professional life. A simple test using candy claims to do just that. “The Marshmallow Test” may help parents more than kids. It’s a pretty simple exercise: kids are given the option to eat one marshmallow now, or wait patiently and be rewarded with more than one later – and it …
Read more on WCBS-TV New York
Story Medical invites kids to fitness program
Story Medical invites kids to fitness program
“Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution,” “The Biggest Loser,” an hour of “The Dr. Phil Show” dedicated to childhood obesity — if you’ve turned on a television set in recent months, you know that the attention being paid to the problems of obesity, children and health is at an all-time high.
Read more on Nevada Journal
Cooking with Kids: Thornton Fractional
Cooking with Kids: Thornton Fractional
The school’s goal is to eliminate unhealthy eating and incorporate the culinary arts program into the school lunch program.
Read more on ABC 7 Chicago
Categories: Healthy Recipes Tags: Cooking, Fractional, Kids, Thornton
Can’t Get Your Kids to Eat Healthy? Try Homemade Smoothies
Homemade smoothies are becoming more and more popular among parents who would like their kids to eat healthier. It’s really a great way to get our daily recommended allowance of 5 servings of fruit a day. And with kids, it’s a fun way to teach them about healthier eating and get them involved in the kitchen.
One of the nicest things about smoothies is that you use the entire fruit. Unlike fruit juices where you only benefit from the juice, with smoothies, you make use of the pulp as well. The pulp is a good source of fiber, which is responsible for the feeling of fullness you get when you drink a glass of smoothie. It also helps our body digest food and eliminate waste much more efficiently.
You can create homemade smoothies using a variety of healthy recipes. Diary products like milk and yogurt are wonderful for creating creamy smoothies. Be sure to use low-fat milk or soy milk if you are concerned about the fat content of regular milk. Instead of sugar, you can use healthier natural sweeteners like honey.
Using fruits in our smoothies is something we’re all familiar with. But did you know that you can also use vegetables when creating smoothies? That’s right, you can get them to eat cabbages, carrots, celery and asparagus, or even broccoli and cauliflower, without them even knowing so no fuss.
Homemade smoothies are also great to serve as a dessert. Chocolate is a popular ingredient when it comes to dessert smoothies – something I’m sure your kids will look forward to. Aside from using store-bought chocolate bars, you can also use cocoa powder for your dessert smoothies.
For the grown-ups, you can serve cocktail smoothies. Liqueurs like rum and gin works well with the sweeter tasting fruits. If you are feeling sluggish in the middle of the day, you could also perk up your smoothies by adding coffee.
There’s a lot of different ways you can serve your smoothies. They can be as healthy or as indulgent as you want, depending on how you choose your ingredients.
These recipes make use of ingredients that are commonly available, and the directions are so easy to follow. Best of all, the recipes are kitchen-tested, so you’re sure that each recipe will turn out to be sensationally delightful.
It is our responsibility to make sure our children grow up to be as healthy as possible. Child obesity is rising constantly and it needs to be stopped. Teaching our kids how to eat healthy is the best way possible for them to become healthy, successful adults. For more ideas and tips visit http://www.squidoo.com/simplerecipesforchildren and ensure your children become the best adult they can be.
Yoga for Kids
Have some wound up Tasmanian Devils at home? Join Sarah Kline and her niece Charlotte in a 10-minute sequence. It’s a fun and positive way to channel and redirect some of that cyclone energy! Everyone will benefit!
