December 31, 2011 will soon be here. Have you accomplished all that you wanted to do this year? I'll share a few thoughts with you as I enjoy the perfect weather today in Florida, writing while the fresh air blows through the house.
A gentle reminder about achieving your goals is in order. Having written goals for your health, your family, your personal development and for your work is a great place to begin. Pull out the goals you have already written and see if you are moving forward in each area. If you don't have any written goals, then get out a piece of paper and write some. Go to a quiet place today, before we get back to the crazy-busy work and school routines tomorrow. Reflect on where you are now and where you want to be. Think about what you want. Write it down. Visualize it. Picture it your mind how it will look. Act as though it is already done.
I am reflecting on one of my 2011 goals which is to get the Growing Healthy Kids work into book form and have it ready for distribution on the http://www.growinghealthykids.me/ store in December. I'm almost there. Now we're looking for a couple of people with a national presence to write notes for the back of the book. Who do you know??
Every day I think about this goal and what I am doing to move the project forward. So many people have been asking me to do a book that brings the lessons we teach in each Growing Healthy Kids program together into a format they can share with others, beginning with the kids' favorite recipes. Each healthy cooking program we do for kids includes a recipe, a healthy eating tip, and a physical activity component. It is a lot of work to summarize the work and energy. I hope you will be pleased with the results. Preventing obesity-related diseases seen primarily in adults is the focus of the Growing Healthy Kids movement I started. It is an ambitious project because this country values treatment of disease more than prevention of disease. Yet, our mantra is still, "Think globally and act locally." With every local Growing Healthy Kids project we do in Indian River County, we are thinking globally about ways to reverse childhood obesity.
As I continue to bring this project (and goal) to completion, I want you to think about what you need to move your own goals forward to completion. Let's get some wins in before the end of the year. I want to hear about your goals that involve improving your health or your kids' health. Please send me a comment so we can support each other to achieve our goals!
Growing Healthy Kids is dedicated to improving the health - and lives - of America's kids, one child and one garden at a time.
To your health!
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
National School Lunch Week and Your Call to Action
Did you know that this is National School Lunch Week? Did you know that many of America’s children eat 2 of their 3 daily weekday meals from their school cafeteria? I am always amazed when I ask parents how often they eat lunch with their child at school and how rarely they’ve even been once. The results of my informal surveys reveal that most parents of kids whose breakfast and/or lunch is prepared by “lunch ladies” have never eaten what their kids eat. This is your CALL TO ACTION.
National School Lunch Week is an opportunity to find out what your local public schools are serving for lunch. Here’s my challenge to you: Pick up your phone right now. Call the principal of your child’s school and let him or her know you’d like to come for lunch in the next week. If your kids are already grown or you don’t have kids, then call your local elementary school and make a lunch date anyway. Tell them you are celebrating National School Lunch Week.
Why am I asking you to make this call? Because the Growing Healthy Kids movement is about reversing childhood obesity. Kids deserve access to real food. Healthy food. Locally grown food whenever possible. I’m not saying that schools don’t serve real food. However, there’s lots of room for improvement. With so many kids eating 2 of their 3 meals at school, it only makes sense that what they eat should not be high in fats, calories, added sugars, and salt.
There is a “Farm to School” momentum underway here in Florida, which is great because one of Michelle Obama’s four guiding principles in her national call to action on childhood obesity is to increase access to locally grown foods. Who better to take the lead on making this happen than our schools? It’s a great way to support local farmers, increase the nutritional value of foods served in America’s schools, and increase America’s productivity by creating agriculture jobs.
To learn more about National School Lunch Week, then check out: http://www.schoolnutrition.org/Level2_NSLW2011.aspx?id=15284
Growing Healthy Kids designs and delivers solutions to the childhood obesity epidemic because it is our belief that failure to reverse childhood obesity is not an option.
Have a fabulous and healthy day!
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
PS-Get some exercise today!!
National School Lunch Week is an opportunity to find out what your local public schools are serving for lunch. Here’s my challenge to you: Pick up your phone right now. Call the principal of your child’s school and let him or her know you’d like to come for lunch in the next week. If your kids are already grown or you don’t have kids, then call your local elementary school and make a lunch date anyway. Tell them you are celebrating National School Lunch Week.
Why am I asking you to make this call? Because the Growing Healthy Kids movement is about reversing childhood obesity. Kids deserve access to real food. Healthy food. Locally grown food whenever possible. I’m not saying that schools don’t serve real food. However, there’s lots of room for improvement. With so many kids eating 2 of their 3 meals at school, it only makes sense that what they eat should not be high in fats, calories, added sugars, and salt.
There is a “Farm to School” momentum underway here in Florida, which is great because one of Michelle Obama’s four guiding principles in her national call to action on childhood obesity is to increase access to locally grown foods. Who better to take the lead on making this happen than our schools? It’s a great way to support local farmers, increase the nutritional value of foods served in America’s schools, and increase America’s productivity by creating agriculture jobs.
To learn more about National School Lunch Week, then check out: http://www.schoolnutrition.org/Level2_NSLW2011.aspx?id=15284
Growing Healthy Kids designs and delivers solutions to the childhood obesity epidemic because it is our belief that failure to reverse childhood obesity is not an option.
Have a fabulous and healthy day!
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
PS-Get some exercise today!!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
The Seed Lady Visits Doughboy's Donuts
I am always talking with people about healthy eating and healthy cooking. As an epidemiologist, I study diseases and their root causes. Obesity is a disease directly related to the excess consumption of sugar in its many forms. Just yesterday, someone was telling me about a father they knew who bragged about his kid drinking 10 sodas every day. I call that child abuse. Excess sugar consumption leads to inflammation in the body which leads to diseases such as diabetes and arthritis. No child deserves those diseases.
This morning, after a great morning walk and workout, I stopped by Doughboy's Donuts in Vero Beach, Florida to treat myself to one of their insanely delicious Red Velvet donuts. (Yes, it is OK in my book to have an occasional donut. It is not OK to eat them every day.)
The woman at the counter looked at me and said, "Are you the Seed Lady?" I answered, "Yes," although that was the first time someone had formally addressed me that way. I then asked how she knew me.
She then told me that last summer her son volunteered through Boys and Girls Clubs of Indian River County for one of our projects building a very large garden in north Indian River County. She said he had really enjoyed the work and the project. I thanked her for speaking to me and then invited her son to join us in an upcoming volunteer service leadership project. I hope to hear from him, as that would just make this Seed Lady's day!
In gratitude to ALL the kids who volunteer with Growing Healthy Kids,
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
"Improving the health - and lives - of America's children, one child and one garden at a time"
PS - Shout-out to Doughboy's Donuts -- apparently I'm not the only one who loves your Red Velvet donuts becauses you were out of them this morning! The blueberry donut, however, was almost as delicious!
This morning, after a great morning walk and workout, I stopped by Doughboy's Donuts in Vero Beach, Florida to treat myself to one of their insanely delicious Red Velvet donuts. (Yes, it is OK in my book to have an occasional donut. It is not OK to eat them every day.)
The woman at the counter looked at me and said, "Are you the Seed Lady?" I answered, "Yes," although that was the first time someone had formally addressed me that way. I then asked how she knew me.
She then told me that last summer her son volunteered through Boys and Girls Clubs of Indian River County for one of our projects building a very large garden in north Indian River County. She said he had really enjoyed the work and the project. I thanked her for speaking to me and then invited her son to join us in an upcoming volunteer service leadership project. I hope to hear from him, as that would just make this Seed Lady's day!
In gratitude to ALL the kids who volunteer with Growing Healthy Kids,
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
"Improving the health - and lives - of America's children, one child and one garden at a time"
PS - Shout-out to Doughboy's Donuts -- apparently I'm not the only one who loves your Red Velvet donuts becauses you were out of them this morning! The blueberry donut, however, was almost as delicious!
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