Paradise Greetings,
One week from tonight, please join Dr. William Elman, board certified pediatrician and family practice physician, and me for a conversation about where we go from here in getting our children - and us - back into shape. This is an awesome opportunity to come together for 90 minutes at the beautiful Majestic Theater in Vero Beach and discuss why and how we must solve the health challenge of children - and parents - who are overweight and obese. Learn simple ways to get on track towards better health and healthier weights. You will walk away knowing how to make one small change a week for 10 weeks that can have huge results.
Last week at one of our Boys and Girls Club weekly program, I was teaching kids how to read food labels and looking for trans fats (anything that includes the words, "partially hydrogenated" on the ingredients label, even if the Nutrition Facts label says "0 trans fat"). One of the boys quietly said to his mom, "I'm going to start dieting." Mind you, I NEVER say the word diet in these classes. It's ALL about making healthy choices through informed decision making. We had talked about how one kind of peanut butter - the Peter Pan brand - had added sugars and added saturated and trans fats (both "bad" fats)and compared it to the Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter, which did not have added sugars and fats. I was reminded that many adults talk about "starting a diet" when what really matters is eating healthy every day. Food is life, after all. Learning how to recognize saturated and trans fats on food labels. Learning to watch for (and avoid) "High Fructose Corn Syrup" and other names for added sugars in foods. Learning to season foods with herbs instead of added salt. Learning how to choose foods that are high in dietary fiber, instead of choosing foods which contain no fiber. This is what healthy eating is all about. This is what I communicated to this boy's mother because kids hear adults talking about "dieting" and we need to banish that word from our vocabularly.
Children, when given the choice, choose healthy foods and snacks. Please call Youth Guidance Mentoring & Activities Program at 772 770 5040 to register for next Tuesday's FREE PARENT WORKSHOP, called "Growing Healthy Kids...and Families." The workshop is from 6:00-7:30 PM. Bring your children and they will get to watch a free movie while you, Dr. Elman, and I discuss protecting our most precious children's lives and health.
Growing Healthy Kids - improving the health - and lives - of children, one garden and one child at a time.
See you next Tuesday.
To your perfect health.
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Growing Healthy Kids...and Parents, Too!
Paradise greetings,
On Saturday while working at the rummage sale to raise money for the Vero Beach High School band's trip to play at Carnegie Hall over Spring Break, I overheard another parent say that 49 of 50 US states had snow! Extreme weather.
We have an extreme health situation on our hands that deserves extreme truth. Childhood obesity. Let's talk food. Let's talk rainbows. Let's talk variety, not volume. Let's talk truth. Extreme truth.
I am reading a book from the library. It's called "French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure." It's a great book. Mireille Guiliano first came to a wealthy Boston suburb as an exchange student, and while there she gained 25 pounds (she's 5'3"). When she returned home she was coached by the family physician how to make small changes and learn the habits of staying at a healthy weight for life.
Eating well is one of life's great pleasures. That's why I love to cook. Here's some tips from Guiliano's book which I also share whenever I teach: Take time to eat. Sit down to eat. Eat with new friends. Chew your food. Eat small meals. Eat healthy snacks. Stop eating when you are full. Smile. Eat the foods that are grown locally. Eat what's in season. Eat simply.
Parents must dare to care about their children's health. Parents must learn these lessons in order to provide the leadership, the knowledge, and the skills needed to feed their children. We are growing healthy kids...and parents, too. On March 2, Dr. William Elman, board certified pediatrician, will be the keynote speaker at Growing Healthy Kids' first Parent Workshop at Majestic Theater in Vero Beach. Call Allison at Youth Guidance at 772.226.3092 to RSVP. Let's pack the place. Come. Learn. Inspire. For free!
Growing Healthy Kids -improving the health - and lives - of children, one garden and one child at a time.
To your perfect health.
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Failure is NOT an Option
Paradise greetings,
My friends, I am so full of gratitude that we now have the power of the First Lady with us as we work as one to halt and reverse childhood obesity in America. This country is too great to leave our children behind when they did not ask to be fed excess calories and they did not ask for physical education classes to be taken away in K-12 grades and they did not ask that high fructose corn syrup and trans fats be hidden in everything they eat.
We cannot fail in meeting the challenge of protecting the health - and lives - of my child, your children, and all of America's children. We cannot fail in halting and reversing the trend of children consuming more energy than they use for daily activities and normal growth and development. We cannot fail them because if we do, their lives will be measurable shorter than ours.
What I have learned since starting Growing Healthy Kids last spring is that when you give kids a choice, they choose health. When I teach kids how to make healthy snacks and meals and compare healthy, fresh ingredients to unhealthy ones, they choose the healthy ones. When you teach them the truth, they make better choices. We must also teach the parents. We must also teach the school administrators to stop ignoring the pain, suffering, and bullying that overweight and obese children face every day by not being able to walk more than a short distance without becoming breathless, who are being diagnosed with diseases usually found in middle-age and older adults, who are developing bone disorders, sleep apnea, and who are the new target for Big Pharma. Was this planned, you might ask?
Failure is NOT an option.
Thanks, Michelle!
Growing Healthy Kids - improving the health - and lives - of children, one garden and one child at a time.
To your perfect health.
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
Vero Beach, FL.
PS - Today's program with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Indian River County was SO AWESOME!! Pics to follow because I'm about to collapse from all the fun. Just a teaser though, then to bed...Esteban brought a dozen kids up to Disney's Vero Beach Resort, where I had arranged for the children to have their own class with Chef Brian. After talking with them about healthy choices and reading food labels (their parents need to be in the next class), he showed them his new recipe for fruit smoothies and trail mix. Then, Debbie from Disney walked the kids outside and we got a group photo at the beach. SO MUCH FUN!! Night all!
My friends, I am so full of gratitude that we now have the power of the First Lady with us as we work as one to halt and reverse childhood obesity in America. This country is too great to leave our children behind when they did not ask to be fed excess calories and they did not ask for physical education classes to be taken away in K-12 grades and they did not ask that high fructose corn syrup and trans fats be hidden in everything they eat.
We cannot fail in meeting the challenge of protecting the health - and lives - of my child, your children, and all of America's children. We cannot fail in halting and reversing the trend of children consuming more energy than they use for daily activities and normal growth and development. We cannot fail them because if we do, their lives will be measurable shorter than ours.
What I have learned since starting Growing Healthy Kids last spring is that when you give kids a choice, they choose health. When I teach kids how to make healthy snacks and meals and compare healthy, fresh ingredients to unhealthy ones, they choose the healthy ones. When you teach them the truth, they make better choices. We must also teach the parents. We must also teach the school administrators to stop ignoring the pain, suffering, and bullying that overweight and obese children face every day by not being able to walk more than a short distance without becoming breathless, who are being diagnosed with diseases usually found in middle-age and older adults, who are developing bone disorders, sleep apnea, and who are the new target for Big Pharma. Was this planned, you might ask?
Failure is NOT an option.
Thanks, Michelle!
Growing Healthy Kids - improving the health - and lives - of children, one garden and one child at a time.
To your perfect health.
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
Vero Beach, FL.
PS - Today's program with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Indian River County was SO AWESOME!! Pics to follow because I'm about to collapse from all the fun. Just a teaser though, then to bed...Esteban brought a dozen kids up to Disney's Vero Beach Resort, where I had arranged for the children to have their own class with Chef Brian. After talking with them about healthy choices and reading food labels (their parents need to be in the next class), he showed them his new recipe for fruit smoothies and trail mix. Then, Debbie from Disney walked the kids outside and we got a group photo at the beach. SO MUCH FUN!! Night all!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Please, Hold the (Added) Sugars and Check the School Vending Machines!
Paradise greetings,
The kids and I got the "cool season" gardens planted last week, then Friday night came a gully-washer of a rainstorm. I will be watching with curiousity to see what starts germinating where...We have cauliflower that we will soon harvest at the 2 northern gardens and I will teach the kids how to use cauliflower to make "mashed potatoes".
While we were working together, sorting seeds and planning our garden, we talked about inviting the First Lady and the girls to have a break from the snow. They can help us spread the word in Florida about how easy and fun it is to eat healthy. Heck, they might want to join us when Growing Healthy Kids meets with one of the chefs at the Disney Resort tomorrow.
Parents AND kids need to learn how to read labels on foods and drinks. Ben brought me a soda bottle last week: Mountain Dew "limited time only throwback made with REAL sugar". A serving size is 8 ounces. There are 2.5 servings in the bottle. There are 29 grams of carbs PER SERVING, which means the entire bottle has 73 grams of carbs. There's NO NUTRITIONAL VALUE here, but lots and lots of calories (280) and they are ALL FROM SUGAR.
Try this at home. Get the bag of white sugar out of your food pantry. Get a teaspoon out of the silverware drawer. Start measuring out some sugar.
Stop when you have 18 spoons of sugar on a plate. That's what kids are drinking when they drink a Mountain Dew Throwback Made with Real Sugar. EIGHTEEN TEASPOONS OF SUGAR in one soda.
Soda or water. Water or soda. Soda or water. We have the power to rebalance the energy children are drinking every day by educating parents about the added sugars in soda and fruit juice. Hmmmm, let's see what the vending machine at my son's school has in it....
Gotta go. Seeds to plant...
Growing Healthy Kids - improving the health - and lives - of children, one garden and one child at a time.
To your perfect health.
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Plants, Passion, and Growing Healthy Kids
Paradise greetings,
This week's job is getting our teaching gardens planted. Last week I attended a workshop called, "Planning Your Spring Garden," by our county extension agent. She said it's time to plant lettuce, spinach, cauliflower, and other "cool weather" plants now.
So we're "springing" into action, digging in the dirt, and growing healthy kids! By Friday night, in my volunteer time the kids and I will have planted our "salad gardens" throughout the county.
At last week's salad party for the younger children who attend The Willow School, all the kids delighted in having salad using lettuce they had grown! They learned how to make a sharp vinegrette dressing. It was awesome watching them crunch down on fresh veggies full of vitamins!
By making small changes in what our children eat and teaching them how to eat healthy using fresh ingredients (let's see, we picked the lettuce, washed it, and 5 minutes later we were eating it - yes, that's FRESH!!) we will get them - and us - to healthier weights.
I am passionate about making a difference in teaching kids - and their families - that simple changes in what and how we eat and move restore the energy balance between the calories we eat and drink and the calories we spend. The way I see it, the more we collaborate, the bigger the results and the healthier the kids. It takes a Healthy Village to Raise Healthy Kids. How healthy is YOUR village?
Because I cannot stand by while obese children struggle with carrying 70 or 100 excess pounds, I am committed to being a voice for raising awareness among school personnel, after-school program personnel, and parents.
Let me know if you can help us plant the salad gardens in Indian River County this week! Go plant your own! And please send me a message and tell us what does YOUR favorite chopped salad contain? I'll forward all responses to The First Lady, Michelle Obama, so she knows we are ALL working - and playing - together in America's garden to get kids fit!
Growing Healthy Kids - one garden and one child at a time.
To your perfect health,
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
This week's job is getting our teaching gardens planted. Last week I attended a workshop called, "Planning Your Spring Garden," by our county extension agent. She said it's time to plant lettuce, spinach, cauliflower, and other "cool weather" plants now.
So we're "springing" into action, digging in the dirt, and growing healthy kids! By Friday night, in my volunteer time the kids and I will have planted our "salad gardens" throughout the county.
At last week's salad party for the younger children who attend The Willow School, all the kids delighted in having salad using lettuce they had grown! They learned how to make a sharp vinegrette dressing. It was awesome watching them crunch down on fresh veggies full of vitamins!
By making small changes in what our children eat and teaching them how to eat healthy using fresh ingredients (let's see, we picked the lettuce, washed it, and 5 minutes later we were eating it - yes, that's FRESH!!) we will get them - and us - to healthier weights.
I am passionate about making a difference in teaching kids - and their families - that simple changes in what and how we eat and move restore the energy balance between the calories we eat and drink and the calories we spend. The way I see it, the more we collaborate, the bigger the results and the healthier the kids. It takes a Healthy Village to Raise Healthy Kids. How healthy is YOUR village?
Because I cannot stand by while obese children struggle with carrying 70 or 100 excess pounds, I am committed to being a voice for raising awareness among school personnel, after-school program personnel, and parents.
Let me know if you can help us plant the salad gardens in Indian River County this week! Go plant your own! And please send me a message and tell us what does YOUR favorite chopped salad contain? I'll forward all responses to The First Lady, Michelle Obama, so she knows we are ALL working - and playing - together in America's garden to get kids fit!
Growing Healthy Kids - one garden and one child at a time.
To your perfect health,
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)