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
