Diet
How to Get a Child Off the Couch and Active
October 19, 2011 | 
Author By Jamell Andrews
Getting kids away from their TVs, computers, and gadgets is one of the greatest challenges today’s parents face, and it is not getting any easier. Many parents understandably want their kids to be up to date with all the modern technology, but for every gadget and game our children gain, something is lost. Today’s kids are losing interest in the simple enjoyment of outdoor activities and sports. If we do not push back against this trend, we may be raising a generation of overweight and unhealthy grownups.
Posted in 
Avoiding Sugary Cereals
When I was little, every Sunday, my mom used to drive my brother and I to my grandmother’s house, where she would take us to church. After church, we always stopped by the local grocery store and somehow, someway, my brother and I would finagle our way into each getting a box of cereal. And this wouldn’t be any ordinary cereal, it was SUGARY cereal. Oh the joy! My grandmother would then drive us back to her house, where we would jump out of the car, and run inside, wanting to show my mom what we got. Now, sugar wasn’t really allowed in our neck of the woods, so my mother would give a big sigh, and make a compromise that we could eat it, as long as we mixed it with a non-sugary cereal (such as Cheerios). This lasted until my grandmother got too old to drive, which meant my mom would drop off us off at church, and the whole grocery store part would be skipped. And by that age, I was More »
Getting Kids to Eat Healthy Foods
By Lisa Pecos
According to the USDA, kids between the ages of 9 and 13 require at least six servings of fruits and vegetables per day, with each serving being either a half cup of fresh, frozen, or canned vegetables or a medium-sized fruit. Kids between 4 and 8 need about five servings per day, while teenagers need the recommended amount for adults-seven or eight servings per day.
What Counts as Fruit?
I try to keep fresh fruit on hand at all times, but I’m lucky–my kids love it and they eat right through it. Here today, gone tomorrow–that’s our fruit bowl. So, on the days when there isn’t anything fresh to pack in the lunches, I reach into the cupboard for my stash of freeze dried fruit. The package says it’s a whole apple (or some other serving of fruit), so it must be a good substitute, right? Well, not necessarily.
A recent article in the Health section of the LA Times stated that parents are turning to the substitutes–instead of the real thing–so often that kids aren’t eating fresh fruit at all. Marketing by companies, and the way that the copy is written on the label makes parents think that these “fruit nuggets”, “fruit leathers”, or in my case, freeze dried fruit, is just as good. Mark Kantor, professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Maryland in College Park who was quoted in the article states that, “Fruit snacks, whether or not they claim to provide a serving of fruit, don’t offer all the nutritional benefits of whole fruit and often contain added sugars and sometimes fats.”
The article goes on to explain that, “The snacks usually derive their fruit content from the same few sources: purée of apple or pear, apple juice concentrate and grape juice concentrate. Apples, pears and grapes are such popular ingredients in fruit snacks because they’re naturally very sweet, says Anuradha Prakash, professor of food science at Chapman University in Orange. (Prakash is also a spokeswoman for the Institute of Food Technologists, as is Kantor.)
Sugars, in addition to vitamin C, potassium, fiber and an array of antioxidants, are the key nutrients in such fruits, she adds — whole fruits, that is. But the words “juice” and “purée” on package labels are an indicator that most of the nutrients didn’t make it into the final, processed product. Vitamin C levels drop during processing because the vitamin is sensitive to heat. Fiber is removed when a fruit is pressed into a juice, and so are antioxidants, many of which are found in the peel.”
What does stay in the packaged fruit is sugar–it goes from the whole fresh fruit all the way into the final product in the packaging. And, many snacks that state “made with real fruit juice” mostly have “added sugars in the form of corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup, and some contain vegetable oils, i.e., fats.”
Bottom line–keep the fruit bowl filled–the less packaged fruit the better.
Flavored Milk–Do You Use It?
I have a 21 month old daughter that isn’t milk’s biggest fan. She’ll drink a little bit, but not nearly enough to get her day’s worth of calcium in. So one morning, I thought I’d give her some chocolate milk to see what would happen. She didn’t drink it–she guzzled it! Ever since, it’s chocolate milk every morning–she’s underweight as well, so I figure the extra calories won’t hurt. This is why an article in yesterday’s LA Times Health section caught my eye. Entitled, Pro / Con: Should chocolate milk be allowed in schools?, it gives the debate on whether or not flavored milk should be offered at your child’s school.
Rachel Johnson, a dietitian at the University of Vermont in Burlington whose research has been funded by the National Dairy Council, says yes–it’s better than no milk at all. However, Marlene Schwartz a psychologist and deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University says no–that we’re teaching milk is only good when it’s sugared up. More »
Understanding and Fighting Childhood Obesity
Over the past 30 years, childhood obesity has been steadily on the rise among children aged 6 to 19. In children between the ages of 2 and 5, about 14% of them are now classified as being overweight. Approximately 20% of kids aged 6 to 11 are overweight and 19% of kids between the ages of 12 and 19 are overweight. All of these figures are up significantly from statistics that were obtained in the early 1970s, with all of them more than doubling in a relatively short amount of time.
Getting your Kids to Eat Healthy Foods
By Jamell Andrews
Parents often have meal time battles with their children. The kids decide that they do not like what you are serving them, or they just decide that they would rather have something else. Whatever the reason, one of the worst things you can do as a parent is give in to your kids’ demands and fix something else for them to eat.
Soy and Health Issues in Children
Many people have turned to soy alternatives in the belief that these foods and beverages are healthier for their children. However, consistent research over the past several years has indicated that soy products may ultimately cause more harm than good.
The Declining Quality of Children’s Diets and What to do About It
According to the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, children between the ages of two and nine have diets that are less than desirable. This is an extremely important issue because poor eating habits that start early in life are likely to continue into adulthood, resulting in a host of health problems that might otherwise be avoided.