Former President Bill Clinton is a vegan! After several heart attack scares, bypass surgery, and more stents put in his veins to keep them open, he was told to make drastic changes in his diet. Moderate changes were not enough. On the advice of Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Caldwell Esseltyn Jr., both world renowned in the reversal of cardiovascular disease, President Clinton is on a totally plant-based diet. His numbers are all down and he has more energy than ever before. Even more important: he is taking his message to children. The Clinton Foundation has teamed up with the American Heart Association to help 12,000 schools promote exercise and healthier lunch choices. “It’s turning a ship around before it hits the iceberg” says Clinton. He doesn’t want children to face the same heart troubles as he did.

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A new study shows that consumers are misled by the false health claims on cereal boxes. The study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University shows how consumers believe that certain cereals are more nutritious than they really are based on the health claims on the front of box label. The study, published in the journal Public Health Nutrition, shows that additional government regulation of front-of-package labeling may be needed to protect consumers. Claims like ‘whole grain’, ‘fiber’, ‘calcium and vitamin D’, ‘organic’ and ‘supports your child’s immunity’ are particularly misleading. For example: One quarter of parents surveyed believed that ‘whole grain’ on a box of Lucky Charms meant the cereal was a healthy choice for their kids. One look at the ingredients label would tell them differently. Sugar listed at the top of the ingredient list as well as all the unpronounceable non-food ingredients is a sure give away that this is not a healthy choice.

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Children and juice consumption has been on my mind lately due in part to a nutritional analysis I have been participating in for the last eight months. Through our school, we were hooked up with a nutritional student who followed what our youngest daughter ate and drank. The idea was to gather information about peoples habits, perceptions and knowledge about eating well and childhood obesity. In our meetings, I was asked many questions concerning all these areas. One questions was “Does juice consumption in children create health problems in their future?” The answer, as I suspected, was yes. More than soda, children who drank more than 12 ounces of juice a day were more likely to be obese as adults. This one habit factors into future health more than any other lifestyle choice. Another question was about the amount of sugar in 100% juice versus the sugar content of soda and juice drinks. Surprise! They all have about the same amount of sugar. Though they take the forms of sucrose and fructose, sugar is sugar and it is now proven to be an obvious factor in childhood and adult obesity. Parents take care. It is vitally important to offer kids a wide range of drinks, and juice can be one of them. But limit their intake the same way you might limit soda consumption. What we put in our bodies now does pay forward to adulthood.

Want to get your kids eating healthy? Try not to dictate what to eat, rather offer a wide variety of healthy foods to empower your children to make good food choices.

Here are nine proven approaches to guiding your kids food choices:

• Be a role model. Kids will eat what you eat…eventually. They may need years of seeing you eat well, but set the stage for early modeling behavior and eat your vegetables, fruit and healthy foods in front of them as often as possible.

• Eat meals together as a family and as often as possible. Make mealtimes a pleasant experience.
Talk to them about their days, share family time and set the stage for happy food associations.

• Encourage your children to eat slowly. They will learn when they are truly hungry and when
they are full if they are eating slowly.

• Snacks are ok! Just make them the right kind of healthy snacks and time them wisely. Too
close to mealtime will make them less likely to eat their meal.

• Involve your kids in food shopping and in preparing meals. This is a great opportunity to teach your children about good nutrition and provide your kids with basic cooking skills. You may find that kids are more willing to eat what they helped prepare.

• Kids who eat while watching TV have a greater chance of over-eating and ignoring their feelings of fullness. Try to eat your meals in the designated eating areas.

• Make water the first choice for beverage consumption. Stay away from sweet sodas and
sugary juices. Limit juice consumption to once day and make it 100% fruit juice, no added
sugars. Remember: Kids who drink soda and sweetened juice have higher rates of childhood
obesity.

• Alter your reward system. Try not to reward a dessert in exchange for eating vegetables. That
makes vegetables bad! Dessert good! Instead, offer a variety of vegetable choices and praise
their good eating habits.

• This last one is a difficult one, but try your best to manage their food intake outside the home.
Get involved in their school lunches as much as possible and send them to school with great
healthy choices.

I think it’s time to share one of our very favorite cookie recipes. This is a no-bake recipe that is fun to make and more fun to eat! It happens to be vegan, but don’t let that stop you, and it does contain peanut butter and walnuts, so watch out for those with food allergies.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

No Bake Vegan Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies

1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup almond milk
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
3 tbsp creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

In a small saucepan, combine maple syrup, almond milk and cocoa and bring to a gentle boil stirring constantly. Once boiling, simmer over low heat for three minutes. Remove from heat. Add peanut butter and stir until dissolved. Add vanilla and oats. Stir until combined. Fold in walnuts. With damp hands (and you’ll want to keep your hands wet throughout), roll into small balls and place on a non-stick cookie sheet. Press ball down to make more of a flat cookie. Place sheet in fridge and chill. Enjoy!

Food Finds Its Way Into Storytelling

The fantasy that surrounds children stories are exactly the same vision you need to entice children to eat. Once a child does not like to eat, you can expect a big problem to greet you each and every day. Fears emerge. You will begin to picture horrible scenes of what your child will become if he continues to ignore your dish of good broccoli and melons.

Children stories are always a source of inspiration. Therefore you can always make use of them to finally force your kid to take a bite. How about creating your own fairytale of how a certain man managed to kick the wit of a witch just by eating some good kiwis for snacks. Create wonderful scenes wherein the villains are destructed simply because of a choice to eat a wonderful meal, which happen to be the meal you prepared at the table.

If you want to let go the imagination stage and head straight to “will you please eat this food now?” then you can use Popeye in your children stories. This man is always famous for eating a can of spinach to fight off the big Brutus. You can simply make use of this story if you please so as to not reinvent new ones. There’s also the wonderful story of Jack and the Beanstalk wherein a bean suddenly salvaged Jack and his mother from the cruel of poverty and hunger. Tell him that he might get the same magic harp and chicken lying golden eggs if he eats his beans. For your little girls, try the trick of Cinderella who used a pumpkin in order to go to the ball to meet her man of her dreams. How about the story of Beauty and the Beast wherein the princess Belle became a good friend with a fork? You can these wonderful stories to finally entice your kid to open his mouth.

Create a reading spots in your house where you can proceed with the storytelling. Do not tell the stories exactly at the dinner table. This might rob her interest from actually eating. Your kid might become lost with the fantasies of the stories that she might totally forgot to appreciate the moral lessons which is to eat. So set a place where you can read the story then proceed to the table when eating. This will further discipline your child about the need to eat when in front of the table. So now, start reading children stories.

Parents Need To Do More For Their Kids Health

While it is wrong to rely on low fat recipes all the time, it pays to know a little of these. Foods low in fat should not always have to taste bland. With modern-day nonstick pans, we are allowed to create delicious dishes without the guilt. There are also a bountiful of Asian condiments and spices that we can always use to perk up the taste of our foods.

Children are not allowed to go on with strict low fat recipes. But there are instances when we simply have to stick with these food choices especially when our kids suddenly become united with those suffering from the dangers of obesity. In such case, a low fat diet becomes our very own hero. Now in order to uphold health recipes, we may want to invest on the following tips:

Offering different kinds of vegetables, fruits, and whole grain crackers for their snack is valuable. This is the best moment to get away from the usual apples and grapes servings. How about some nice slices of pineapple, watermelon, melons, and kiwis instead?

Offer yogurt for snack. Instead of allowing our kids to feast on junk foods and sodas for an afternoon snack, offer healthier alternative without going low with the taste. Go away from foods that come with too much Trans fats. You might think that canned cake frosting can save you from the long process of preparation when the truth is that it only makes your kids become sicker. With the new labeling of foods served in the market, we are given the ability to choose wisely.

If your kids are having this so-called junk food cravings then offer baked chips for low fat recipes. Work on some thin slices of potatoes and bake them. This will be as good as their favorite Pringles or Lays chips. For a delicious treat, bake some homemade chicken nuggets. The recipe is simple because you just need some white meat chicken, dip it on egg white then coat with bread crumbs and you are done.

Truly, we do not have to resort on fattening and sickening foods that the society is giving us today. We should strive to become health-conscious for this is our only way to become good, conscious and responsible parents for our kids. So work on these low fat recipes and give a rewarding life for your kids. 


Getting Your Kid Can Grow Up Healthy And Strong

Even the healthiest foods may find it hard to compete with fast-food meals. The gastronomical delight of eating sweet and salty foods from restaurants had already captured the heart of today’s children. Therefore parents should be firm when imposing foods that should be eaten and those that cannot, before their kids got knocked over the pangs of obesity.

What are the healthiest foods? Experts believe that natural and fresh foods are the healthiest. It is interesting even to note that yogis which are the people who practice yoga are advice to go away from frozen, chilled, and preserved foods because they deteriorate the ability of the mind and the body. Taking their principle, it may be safe to say that these are exactly the kinds of foods that your kids require to grow up healthy and strong.

Next time you do your shopping, be sure to buy oatmeal and fresh eggs because they belong to the list of the healthiest foods. Oatmeal is filled with iron, B vitamins, calcium and zinc. Eggs are nutritious because they are a good source of proteins and nutrient like vitamin E and B, and zinc. Go nuts with some peanuts, almonds, cashews, and more. Nuts are great snacks for little ones but check with your doctor to rule out the possibility of nut allergies on your kids. Do not forget to give some delicious yogurt to your kids next time they are craving for something good to eat. Yogurt is a good source of calcium and it is easily digested by the body compared to regular milk.

Now for fruits and vegetables that are considered as the healthiest foods for kids, better go for melons, broccoli and sweet potatoes. Melons come with vitamin C, vitamin B, beta carotene, calcium, and more. Broccoli is considered as the best vegetables for both kids and the grownups because it is available with high calcium content. There’s also the sweet potatoes that are available with 30mg beta carotene each cupful of serving. Interestingly, you need 23 cups of broccoli to get this same amount of beta carotene.

Reduce the urge for fast-food binging. Let your kids grow to be the healthiest and the best of their potentials. If you do this, a great change will be observed. The chance for illnesses will be reduced and your kids will become more active in their class. Now that you got some knowledge about the healthiest foods, be sure to use it.

Focus On Health And Reduce Picky Eaters

Good habits are the pillars to a good life. It is typical for parents to longed for the best for their kids—the best job, the best wife or husband, and the best health. In wanting the best for them, we should understand the need to start early. While they are still young, we have to inculcate good values and principles on them.

Among the best good habits to teach is the value of respect. We want them to understand that we are their parents, who need the same respect like everyone does. Children were born innocent; they get signals from noticing their environment. In this regard, we should practice self-respect and respect over others on our own too. We should serve as good examples. Nevertheless, be sure to give respect to your children as well.

To ensure a long and happy life, another one on the list of good habits to teach our kids is good eating habits. We want them to grow up with a love for natural and fresh foods. The least we can do is to avoid eating out on fast-food chains. We have to serve healthy and mouth-watering dishes on our own. Sometimes, making them become a part of cooking can work well too. Kids will appreciate foods even more once they are part of cooking therefore reducing the chances for rearing picky eaters.

The value of confidence is also needed. Our kids should learn how to appreciate their being. They should see that they are just like others, with talents and specialties especially theirs. Low self-esteem can crumble good life. In this regard, be sure to allow kids to exercise regularly. This let them become involve on fun-filled activities. Exercising too will less likely limit them from becoming judgmental on one’s appearance. Good sleeping habits should be preserved too. Fruits and vegetables are important for kids to become confidence because these foods can make the skin and hair glow in health.

As early as today, we should learn how to mold our kids to become the best that they can be. The road to adulthood may be far ahead but if we start now then we may find it easier to correct our kids in the future. Hence, practice good habits on your own. This will help your kids learn to emulate you so they too can build up their values based on good habits.

Do You Have Fuzzy Toddler Syndrome

You’ve probably heard people saying “you are what you are eat”. What do these words really mean to parents with fussy toddlers? In this generation where kids are too tempted to believe those ads that a certain potato chip is what Barbie eats or a certain soda can make them have a Superman-like strength, it is really hard to push through good eating habits for kids.

The words “you are what you are eat” means that your kid will be molded into a kind of person depending on his diet. So if he often consumes high fat foods then he might develop coronary illnesses in the future. If he likes to drink sugary sodas then obesity might be near from striking him. But if he consumes healthy foods like vegetable and fruits then he will reap the good effects of his choice. He is likely to become a healthy person who can live a life until a hundred years or more.

In order to be guided well, the Food Pyramid was created. You can make this food presentation as your basis on what you can give your child with. Hence, if you will encounter someone saying “you are what you are eat” then you will be confident that your kid will surely grow up well. The Food Pyramid underwent changes through time. This is to become more effective in conveying the message of how a healthy eating habit ought to become. Be reminded that there is a special version for kids. Interestingly, in a pyramid for kids, there is a hiker who tends to climb on the side. This hiker is a representation of how important it is to exercise regularly.

The golden rule when following the pyramid is to eat a variety of food choices. Opt for foods that contain all the food groups. Following the pyramid should be personal. This is to inform parents that different kinds of kids need varied types of foods too. This is especially true among kids with special needs. So as the parent, it pays to become sensitive to the needs of your little ones. Everyone deserves to become healthy. This is to enjoy life to the fullest. While your kid is young, let him follow the right track so as to prevent problems like obesity, coronary diseases, and many more from showing in the future. After all, you are what you are eat.