Making Healthy Fun In 2019
By JoAnn Stevelos
While we are all feeling the spirit of the New Year let’s inspire ourselves and our families to be healthier in 2019. At the beginning of this new millennium, a new challenge emerged—a marked increase in obesity at ever younger ages and Type 2 diabetes, a condition traditionally associated with middle-aged adults, is beginning to affect a greater number of children. The obesity epidemic started about 30 or 40 years ago and has brought us to a time when 1 in 3 children and 75 percent of adults are overweight or obese. There are many things that have made children vulnerable to the obesity epidemic. It is not anyone’s fault. Each child affected by the obesity epidemic needs our help and a whole lot of love and kindness. We can help children be their healthiest weight by adding easy ways for them to move more and eat healthier every day. By healthiest weight we mean, a weight that doesn’t put a child at risk for Type 2 diabetes and other weight-related illness, prevent them from moving freely, sleeping well, or enjoying social activities.
Children who have gained too much weight too fast need help moving more and eating healthier. When we look closely at the food that is marketed to children it is all about salt, sugar, and fat. The three things we want to avoid in children diets to help them be their healthiest weight. Research has shown that humans are born with a preference for salty and sweet foods. So when we introduce children to other kinds of foods, healthier foods, they may reject them at first. This is normal.
There are many reasons children may be gaining too much weight too fast that are not within our control. Let’s keep informed about this epidemic and act consistently and with kindness so that we may help each help the child feel safe and happy no matter what their size. So how can you help children be their healthiest weight?
Here are 5 simple things you can do to help children MOVE more:
- Just 5 Minutes Helps – Encourage children to run, skip or hop for just five minutes several times a day. Remember when you were a kid and you ran because you felt like running. Or maybe you were a hopper or a skipper. These fast, spontaneous bouts of physical activity can help fight childhood obesity, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.
- Keep it Fun – Challenge children to a race up the driveway, or who can hop on one foot the longest, or hold a plank pose. Be sure to keep it fun and not about winning.
- Dance Party – Put on a favorite song and have a dance party in the kitchen before lunch or dinner.
- Walk and Learning – Walk to the park instead of drive as soon as kids are old enough to make the trip; getting out and about not only gets them moving but provides unique learning opportunities and discussion time as well.
- When it Rains – Find creative ways to get them moving, even in bad weather: invite friends over for mini-twister (great way to move and learn colors and right and left), or have them act out a story they just read.
Here are 5 simple things you can do to help children EAT HEALTHIER:
- The “No Thank You Bite” – Using the “No thank you Bite” can help expose children to different flavors — including sour, bitter and even spicy ones. However, we should never force a child to eat anything. Simply, model the behavior. Take a few “no thank you bites.” of your own. Be honest, if you don’t like the food after trying it several times, share that too. Maybe you didn’t like spinach but will try kale. Or didn’t like broccoli but thought green beans weren’t too bad.
- Spices Are Better – Some caregivers add sugary dressings, or butter, to help kids try new foods. By doing this, you are creating a food habit that may set a child up to only like healthy foods prepared in an unhealthy way. Instead of adding sugar, salt, or fat, try adding spices. Letting children experiment with adding spices to their food is one way to encourage them to try healthy foods. Supervised of course—we wouldn’t want a three year old to get a mouthful of hot red pepper flakes! Encourage them to try the different spices. Add oregano or tarragon, sweeter spices, to a vegetable. It could be just the kind of sweet that might appeal to a child’s taste buds. Or add red pepper flakes, minced onion, or garlic, these flavors can be a good substitute for fats.
- One Ingredient Foods Are Best – Encouraging children to eat foods that only have one ingredient, or what we call “whole foods” is a key strategy for helping prevent too much weight gain, too fast. An apple is an apple, lentils are lentils. The problem is for many families ‘whole foods’ can be expensive especially when they are out of season. And if your child won’t eat the food, and are only taking one ‘no thank you bite’ you will end up throwing away the rest of the food. This will get frustrating sooner than later.
- Frozen is Fine – Which brings us to the frozen or fresh dilemma. Fresh is best, but frozen is convenient, cost-efficient, and perfect for when you are trying to expose children to as many “whole foods’ as possible. Buying a small bag of frozen broccoli makes it easy to just cook a few stalks at a time. This way you won’t be throwing out a whole pot of broccoli because no one liked it.
- Reject “Kids Foods” – How can we reject the “kids menu” and food that is marketed as “kids food”? When you are at a restaurant order a few dishes for the whole family and then share them. Most restaurant servings are large and the portion sizes are typically too much for one person. Sharing plates are the perfect time to try new foods with a child.
2019 will be a great time for a fresh start and an even better time to try a few of these ideas to help children be their healthiest weight. Let’s remember too, children who are gaining too much weight too fast need compassion, kindness, and lots of love to feel safe and cared for. By sharing our support and encouraging healthy habits, we can help children be happier, healthier, and stronger.