A healthy diet with good nutrition helps protect your child from obesity and diabetes, helps your child learn better and be healthier, happier & well behaved!
If your child is overweight you may literally save their life by making a few simple diet, nutrition and lifestyle changes to help him or her reach a healthy body weight and develop an active, junk-food-free lifestyle.
One of the most important steps to accomplish this is to get your child off junk food and get them enjoying healthy,nutritous food.
Children need good nutrition and the BEST source of good nutrition is a healthy, nutritious, (and hopefully delicious), breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Food not only affects your child’s health, food affects your childs ability to sit still, stay focused and learn.
Study repeatedly show that both behavior and grades improve significantly when sugar, refined carbohydrates and nutritionally empty foods are eliminated from school cafeterias and children’s lunch boxes and are not available at home.
A Healthy Diet Means . . .
- Enjoying foods that nourish your body and keep your blood sugar and body chemistry in a healthy balance, and;.
- Avoiding foods containing ingredients that throw your blood sugar and body chemistry out of healthy balance or that put a toxic load on your body.
A Healthy Food. . .
- Causes NO sharp rise in blood sugar, which means it must be low in sugar and carbohydrates, especially refined carbohydrates.
- Is naturally high in nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids, etc.
- Is minimally processed and contains NO added sugar, NO corn syrup, NO hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, and few, (if any), chemical preservatives.
Read Food Labels; If you can’t pronounce the name of an ingredient or additive, it is probably a chemical and should be avoided! If you can’t pronounce it don’t eat it… and don’t feed it to your kids.
- A breakfast high in sugar or refined carbohydrates, such as sweetened cereal, causes a sharp rise in your child’s blood sugar and will have him or her, "bouncing off the walls", in no time.
Get a child hyped-up on sugar first thing in the morning and it will be practically impossible for little Johnny or Jill to sit still in class, pay attention and learn.
Much of what is diagnosed as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is simply the highly predictable result of an abdominally POOR DIET. Change the diet and the hyper active behavior often goes away.
A breakfast high in sugar and carbs guarantees hyperactivity because the kids blood sugar zooms sky high and it’s all but impossible to keep still and focus on school work. But an hour later when blood sugar crashes, your little darling, who starts every day demanding Captian Diabetes Sugared Cereal, will be sound asleep with their darling little head resting on the desk… as math lesson marches on.
Cutting sugar and carbohydrates often has a porfound positive affect on a childs health, behavior, grades and more.
DON’T LET THE TAIL WAG THE DOG – You decide what your kid is going to eat. Stick to your decision and eventually they catch on!
A healthy breakfast sets the stage for learning!
GOOD BREAKFAST: A healthy breakfast for children, (and adults), may include eggs of any variety, high fiber, whole wheat toast, (easy on the jam and jelly – it’s almost pure sugar), fresh seasonal fruit, (apples, oranges, peaches, pears, melon, and strawberries are healthy choices). Real oat meal with some fresh fruit or berries mixed in and topped off with a little cream, (yumm!) is also a healthy breakfast.
ABOUT FRUIT JUICE: Fruit juice, including orange, apple and grapefruit juice is extremely high in natural sugar. Just 6 ounces of orange juice has the equivalent of 4 teaspoons of sugar, and that’s too much!
Enjoy fruit the way nature provided it! When you eat the whole fruit the natural fibers bind up the sugars and the effect on blood sugar is minimal, plus, you get FAR MORE NUTRITION from eating the whole fruit.
Real yogurt with fresh berries or sliced fruit makes for a very nice breakfast, but avoid all the flavored yogurts with fruit mixed in – they are little more than candy. Purchase PLAIN yogurt and add your own fruit – this is MUCH better nutritionally. For a special treat, mix some walnuts in with the yogurt!
One of my granddaughters favorites is to add bee pollen to yogurt or low fat cottage cheese. The bee pollen is tasty, crunchy and loaded with B vitamins; overall this is a GREAT snack and a healthy addition to any lunch!
BAD BREAKFAST: Pancakes, waffles (with or without syrup), cereal and milk, all products made with white flour, including white bread, doughnuts, sweet rolls, pop-tarts, fake-fruit juice, FAST FOOD with bread, hash browns and juice; and so on are PROFOUNDLY BAD CHOICES. Just say no!
PLEASE never give these high-sugar, health-disaster foods to your children! These gooey, high-sugar creations are really bad. They make your kids overweight, sluggish and turn them into slow learners.
Sweetened cereals are loaded with carbohydrates and food-processing chemicals and are low in any real nutritional value.
- The carbohydrates turn into sugar, the sugar turns to fat, and your child gains weight. A regular diet of cereal and milk for breakfast almost always leads to high blood sugar, hyperactivity and overweight.
Helping your child develop healthy eating habits while they are young sets the stage for your child to grow into being a lean, healthy, high energy adult.
What a wonderful gift!
WE EAT TO NOURISH THE BODY. Keep this in mind and it’s easier to make healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner choices.
ABOUT LUNCH – Avoid chips, cookies, candy; stay away from potatoes, bread, rolls, juice;
If hot lunch is available, go for the protein, salad, vegetables – leave the bread, rice, pasta and potatoes alone. Avoid chips, cookies, candy, and obvious junk food.
BRING LUNCH FROM HOME: hard boiled eggs, tuna in Tupperware, protein from dinner; cheese sticks; fresh fruit slices; almonds; all-natural peanut butter and celery or peanut butter on whole wheat low carb-high fiber bread; WATER (with lime)
One improtant key to help your child stay healthy is to make sure your child gets wholesome, nutritious food and avoids or minimize foods high in sugar, salt and fat, or foods that contain hydrogenated oils and trans-fatty acids. Help you child develop a taste for healthy, nutritious food.
Here’s a sample weeks worth of healthy school lunches.
Day 1
Tuna salad – made with solid white albacore, real Mayo and tangy mustard. (Hard-boiled eggs are optional) Add a dash of garlic powder and dill weed if desired. baby carrots OR celery sticks A peeled orange OR apple slices Almonds, OR other unsalted nuts Water
- Nutritional observations: The tuna has protein your child needs to grow and develop properly and is loaded with healthy essential fatty acids.
- The egg is as close to a nutritionally perfect food as you are likely to find. The carrots or celery are loaded with essential minerals, fiber and other important nutritional components. The almonds are rich in essential minerals and mono-saturated fats that are extremely good for you.
- This lunch is loaded with good nutrition, it will keep your child’s blood sugar in a healthy range, keep them alert, and will keep their appetite satisfied for hours!
Day 2
Chile (from last night’s dinner) Use only LEAN beef; I recommend Texas Longhorn brand available at Randall’s or The Whole Food Store. It is 98% lean and is made from cattle raised with NO hormones, NO steroids, and NO antibiotics. (This is TRULY healthy beef.)
Corn Bread (made fresh with no hydrogenated oil) Apple or other fruit Cashews or other unsalted nuts Milk or water
Day 3
Chicken lettuce wraps (use sliced Chicken Breast cooked extra from dinner) String Cheese (the good stuff, not processed) Chunked Watermelon OR apple slices OR grapes OR strawberries Pork Rinds, (not a perfect snack but FAR BETTER than potato or corn chips) Water (flavored with fresh lemon or lime juice)
Day 4
Ham Wrapped Cheese ( Use real ham sliced thinly. Avoid processed lunch meats, they are loaded with sugar and preservatives!) Green salad served in Tupperware Boiled (or stuffed) Eggs Sweet Potato Chips (made at home in the microwave) – a healthy treat! Milk or water
Day 5
Peanut Butter on celery (or whole wheat bread). Purchase only natural peanut butter with no sugar or hydrogenated oils added. Laura Scutter is a brand available at most grocery stores. String cheese Home made oatmeal cookies with raisins Mixed nuts (always unsalted!) Water
Notes and Extras
- Flavor water with fresh lemon or lime juice for a little change
- Make trail mix with nuts, a few dried fruits and seeds
- Mix fresh fruit and plain yogurt for a sweet treat-include seeds too
- Plain yogurt mixed with cinnamon and raisins tastes great
- Real cheese is better than processed
Get a thermal lunch kit that keeps hot things hot and keeps cold things cold. Hot dishes should be micro waved in the morning, foil wrapped and thermal packed to stay hot and tasty.
With a good thermal lunch kit there’s no limit to the delicious, nutritious lunch entrées you can prepare for your kids!
Delicious, nutritious lunches are EASY … when you plan ahead!
Think about your child’s lunch when planning your evening meals. Making a little extra chicken, chili, steak, meat loaf, vegetables or other dish is easy and saves time when making a lunch for the next day.
KIDS LEARN FAST
- Teach you children about good nutrition, let them take part in the process, get them involved in making healthy choices for themselves.
- Teach them, guide them and lead by example.
- Involve your kids. Explain the goal.
- Get your child to help plan their lunches a week in advance and make sure there are lots of healthy choices to choose from.
- Make a "lunch meal plan", let them help, post it on the refrigerator door. Include their favorites whenever possible. You make it, but they eat it!
The BEST way to teach your children is to be a good example!
You kids learn by watching you. If you’re a fast-food and dessert junkie, your kids will follow in your footsteps. But if you hate junk food and wouldn’t feed candy and soft drinks to your worst enemy, your kids will avoid them just like you… no will power required.
Teaching is easy when you teach by example.
As an adult, the more you know about good nutrition the healthier you will be and the more able you will be to help your child develop healthy eating habits.
To learn more about how food affects your health be sure and read the articles on this Web site discussing protein, fat, carbohydrates and cholesterol. Also, you may want to learn even more, my 5 Steps to Optimal Health Program may be right for you.
One of the greatest gifts you can give a child is to help them develop healthy eating habits while they are young.
I never cease to be amazed at how fast kids learn.
Talk to your chlidren, love them, tell them the truth, be playful, lead by example and your kids will excel beyond all expectation … and then some!
IMPORTANT POINTS:
Obesity and type 2 diabetes are epidemic with children because of poor dietary and lifestyle habits and for NO other reasons.
- Minimize sugar and carbohydrates including cake, candy, soda, snack foods, bread, potatoes, pop corn, pretzels, juice, pasta, cereal, crackers, etc.
- Make sure your child gets a good quality protein with every meal
- Minimize ALL fried foods – the hydrogenated oil wreck your kids arteries and the carbohydrates make your kid fat.
- LEARN how food effects your health; learn about proper supplementation.
- Enjoy lots of fresh green vegetables
- Keep your child active. Get them in dance class, martial arts, track and field. Anything that gets them on their feet and keeps them moving. No wasting away in front of the television.
TRUE STORY: My 12 year old niece was 30 pounds overweight when I gave her the video game Dance Dance Revolution. Playing the dance game, she lost 30 pounds in less than two months and never gained it back. Today, four years later, she still plays the Dance Game and uses it for exercise.
Help your kids develop healthy eating habits and help them develop a love for being physically active. A healthy diet and a physically active lifestyle will do more to protect your childs health, now and in the future, than anything else you can possibly imagine.
Be sure and read the article on How To Read Food Lables Like A Nutritonal Pro and be sure and sign up for the FREE NEWSLETTER so you are notified every time a new article or Special Report becomes available.
To learn about all about the nutritional value of soft drinks, try this article… Soft Drinks – Friend or Foe
Written by Dr. Russell J. Martino, Ph.D
The Voice Of Health
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