Thanksgiving and Children

Get kids involved in Thanksgiving planning and cooking

Most young children enjoy being a 'helper' and its a fun way to spend time together. They also enjoy cooking and will be proud to share the healthy dish they helped prepare for Thanksgiving. As you prepare for Thanksgiving you can use this time to get kids involved and teach them about new foods and healthy eating. There are plenty of ways to get kids involved.

Kids can:

help come up with the menu
find items on the grocery list
find different colored seasonal vegetables
wash vegetables and fruits
help measure and mix ingredients
add fresh fruits and vegetables to platters
make cute Thanksgiving decorations
set the table

Quick Thanksgiving nutrition facts and tips to keep your family healthy

This holiday season is a great time to take steps to keep your family healthy. Kids are developing their habits through the daily experiences. Since Thanksgiving is the kick off for the holiday season, demonstrate healthy holiday habits. This Thanksgiving you can teach the kids how to prepare for Thanksgiving by making healthy choices.

Don’t forget breakfast. Start the morning with a healthy pumpkin smoothie.
Don’t starve. Avoid trying to save your appetite for dinner or you will tend to overeat.
Cook with natural ingredients. The first Thanksgiving celebrated in 1621 had no processed foods and no access to sugar
Shop smart. Buy fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables for a better price such as squash, carrots, turnips, and pumpkins.
Go for Veggies! Cook healthier, low calorie seasonal vegetables for a nutrient packed meal.
Cook healthy. Look for healthier substitutes for your recipes by substituting whole grains and low fat items whenever possible. See our list of healthy Thanksgiving substitutes.
Think out of the box! Consider fish or a vegetarian meal for your main entrée.
Start the festivities with healthy choices. Offer some tasty and healthy appetizers with low fat dips to keep the calories down!
Use low fat creams for soups and desserts.
Get moving! After dinner, get the family active with fun indoor or outdoor activities.
Don’t beat yourself up! If you feel like your family forgot their healthy habits, then just get the family back on the healthy track.

Tips on Thanksgiving Portion Control – Avoiding overeating

The average person will eat about 4500 calories on Thanksgiving Day! With so many delicious foods and the excitement of the holiday it is easy to get carried away and over eat. But with a few portion control tips, you can eat less and teach your children to eat sensibly, even during the holidays.

Think small - serve in smaller serving dishes to encourage smaller portions
Use smaller plates and bowls to help portion control
Plan for leftovers to reduce the chance of over-eating- you’ll save time on future meal preparation too!
Make a low fat vegetable based soup as a starter
Limit starches such as potatoes, stuffing, and rolls, instead fill your plate with more vegetables
Drink plenty of water.
Avoid seconds. If you can't resist the second helping, focus on refilling your plate with vegetables and other lower calorie choices
Enjoy desserts however, slice your pie into 16 slices and use nonfat whipped cream.
Use small plates or tea cups to reduce portion size when serving the desserts
The Thanksgiving holiday can be the start of a hectic holiday season. We get into such a rush that we might be tempted to throw all our healthy habits out the window. But it can also be a time to take steps to simplify, slow down and enjoy the simple pleasures of family. It can be a time when the whole family can remember to be thankful for healthy foods and a healthy family. And isn’t being thankful about our blessings what this holiday is really about.

We hope you have a wonderful, enjoyable and healthy Thanksgiving.

Credit to:
http://www.nourishinteractive.com/parents_area/healthy_family_nutrition_newsletter/planning_healthy_thanksgiving_tips_healthy_eating_portion_control_easy_thanksgiving_foods_kids_cooking

Tips for Raising Heart-Healthy, Active Children

• Help your children develop good physical activity habits at an early age by setting a good example yourself. Practice heart-healthy habits.
• Limit television, movies, videos and computer games to less than two hours a day. Substitute the rest of leisure time with physical activity.
• Plan family outings and vacations that involve vigorous activities such as hiking, bicycling, skiing, swimming, etc.
• Give your children some household chores that require physical exertion, keeping in mind their levels of strength, coordination and maturity. Mowing lawns, raking leaves, scrubbing floors and taking out the garbage not only teach responsibility but can be good exercise.
• Observe sports and activities your children like, then find out about lessons and clubs. Some children thrive on team sports; others prefer individual activities. Some activities, like tennis and swimming, can be enjoyed for a lifetime and are much easier to learn during childhood.
• If it's safe to walk or bike rather than drive, do so. Use stairs instead of elevators and escalators. Increase the distances you and your children walk.
• Stay involved in your child's physical education classes at school. At daycare, make sure the kids exercise at least 20 minutes a day. Ask about frequency of classes and activity, class size, curriculum (instruction in lifetime fitness activities as well as team sports should be emphasized), physical fitness assessments, qualifications of the teacher (should hold appropriate certification in physical education and be an appropriate role model for students). Physical fitness should be measured at the beginning and end of each year, and goals should be established for each child. Encourage your school board to emphasize skills students can use for the rest of their lives.
• Discourage homework immediately after school to let children find some diversion from the structure of the school day. Kids should be active after school and before dinner.
• Choose fitness-oriented gifts -- a jump rope, mini-trampoline, tennis racket, baseball bat, a youth membership at the local YMCA or YWCA. Select the gift with your child's skills and interests in mind.
• Take advantage of your city's recreation opportunities -- from soccer leagues to fun runs. Check out the various camps or organizations like the Sierra Club that sponsor outdoor activities such as camping, hiking trips and bird watching.
• Free your infant from mechanical restraints as much as possible. Strollers and playpens are high on convenience but low on activity potential. Try to unleash your diapered dynamo whenever and wherever he or she can safely move around.
• When your children are bored, suggest something that gets them moving, like playing catch or building a snowman in the yard.

This information brought to you by the American Heart Association:
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=825

Children's Fitness

Keeping Kids Moving
By Gwenn Schurgin O’Keeffe, MD, FAAP
Your Kid’s Health, The Salem News
May 20, 2003

Kids are remarkable in their ability to turn anything into a playground. My three year-old nephew, H, never stops moving. I’m convinced he is related to the Energizer Bunny! In a hotel restaurant recently, he literally ran circles around every table, laughing and smiling until he was finally caught. Later that day we went for a walk and he gleefully jumped in the air with one arm held high yelling “up, up and away!” as Superman. He told me I could be Batman or Wonder Woman. If only we could bottle this energy and primal urge to run and play – all our exercise woes as older kids and adults would just melt away!

It’s a fact that kids are not as active today as in generations past. Hectic lives with dual-working parents and complicated daycare/after school plans leave little time for old-fashioned running around. According to the American Heart Association, kids in the United States are much less fit than kids a generation ago, thus causing some serious health implications, especially for their hearts, which become affected by weight gain (which can lead to obesity), high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Here is the other very real issue: out-of-shape kids become out-of-shape adults; and, these adults are the ones more likely to suffer strokes and heart attacks at young ages.

In addition to the heart-healthy benefits of exercise, kids, and adults, with active bodies are usually more energetic and happier than those not as active. The better children feel about themselves, the more interest they will be in participating with school and friends

How much activity should kids have? Just like with food, the overall guidelines are similar for both kids and adults, and have been put into a special “Children’s Activity Pyramid”. You can check this out yourself at: www.muextension.missouri.edu/explore/hesguide/foodnut/gh1800.htm. The pyramid is designed for kids, and is developmentally appropriate as well as practical – even for the busiest of families. You can print and post the colorful guide, as well as a blank pyramid for your kids to fill in with their own activities.

From the tip to the base, here is the “Children’s Activity Pyramid”:

• Reduce time spent with TV and video/computer games; don’t sit for 30 minutes or more at a time
• Two to three times a week, engage in playtime and fun activities like dancing, martial arts, swimming, and tumbling
• Three to five times a week, engage in real aerobic activities, from biking to soccer to old-fashioned games like tag and hide-and-seek (20 minutes or more is the goal for these activities.)
• Everyday, as much as possible, play outside, use the stairs, help around the house and in the yard, pick up toys, walk, etc.
• Have fun!

Luckily for us, kids have an inner urge to move – what we need to do is tap into that and help our kids stay active as they get more and more captivated by the world of technology. If kids see the adults in their lives exercising and limiting sedentary activities, they will be more likely to do so. TV shows, videos, computer games all have their place but should be a small part of any child’s day – less than two hours per day is the “official” recommendation. Try a family challenge for a few days to see who can do this the longest – initially it may be hard to resist the temptation to plop on the couch and flick on a show. But, as with anything, the more you do the more it will become second nature!

Here’s to a healthy and more active week!

© 2005 Pediatrics Now.
All rights reserved. PEDIATRICS NOW is a trademark of Pediatrics Now.

Coping with a Picky Eater

“I’ve told you for the last time to eat your vegetables!” That’s a statement that is heard in homes with young children all over the country, possibly all around the world. Coping with a picky eater isn’t fun, but it doesn’t have to be impossible.

Consider using these ten suggestions for improving your picky eater’s eating habits. They may be what you’re looking for as you try to get them to clean their plate and eat all of the things you know are good for them.

1. Try something new. Even though the picky eater in your home may only want to eat macaroni and cheese or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, don’t stop offering new foods. Make a rule that they have to eat at least one bite of a new food whenever they are offered. Keep offering new foods and you may be surprised if they actually start eating it.

2. Use an artistic flair. You’ve seen the beautiful meals in magazines and on television. Try making their plate visually appealing to entice them to try something new. Put a rainbow of foods on their plate. Find the different foods that come in their favorite color and create a meal around them.

3. Make subtle changes. There are a myriad of ways to alter recipes to make them healthier. Instead of using oil the next time you bake a cake, why not use applesauce. Make a fruit smoothie instead of a milkshake for dessert.

4. Get them involved. Ask your child to help you prepare meals starting with planning the menu, going grocery shopping, prepping the food, and then making a meal they and the whole family will love.

5. Set a good example. If you want your picky eater to eat their vegetables, they need to see you eating yours. Choose carrot sticks instead of potato chips. Have broccoli, cauliflower, and celery easily accessible in the refrigerator.

6. Stop in-between meal snacking, particularly right before a meal. Juice and milk also fill tummies, so you may want to give them water to drink during the meal.

7. Give them choices. Offer mashed potatoes or baked potatoes, peas or carrots, or strawberry or grape jelly on their sandwich. This is one way teach them to make decisions and give them control over what they eat.

8. Don’t let them treat you like a short order cook. Make the meal you planned for the family and that’s it. If they are hungry, they can eat what you’ve fixed.

9. Remember that being picky about what they eat may be a phase. Their tastes can change from day to day, so tomorrow they may like everything they didn’t like today.

10. Be sure they try something at least twice before declaring that they don’t like it. If they don’t want to eat what’s being served, let them know that they can sit quietly at the table with the family until the meal is done.

Coping with a picky eater isn’t an easy task, but it doesn’t have to be a tug-of-war. Continue to offer them new foods and expect them to at least try them. It’s quite possible that they will outgrow being a picky eater and when it happens you can be glad you used one or more of these suggestions.

Need more ideas for recipes that kids will enjoy? Kid Approved Meals may be just what you need. Kid Approved Meals will help you quickly and easily propare healthy meals that your kids will enjoy.

Credit to:

http://www.kidsfitnesscentral.com/coping-with-a-picky-eater/