The Ultimate Organization Tool for Healthy Meals

We know that the key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle is planning.  Without a plan, we are more likely to grab donuts for breakfast, fast food for lunch, and a bowl of cereal for dinner.  If you're a busy parent, and wish to embark on a healthy lifestyle for you and your family, then it's important to plan not only your dinner meals, but your breakfast and lunch meals too.

Check out this tool created by the Healthy Kids Inc team.  The upper portion of the spreadsheet allows you to plan out your meals for the week.  In our household, breakfast is usually "grab-n-go," so a homemade bran muffin or piece of fruit generally goes here.  The lunch section allows me to be creative and plan fun lunches for the whole family.  Dinners are incredibly easy to plan out- thanks to the HKI website.

Once your meals are planned, simply use the columns below to chart the grocery items needed to pull off each day.  This is one of my favorite sections.  It keeps me from overspending at the store and ensures that I have everything I need to pull off meals for the week.  The bottom section is used for any additional grocery options that may not fall in the weekly plan (drinks, paper products, etc).

Once the shopping is complete, I simply tear off the top section and tack it to a cork board conveniently placed on the inside of the pantry door as a daily reminder.

Hesitant, Reluctant, Skeptical?  Give this a try for even one week.  You'll be thoroughly impressed with the results.  A downloadable version is available on the Healthy Kids Inc website.  Let us know how you like it.

Kids in the Kitchen- Frustrating or Beneficial?

Have you ever wondered if involving your kids in the kitchen really makes a difference?  Let's face it.  The task can be quite frustrating.  Check out this testimonial from a former "kid-in-the-kitchen" turned Chef.  It just might change your mind.  

Some of my earliest memories center on being in the kitchen with my parents. I remember many things from childhood but nothing as strongly, nothing as vividly as I do memories of days spent cooking in our family home. The sights, the sounds, the smells and especially the tastes. I strongly believe that I would not be who I am or where I am as a chef if it were not for spending my formative years at my parents sides in the kitchen regularly.

It is not only highly important that children learn about the food that they eat and its purpose but also HOW to cook. Cooking is a fundamental life skill that has sadly been lost to some generations. The illusion of convenience that the fast food industry and even your local supermarket generates to sustain their billion dollar industries is in my humble opinion the culprit. Children are conditioned from an early age in our country to want the red and yellow packaging that hides nothing nutritious within. This is why it is time to get back to a time where cooking was not only a necessary part of life but one we enjoyed no matter our age.

I have instructed hundreds of children of all ages the basics of cooking and it is my experience that children are excited at the thought of participating in an adult activity. Being able to be hands on gives kids a true sense of what it takes to put food on the table and affords them a sense of ownership over the food that they eat. Being able to touch, see, smell, and taste the ingredients that they are cooking with is the best way to get them to try new foods. It is important that kids understand that in order to cook well you must first know what every ingredient is and how it tastes both cooked and raw. If we all took this approach with our kids from the very start there would be no opposition because they would never have the disadvantage of knowing any other way.

The next time that you are about to cook dinner ask the kids if they would like to help. Start with small tasks and work up to more complex ones. Remember to teach safety and explain to them everything you are doing from seasoning, to why you cut the vegetables all the same size. They’ll soak up all of your cooking knowledge and with a bit of practice before you know it you may just have a young chef on your hands.

- Chef Joe Crockett



Joe Crockett is the Chef for Healthy Kids, Inc.  In 2009 Joe worked alongside celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver on his Emmy award winning television series, “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.” After the show wrapped and at the young age of twenty-one, Joe was given the position as chef at the kitchen Chef Oliver established in downtown Huntington where he remained until 2011.  Joe now devotes his time to Healthy Kids Inc while pursuing his bachelors degree.  Check out the Chef in action at www.healthykidsinc.com

Sugar and Kids

Most of us know too much sugar isn’t a good thing for our children.  The reasons why may be less obvious.  Sugar itself isn’t necessarily bad.  In fact, sugar occurs naturally in many foods we consider to be healthy, including milk and fruit. 

The real danger of sugar is when it is added to foods or occurs in highly concentrated amounts.  Foods high in added sugars are bad for children when they replace healthy foods in their diet.  It’s not uncommon for kids to enter the lunch room at school, lunch box in hand packed with honey buns instead of an apple or soda instead of milk.  These highly processed, sugar packed treats are robbing children of the vitamins, minerals, and fiber found in fruits, vegetables, milk, and whole grains and replacing them with over processed foods containing a list of additives a mile long. 

Foods high in sugar also tend to shift our taste preferences.  Exposing ourselves and our children to foods that are increasingly sweet increases our tolerance for sugar.  Eventually cake isn’t good enough without icing, our cereal isn’t edible without a tablespoon or two of sugar sprinkled on top, and strawberries aren’t appealing without a chocolate dip.  Increasing our sugar tolerance decreases our ability to appreciate the taste of natural whole foods, like unprocessed almonds or walnuts, both of which have a slightly sweet flavor.  We want our children to desire healthier foods like fruits and vegetables, but allowing them too much access to high sugar foods can produce the opposite effect.

Sweets aren’t the only sugar laden culprits.  Fruit juice can be just as bad as soda.  Many fruit juices are packed with added sugars, usually in the form of high fructose corn syrup.  Even 100% natural fruit juice is highly concentrated in natural sugars.  One cup of orange juice delivers the sugar of 13 oranges, but doesn’t make us feel nearly as full, nor does it contain near the amount of vitamins and minerals, and it completely lacks fiber.  This high concentration of sugar is not good for your child’s dental health.  Sugary drinks, including fruit juice, are one of the major causes of tooth decay among children.  Really, fruit juice should be considered a treat, not a regular beverage at meals, and should be limited to 4oz or 1/2 cup per day.

How then do we handle sugar in our childrens’ diets?  Do we eliminated it completely?  Even if you could, that would not be in the best interest of your child.  Sugary foods are a great opportunity for you to teach moderation to your children.  Someday they will be adults and will have to make their own choices regarding food.  In a world where sugary foods are in every convenience store and checkout line, children need to know how to eat in moderation and say no when appropriate. 

Emphasizing that sweets are a treat and should not be eaten everyday is one good place to start.  Next, try to assess how many added sugars you and your family are allowing into your diet.  You can find this by looking at the food label under carbohydrates.  In foods with sugars, you’ll notice a line labeled “sugar.”  Set your goals to be in line with the current recommendations for added sugar limitations: 36g for men, 20g for women, and 12g for children.  If these are a giant leap down from what you’re accustomed to, it’s okay to use a more gradual method to step yourselves down to these appropriate levels.  It’s also essential to involve the whole family.  Children  are excellent observers and tend to model the behavior of their parents.  Finally, don’t use sweets as a reward for good behavior or as motivation for eating other foods...like their vegetables.  This teaches an unhealthy perception of food and places undue value on foods with less nutrition and benefit to offer. 

Improving the way your family handles sugary foods will help to construct positive food behaviors in your children, which is a lesson that will benefit them for the rest of their lives.  

This guest blog is brought to you by Sarah Sturgill.  Sarah is a member of the Healthy Kids Inc. team. She is a Registered Dietitian with both her Bachelor's and Master's in Dietetics.  She is also a certified specialist in child and adolescent weight management. Sarah is author of the blog Slicing the Apple- http://slicingtheapple.wordpress.com

Happy New Year: R.I.P Little Debbie

I feel compelled to share something my son experienced today at school.  My oldest started kindergarten this year.  Naturally, we made the decision to pack his lunch every day.   This is the highlight of my day.  He and I plan out his meals.  I pack creative cut outs, fun dips and use cool containers.  It's the lunch of a King....or so I thought. 

A few months ago my son started asking if he could have lunchables.  A little strange considering we don't buy them, talk about them, or even pass them in the grocery store.  He said the kids at school bring them and it looks cool.  Sure- what's not to love about tons of sodium, a chocolate cookie and a Kool Aid Jammer.  I offered to make him an even better lunchable with a healthy twist.  So we started buying low sodium ham, low fat cheese, and a healthier cracker to create our own version.  Voila!  Mom saves the day....or so I thought. 

For an entire week leading up to Christmas break our son came home with his lunchbox essentially untouched.  He would eat it when he got home, but appeared to show no interest in eating it at school.  His reasons varied each day:  he forgot to eat lunch, he didn't have time, he wasn't hungry.  He hasn't forgotten a meal at home EVER and sixty minutes rarely passes without him being hungry.  Something was up.  Hopefully this would pass.

Yeahh!  First day back to school from Christmas break.  We pack an awesome "new year" lunch.  He gets home and the lunchbox was yet again, untouched.  We sit down for our heart-to-heart and he admits that he doesn't want to eat in front of the kids at school because they make fun of what he brings.  Are you kidding me?  My brain immediately kicks into fight mode.  I couldn't process the ramifications of my responses quick enough.  My gut responses would have only made the situation worse.   (1)  These kid are idiots.  Don't believe them.  Great way to make new friends Mom.  (2)  These kids will probably be overweight one day from eating twinkies and lunchables for their entire life.  Don't attack the kids.  They only eat what their parents give them.  (3)  You're going to be stronger, smarter and more athletic than them.  Too competitive.  My mother's initial response was even worse.  (1)  I'm going to drive to Charleston and beat up every five year old that makes fun of my grandson. 

After my brain settled down, my husband and I began to have a logical conversation with our son.  Our approach was simple.  We explained that he eats good food to keep his body healthy and strong.  It helps him to learn more in school and he's rarely ever sick.  As for handling the lunchable bullies at school, we simply told him to ignore what they say, sit with a different person, or tell them that you really enjoy eating healthy food (and he really does).  Not sure this was the perfect response, but it seemed to be the pep talk that he needed. 

So my son's in bed, he's happy and ready for a new day...and Mom is still fired up.  My frustration is mounting but we refuse to waiver. We will not give in to Little Debbie's and Dorito's for lunch. This is why we have so many health problems in the US.  This is why our obesity rates are worse than ever.  This is why 1 in 4 kids are overweight.  Why is "cool" defined by pre-packaged products with a cartoon character on them.  My kids want to drink out of a juice bottle shaped like Buzz Lightyear.  That's not juice.  It's sugar and water.  The bottle clearly says "This produce contains 0% juice" yet people still buy it because it's cool.  I'm drawing space rockets on water bottles just trying to make it look a little more appealing than Batman on a juice box.  How do you compete with that? 

The stigma attached to healthy foods is nearly as bad as the stigma attached to twinkies and big macs.   Until we change our thoughts we will never change our life.  Our future will be more grim than our past.  In fact, studies show that for the first time since the Great Depression, children may have a shorter life expectancy than their parent's generation due to an alarming increase in childhood obesity.  This is insane!  And the most disappointing part of it all...it doesn't have to be this way. 

So, today's experience has further inspired my mission to help families adopt a healthy eating lifestyle.  Think you don't need it?  Think again.  We all need it. 

I know this is overwhelming and for our "little debbie lovers" this can seem like a challenge too big to tackle.  Let me assure you though, it can happen.  My family did it and you can too.  It doesn't need to happen over night.  It took our family over one year to transition to healthy family meals.  We're not perfect, but we've come a long way.  My kids went from eating microwave chicken nuggets and canned green beans to salmon, fresh vegetables and Mc...who?   Our grocery bill actually dropped (processed food is expensive), our kids are healthier, energy levels are up, moods are good and weight is at a good level for all.  

We owe it to our kids to give this a try.  Remember...they eat what we buy.  Now is the perfect time to set a goal of making small changes each day.  If you can improve just 1% a day, imagine what December 2012 will look like for you and your family.  Just 1% a day.  You don't need to go at this with "guns a blazin."  This is a lifestyle change.  My friends just made the switch to 100% juice.  That's awesome!  It's a small improvement with a huge payoff.   

To give you a little boost, my goal is to post a tip or motivational statement each day in 2012 to help you make the transition.  Check out our HKI facebook page to get started. 

Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year.