Sam and Andrew Healthy Eating Blog

                                   

                                                               HEALTHY EATING

 You might be thinking to yourself; “But, my kids eat.” That may be true, but it’s not that your child eats, it is what your child eats. Your child’s nutritional needs should be front and centre not only during the school year, but all year round.   Take a look at some ideas for promoting healthy eating for kids.

Breakfast

Mornings are hectic. Kids are busy getting ready for school and are in a hurry to get out the door.  They may just grab a toaster treat or doughnut on the way past the kitchen, never sitting down long enough to even have a bowl of cereal. If they do stop to have a few bites of cereal, what’s in the bowl?  Most cereals and other fast breakfast foods are loaded with sugar and empty calories.

One the best things you can do for your child, with very little effort, is to make sure there is a well-balanced breakfast available each morning. A good start to the day, nutritionally speaking, can include:

• Smoothies (For your picky eaters try adding a powder vitamin that is packed with fruits and veggies.)
• Eggs
• Nuts
• Fruits
• Wraps

Providing a good breakfast will help your child excel in their curriculum.  Yes, breakfast is pretty powerful.  Providing a quick but nutritious breakfast for your kids is just as important to your child’s academic success as helping them with their homework.  Even if your kids have to grab their breakfast and run, make whatever they are grabbing a nutritional powerhouse.Healthy Eating

Lunch

If lunch is provided by the school, have you checked out the nutritional value?  If the school lunch is not what you would call well-balanced, then be sure your child has a healthy alternative.  Some parents choose to pack lunch every day.  This may be cumbersome but it is an excellent way of knowing exactly what your child is eating.  So the key is to make it easy and nutritious at the same time.  Here are some helpful tips:

• Planning is key so you may want to pack the night before school.
• Have a protein, vegetable, fruit, grain, and calcium of some sort in the lunch bag.
• Turkey wrap with spinach
• Cup of fruit with granola
• Peanut butter on whole wheat bread with an apple (Be mindful of the peanut allergies)
• Keep it creative but simple to provide a healthy lunch.

Snacks

A late afternoon healthy snack is required to keep a kids’ energy from decreasing.  Some schools provide snack time for their students.  A small  kids snack will keep your child’s energy level at its peak.  Especially if they have after school activities.   Here are some tips for keeping your child away from the vending machine.

• Have a small pack of snacks ready for your child.
• A handful of trail mix, some dried fruit, or even a couple whole grain crackers or nuts may be just enough to give your child an energy boost in a healthier way.
• If you buy snack bars, make sure you read the labels to ensure they are actually healthy.  Some are sold as ‘protein bars’ but they are packed with sugar and other unhealthy ingredients.
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Get your Child Involved

• Take your child to the store to pick out food for their school days.
• Encourage them to prepare the meals and snacks.
• Lay out the food and tell your child that there are basic nutritional elements that belong in each meal.Group those elements together and tell your child that they can mix them
• Group those elements together and tell your child that they can mix and match them in any way they like just as long as they have balanced each meal.

We all know that eating right can help you maintain a healthy weight and avoid certain health problems, but your diet can also have a profound effect on your mood and sense of wellbeing. Studies have linked eating a typical Western diet—filled with processed meats, packaged meals, takeout food, and sugary snacks—with higher rates of depression, stress, bipolar disorder, and anxiety. Eating an unhealthy diet may even play a role in the development of mental health disorders such as ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, and schizophrenia, or in the increased risk of suicide in young people.

Eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, cooking meals at home, and reducing your intake of sugar and refined carbohydrates, on the other hand, may help to improve mood and lower your risk for mental health issues. If you have already been diagnosed with a mental health problem, eating well can even help to manage your symptoms and regain control of your life.hApple

Fruit

The apple tree is a deciduous tree in the rose family best known for its sweet, pomaceous fruit, the apple. It is cultivated worldwide as a fruit tree, and is the most widely grown species in the genus Malus.Wikipedia

Nutrition Facts

AppleApple juice, unsweetened Apples, boiled Apples, microwaved Apples, peeled McDonald's Apple Dippers Apple

Amount Per 100 grams 1 extra small (2-1/2" dia) (101 g)1 cup slices (109 g)1 cup, quartered or chopped (125 g)1 small (2-3/4" dia) (149 g)1 medium (3" dia) (182g)1 large (3-1/4" dia) (223 g)1 NLEA serving (242 \g)100 grams

10 Fun Facts About Apples. e than 2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States, but only the crab apple is native to North America. Apples contain no fat, sodium or cholesterol and are a good source of fiber. Apple trees take four to five years to produce their first fruit.9 Jul 2012