Wednesday, 27 June 2012
-
Raising Healthy Children
I have gotten lots and lots of comments about how healthy we are. And I started to think that it's important to raise healthy children. I am doing so many things differently from my parents that I thought I might blog about it. We are FAR from the perfect examples, and I know we have a far way to go. I hope this doesn't come off as "I am more righteous", but I do have a true passion for raising healthy children.
I grew up on a LOT of processed foods and we do occasionally give them to my children out of convenience but couple it with fruits and vegetables. We very rarely ate fruits and vegetables growing up because of the cost. We also were not enrolled in sports because of the time with four children and the cost, my parents just couldn't figure it out. So, I understand there are confounding factors. The thing is to find what works for YOU and your family.
This is what works for us:Non Organized Activities:
- Park with playgrounds
- Walks around the neighborhood
- Playing "Simon Says" and using things like jumping jacks, running in place, etc.
- Walking around the zoo
- Playing in the pool
- Gardening
Organized Activities:
- The girls go to a Little Gym class once a week. Isabel goes to a Dance/Gymnastics combo and Caroline gymnastics.
- I find camps for them to do, dance camps, gymnastics camps, sports galore camps, circus camp, etc.
- They will be taking two tennis lessons a week for a month.
- During spring, they will do one competitive sport. It was soccer last spring. Possibly soccer again, but we will see what they ask to do.
- They are taking swim lessons twice a week during the summer months.
Breakfast Meals:
- Greek yogurt and fruit
- Oatmeal and fruit
- Cereals made with grains
- Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese
- Smoothies
- French Toast
- Scrambled eggs, toast, fruit
- Breakfast cookies made out of bananas, oat, raisins
Convenience breakfast:
- Occasionally they get pop tarts, but we are getting better about this. Pop tarts are our convenience food for when running behind on the on the go mornings, but now I've been making breakfast cookies and freezing them and taking them out of the freezer the night before the hurried mornings.
Lunch Meals: (These are their favorites, with variations between the sides)
- English muffin cut in half, topped with pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese baked and fruit.
- Hummus with carrots and cucumber, fruit, cheese
- Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pretzels, fruit
- Turkey and cheese sandwiches, carrots, cucumber
- Roasted turkey or pork, steamed rice, broccoli
- Tomato sandwich, goldfish, apples
- Cucumber sandwich, broccoli, yogurt
- Garden salad and fruit
- Baked chicken breast stuffed with broccoli and cheese
- Vegetable soup and crackers
Convenience lunch:
- Chicken nuggets or Chef Boyardee. Served with fruit and yogurt. Or a handful of blueberries and carrots and cucumber.
Dinner Meals: (These are their favorites, with variations between the sides)
- Meatloaf, steamed veggies, rice
- Stir fry loaded with veggies, steamed rice, fruit
- Whole wheat pasta, ground beef, tomato based sauce (ziti, spaghetti, lasagna, etc), garden salad, green beans
- Cheese ravioli with zucchini in a garlic sauce, garden salad or cheese ravioli with black beans, salsa, corn, and Mexican cheese
- Grilled salmon, rice, green beans/zucchini/squash
- Grilled shrimp, salad, fruit
- Chicken and stovetop, steamed veggies
- French onion pork chops, steamed veggies
- BBQ chicken, salad, mac and cheese (a rare treat!)
- Lean pot roast beef, potatoes, carrots, onion, green beans
- Grilled steak, garden salad, rice, peas
- Tacos, corn salsa, fruit
- Chicken, broccoli, pasta
Convenience dinner:- Delivery: Thin crust ham and pineapple pizza. Or Chinese pick up.
I know there is plenty of room for improvement but feel like we are on the right track. I know there is no way we can cut out convenience food all together because we are so busy and sometimes I just get overwhelmed and can't get to stuff I normally would. I am running out of ideas of wholesome, healthy meals. Any suggestions?
RecommendRelated Posts
Post a Comment
- Back to momaroo's Momaroo Site!
- Note: your comment will appear in momaroo's local time zone: GMT -05:00 (Eastern Standard - US, Canada)
About the Author
-
- From: JM_in_SC@xanga
- Name: JM
- About Me: Wife to an ER resident physician, mom to 2 beautiful small girls, part-time family nurse practitioner, with three sisters. Living a very blessed life.
Stats: This Week All Time Posts: 0 27 Views: 0 30098 Comments: 0 337 View all posts by JM_in_SC@xanga
Comments (13)
Just want to say, I love this post. It goes to show how even the busiest families can manage to keep their kids healthy. I hear so many people say "I don't have time to cook; I don't have time to take them outside to play" etc. This is proof that with a few exceptions, anyone can make time to keep their kids healthy and happy :)
There is a lot of variety in what you can do around the basic concept of pasta/chicken/veggie combinations. Chicken spaghetti with eggplant and zucchini is a good one.
Pasta salad can be as good or bad as you want to make it, but I prefer to go heavy on the veggies (I use kidney beans, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, sometimes corn), and lighter on the Italian dressing.
My husband loves pork chops cooked in apple cider (water it down).
Potatoes (baked, mashed, or fried) with chives.
Make chili with the leanest beef you are comfortable paying for (yikes). I add olives, corn, and chives to mix things up a little, and I usually add salsa to mine.
Broccoli and cauliflower baked in rice, topped with cheddar. If that's too dry for your tastes, you could try to make a milk/butter/cheese sauce. I've never been able to make a yummy cheese sauce, though, and wound up just using a can of cheese soup, which probably wasn't the healthiest decision.
Rice cooked with tomatoes and chili powder. If you like onions and peppers, you can add those as well. You can also add ground beef (again, the leaner the better). Heck, make that up and stuff it into a bell pepper (after you 'gut' it).
These meals sound a lot like the kinds of things my kids enjoy eating. I'm not a good cook and my kids are particular about food. My husband and I are not perfect. We do give in and hand over processed foods, sweets, and sometimes opt for fast food over home cooked meals, but all in all, I think we do pretty well. My kids love apples, grapes, peaches, bananas, strawberries and melons. They also like to eat carrot sticks, corn, green beans, brocolli and peas. We buy whole grain breads and pasta, bake chicken instead of fry it, and always buy lean beef or use ground turkey instead. We also look for low/no sodium, low/no fat, low/no sugar items. We recently discovered some of the Kellog's Nutrigrain bars do not have high fructose corn syrup, so that was awesome. We also found the kids actually prefer sugar free jam to jelly. We're nowhere near perfect (I'm overweight, always have been), but we're trying to instill healthy eating habits in our children. We cannot afford to put our kids in classes or sports due to unemployment, but we go outside all the time. There is a playground right outside our building, a basketball court, lots of sidewalk for little walks, and grassy areas for running and whatnot.
Moms, try a delicious meals for you and your kids! at baked chicken breastrecipes. Try it and make your kids happy!
It's so hard to balance being busy with healthy activities, with healthy eating!
My only suggestion would be to read "Wheat Belly" by Dr William Davis, and maybe "Sugar Nation" by Jeff O'Connell. And while you're at the library, pick up "Why We Get Fat" by Gary Taubes. You're eating a LOT of carbs, which are essentially just sugar once your body digests them--doesn't matter if it's "whole wheat" or not once it hits your stomach. Your kids might be healthy now, but type 2 diabetes isn't just for obese seniors anymore, due to our over-carbed lifestyles. Look for full fat items, never give no/low fat to children (or adults!). It'd be nice to see more fish in your menu, but I know what that's like! Fat and protein fill us up, do not raise blood sugar (which is what makes us fat), do not contribute to heart disease (except if you're eating trans fats and a high carb diet--and your diet is high carb). Serve fats and proteins first, then leafy greens and non-starchy veggies, and then berries, then other types of fruits. There's no need for carb-loaded side dishes--save your money for their activities :)
@TracyKM - Are you primal? :) I was going to say some of the same things!
@WaitingToShrug@xanga -
No, because I eat lots of dairy, and I do use some artificial sweeteners to make low carb versions of favourite treats. I also use things like coconut flour, almond meal, flax meal....I just try to be as wheat free, low carb/high fat as possible while still trying to live in a society that thinks wheat is healthy :)
My kids are no longer at home, but I always liked the idea of taking part of a day off, and hitting the kitchen. By that I mean churning out 3 or 4 casseroles, that would easily have leftovers sometimes into the next week. I'd freeze fairly small portions, so that we could mix things up if we wanted. And there was always a day for Campbell's tomato soup and whatever kind of sandwich everyone wanted, and then we'd take trays and watch a movie with it. I'm getting back into the mode of things, even though my husband and I haven't for quite some time, and it is really, really much easier than you think. And get the kids involved so that they can follow a recipe, and make their own recipe container with their favorites. You can have either a salad or a veggie to go with your meal, but I never forced those on my kids, and they eat them now just fine. Dessert sometimes can be cool whip in a cup with fruit on top, and the kids can help be in charge of that as well.
@TracyKM - That is awesome. I've got another xanga at PaleoGangsta4Lyfe... need to update it soon. If you'd like to check it out, I'd be glad to add you!
You can do healthy burgers Bison, Beef, Turkey etc. with veggie chips (homemade or store bought). I finely chop loads of spinach to mix into my burger meat before making into patties. I eat mine bunless or with a lettuce bun, but there are lots of thin buns on the market if you prefer that.
A quiche can be a good meal to have on hand for those known busy mornings. You can make them very healthy depending on how you make them, and they store pretty well for re-heating.
Kabobs would be a fun way to spice of the meals.
Taco's can be healthy if made at home with quality items.(meat, veggies, a little cheese, taco shell)
a) No one can cook all the time with little ones underfoot. And there's nothing wrong with take-out every once and a while.
b) You should try the Annie's organic mac & cheese on those special occasions. It's still probably not the best thing in the world but it's cheese isn't as scary-bright-orange! ...and cal/fat percentages aren't as high with the suggested recipe on the box.
These meals sound a lot like things my mother used to make me and I think she did a pretty good job raising me as health conscious. Rest assured that, if your girls are eating steamed veggies now, they will probably turn to them (and rice) as a quick meal when they go to college! =)
I would suggest going to a book store and skimming through the cook book section.
I came across this amazing website yesterday, skinnytaste.com
You can also check weelicious.com (she also has a facebook).There are a ton of healthy recipes you can search and when you find one you want to try, you can "add it to your recipe box." When you decide you're ready to make it, you can go to your recipe box and click "add to list" and it will make a grocery list for you! :)