New Activity + Outside = Family Fun & Energy Balance

Some of my best childhood memories were of my brother and I going on day long outdoor explorations.  We'd pack ourselves sack lunches and just head out with no real plans other than to play and discover.  Many times we'd head to a nearby lake and watch fish, catch garter snakes or even go visit our pet rock.  What is your favorite outdoor memory as a child?

Let's Move, the child obesity initiative started by First Lady Michelle Obama, is promoting Let's Move Outside!.  Let's Move Outside! encourages parents to move outside with their children in order for them to achieve the recommended 60 minutes of active and vigorous activity each day.  Many children are not meeting this minimum recommendation, which is one of the many contributors of the child obesity epidemic.  The Let's Move website provides tons of ideas for families, including links to local activities depending on where the family lives.

One outdoor activity that I learned from a patient of mine last year is geocaching.  It's basically a high-tech treasure hunt that families anywhere in the world can enjoy.  Started by a man named Dave Ulmer in May of 2000, it was originally geared toward only the GPS user community that utilized that very new technology at the time.  Today, there are over 1 million "caches" all over the world that that can be found.  One may be just yards away from where you are sitting at this very moment!  Now mobile devices come with GPS technology, and there are applications that can pull up all the geocaches in your area on one screen.

Remember, simply stated, ENERGY IN (food) - ENERGY OUT (activity) = Weight Maintenance OR Weight Loss OR Weight Gain. It's all about energy balance, which is what dietitians specialize in. Although we talk much about the energy in part, we also need to discuss energy out. How are you balancing your energy?  How are you promoting energy balance in the life of your children?

Summertime is the perfect time of year to try a new family activity to promote good energy balance.  And at the same time, you are helping your build memories that they will eventually look back and remember with great happiness.  Learn about all the great outdoor activities in your area by going to the Let's Move website or, even try some geocaching!  What a way to spend quality time together, improve your health and be a great role model for your children.  For everything you need to know about geocaching including how to get started go to http://www.geocaching.com/.  In our next post, we will discuss proper hydration for children and adults while enjoying those great outdoor activities.  Stay tuned!

"Do This, Not That" When Raising Healthy Families

My mother is a huge fan of the Eat This, Not That book written by David Zinczenko with Matt Goulding. I have not read nor reviewed the book, so please do not misunderstand by mentioning it as a recommendation. [For the record, I don't believe any one food is strictly forbidden, although I certainly think there are foods we should concentrate on eating more than others.] What I like about the title is that there is an alternative provided instead of just stating the problem! Such is true with child feeding and healthy family lifestyles. I came up with my own "Do This, Not That" when raising healthy families. Let's start with the don'ts:

DON'T:
• Put your child on a restricted diet. Special diet prescriptions must be done under the care of a Registered Dietitian only and even then, we try to keep things as liberal as possible to avoid nutrition deficiencies.
• Deny your children food when they request to eat. This leads to food insecurity and can exacerbate a weight problem.
• Try to control your children’s eating habits like you wish you could control your own.
• Nag your children about food they did or did not eat.
• Force your child to eat vegetables or any other kind of healthy foods. It will backfire in the long run!
• Provide separate meals for your children, i.e., no short order cooking.
• Skip meals. Skipping meals often leads to overeating later.
• Force children to take part in exercises they do not enjoy.

OK, good. We got the don'ts out of the way. There are many more do's than don'ts and I believe in positive, empowering guidance:

DO:
• Focus on a family-wide healthy lifestyle that includes low-fat high nutritional foods along with regular exercise.

• Provide plenty of healthy food options in your home such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables reduced fat and sugar foods. Exclude any foods that may be overeaten.
• Be patient when your child denies certain foods. Research shows that it sometimes takes 15-20 exposures before they will accept. Continue to put those foods on their plate instead of deleting it from their menu.
• Plan meals at least one week in advance. Grocery shop at off hour times on the weekends so you have all the food you need during the week when schedules are busiest.
• Have regular family meals. Regular family meals are an essential part of a healthy family lifestyle. This is not only where families can have quality time together to talk about their days, but it is also a time where parents can model good eating behaviors.
• Limit calorie-containing beverages except skim milk, especially at meal times. Even 100% natural juices have a lot of calories.
• Limit “screen time” (television and computer/computer games) to a maximum of 2 hours/day.
• Exercise/Be active as a family. What a great way to do 2 things at once - spend time together and also getting healthy as a unit.
• Listen to what your children say they are interested in and help them get involved. If they enjoy an activity, they are likely to do it more consistently.
• Consider joining a team or a group for whatever activity you choose to take part in. The teams and groups help with consistency and accountability.
• Make changes slowly. Slow changes have a tendency to be more permanent.
• Involve your children in all aspects of food and eating: growing or shopping, planning and preparing.
• Make food experiences fun and creative. Fun and creativity is your child's world, so go there and experience things together.
• Model, model, model the behaviors you want to see in your children. Remember parents, you are your child’s biggest role models! How humbling, but oh so true.

Take advantage of the summer months. This is such a great time of year to make positive family changes that can become more habitual when school starts back up in the fall. My challenge to you is to decide to make just one change - big or small - this week that will make your family healthier. What will that be? I'd love to hear from you!

Getting Kids To Know Food: Reminders From AIWF's Days of Taste

With any relationship, you must work to grow and deepen the connection. So is the same for food! Sweet. Salt. Bitter. Sour. Umami. Metallic. Astringent. Taste sensations along with other senses – smell and vision – heavily influence our experiences with food. And with children, you are also dealing with motor coordination, cognition, social development and emotional aspects. As you can see, so many things come into play in child feeding. But one thing is sure. Exposing children to different food experiences can yield very positive results. Allow me to share a recent experience with you, as I promise that it does involve lessons to be learned for your child and mine.

The American Institute of Wine and Food's Days of Taste was
held at the Dallas Farmers Market in May 2010.  AIWF's Days of
Taste occurs throughout the country.  Contact your AIWF local
chapter to find out how you can be involved in your area.

In May, I was a volunteer at The American Institute of Wine and Food (AIWF) Days of Taste in Dallas. One of my friends and colleagues, Robin Plotkin, RD, LD, was the event’s Program Manager and she asked me to be a part of the event. Days of Taste is a  national discovery-based program that exposes local fourth and fifth grade students to learn all aspect of food. Students were brought to the Dallas Farmers Market where they learned and experienced taste sensations, experienced different flavors and heard real-life stories from local culinary professionals. As a volunteer, I was in charge of a small group of students. We were given a task to make our own, customized pasta salad. The pasta and sauce ingredients were provided, but we were charged to get some fresh ingredients at the market. Each student was given $1 (our group had a total of $5) to purchase whatever we wanted to make our pasta salad unique. These students absolutely blew me over at how interested and excited they were to take part in this project! Armed with our limited budget, we headed to the local producer shed and off we went looking for our fresh items. The kids agreed on celery, carrots, onion and tomatoes after working deals with the farmers. While we were at the market, we were able to meet several farmers and find out where many of their farms were located. After we got back to the classroom, I gave each of the students individual responsibilities in preparing the salad. Several of the students said they had never had a salad that looked like ours and even thought the sauce looked strange to them. I encouraged them all to keep an open mind and that this was something we were gong to experience together. As a group, they ate their production with great pride. I am thrilled to report that all of my students loved their recipe! One little girl even said that she was going to have a talk with her mother when she got home to request more fruits and vegetables at their house. Another student said she might want to be a chef when she grows up. This experience for me was so nourishing in more ways than the food I ingested! It renewed my passion about educating, exposing and empowering children when it comes to food. But more specifically, I was reminded of many things that day:

1. We must do more food education programs for children. Kudos to the AIWF! The more we educate, expose and empower our children with all things related to food, the more they will appreciate food variety, differing flavors and learn to be more open minded when it comes to food. Just like anything else in life, the more we experience something that is positive, the more we want to re-experience and examine further. What I would absolutely love to see is the school cafeteria to be part of the school curriculum. Jamie Oliver, best known for his Food Revolution, has done a great job exposing communities to companies that can assist in food education. Companies, associations, organizations, schools and communities take note.

Me and my students posing with our customized pasta salad
recipe. (One student's face covered due to request of
protected identity.)

2. Food experiences in groups yield higher acceptance. This is not the first time I have seen children be more open-minded than expected when experiencing food in a group educational format. These environments make children feel less pressure to eat for nutritional reasons and more for the overall experience and learning aspects.

3. Families need to spend more time experiencing food with their families. This speaks to me as a mother. I enjoy cooking with my children, although I am encouraged to involve them in more aspects of feeding our family even if it might take a little more time. If you have a challenged eater in your home, make a special point to have “no pressure” experiences with food, i.e., experience food in a non-meal situation. Make it a classroom affair. Consider growing a produce item and make plans to eat your crop with a recipe of your child’s choice. Visit a local farm. Search out new farmers markets in your area. Do a taste sensation lesson together.  

Bottom line lesson here: Let’s get back to experiencing food the way they did before all the mass production of food of the modern age. We have all lost essential experiences with food that allow us to truly appreciate different flavors. Seek out farm to table education for your children. (The Local Harvest website is a great start!) Children in the 1800’s had no choice, although I would venture to say that the children back then appreciated food more for many reasons.  Make steps to make an enhancement when it comes to your family's relationship with food, and that will ultimately equate to improved nutrition for your children. I needed this lesson for my children’s sake and the summer has come at a perfect time to do this as a family!

Food Made Fun: Featuring SuperKids Nutrition's Super Crew® (Part 5 of 5)

Meet Super Baby Abigail. Her powers change with the different foods she eats. Wearing her blueberry encrested cape, Baby Abigail gets her powers from all kinds of foods, and she is constantly finding out new powers she gets with every food she tries. Baby Abigail is part of the Super Crew® characters, a group of culturally diverse, superhero kids who get powers from eating healthy foods of certain colors. Brought to life through the Super Crew® colorful website, coloring pages and beautifully illustrated children’s books, the Super Crew® encourages kids to understand and value the importance of good nutrition. Super Crew® adventurous learning is geared toward children ranging from pre-kindergarten all the way up to 8th grade. My daughter has both of the Super Crew® books - Havoc at Hillside Market and Super Baby Abigail’s Lunchtime Adventure – and loves them! As a mother, I love them because they reinforce what I teach her about what “always” foods do for her body. The extra benefit with these books is that there are free downloadable book guides and activities that the kids can do to reinforce their learning.  The Super Crew® coloring pages are wonderful for children to color or watercolor while moms are cooking.  If you "like" the SuperKids Nutrition Facebook fan page, you can get daily tips on feeding your family.
The Super Crew® was created by a dietitian that I highly regard, Melissa Halas-Liang, MA, RD, CDE. I met her a few years ago when she was developing her SuperKidsNutrition site (back then it had a different URL) and was looking for online article editors. “Kids are savvy consumers and they make choices based upon what they know,” says Melissa. “The problem is that children have been inundated for years with kid-targeted marketing and messages and that becomes what is familiar. At SuperKids Nutrition, we are trying to change that by providing kids, parents and schools with knowledge about the powers of healthy foods and making healthy choices and showing them how simple education can make a difference.” [More on Melissa Halas-Liang, MA, RD, CDE in a future Mommy Dietitian guest interview.]

When I met Melissa back in 2007, she was just finishing up Super Baby Abigail’s Lunchtime Adventure and we instantly connected due to our passion for helping healthy families. Since that time, her SuperKids Nutrition and Super Crew® sites have really taken flight. Not only is her Super Crew® portal a place where kids can have fun learning about food, but her SuperKids Nutrition website is a place where parents can get “news you can use” child nutrition information and recipes. As a pediatric and family dietitian, SuperKids Nutrition is one of my favorite family nutrition websites by far. And by the way, remember Super Baby Abigail? She is named after Melissa’s now 4 year old daughter who’s favorite food from the beginning was blueberries.

As I wrap-up Mommy Dietitian’s 5-part series on "Food Made Fun," my hope is that you take time to expose your children to these resources. Tell your friends, schools and communities. Spread the word so that these resources will stay around for maximum impact. These resources empower children to make the right food choice for their own sake – not just because Mom or Dad said so. And that will help set them on a right path that you can be proud of years from now. Cheers to that!

Tweens/Teen Girls: Be Happy. Be Healthy. Be Beautiful.You. (4 of 5)

Be Happy. Be Healthy. Be Beautiful. You.  Isn't that a great tagline?  I interpret that as saying, "You are beautiful just being you." It's the tagline on my next 'Food Made Fun' feature in this 5-part series focusing on education and empowering children at their level.  Many kid-friendly websites are geared toward elementary school age, so I wanted to highlight one that is geared more to adolescence.  GirlsHealth.gov contains great food and nutrition education, although it is more complex as our girls are more beautifully complex in nature. Girls are at risk for emotional eating that can begin at an early age, and the issues around relationships and peer pressures can take their toll.  This site may not be as "fun" as the other features, but it sure discusses many important issues related kids of this age in a way they can understand - including tween/teen girl's emotions, relationships and bullying. After all, isn't those some of the most important things to a young girl?  I remember back when I was 11-17 years old, life was all about school, yes, but emotionally it was about socializing and being liked.  These pressures impact a child's decision-making when it comes to their health - I know they did for me.  By now, you probably know how passionate I am about empowering children to make right decisions and this is definitely the case for our future women and mothers of the world.  I think of my own 6 year old daughter, Hannah.  My hope for her as her mother is that she has the confidence and knowledge to make her own decisions that grow her into a healthy and strong woman in mind, body and spirit.  It's one thing to have your mother teach you a healthy self-confidence that is the basis of every healthy decision (very important!).  But it's another thing to know that your girls have a good, reliable resource to turn to when they don't want to talk to Mom or Dad about their issues.

Girlshealth.gov (formerly 4Girls.gov) is a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health (OWH). It was developed in 2002 to fulfill the need for reliable, current health information on the Internet for adolescent girls, and to help improve the health of women from childhood to adolescence and into adulthood. Girlshealth.gov motivates girls to choose healthy behaviors using positive, supportive, and non-threatening messages. 

My series on cool food websites for kids could go on and on, but next week will be the last feature.  I am finding some great stuff out there for our children!  But to give our U.S. Government some great kudos, I wanted to let Mommy Dietitian readers know about other great sites they have put together to teach your children about health and wellness.

Other great U.S. government "Food Made Fun" websites for children include:
Small Step Kids: Kids can find out cool stuff about food and what it can do for them.
BAM! Body and Mind: Center for Disease Control's (CDC) kid-friendly site on explaining disease, health and wellness.
MyPyramid Kids: Of course we must include the US Department of Agriculture's MyPyramid Kids pages that have the Blast Off game to teach children about the MyPyramid way of eating.
Fish Kids: Environment Protection Agency's (EPA) site to educate children on fish, mercury and other chemicals that can contaminate our seafood supply.

If I missed one, I would love for you to share with me and the rest of the Mommy Dietitian readers.  I feel like I am leaving one out!  Anyway, check out the ones I listed with your children and feel free to send along any feedback as to how beneficial they are in your daily lives.  Let's do this parenting together!

Food Made Fun: Featuring Nourish Interactive (Part 3 of 5)

"The fun way to learn about nutrition."
http://www.nourishinteractive.com/

If you are looking for a very well-rounded child education resource that includes lesson plans, educational printouts and children’s games that go along with those lessons - or even if you're interested in only one of these components - you must check out Nourish Interactive. This incredibly creative, interactive and multi-faceted website was a grassroots creation born as a result of one person that wanted to make a difference. Maggie LaBarbera was an intensive care nurse for many years and the patients who impacted her the most were the children that came in for weight loss surgery due to morbid obesity. Out of all the health issues she saw, this was one issue that could be fully prevented and she wanted to be part of the solution. Hence, Nourish Interactive was born. Maggie’s goal for the website is simple - that children have fun when learning about living a healthy lifestyle. The games she created are primarily geared toward children ages 4-10 years old, which are the critical age range when teaching about healthy habits. The main character on the website, Chef Solus (named after a Roman God that means “health), invites the children to join him in the Nourish Interactive “playroom” where they can play a variety of fun, interactive games. What a great marriage to encourage your children to have fun all the while learning about food balance and variety through Food Guide Pyramid basics and being active through character movements and challenges! They even have a reminder to take a break from the computer after 20 minutes and be physically active. 


Parents, community activists and educators must check out the lesson plans on this website. There are all-inclusive lessons with an educational plan, interactive game, worksheets and even ideas to assess their learning of each lesson. Create an online account, which will give your parents and/or students log-in codes so all learning can be retained within your group account.  By the end of the summer, Nourish Interactive will roll out a complete 7-8 week program for schools that will include both online and offline learning activities.  Sooner additions within a month include a parental nutrient tool and a virtual cooking game for kids.

Did I mention that all of this access is FREE? Did I mention that the entire Nourish Interactive website has been created in both English and Spanish? All because an awesome nurse who believed she could make a difference in the obesity epidemic. What a great reminder that we can all do our part! Encourage educational entities to take advantage of this great resource so Maggie has reason to continue doing what she is doing so well. Use this great resource for your own family.  Encourage your children to play around on Nourish Interactive today and ask them what they learned.  Food made fun! 

Food Made Fun: Featuring The Only Rockstar Nutritionist (Part 2 of 5)

Jill Jayne, MS, RD as The Rockstar Nutritionist
For more information, go to: http://www.jumpwithjill.com

Meet Jill Jayne, Registered Dietitian with a severe passion for child nutrition. Also meet Jill Jayne, musician, songwriter and creative performer. Who do you have? Jill Jayne, the world's only Rockstar Nutritionist. Jill specializes in engaging and empowering children to make healthy food and activity choices. One of the reasons I love Jill's business model is because I have always believed that empowerment is one of the keys to a child's long-term success in healthy eating. Jill Jayne's performances do just that. She understands that a person can have all the knowledge in the world, but that knowledge must be taught in creative and memorable ways that will last after the educational session. In this case, Jill puts on an age-appropriate and age-interesting show that knocks kids socks off. I have experienced her Rockstar Nutritionist show firsthand, and I and everyone else that attended was left wanting more of her energy and knowledge! We were on our feet the entire time singing, dancing and learning, all simultaneously. Jill's shows historically have focused on elementary school children, however, her shows have been so popular all around the country - over 100,000 children will have seen her show after her Spring 2010 tour - that she is now branching out into the preschool and adolescent population. Jill has a preschool CD entitled, "Jill and Jam" slated for release this Fall. She has just launched a creative new website for adolescents, very aptly named http://www.iwillnotbebought.com/.

Jill is a registered dietitian with a master's degree in nutrition education from Columbia University and a bachelor's in nutrition and theater from Penn State University. The resulting combination launched a unique and exciting career in nutrition entertainment. Before becoming a professional Rockstar Nutritionist, Jill was writer, producer and host of the nationally-syndicated, nationally-acclaimed children's nutrition news program What's in the News for PBS and a New York City public school teacher. Jill is also the lead singer of a real life band called Sunset West. Sunset West has toured and recorded extensively in the mainstream music scene including The Vans Warped Tour and The Next Great American Band on FOX. Jill is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but calls New York City home these days.

Whether you are a parent, teacher or community activist, consider booking The Rockstar Nutritionist to come to your local school or school district. Find the point person for assemblies-- this might be the school nurse, principal, food service director, or PTA. This person is in charge of the school's assembly funds or a pocket of money for health education. You need an advocate on the inside, like a gym teacher or PTA person. Present Jump with Jill's press kit to your local PTA, or at parent teacher night. For more information on Jill's shows, including funding ideas and ways to receive discounts, go to: http://www.jumpwithjill.com/jwj/booking.

I have to say, her single off her Get Me Goin' CD called "Beat of the Body" is by and far my children's favorite tune. My children love the "Whoop! Whoop!" part so much, and the get that the song promotes moving their body so it works well - the heart, the lungs and the muscles. Jill has a music video for this song and I had to post it with this write-up. "It's the Beat of the Body, Whoop! Whoop!" I'm serious. Watch it once or twice and you're hooked. Rock on, Jill!!