It may seem challenging at times but you can do it. It is hard to control what your children eat when they are away from home. It is the best reason for you parents to begin with yourselves to eat healthy. As you know you are your children's best role models. Therefore you have to set the example for your children to follow. What you do and how you teach them becomes their blue print. "Children learn what they live and live what they learn." Research shows that parents have control over what their kids eat during the pre-school years. The grade school years are different. Do you think you have control? Think again. Your children are calling the shots and making many of the decisions for their own food choices at schools, at friend's houses, at parties, wherever, during your absence.
Do you want to know what kind of food choices they make when you are not around? Are the foods they choose sweet and sugary, fatty and salty? The answer is dependent on the efforts of both of you. It is said, "raising healthy eaters is similar to raising report card grades. It is a partnership between the parent and the child." As a parent, and dietitian, and having worked in School Food service system for many years, "the report card" showed that the grade school years are the best for you (parents) to transfer some of the responsibility of healthy eating to your children. By the time your children enter High School, it would be too late, because eating habits are already set.
Yes, all information indicates that the grade school is the best time to teach children how to shoulder some of the responsibility of choosing and eating healthy foods. It is my goal to teach, coach and empower you to increase your nutrition knowledge and practical skills so you can impart this knowledge to your children. Teaching your children how to choose the right healthy foods, applying nutrition principles of how food nourishes the body and the positive role that physical activities play in good health is the smart way to conquer and win them to eat the right foods, in the right proportions. Once they learn how to choose for themselves, these healthy habits will take root to last a lifetime.
When and where do you start? Get started now. Children entering kindergarten through the sixth grade is the time to transfer some responsibility and let them learn and begin to lay the groundwork for teaching. Why? Nutritionally this is a critical and important time for children. Here is the evidence.
During these years children will grow an average of (a) 1 to 2 feet tall (b) and weight is doubled.
Grades 5 through Grade 8th classified as Early Grade School age for children 5-8 years old. Children 9-12 years old are classified as Later Grade school years. There is a separation between early and later grade school years for two important reasons. Firstly, at age 9, children's requirements for all nutrients increase phenomenally in support of growth and development for puberty. Secondly, between the ages of 5 years and 12 years children' food preferences and appetites change drastically. Separating the grade school years as early and later allow you to understand the nutrition information provided into a more age appropriate way in discussion to share and teach your children.Spring is fresh, beckons rebirth, liveliness, hope for all who dare. It is the time for us to be renewed inside out. How is this done you are asking? Start with baby steps to eat whole foods, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, milk and milk products, meat and beans - the foods shown on the MyPyramid. Take a look at the Food Guide Pyramid, the MyPyramid.gov., what do you see, do you see liveliness, freshness, colors that reflect the rainbow and the hope to dare? I call on you to step up to change and claim rebirth to a new you and for your family. Allow me to be your travel guide as you inch your way along the journey to feed your family healthy, nutritious, wholesome, and delicious foods one meal at a time and having fun with added activities
It may seem challenging at times but you can do it. It is hard to control what your children eat when they are away from home. It is the best reason for you parents to begin with yourselves to eat healthy. As you know you are your children's best role models. Therefore you have to set the example for your children to follow. What you do and how you teach them becomes their blue print. "Children learn what they live and live what they learn." Research shows that parents have control over what their kids eat during the pre-school years. The grade school years are different. Do you think you have control? Think again. Your children are calling the shots and making many of the decisions for their own food choices at schools, at friend's houses, at parties, wherever, during your absence.
Do you want to know what kind of food choices they make when you are not around? Are the foods they choose sweet and sugary, fatty and salty? The answer is dependent on the efforts of both of you. It is said, "raising healthy eaters is similar to raising report card grades. It is a partnership between the parent and the child." As a parent, and dietitian, and having worked in School Food service system for many years, "the report card" showed that the grade school years are the best for you (parents) to transfer some of the responsibility of healthy eating to your children. By the time your children enter High School, it would be too late, because eating habits are already set.
Yes, all information indicates that the grade school is the best time to teach children how to shoulder some of the responsibility of choosing and eating healthy foods. It is my goal to teach, coach and empower you to increase your nutrition knowledge and practical skills so you can impart this knowledge to your children. Teaching your children how to choose the right healthy foods, applying nutrition principles of how food nourishes the body and the positive role that physical activities play in good health is the smart way to conquer and win them to eat the right foods, in the right proportions. Once they learn how to choose for themselves, these healthy habits will take root to last a lifetime.
When and where do you start? Get started now. Children entering kindergarten through the sixth grade is the time to transfer some responsibility and let them learn and begin to lay the groundwork for teaching. Why? Nutritionally this is a critical and important time for children. Here is the evidence.
During these years children will grow an average of (a) 1 to 2 feet tall (b) and weight is doubled.
Grades 5 through Grade 8th classified as Early Grade School age for children 5-8 years old. Children 9-12 years old are classified as Later Grade school years. There is a separation between early and later grade school years for two important reasons. Firstly, at age 9, children's requirements for all nutrients increase phenomenally in support of growth and development for puberty. Secondly, between the ages of 5 years and 12 years children' food preferences and appetites change drastically. Separating the grade school years as early and later allow you to understand the nutrition information provided into a more age appropriate way in discussion to share and teach your children.
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