Posts Tagged ‘Healthy Foundations’

Healthy Foundations: More deserts

Posted December 7, 2011 Fitness 1 Comment

Remember when I was talking about healthy deserts?  That my kids felt totally entitled to dessert?

Check out some things I’ve decided to try since then:

  • banana ice cream (SO good!)
  • Smoothies (yogurt, milk, fruit, a dash of vanilla and a tiny smidgen of agave so they think it’s a treat!)
  • Baked apples  (brown sugar and light butter…not too much, but enough to make it taste like apple pie.)
  • Yogurt pops (Make the smoothie from above and throw it in the freezer in a Popsicle mold.)
  • Raisin bread  (They never had it before!  We put a little butter and cinnamon sugar on it and they think it’s yum!)
  • Lot and lots o’ fruit!

Believe it or not, it’s working.  They still think desert is a God-given right, but at least we are shifting to healthier ones!  Woohoo!

Baby steps people, itty bitty baby steps.

 

Teaching kids about health and image

Posted November 20, 2011 Life, Parenting 3 Comments

 

Remember when I discussed how our girls see themselves? And my thoughts on the word “fat?”

We were “interviewing” our daughters today for fun. This is how some of the questioning went down:

Husband: “What’s your favorite soda?”

Daughter: “I like the one that doesn’t have too many calories.”

H: “Why is that?”

D: “Because the other ones can make you fat.”

**Sigh. She is 6. And is worried about fat. My newly charged beliefs on this subject were ready to zoom into action.**

H: “What’s wrong with that?”

D: “Then you might not fit down the slide.”

Me: “Would you ever tell someone they were fat?”

D: “No!!! That would be rude!”

**Amen, sister.**

More discussions will be had about this with my kids, but for now I have a question for you all…

How do we, as a society, raise our kids to be healthy, physically, but also know that what is on the inside is important too?  How do we tell them that your physicality does not define you but that it is a good thing to work on?

Healthy Foundations: What’s a calorie?

Posted February 9, 2011 Fitness, Parenting 3 Comments

Ever since I started this crusade to be a better mom at teaching my kids healthy foundations, there has been a lot of talk in our household about nutrition and what your body wants needs to be happy.

The kids get it, for the most part.  They know their bodies like water, fruits, and veggies…and that too much “bad” stuff can be bad for you.  (They probably also think I’ve turned into some kind of wicked witch of the west with my water and fruit pushing, but whatever.)

So today I dropped a word I assumed they already knew: calorie.

I mean, we talk about it on labels.  They know mom has used it in weight watchers.  I’m sure they hear the word thrown all over the place on tv.

But, nope, they had no clue.  And that is kind of a complicated subject to teach to the younger set.  How do you explain that food has energy, but that not all energy is created equally?  Or, how do you explain that when you exercise you burn calories that you have consumed, and finding the right balance between both is key?   Better yet – how do you even touch the calorie iceberg with out getting the ever-lurking eye roll of doom?

I started with a car analogy.  Our bodies are cars, that need gas and power from a battery, in order to run.  But, you can’t just put any old liquid in there, or else it won’t get too far.  The better the gas, the better the car performs.  A quarter tank of gas will get me to the store in back, but it won’t get me to Disney World.  (Dammit.)

Still, kind of complicated, especially if your kid is looking at you like, “Yeah, okay mom. I’m gonna just smile and nod so you will finish quicker and I can get back to the wii. Crazy granola-loving hippie.”

Wait!  The Wii, that’s it!

Wii Fit Plus has a nifty feature that I found useful in teaching this concept to my kids.

Wii Fit Plus Calories burned today

Today I burned 154 calories in about 30 minutes

“See…look guys, I played and burned about 154 calories…that is equal to one cup of yogurt.”  This was useful info, but let’s be honest…they don’t really care about plain yogurt.  They wanted to know about ice cream and chocolate.  (See why I’m doing this, people?)

Okay, I got that covered…click on the calorie burn goal.  And there is the chocolate!

Wii Fit Plus Goal Foods

From least calories (upper left) to most (lower right)

This is even better if you set your goal before you start playing.  Kid 2 set hers to that mega chocolate bar, then went to exercising.  After 10 minutes she had only taken about 20 calories out of the whopping 400-some goal.

She was starting to get it…it is a lot easier to consume the calories than it is to burn them.  Not only that, but the chocolate doesn’t even give your body any of the good stuff that it wants – like fiber, calcium, or vitamins.

Then, the clouds parted and a ray of light shown down into my family room.  I heard a distinct sound of a light bulb turning on.  She turned to me and said, “Huh.  Well, I think I’ll save the chocolate for another day.”

That’s progress, and I’ll take it!

Healthy Foundations: Just Desserts.

Posted January 19, 2011 Fitness, Parenting 7 Comments

It’s been a while since I blogged here about my quest for fitness.  I did manage to sneak a couple of posts in over at Fitbloggin, but nothing here on the home front.  Then, yesterday, I read a post over at BlogHer that touched on how one Mom has done the best she can at teaching her daughter the basics of health – outside and in.

And it made me wonder: Am I doing that?  Am I teaching my kids health?

I used to think so.  I mean, we get 1% milk instead of whole, wheat instead of white, etc.  But do my kids really have a good foundation?

So I asked them…

Do you know what a serving size is?  Nope.

Do you know what it means to “eat the rainbow?”  Nope.

Do you know how how much water you should drink each day?  Nope.

Wow, good job Mom! Way to fall down on the job!

I now have a pretty clear cut mission: Give my kids a good foundation of health, teach them the healthy basics.

First up: desserts.

Here’s the thing:  my kids seem to think that dessert is standard.  What comes after dinner, not just today, but every day.

Squirrel eating an ice cream cone

This is not my child, but as you can tell, dessert consumption is an epic pandemic, even in squirrels. (Via Flickr)

I don’t remember when it started happening, but somewhere in the mayhem of everyday life, that’s what it turned into.  They aren’t gobbling down massive amounts of cake every night, but I’m still concerned for the simple fact that it is becoming a habit.  Expected.  As if every kid in the world has dessert after every meal.  Duh.

I can hear the school yard conversation now…

“…No dessert? GASP! That’s craziness!  Does your mom hate you? Myyyyyyy mommy lets me eat one every night, no matter what, cause she’s the bestestest mommy in the world!  Sorry yours sucks!…”

Not exactly the reason I want to be the cool mom.  (But, let it be known that I am in fact a cool mom; rated the number 3 coolest mom my kids know.* And let it also be known that I’m not at all opposed to giving 3 scoops of ice cream…from time to time.)

So, anyway, my point is this:  I’m going to teach them that dessert – at least the non-fruit, not healthy kind – is not mandated by law.  I want to show them that there are actually kids who *gasp* don’t even care about dessert.

And this is where I need your help…as, um…mom ammunition.  Could you do me a solid and click the poll below? I want good hard statistics to throw in their faces when they start to wine.  Like, “Debbie’s mom gives her dessert every night?  Well only 25% of all bloggers give their kids ice cream every night, so THERE!”

Also, any tips you could leave in the comments would be greatly appreciated.  As long as I can also throw those in their faces as well.

Thanks!

*This was the actual results of a LMM survey of my kids. They named me number three, behind the fun mom who has a trampoline and the other fun mom that lets her kids do whatever they want.  True story.  Dammit.