September's Nutrition Message

How to Make Fast Food Friendlier

Feeding your children nutritious meals between all your daily activities can be a challenge. While you zoom back and forth between soccer practice, the dance recital, the PTA meeting and picking up the dry cleaning, you’re lucky to find time to grab a meal at the drive-thru. If you must eat on the go, here are some tips to make fast food healthier for you and your family members:

• Pass on the “value-size.” When you supersize, the size of your fries isn’t the only thing that gets bigger.
• Skip the sides. Eating a burger or sandwich by itself is often filling enough. If you do want a side, consider ordering a fruit cup or side salad. Most fast food restaurants now offer them.
• Avoid double meat and bacon. A serving size of meat is 2-3 ounces — about the size of a deck of cards. You’re probably getting well over that with a single meat patty. Bacon is high in calories and fat with little nutrient content.
• Try the grilled chicken sandwich. Poultry without skin is significantly leaner than the meats most fast-food companies use in their burgers.
• Eat your sandwich open-faced. By eating only half the bun, you can eliminate unnecessary calories.
• Try asking for a wheat bun. Some places offer a wheat alternative, some don’t. It never hurts to ask.
• Skip the mayo and other calorie-laden dressings and sauces.
• Drink water, diet soda or low-fat milk. Sodas are loaded with sugars, which have calories you don’t need.

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3033900

Borrowed from the American Heart Association Website.

 October's Nutrition Message

Top 10 Ways to Help Children Develop Healthy Habits

1. Be a positive role model. If you’re practicing healthy habits, it’s a lot easier to convince children to do the same.
2. Get the whole family active. Plan times for everyone to get moving together. Take walks, ride bikes, go swimming, garden or just play hide-and-seek outside. Everyone will benefit from the exercise and the time together.
3. Limit TV, video game and computer time. These habits lead to a sedentary lifestyle and excessive snacking, which increase risks for obesity and cardiovascular disease.
4. Encourage physical activities that children really enjoy. Every child is unique. Let children experiment with different activities until each finds something that he or she really loves doing. They’ll stick with it longer if they love it.
5. Be supportive. Focus on the positive instead of the negative. Everyone likes to be praised for a job well done. Celebrate successes and help children and teens develop a good self-image.
6. Set specific goals and limits, such as one hour of physical activity a day or two desserts per week other than fruit. When goals are too abstract or limits too restrictive, the chance for success decreases.
7. Don’t reward children with food. Candy and snacks as a reward encourage bad habits. Find other ways to celebrate good behavior.
8. Make dinnertime a family time. When everyone sits down together to eat, there’s less chance of children eating the wrong foods or snacking too much. Get the kids involved in cooking and planning meals. Everyone develops good eating habits together and the quality time with the family will be an added bonus.
9. Make a game of reading food labels. The whole family will learn what’s good for their health and be more conscious of what they eat. It’s a habit that helps change behavior for a lifetime.
10. Stay involved. Be an advocate for healthier children. Insist on good food choices at school. Make sure your children’s healthcare providers are monitoring cardiovascular indicators like BMI, blood pressure and cholesterol. Contact public officials on matters of the heart. Make your voice heard.

Borrowed from the American Heart Association

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3030485

 November's Nutrition Message

 December's Nutrition Message

 January's Nutrition Message

 February's Nutrition Message

 March's Nutrition Message

 April's Nutrition Message

 May's Nutrition Message

 June's Nutrition Message

 Food Matters!