Kids

Kids are the main reason I decided to write a blog. My heart breaks for them--I don't care who they are, what they look like, how old they are, I hate to see injustice done to defenseless, struggling kids. You may be thinking that you have seen a lot of kids who are not so defenseless, but what I see are kids who have been made to act a certain way because of their environment. I may be naive, but I think all kids just want love and attention, and they get it any way they can, whether it be positive or negative.

I could write a whole book on this subject, but I will try to keep myself on track and talk about nutrition. This past summer, Tori and Brendan, my kids, went to tennis camp. I was astounded at the number of overweight children. I am not over-exaggerating when I say that two-thirds of the kids were overweight, and at tennis camp. Their parents were doing a great thing by bringing them there for the exercise, but how did all of these kids become overweight?

I don't know their specifics, but what I do know is that most kids learn by example. Now I know I am not telling you anything new; our kids learn from our actions. One of my earliest and most distinct elementary school memories is of me telling my friends at lunch time in the second or third grade that I was going on a diet. I remember not eating anything for lunch and getting a lot of attention from the kids around me. I had to explain what a diet was to most of the kids (I think I said, "I am fat so I'm not going to eat anything."). I remember their shock and awe at what I was saying. For me, all of that attention was a big deal because I was painfully shy and hardly got noticed.

My mom was always on a diet. She would talk about it often. My husband says in good humor that I threw him under the bus in my last blog, so I going to try not to do that to my mom here, but if it helps someone, it's worth it...right, Mom? I think I picked up from my mom a general dissatisfaction she had for herself, and a diet was going to solve her insecurities. I thought I would feel better about myself, as well.

From that point until a few years into college (I went for eight long years), I had a love/hate relationship with food. I am not saying that it is my mom's fault, but I had to learn on my own how to see food and not connect it with my self esteem. I will be honest and say that I struggled with anorexia and over-eating during those years. I would have struggled with bulimia, but I tried and tried to make myself throw up, and couldn't--even when I have a stomach virus, I rarely throw up.

I say all of this because I know what it feels like to be a kid who struggles with their relationship with food and with weight issues. This is why my heart breaks for these overweight kids. Most of them are maliciously made fun of, and they cannot fix it. They don't know how, and they don't have the tools to do so. It is my passion to help make parents aware of how their choices with regard to food and nutrition can help or hinder their children. However, I have written too long today, so tune in tomorrow for the rest of the story....

Snacks:
I was asked by a friend of mine about snacks for her kids, so I will touch on that briefly. Let me say this first though, if you have a kid that does not eat well at meal time, try not to let them drink any sugary drink, including more than a 1/2 cup of milk, or eat a snack two hours before meal time. Also, a snack should include protein, carbohydrate (with some fiber), and fat. This keeps their insulin from spiking and makes them feel fuller faster and for a longer period of time, so they won't be hungry 30 minutes later. One example is anything with peanut butter (apple slices, celery sticks, bananas, pretzels, graham crackers, toast, etc.), but please buy the all-natural, no-sugar-added kind of peanut butter. Make sure all of the snacks you buy are all-natural, no artificial flavors or colors.

More easy snack options (read labels to make sure they are all-natural):
cheese and apple slices
yogurt but avoid the kind with high fructose corn syrup for reasons explained later
granola bars with nuts
ham and cheese roll ups
string cheese and mandarin orange slices
honey, banana, and peanut butter fold-over on whole grain bread
turkey and cheese fold-over on whole grain bread
hard-boiled egg sprinkled with salt and whole grain cinnamon toast
deviled eggs
yogurt smoothie with frozen fruit
frozen fruit smoothie with protein powder (I only buy GNC's unflavored protein powder because they use an all-natural milk protein called whey)
trail mix (our favorite mix that I make has equal amounts of raisins or craisins, almonds, and dark chocolate chips)

Signing off, but please post comments or questions. I welcome them...good or bad. Thanks!