Category — Kids

Kids should not be put on a weight loss diet, a meal replacement diet, or be forced to eat salads for every meal. It is important for children’s physical and emotional well being that eating food, and conversation about food, is enjoyable, not stressful or forced. In fact, it is advisable to avoid telling children they are on a diet at all. Instead parents can use words like, “we are eating healthy foods” and “our family eats foods that make us strong and smart”.

To help kids stay healthy and lean, parents can feed kids better quality, fresh foods and snacks, and reduce portion sizes. For children who are over weight, eating several smaller, balanced meals per day, plus snacks is the healthy way to lose weight and maintain the loss, while staying healthy, energetic and happy.

Involving kids in making healthy foods and snacks makes eating healthfully more fun and enjoyable for the whole family. Whole Foods is inviting parents and kids to join the “School Lunch Revolution” with tips from Chef Ann Cooper, “The Renegade Lunch Lady”. They say, “If highly processed chicken nuggets and artificially flavored popsicles aren’t your idea of a healthy lunch, it’s time you joined “The School Lunch Revolution! Highly processed foods are standard fare in many school lunchrooms, and more than two-thirds of public schools serve lunches that exceed recommended limits for fat content. And, we’re paying for it with our kids’ health. At least 30 percent of children are overweight, childhood obesity has more than doubled, and it is predicted that one in three will develop diabetes”.

The Whole Foods website provides tons of information and recipes to help you create healthy balanced meals for kids and the whole family! Try them out and leave a comment below this post with your experience.

Back to School Recipes
10 Essential Lunch Lessons
School Lunch Revolution Videos

Brown bag lunches made at home have the potential to be much healthier than lunches provided at school. And the same goes for parents at work. Bring your own food to work, rather then ordering fast food or grabbing something at the local deli. Brown bagging lunch is an important part of your weight loss and weight maintenance plan. Also, if you have your lunch ready to eat, rather then having to run out to pick something up while you are busy at work, you are less likely to skip meals and then gorge on unhealthy foods later in the the day.

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