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Five A Day - Making Kids Nutritional Programs Fun
Fat kids are hitting the headlines again.The British government is worrried about the growing number of five year olds (about 25%) who are already overweight. They claim that this could affect life expectancy if the trend is allowed to continue. Other experts say that this is an exaggeration and that these levels of obesity will NOT affect the mortality rate.
Fat kids are hitting the headlines again.The British government is worrried about the growing number of five year olds (about 25%) who are already overweight. They claim that this could affect life expectancy if the trend is allowed to continue. Other experts say that this is an exaggeration and that these levels of obesity will NOT affect the mortality rate.
No matter what your stance is on this, we still have to make sure our kids eat right. That means finding fun food recipes for kids. Discovering a nutritional health program at school and at home will be of paramount importance for a healthy lifestyle from now right into adulthood.
Just think - kids view over 20,000 food ads each year. They are brainwashed and bombarded with ads for all sorts of food and most of them are bad. As kids snack constantly - if it’s healthy foods, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Unfortunately the snack foods in most homes are loaded with trans fats and sugar, not good. Recent studies show that the food additives and colourings in these foods is a possible cause of hyperactivity in children.
Kids will want to learn fun facts about food and a great way is to involve them in the kitchen and the preparation of food. They also love cooking and trying out what they have cooked. Another thing is that they are more curious about food than we think. As they are copycats, they are going to imitate us a lot so if our choices are deadly dull and boring, then they will fall into the same rut.
Teenagers who had always eaten with their families were much more likely to be on a healthier nutritional program when they moved into adulthood and were drinking less soda and eating more fruit and vegetables. Kids are curious by nature so a great way to exploit that is to eat lots of new things and rave about them. The kids will be much more likely to imitate you and will enjoy trying new dishes.
Why do kids always choose the same old boring things on the kids’ menus? Fact is they are just repeating the same old routine and going for the fish fingers and chicken nuggets which they always have at home ! Again, being enthusiastic about food is a great way for parents to get them out of the rut. Another way is to not let them choose from the kids’ menu but to have somrthing with you from the normal menu - in this way they can be involved in the choice.
A study just published by the University of Minnesota found that when healthy and nutritional school lunches were served, there was no drop off in sales. Schools have to adjust in the training of staff and changing kitchens but these results are encouraging. They also try to serve a turkey low-fat hot dog instead of the traditional one and the kids like them.
Smoothie recipes are great for parents and kids love them too. This is one of the best way of disguising healthy ingredients like fruit and vegetables and getting the kids on to a nutritional healthy eating plan, without them realizing it.