Get Your Kids Eating Healthy and Save Them From The Obesity Crisis

Let me start out by addressing the childhood obesity crisis with this statistic: According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, 16% of children (that's over 9 million) 6-19 year olds are either overweight or obese. This number has tripled since 1980, and in addition to this 16% of children, another 15% are highly at risk of becoming overweight and later on becoming obese. Everyone has seen this first hand in some shape or form in their everyday lives. Even just walking around a mall, movie theatre, or public area you can the disgusting and deadly American eating habits that we're teaching to our children. The issue of childhood obesity is becoming so dire and important of an issue that the first lady is addressing and acting to solve the ever growing problem in this country. We have to make a change in how and what we tell our children about what nutrition is and how it can actually taste good. Change is something that parents do not want to endure but parents also have to look at this country and their overweight or obese children and admit that something has to change and the solution to this problem is having parents learning how to cook nutritious meals and know what to purchase at the supermarket that their children and family will eat and most importantly enjoy.

Zero Doesn't Always Equal Zero

While shopping in the grocery store parents must realize that mostly all the cheap and sale items are usually in the front and most convenient aisles, and they don't do this to make your life easier but so you will buy their unhealthy products that have mostly zero nutritional benefits. These foods in the grocery store are always full of unhealthy options like processed food that are full of chemicals, dyes, saturated fat, terrible oils, and trans fats. Even if the package professes that it contains zero grams of trans fats, don't completely believe what you see because food manufacturers do not have to post the existence of trans fatty acids on food labels if the food has less than .5 grams per serving. Now the key words here are Per Serving meaning if you have more than the recommended serving then you could easily be eating several grams of trans fat. Trans fatty acids are a derivative of margarine and other highly processed oils such as partially hydrogenated oils. If the product suggests that it contains zero grams of trans fat and it has partially hydrogenated oils in it then it contains trans fats.

What to Avoid and What to Follow

Now that you're out of those aisles you must remember to look at food labels and understand what they mean. If you cannot decode a nutritional label then you should not be shopping for anybody. Try restricting your purchases to have less than 2.5 grams of saturated fat, less than 300 mg of sodium, less than 200 calories, and most importantly the product should have very few ingredients and ingredients that are familiar to you (these numbers are an estimate and only a general guideline to follow, but it varies on what the product is). You don't want a laundry list of ingredients full of chemicals and high fructose corn syrup. Don't be easily fooled by the 100 calorie snacks either because they may have 100 calories but they usually have a lot of ingredients that are chemically altered. Also try to avoid sugar free products because they are composed of sucralose or aspartame, which are regulated by the FDA but in my opinion shouldn't be.

Some Healthy Tips to Healthy Eating For Your Children and Family

Now that you're ready to accept change for the better you can start buying better products for you and your family that will translate into losing and maintaining a healthy weight and improving your overall mood and mental health. While shopping try to buy whole foods such as fruits and vegetables. You can also buy frozen vegetables for two good reasons; they are generally more nutritious and frozen at their peak of nutritional greatness and they also last longer when they are frozen. Try to steam your vegetables because then you will get the most nutrients out of them. Give your children whole fruit instead of fruit drinks because those drinks are filled with as much sugar as soda. Sure you're getting antioxidants and other vitamins but if you're not getting any fiber which counteracts the natural sugars in the whole fruit. So with the whole fruit your children are getting vitamins and fiber, which will counteract the natural sugar (which is still much less than fruit drinks). Another great meal option for your family is making Quinoa (keen-wah) in replacement of chicken or turkey. The Quinoa is a complete protein and it will make your children full the same way that meat does. Now you can still have chicken and turkey, but try to replace them with a whole grain such as Quinoa maybe a few times a week and see how you feel. You can add mixed steamed vegetables or even make a ratatouille which is filled with all of your favorite vegetables.