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Rules for a Healthy Diet for kids

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*Rules for a Healthy Diet for Kids

It can seem very difficult to find a diet that your children enjoy eating, but is also very healthy for them. When there is so much pressure to encourage your children to eat healthily, how do you get a reasonable balance between making sure they have a good diet and not getting them so obsessed with food that they will be worried about their weight?  Here are some hints and tips that will hopefully help you with working out a healthy diet for kids.

1) Don’t use food as a treat.  If children consider food to be a reward for good behaviour, this can turn out to be a habit for their lifetime.  You need to make sure that they see food as fuel and not a treat.  Try not to let them feel that they only get pudding as a reward for eating their dinner or other similar things, as this can turn out against you when they only want to eat sweet treats, or binge on food as rewards for doing good things.

2) Try to keep sugar in the diet at a minimum. Sugar not only rots teeth but can also cause children to put on weight if they have too much. It can be difficult, but it is often better to give children more of their main course than to give them cakes or dessert after their food. If they are still hungry then let them have a piece of fruit as this will give them a sweet treat without the fat that usually accompanies desserts.

3) Keep snacks at a minimum. Some children need snacks between meals to give them a burst of energy but you should really only give these if they are needed and not as a habit.  Good snacks include nuts, seeds and unsweetened yoghurt.  If you are out and about they could snack on fruit bars or fresh fruit.

4) Don’t give in to advertising.  A lot of children will want to eat foods that they see on TV or that their friends have.  It can be very difficult to not give in to their demands for the latest items.  However, try to think of their long term health and how it can affect their behavior if you give in to what they want all the time.  Just occasionally buy them the things they want, but make sure that they aren’t eating unhealthy foods all the time.

5) Show a good example. If you are expecting your children to eat all their vegetables you will need to make sure that you eat them too. Children copy the behavior of the people around them and so they will need to see you eating well too.

6) Eat a good variety of foods. Unhealthy food is fine every once in a while as long as there are good healthy foods eaten in between. So make sure that the diet has plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and salads mixed with proteins such as beans and lentils and complex carbohydrates like wholemeal pasta and wholegrain bread.

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Am I fat?

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One of the topics that constantly rears its head in Health Studies and  among teenagers is being overweight and weight loss.

 

When we use the word overweight it is important to clarify that what we are talking about is more than just a few pounds.

Everyone knows that being overweight can effect our heart and also risk Diabetes but being overweight can also effect a persons joints, their breathing, their sleeping ,their mood ,energy levels and also their self esteem.

Being overweight can impact on a persons quality of life.

In our looks-obsessed society, lots of people think that being overweight is an appearance issue.

But being overweight is actually a medical concern because it can seriously affect a person’s health.

 

Unless you have been living under a rock you will have heard facts and statistics thrown around of how there are more people overweight now than ever before. It is what we call  an “obesity epidemic.”

A serious health problem in our society that affects young people as well as adults — one third of all kids between the ages of 2 and 19 are overweight or obese. So younger people are now developing health problems that used to affect only adults, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes……wow that is scary!

Why Do People Become Overweight?

Obesity tends to run in families. Some people have a genetic tendency to gain weight more easily than others because they burn calories more slowly. During times when food was scarce, this was a real advantage. But now that food is available 24/7 in most industrialized countries, an efficient metabolism that once ensured our survival now works to our disadvantage.

Although genes strongly influence body type and size, the environment  plays a key role. People today  are gaining weight because of unhealthy food choices (like fast food) and family habits (like eating in front of the television instead of around a table). High-calorie, low-nutrient snacks and beverages, bigger portions of food, and less-active lifestyles are all contributing to this epidemic.

As a mother I have constantly tried to instill healthy eating in my daughters and initially it was not easy.

When we lived in a warm climate in S. Africa the diet was more Mediterranean type and weight issues were not as prevalent. On our return to the UK I became very aware of the inadequate diet that many teenagers resorted to and it scared me to see the influence on my daughters to eat the same junk .

As we moved abroad again for a few years to a warm climate and then back again to the UK  my daughters immediately saw what I had been trying to tell them for years. Many of their old friends who had continued eating high fat junk foods over the last 2 years were now obese……   finally the penny dropped !

 There are many health problems associated with being overweight and as regards teens I have identified these briefly below

The health problems that affect overweight teens include:

  • Blount disease. Excess weight on growing bones can lead to this bone deformity of the lower legs.
  • Arthritis. Wear and tear on the joints from carrying extra weight can cause this painful joint problem at a young age.
  • Slipped capital femoral epiphyses (SCFE). Obese children and teens are at greater risk for this painful hip problem. SCFE requires immediate attention and surgery to prevent further damage to the joint.
  • Asthma. Obesity is associated with breathing problems that can make it harder to keep up with friends, play sports, or just walk from class to class.
  • Sleep apnea. This condition (where a person temporarily stops breathing during sleep) is a serious problem for many overweight kids and adults. Not only does it interrupt sleep, sleep apnea can leave people feeling tired and affect their ability to concentrate and learn. It also may lead to heart problems.
  • High blood pressure. When blood pressure is high, the heart must pump harder and the arteries must carry blood that’s moving under greater pressure.
  • High cholesterol. Long before getting sick, obese teens may have abnormal blood lipid levels, including high cholesterol, low HDL (“good”) cholesterol, and high triglyceride levels. These increase the risk of heart attack and stroke when a person gets older.
  • Gallstones. An accumulation of bile that hardens in the gallbladder forms gallstones. These may be painful and require surgery.
  • Fatty liver. When fat accumulates in the liver, it can cause inflammation, scarring, and permanent liver damage.
  • Insulin resistance and diabetes. When there is excess body fat, insulin is less effective at getting glucose, the body’s main source of energy, into cells. More insulin becomes needed to maintain a normal blood sugar. For some overweight teens, insulin resistance may progress to diabetes (high blood sugar).
  • Depression. People who are obese are more likely to be depressed and have lower self-esteem.

The good news …and there is good news ! ……  it’s never too late to make changes that can effectively control weight and the health problems it causes. Those changes don’t have to be huge .In fact start small otherwise the mountain will seem too high.. For a start,   cut back on sugary beverages, pass up on seconds, and get more exercise, even if it’s just 5-10 minutes a day. Build your way up to big changes by making a series of small ones. And don’t be afraid to ask for help!

 

Because this topic is so huge I have written a series of articles on kids health here…broken down into different topic related to Kids weight.

I have also thrown in a Free ebook on teenage weightloss here .

                                                                                       

I am so sad that you are sad.

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Just today in college I lingered to do some computer work as my group of students  left the room to go for a break.

As I sat working on the computer one of the students had stayed in the room. She looked tired and I instinctively knew that something was wrong.

When I asked if she was OK the tears started and she poured out her heart to tell me off two deaths of people close to her in one week.

Two?….. that is  really tough  and to make it tougher one was a suicide. A boy, her cousin aged 21 years old… took his own life. The other was a friend who was found dead in his bed and they do not know yet how he died.

It is very difficult to comfort someone going through this kind of grief and many times it helps them just to be there and listen .

 

When People are grieving they might feel strong emotions, such as sadness and anger. They also may have have physical reactions, such as not sleeping or even waves of nausea. The student in my class was tired and had dark rings under her eyes so I knew she was not sleeping.

 Often the intensity of the grief will be related to how sudden or predictable the loss was and also how you felt about the person who died. With this student the suicide was her cousin and the other unexpected death was a close friend …very tough to handle.

When people feel grief it feels like “waves” or cycles of grief that come and go depending on what you are doing and if there are triggers for remembering the person who has died.

When I think of my own grief I have experienced myself in the past when my father died suddenly I remember that at times I felt lifted and then suddenly my emotions would drop in despair. I found it even hard to utter the words that my father had died as if by uttering the words it became real.

If you’ve lost someone in your immediate family like I did and also this student with her cousin  who was close then  you may feel cheated out of time you wanted to have with that person. It can also feel hard to express your own grief when other family members are grieving, too.

Some people may hold back their own grief or avoid talking about the person who died because they worry that it may make a parent or other family member sad. This is a common behavior that many of us can identify. It’s also common to feel some guilt over a past argument or a difficult relationship with the person who died.

What I felt I had to tell this student that it was OK to feel and react the way she was feeling now. It was also OK for her to handle this any way she could and all of us react differently. There is no right or wrong way

Some people reach out for support from others and find comfort in good memories. Others become very busy to take their minds off the loss. Some people become depressed and withdraw from their peers or go out of the way to avoid the places or situations that remind them of the person who has died.

 For some people, it can help to talk about the loss with others. Some do this naturally and easily with friends and family, while others talk to a professional therapist. As this student had stayed behind in class I realized that she maybe wanted to talk to me as someone who did not know her family and that was maybe her way of trying to handle what she was going through.

I know that when my father died it felt like it was going to be impossible to recover after losing someone I loved and admired.  But grief does get gradually better and become less intense as time goes by.

The first few days after someone dies can be intense, with people expressing strong emotions, perhaps crying, comforting each other, and gathering to express their support and condolences to the ones most affected by the loss. It is also very common to feel extremes of anxiety, panic, sadness, and helplessness.

Some people describe feeling “unreal,” as if they’re looking at the world from a faraway place wondering why everything just continues as normal when to you nothing is normal right now.

I remember asking myself …”why is it all just carrying on …do they not understand?”

Sometimes a person can be so shocked or overwhelmed by the death that he or she doesn’t show any emotion right away — even though the loss is very hard.  It’s not uncommon to see people smiling and talking with others at a funeral, as if something sad had not happened.  Being among other mourners can be a comfort, reminding us that some things will stay the same.

It’s natural to continue to have feelings and questions for a while after someone dies. It’s also natural to begin to feel somewhat better. A lot depends on how your loss affects your life. It’s OK to feel grief for days, weeks, or even longer, depending on how close you were to the person who died.

No matter how you choose to grieve, there’s no one right way to do it. The grieving process is a gradual one that lasts longer for some people than others. There may be times when you worry that you’ll never enjoy life the same way again, but…..  you will enjoy life again, you will feel happy again…of that  I can assure you.

…I have been there and come back …..I promise you……you  will.

 

Learn To Cope With Death And Move On

“I am Dumb”….says who?

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Just today in class as we were having a short break and as my back was turned I heard a female student  say to another.

” I am just dumb…I have always been dumb ”

As the class  in question are studying Personal and Professional Development I took the opportunity to stop them in their tracks and ask who had made the comment. When the student identified herself it gave me the ideal opportunity to highlight the fact that  all of us  have a mental picture of who we are, how we look, what we’re good at, and what our weaknesses might be.

At this period of time this female student had a low mental image of her academic abilities.

  Her mental  picture of herself had been formed over time, as she move through Junior school and Senior school to where this young adult was  right now …close to embarking out in her career.

This mental picture of who we are  is called our self-image and  is based on interactions we have with other people and our life experiences.

Our Self-esteem is not only  about how much we feel valued, how we feel  loved and  accepted,  by others — but also how much we value, love, and accept ourselves. This is an aspect that teenagers struggle with. It is a stage in their lives when they are trying to work out who they are and what is their purpose and consequently many teenagers struggle with their self esteem.

I often marvel at the effect it has on teenagers when I tell them that it is very common at their age to be selfish.

“Its just where you are at right now…so to speak”

“At this time in your life everything is is all about you”

Their lives are focused on themselves and it is alright to be like that for now.

It is amazing the effect it has on teenagers When I tell them this. I also tell them that  I know knowing about their past. I  know nothing about the exams they have failed or where they have gone wrong if they have.

All I know of them is what I see in front of me now.

If they want to achieve top marks then that is what I see and what I see is what I believe in.

I remind them that everyone’s self-image changes over time, self-esteem is not fixed for life. So if you feel that your self-esteem isn’t all it could be, you can improve it.

I also remind them that in our class …

”NO ONE IS DUMB”…….not even the teacher!

 

Interested in building your self esteem?……Grab this Free ebook!…..no strings attached!







What to do if you have to take a baby to bus stop in rain ?

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Asked: What to do if you have to take a baby to bus stop in rain ?

I have a daughter in kindergarten j have to walk her to the bus stop every morning. I do not drive I can't drive her to school or to the Stop so every morning I have to bring my eight month old with me. My bf works too early to take her and I have no friends or family who could take her or sit at the stop with her. No other parents are at the stop either. What am I supposed to do when it's super cold or cold and pouring down rain like it is here today
I can't carry him plus hold an umbrella he is going to end up sick and cold
And soaking wet and his eczema will flair up. I just don't know what to do or why they can't stop in front or the house they drive right by it and the other kid at the stop
Is our neighbor

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What’s wrong with me?

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Asked: What’s wrong with me?

I have eczema, o always have since I was little. But it seems out of control now. When I moisturize it with coca butter it feels alright, but when I wake up in the morning all over my body including a little Of my face is semi sweaty and smells and is dry and tight until I take a shower. And on top of that I've been having these uncontrollable shivers that you would get if it were freezing. But it's only fall and wherever aim I do it. My teeth chatter and I shake. And sometimes I'll tell myself to stop and take deep breaths. But o go back to shaking. I hate my life please help me.

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