Obesity, and especially childhood obesity, is receiving a great deal of attention from the media in recent years. It seems that at least once a week you are presented with a story about childhood obesity and the ever increasing overweight teen population.
Instead of our children outgrowing their baby fat they continue to gain weight which in turn increases the risks of chronic diseases such as Diabetes and, later in life, coronary heart disease. While there is no one single cause of obesity, some habits certainly do not help. Sedentary live styles, poor eating habits, terrible food choices and, certainly, genetics all play roles. And, while it is tempting to lay the lion’s share of blame on a non-controllable factor like genetics, it is really only a minor player.
When the now aging baby boomers grew up in In the 1950s and 1960s school gym classes were 5 days a week, cafeteria food consisted of “mystery meat,” vegetables, jell-o or fruit and a carton of milk. Vending machines were located in gas stations and never in schools. Everybody’s mom was at home and after school everyone played outside until dinner time! Indeed many children were not allowed in the house until dinner unless the weather was bad. Obviously, those days are long past for reasons too numerous to go into here.
Fast forward to today and kids sit for hours in front of televisions and computers playing video games, visiting social networking sites, and watching the latest new You Tube video. All too often, these kid’s after school time is unsupervised because both parents are working. So their food choices lean toward high calorie fast food. Unless the child participates in some type of structured exercise or sports program the only exercise comes from walking to the refrigerator.
Realistically, if we are at work while the kids are home, we cannot control their eating habits as much as we would like. But we can help them resist the temptation of high-calorie foods and, vending machine treats if we can find “finger-tip” solutions. By that I mean putting healthy and nutritious foods in the house and encouraging our children by example to replace the sodas, chips, candy, and fast food with meals that are just as tasty and satisfying and a lot healthier at the same time.
Anyone who has worried about their kid’s diets at all knows that it is very important to eat balanced portions of meats, fruits and vegetables as the key to maintaining both a healthy weight and a healthy lifestyle. But we also know that saying something and doing it can be very difficult. Pursuing the goals of providing meals that mix “good for you” with “this tastes good” is frequently a daily challenge.
Even though this may seem like an insurmountable problem there are steps you can take to improve your children’s diets that they will embrace right away. Start your family each day with a fruit smoothie recipe using either fresh or frozen fruit and milk or yogurt. Make enough to leave some in the refrigerator for a healthy smoothie after school snack. Fruit smoothie recipes, besides being very easy to make they are very high in protein, vitamins, and minerals. Smoothies can also be made with fruit juice recipes, just make sure the juice you use isn’t high in sugar.
Try this trick to make the after school smoothie treats “special”: Pick up some big brightly colored straws at the store and make it a habit to keep a couple of large drink glasses in the refrigerator to chill. When the kids get home from school, they simply pour the smoothie into the chilled glass and enjoy. Even the pickiest of eaters will be sure to give it a try!
Here is a basic fruit smoothie recipe to try tomorrow. Both sweet and fresh tasting, it is a healthy breakfast and a great after school treat:
Pineapple Banana Smoothie
– 1 banana
– 1 cup of milk (soy, 2% or evaporated)
– 1/cup of pineapple chunks
– 1 Tbsp honey
– 4-6 ice cubes
Blend the banana, milk, pineapple and honey along with 3 ice cubes to start. Mix until you have a smooth creamy drink adding more ice cubes or milk as needed. This is an easy recipe to double.
