Give Your Children a Head Start - Enjoy a Healthy Breakfast

And Jesus said unto them, "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" John 6:35

The annual crowds at Flushing Meadows signal the unofficial end of Summer! This weekend millions will hit the beach or the lake or just hang out and enjoy the final weekend of Summer. For many children the new school year has already started.

One way we can help our beloved little ones as they embark upon another new school year is feed them a healthy breakfast before sending them off to school. Numerous studies have arrived at the conclusion that children do better in school when they start their day with a healthy breakfast!

To fire up your metabolism furnace, start with good nutritious breakfast

Here are some ways that you and your family can eat better:

Eat breakfast every day. Try a whole-grain cereal like raisin bran with fat-free or low-fat milk, or whole-wheat toast spread with jam. Enjoy some fruit with your breakfast too.

Teach kids that healthy foods taste good. Make macaroni and cheese with fat-free milk and low-fat cheese. Try a peanut butter (spread thin) and jam or preserves sandwich instead of a burger and fries.

Choose fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese instead of full-fat dairy products.

Choose whole-grain foods like whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, brown rice, or whole-wheat pasta more often than refined-grain foods, like white bread, white rice, and white pasta.

Snack on fruits and vegetables. Keep a bowl of fruit on the table, bags of mini carrots in the refrigerator, and boxes of raisins in the cupboard.

Do not keep a lot of sweets like cookies, candy, or soda in the house. Too many sweets can crowd out healthier foods.

You don't have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen or shell out a wallet full of money to eat well.

Buy foods that are easy to prepare, like pasta and tomato sauce, rice and beans, or canned tuna packed in water.

Plan ahead and cook enough food to have leftovers. Casseroles, meat loaf, and whole cooked chicken can feed your family for several days. (Be sure to freeze or refrigerate leftovers right away to keep them safe to eat.)

Buy fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season. Buy only as much as you will use, so they will not go bad.

Buy frozen or canned vegetables (no salt added) and canned fruit packed in juice. They are just as good for you as fresh produce, and will not go bad.

Try canned beans like kidney, butter, pinto, or black beans. They are loaded with protein, cost less than meat, and make quick and easy additions to your meals.

Maybe if we teach our children to enjoy eating healthy foods they will do better in school!

Healthy Living

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." Psalm 23: 2-3

What are the most valuable lessons we might share with our beloved children? Certainly how to love and respect one another. How to treat others like we would like to be treated. How to have fun.

Most children are healthiest and happiest when they have a sense of optimism and self control. Sports and physical activity enhance a child's positive feelings about her self. Encourage your little ones to play - and have fun.

A child needs plenty of sleep. Some say - depending on the child's age - they require at least nine or ten hours of sleep a night. Sleep helps restore their brains and their strength! Sleep re-energizes them! ( As though they need any more! )

In addition to the love we give them perhaps teaching our children healthy habits might be a worthwhile endeavor! Giving them the countless benefits of healthy living. Encourage them to enjoy a variety of sports. Teach them to love and appreciate the abundance of healthy natural foods we are so blessed with. Spend some time showing them how to prepare and enjoy eating healthy foods!

Many parenting experts have suggested that - to a child - love is frequently spelled "t-i-m-e". Time spent with our children and loved ones is the best, and most memorable time of our lives. And theirs! Give your child the gift of love - spend time with your child and enjoy happy, healthy pursuits!


From an old French work on Devotions:
"Do not hesitate to ask for temporal blessings, better health, intellect, success. I can bestow them, and never fail to do so, where they tend to make the soul more holy. What wouldst thou this day, My child?... If thou didst but know how I long to bless thee!"

Lead By Example

Some famous writer once noted that children learn more from our actions than our words. Leading a healthy life - full of healthy habits will give our children a foundation for lifelong good health.

If we encourage our children to embrace the same healthy habits they see us choosing then perhaps they will lead much healthier lives! Simple habits - eating healthy foods and getting plenty of exercise - if learned early, will develop into natural parts of their hopefully long lives! Nurture your child's brain with healthy foods and plenty of play time. Let them see you having fun playing sports and getting plenty of vigorous exercise.

Keeping mentally fit isn’t that different from staying in good physical shape. In fact the two go hand in hand. Your mental health can be inextricably tied to your fitness level. In the end – it’s really just about lifestyle. If you exercise regularly, you’re already on the right track! Medical research experts suggest that up to a quarter of the blood pumping through your body is delivering performance enhancing oxygen to your brain as you exercise.

Food choices are vital to your brain’s overall health. Start by cutting the unhealthy fats from your diet. The brain actually benefits from healthy omega-3 fats. Cholesterol buildup can reduce the oxygen supply to your brain by almost 20 percent over time. Load up on foods rich in antioxidants, such as strawberries or red beans, to nurture brain cell health.

Add cold-water, wild caught fish like salmon to your diet. Eating fish helps reduce inflammation, increase memory, and help your brain send and receive messages efficiently. Eat lots of leafy green vegetables like spinach. Spinach is rich in folate which is known to enhance your brain’s processing power! Spinach even provides a little calcium too!

Another way many people stay sharp is to try new things. Learn a new language. Try a crossword puzzle or even Sudoku. Give your brain a workout with new and different mental challenges. Entertain the little ones with fun games they can learn from. Word games and math games.

And play outside as often as you can. Teach them to love nature and have fun in the great outdoors! Kids who play outdoors and get plenty of exercise tend to have healthier self esteem. What better lesson might we share than teaching our children to have fun?

If you are a smoker, quitting smoking will be the best step you can take to improve not only your health but theirs as well.

Give your children the greatest gift any parent could possible teach - show them how to lead a healthy life!

Teaching Our Children Healthy Eating Habits

If you live in the USA you've no doubt heard - or seen for yourself - the alarming number of children who are overweight. University and Medical Science studies are revealing an alarming trend. How can we fix this? How might we better teach our children to make healthy eating choices throughout their lives.

It is so easy to stop at your child's favorite fast-food place and get them something quick and easy. However the time we save too often results in really bad food choices. Fast food is all too often FAT FOOD. We've seen attempts by the big chains to offer healthier alternatives with their children's meals. That's Great! The responsibility for our children's health lies with us parents.

I love fries! And after two or three of those salty delights I've had enough grease for one day! And a big, juicy hamburger sounds really good sometimes. Almost always the taste is - well - not as great as the memory from younger days. Those fast food burgers are just not that great tasting.

Wouldn't it taste a whole lot better to pick out some lean ground sirloin or angus and create a hamburger masterpiece? Toss on a bunch of fresh spinach or green and an onion or tomato slice. Use whole wheat bread instead of those plain white buns. Skip the fatty mayo and use a low fat spicy mustard instead.

Skip the soda or milk-shake and prepare a healthy smoothie instead! Or serve some low-fat or soy milk. How about some plain, filtered water? My kids don't seem to drink anything except soda anymore.

Calories are but one aspect of your child's diet. Perhaps we need to show them to eat types and amounts of food that will promote better health. You could use up all of your calories on a few high-calorie foods or drinks, but if you did, chances are you wouldn’t get the full range of nutrients your body needs to be healthy.

Instead, choose the most nutritionally rich foods you can each day—those packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other nutrients but lower in calories. Pick foods like fruits, vegetables, dry beans and peas, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk.

Maybe if we teach our children the habit of eating healthy foods we can help them avoid the unpleasant consequences of obesity. Maybe we can show them the ways to better health via fun and sports and exercise. Who knows, maybe we might all enjoy the benefits of better health together!

Leading by Example

Do you ever regret buying that big flat-screen - or any television for that matter? TV's are great babysitters. While we adults get stuff done - our children are entertained by their favorite TV shows. And, unfortunately, the incessant ads touting the latest cool things for children.

Too often, children's perceptions of their bodies are partly shaped by unrealistic media images that create false connections between a lean body type or “washboard abs” and subsequent success, sex appeal and self-mastery. The obsession with thinness can also be fed by coaches who stress weight loss, or the age old desire to be attractive and accepted by one’s peers.

How do you teach your children to love themselves and treat their bodies like the perfect little temples they are? How do we teach our beloved youth to enjoy a healthy balance of physical and mental exercise? Hopefully the time they spend in school each week is a good start.

In the end though, it is our responsibility as parents to encourage and somehow sow the seeds. We can show our children the benefits of a healthy lifestyle naturally - by making healthy choices ourselves! If they grow up eating healthy foods instead of the fat food diet we can pick up so easily at the drive-thru window. If they see us and join us in enjoying the time preparing and cooking healthy meals.

We can encourage their interests in sports or any outdoor fun. We can lead by example - showing them how we have fun playing our favorite sports. Or even just taking a walk together or riding bikes. Now that Spring is bringing warmer temperatures to much of North America - we can spend more time enjoying the great outdoors.

Maybe we can teach our children the lifelong habit of healthy living!