Eating five servings of fruits and vegetables every day might seem like a lot to ask. It may be easier to visualize adding color to your meals. Your local farmers' market or the produce aisle in your grocery store is full of interesting shapes, textures and colors. It is also full of flavors, but you’ll have to take some of them home and try them to experience that for yourself!
Here are some ways your family can aim for Five Every Day that may inspire you to find your own unique approach:
Breakfast
- A handful of blueberries or a banana cut up and added to your high-fiber cereal and low-fat milk.
- Six to eight strawberries cut up and added to a cup of low-fat vanilla yogurt and some granola.
- Half a cup of mushrooms and half a cup of bell pepper chopped and added to your scrambled eggs or omelet.
Lunch
- A salad made up of dark leafy greens, carrots, and other fruits or veggies of your choosing.
- Add slices of cucumbers, spouts, tomatoes, or avocado to your sandwich.
- A bowl of homemade vegetable soup or chili.
Afternoon Snack
- A sliced apple topped with peanut butter and raisins.
- Whole grain tortilla chips dipped in salsa, guacamole, or black bean dip. Or try dipping veggie sticks in hummus.
- 8 ounces of frozen, 100% natural orange juice eaten like you would ice cream or sorbet.
Dinner
- Accompany your chicken or fish with some steamed mixed vegetables like broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. Maybe some apple sauce as well?
- Finely chopped onions, mushrooms and broccoli added to your spaghetti sauce or as pizza toppings.
- Start dinner with a fresh salad. Use dark leafy greens, fresh tomatoes, fresh green pepper, grapes or currants for added flavor.
The delicious crunch of fruits and veggies can be part of every meal and snack your family enjoys throughout the day and is important for your whole family’s health. Everybody needs the vitamins, fiber and minerals that these colorful foods provide in order to grow and stay strong, energetic and free from illness.
Bring some new fruits or vegetables home and try them raw or cooked in a variety of ways. Involve the kids in the process and watch their willingness to try new things grow and flourish.
Eating your Five Every Day from a wide array of colors ensures that you and your kids will get more of the important nutrients that you need for healthy living.
Nearly half of Americans over the age of 18 are affected by musculoskeletal (bone and joint) conditions, according to research by The Burden of Musculoskeletal Conditions in the United States. If you want to remain active as you age, take steps now to improve the health of your bones and joints. Maintaining a healthy weight, regular physical activity, strength training and a diet rich in calcium and Vitamin D are essential to meet this goal.
Drop the pounds. Nearly 36 percent of adults in America are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those extra pounds add stress to your joints and can contribute to the onset and progression of knee osteoarthritis. A modest weight loss of 10 to 15 pounds can help ease knee pain.
Get moving. Weight-bearing exercises, such as walking or dancing, help build strong bones and muscles. Regular physical activity can help relieve pain and improve joint mobility. Thirty minutes of moderate intensity exercise on most days of the week will help you maintain a healthy weight and produce health benefits.
Pick up a dumbbell. Strength or resistance training will increase bone density, build muscle mass and combat the effects of osteoporosis, a condition that weakens bones, leaving them susceptible to fractures. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends strength training three days a week.
Get enough calcium and Vitamin D. Make sure you are consuming enough calcium, because the body needs this nutrient to build strong bones and teeth and keep them strong as you age. Food sources of calcium include milk, leafy green vegetables and beans. And don’t forget about Vitamin D, which helps the body absorb calcium. This vitamin can be found in fish, eggs, fortified milk and cod liver oil. Because the amount of calcium and Vitamin D a person needs depends on various factors, consult a physician for advice.
Written by Bettinita Harris, an ACSM certified personal trainer with the Kennett Area and Brandywine branches of the YMCA of the Brandywine Valley.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, childhood obesity rates have almost tripled over the last thirty years to 17% of all children and adolescents between the ages of 2-19. For this reason, the Department of Health and Human Services supports many programs to increase physical fitness, daily activity, and healthy eating. Journals such as Childhood Obesity feature articles like, “The Impact of a Three-Year After-School Obesity Prevention Program in Elementary School Children.”
However, healthy habits need to start in the home. Children learn what they see. As parents, we may be telling and teaching our children one message, but modeling another. Consider the example of a mother who brings her 12 year old son to me for nutritional counseling. “All he wants to eat are chicken nuggets and soda,” she tells me. “Can you please talk to him?” “Sure,” I say, “but let’s you and I meet first.” It’s not unusual that I meet a parent who sincerely wants his/her children to eat healthier, but the shopping list consists of toaster pastries, frozen pizza, chips, soda or chicken nuggets. “It’s just easier,” parents say. It’s true. It is easier to provide fast, convenient foods that you know your child will eat, and avoid an argument at the dinner table, or breakfast, or lunch. The easy way isn’t always the best way.
There aren’t many children who do their own food shopping. Children depend on their parents for basic needs such as food and shelter. Sure, there are some children who will cook dinner, pack their own lunch, or make their own breakfasts, but children can only prepare and eat what’s available to them. If, as a parent, you want your child to eat healthier, you need to buy healthier foods. You need to prepare healthier foods. You need to eat healthier foods. Examine your own attitudes and values with regards to food, exercise, and overall health. Do you make it a priority, or are you too busy? Is it too hard to prepare healthy meals, or do you just not know what to prepare? Do you depend on school lunches and other outside sources to teach your children to make healthy food choices? How much physical activity, or movement, do you get throughout your day?
Another idea to consider is how your family views food. Is food used as comfort or reward? Is food withheld as punishment? Does every outing, event, vacation revolve around the food? These are the habits that form our relationship with food, and that carry over into adulthood. Most adults will say, “I know what I should be eating, I just don’t know why I can’t lose weight.” Many children can recite the 6 food groups; tell why calcium is an important nutrient, and why we need protein. However, obesity prevails because of the attitudes and habits surrounding foods that were learned and reinforced early on.
So, the best thing you can do to help your child eat healthier is to adopt a healthy attitude toward food yourself. You can change your habits once you understand and are aware of what you are choosing. Stressed? Learn to express your feelings and needs verbally. Bored? Do something you love to do that doesn’t involve food. Happy? Celebrate by doing something special with the family. It is even possible to eat healthy while on vacation. Start by making small changes, and view every day as a new opportunity to model healthy behaviors for your child.
Carmel M. Rickenbach, MS, RD, LDN, is a Licensed Registered Dietician with the Kennett Area YMCA.
HEALTHY FISH AND CHIPS
Canola or olive oil cooking spray
1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/4-inch-thick wedges
4 teaspoons canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun or Creole seasoning, divided
2 cups cornflakes
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites, beaten
1 pound cod or haddock, cut into 4 portions
1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray. Set a wire rack on another large baking sheet; coat with cooking spray.
2. Toss the potatoes, oil and 3/4 teaspoon Cajun (or Creole) seasoning in a large bowl. Spread on the baking sheet without the rack. Bake on the lower oven rack, turning every 10 minutes, until tender and golden, 30 to 35 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, coarsely grind cornflakes in a food processor or blender or crush in a sealable plastic bag. Transfer to a shallow dish. Place flour, the remaining 3/4 teaspoon Cajun (or Creole) seasoning and salt in another shallow dish and egg whites in a third shallow dish. Dredge fish in the flour mixture, dip it in egg white and then coat all sides with the ground cornflakes. Place on the prepared wire rack. Coat both sides of the breaded fish with cooking spray.
4. Bake the fish on the upper oven rack until opaque in the center and the breading is golden brown and crisp, about 20 minutes.
(Recipe: www.eatingwell.com)
We’ve seen our world change dramatically in the past 30 years. But, with all these technological advances, we are falling farther and farther behind in taking care of ourselves and our children.
Today’s youth have been marked as the first generation not to outlive their parents. Simply put, my children could die before me. That’s not the future I want for any child.
The percentage of today’s youth considered to be obese has tripled in the past 30 years. In 1982, the obesity rate was only 5.7% for kids age 6 to 17. Now, the rate is over 18%. Obese is a severe term. For children, it refers to any child who falls in to the 95th percentile or higher on their age and sex specific growth chart. Nationally, this equates to 12.5 million children.
Until recently, health concerns related to being overweight have been an “adult” issue. Sadly, this is changing. Kids are now being treated for diseases previously unseen in childhood, like high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and gall stones.
Our children need us. They need a parent, friend, relative or role model to teach them how to live well and how to take care of themselves. It’s time to remember the activities of our childhood and share them with our kids. How about tag, hide and seek, climbing trees, riding bikes and building forts? We played, ran, skipped, jumped and swam. Our bodies moved from the moment we woke up until bedtime. It was fun and not a requirement. Food rarely came in a box and many of us ate at home with our families. Show your children how much fun spending time being active and sharing time together can be!
Resources are all around, arm yourself with information and put it into action: get outside and play!
• www.cdc.gov – Center for Disease Control and Prevention offers informational resources on many health related topics
• www.letsmove.gov– First lady Michelle Obama’s initiative; America’s Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids
• www.choosemyplate.gov – US Department of Agriculture’s dietary guidelines for all Americans
• www.casafamilyday.org – Family Day: A national initiative to remind parents that what your kids really want at the dinner table is YOU!
• www.chesco.org/ccparks - Chester County Parks and Recreation directory of parks, trails and seasonal events
• www.activatechestercounty.org – Activate Chester County lists local events, resources and ways to get “Move More, Eat Smart, Create a Supportive Environment”
• www.ymcabwv.org – YMCA of the Brandywine Valley offers programs and resources to get the whole family active and moving, Girls on the Run, STRIDE, Activate Kids and more.
Rachael Martin is Director of Healthy Living and an AFAA Certified Personal Trainer at the Jennersville YMCA, West Grove.
