Healthy Habits Start at Home

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)