Kids Corner

Harvest your kitchen cabinets for smart fuel choices! Are you hungry after school, home work or playing outside? Do you usually head straight to the kitchen?

Let’s make a plan for this fuel ahead of time.
Get out a piece of paper, pencil and look through your cabinets at home. Search for products with the following nutritional information (use the food label as your guide)

5 grams of fiber per serving
Less than 100 mg sodium per serving
Less than 8 grams of sugar per serving
5 grams of protein per serving
0 trans fat per serving
Less than 1 gram of saturated fat per serving

After you find a few items that meet at least one of the servings from the above list, organize them based on your taste buds. Line them up from the tastiest to the least tasty, or favorite to least favorite. Can you find foods that meet two or three of the servings from above? Those are healthy choices! Is it something you like to eat? Have you tried it? Does your family have it as part of their meals on aweekly basis

Ask the Food Dude – Nutritionist

We would like to offer non-candy options for Halloween, what are some ideas for a healthier treat?

As families continue to seek improved health, there are many parties, events and holidays like Halloween throughout the year where healthier options may take a little creativity. Here are some healthy ideas that can be used throughout the year for grab bags, goodie bags, parties, and non-food related rewards.
Instead of buying candy, head to a bulk party store, Halloween store or club warehouse for some fun, inexpensive and simple party items.

mini crayons, mini toothpaste and brush sets, bubbles, play-dough, temporary tattoos, bouncy/super balls, rubber bugs/insects/spiders, spider rings, decorated pencils, festive erasers, Halloween “bling” jewelry (spider rings, other orange/black gems, necklaces)

Healthy food treat ideas: child size packages of animal crackers, pretzels, dried fruit, low-fat granola bars, or sunflower seeds

Ask the Play Ground Guru

What happened to the “trick” in trick-or-treating?

Incorporating regular physical activity into our everyday routines is an important factor in improving our health. With this in mind, bring some tricks back into your home. What kind of play activities can your family participate in on a daily basis? What about tricks that are done at the circus? Try some family tricks like building a pyramid with each other as the building blocks. Perform jumping jacks while each family member counts out loud. Younger kids can work on counting while playing. Practice cartwheels and star jumps, or even make up some “tricks” of your own and give them your family name. For example “Smith Family Jumps”. Submit the description of the activity to http://www.ymca.net/healthyfamilyhome/submit-content.html

Encourage each other to be physically active this month with a variety of tricks.

Fun with Fruits and Vegetables

Pumpkins are not just for carving any more. Did you know that pumpkins come in a variety of colors? There is more than the standard orange seen all around the neighborhood this month. Make it a family challenge this month to see if you can locate a pumpkin that is white or blue or red. Pumpkins are a popular decoration during the fall months, but they also pack a lot of important nutrition. Pumpkin is a good source of fiber, potassium, selenium, vitamin A and beta-carotene to name just a few nutrients, and the seeds are a great source of omega-3 fats. Try preparing a food this month using pumpkin, such as a pumpkin shake, pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup or bake pumpkin seeds as a family. Many brands of canned pumpkin contain just pumpkin, with no additional ingredients, making it an affordable and healthy choice.

Family Time

Fall is a fabulous time of year to be outside and active as a family. Before autumn runs into the holidays, make family time out of doors a priority this month. Hold a family huddle, decide on a couple of activities and make it a “family date.” Below are some ideas:

Apple picking—locate an orchard and make a family day trip
Have the family pick out their own Jack O’Lanterns from a pumpkin patch
“Leaf Peeping” as a family—whether on bike or foot, travel the neighborhood and enjoy the fall leaves as their hues change weekly. Plan to cover the same path once a week and track the changes. Take a picture each week of the family in front of a selected tree/bush and take another photo the following week. As a family, use the photos to view the slight changes or major changes that happened over the past week.
Rake leaves together and then take turns jumping into the pile. This is a great way to play as a family, re-make the pile of leaves for each member of the family.
Collect a variety of leaves falling in your neighborhood and check out their differences and similarities. While walking as family, see if you can match up where the leaf came from in your community.
Volunteer as a family doing local outdoor activities—picking up litter in a park, cleaning out garden beds at a local park or nursery, helping set up for a farmers market, etc.

Last Month’s Riddle: What is green on the outside and has lots of small green balls on the inside? Did you guess PEAS? You are correct!

Healthy Snack Ideas

Combine canned pumpkin, cold skim milk, low-fat vanilla yogurt and cinnamon in a blender.

Sprinkle low-fat cheese over a whole-wheat tortilla, fold in half and microwave for 20 seconds, then top with salsa.

Combine graham crackers, frozen yogurt and sliced bananas to make a tasty “ice cream sandwich.”