Family Time

This month, focus on encouraging the whole family to become more responsible for their health, and as a working unit improve the well-being of the home. Think about all of the messages about healthy lifestyles that bombard family members each day. During your next family huddle begin to work on your family media-literacy skills. This can empower the whole family to gain a better understanding on how to make healthier choices around food and active play. Talk about advertising and guess what the product is before it is shown, or talk about the message your family feels is being communicated by the advertisement. Open a magazine or newspaper and have a discussion about the variety of messages. Ask questions about who you think the target audience is, or what action is being asked of us (buy something, read something, etc.). Share your ideas and discuss how as a family your choices are impacted by the media.

Kids Corner

Whether at the grocery store, in your own kitchen or at a friend’s house, see if you can find a few foods in their most natural state. Look for foods with minimal processing. This means that not a lot was done to the food to make it look or taste different – like adding coloring, salt or sugar. Once you’ve found a few foods in their most natural state, sort them based on color. Are at least three colors represented? Aim for foods from all spectrums of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple). Brown, black or white don’t count, so you will have to be creative and think beyond a cracker or yogurt. Here is a hint: my lunch bag today contained an orange, green pepper slices and a sandwich with a slice of tomato. So how many colors did I cover in the rainbow, it sounds like three, can you find all of them.

Fun with Fruits and Vegetables

Cooking and freezing fruits or vegetables in season can help to spread the family’s budget into the spring months. Most fruits and veggies can be blanched (cooked briefly in boiling water and then placed in an ice bath or run under cold water to stop the cooking process). After blanching the fruit or vegetable, place pre-sized portions in freezer bags or containers and use throughout the spring. Another option is to bake, then freeze foods. Root veggies are affordable at this time of year and can be prepared ahead of time, placed in the freezer and pulled out as needed. This process is different than blanching, but allows a few options for a family to meet its fruit and vegetable budget. Start with selecting several sweet potatoes of similar size (this helps for them all to cook evenly), wash/scrub the outside of each potato, then bake in the oven (400º F), after 45 – 60 minutes, remove them, allow to cool, wrap individual potatoes in foil and place in a freezer bag together. Pull out as needed, defrost and heat up.

Ask the Food Dude – Nutritionist

As part of our new year’s resolution our family banned junk food from the home, it lasted about two weeks. What is something we can do now?

It is easier to encourage the addition of healthful foods in your home than it is to convince family members to give up a specific food. Think of foods that can be added to meals and snack plans that are healthier options and still allow room for smaller portions of the food you are hoping to replace. To make a change overnight from chips and cookies as a snack to celery and carrot sticks is not an easy or simple choice for any one. Start with adding a piece of fruit to your typical snack, and then after a few days maybe you eat the fruit first. Slowly reduce the portions of the chips and cookies, and add other healthful foods (whole grain pretzels, fig bar or graham crackers). This is an area to tackle with small steps and short-term goals that are achievable. It will take a lot of practice, but the bigger picture is for your family to make better food choices that last a life time.

Snack Ideas

Whole wheat cracker, a little spreadable cheese (i.e. goat) and top off with a dried prune or apricot.

Combine non-sugar added cereal, raisins or other cut up dried fruit, and pretzels. Prepare a large batch of this mix and place it in snack serving size baggies or containers for easy grab and go options.

Ask the Playground Guru

Is all physical activity good for our hearts?

Yes physical activity is good for our hearts. In honor of American Heart Month be creative on all the things your family can do to improve the health of their heart. Did you know the heart is a muscle and one of the strongest in our bodies? Your heart can beat as many as 100,000 times a day. Can you feel your heart beat, check at your wrist using your index and middle finger or check at your neck (just slightly off to the side). Finding time for active play every day and activities that increase your heart rate are all ways to improve your heart’s health. Like other muscles in the body, your heart needs to be taken care of through strengthening, regular use and a diet that supports a healthy heart (fruits, vegetables, high fiber foods, low fat and low cholesterol, etc.)