Tag Archives: kids

Do your kids watch TV while they eat?

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Two-thirds of kids watch TV during mealtimes. On average, kids spend 53 hours a week looking at a screen (sometimes more than one at a time!).

The problem? This affects their health, today and tomorrow.

First of all, just that much screen time makes me cringe. Watching TV means kids are sedentary instead of moving their bodies. Exercise is important for people of all ages. Also, if they are watching TV they aren’t playing or socializing, both of which are needed for healthy brain and personality development.

But back to the mealtime issue. If they are watching TV, they are missing out on the family meal. Family meals are extremely important for emotional development and for kids to adopt healthy eating habits. For more on the family meal, read this post.  Additionally, kids who watch TV the most have higher intakes of calories, fat, and sugar, and lower intakes of fruits and vegetables. This leads to poor brain and body development now while they need optimal nutrition. And it also is associated with obesity, Diabetes and heart disease later.

Turn the TV off and enjoy the family meal. You are your kids’ best model of how to eat healthy.

Kids breakfast ideas

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Let’s face it, planning meals for your kids is hard. The ideas don’t come and we’re all tired.

I have compiled a list and some tips. I hope it inspires you!

  • Yogurt, fruit, and granola
  • Breakfast pizza on English muffin
  • Cottage cheese sundae with fruit and nuts and even whipped cream
  • Oatmeal with cranberries and cinnamon
  • Breakfast burrito: Whole wheat tortilla, scrambled eggs, cheese, salsa, green peppers and onions, ham, bacon, chicken sausage
  • Pancakes (made from healthy recipe not Bisquick)
    • Pancake pizza (with rasp for sauce and all kinds of toppings)

Smoothie:

  • Fruit: strawberries, banana, peach, mango, pineapple
  • Liquid: orange juice, pineapple juice, milk or milk alternative
  •  Additionals:
    • Yogurt
    • Chia or flax seeds
    • Protein powder

Toast (low calorie bread, whole grain bread, English muffin, flat rolls) with:

  • Yogurt and fruit
  • Avocado
  • Avocado and hard boiled egg
  • Peanut butter and banana
  • Peanut butter and jelly
  • Almond butter, granola and fruit
  • Fried egg
  • Laughing cow cheese and fruit
  • Cottage cheese, edamame and tomato
  • Laughing cow cheese and cucumber
  • Melted cheese and salsa
  • Melted cheese
  • Pureed beans and melted cheese
  • Mozzarella cheese and tomatoes and basil
  • Hummus
  • Tomato, hard boiled egg and cheese
  • Bacon and scrambled egg

Or serve non-breakfast food. Serve their favorite lunch or leftovers from dinner.

Chanukah Fun with Food Pt 2

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In honor of the first night of Chanukah tonight, here are some more ideas for fun with food that kids will love (adult love ’em too). Be sure to check out Part 1, if you missed it!

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A menorah made from bananas, pomegranate seeds and clementines. My kids were so excited they couldn’t decide what to eat first.

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Dreidels made out of pretzel sticks, marshmallows and Hershey’s kisses. Glued together with frosting, and Hebrew letters written in frosting as well.

Fig newtons cut to the shape of a dreidel with a pretzel stick and frosting for the letters.

Check out more on my Jewish Food Pinterest board.

Use those nifty buttons below to share on social media-I bet you have some Jewish friends who would love this.

Avoid Raw Milk

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Raw milk, milk that hasn’t gone through the bacteria killing process of pasteurization, has gained popularity recently. People believe that it is healthier. But as a dietitian, I have always been scared of raw milk. Yes, scared. The bacteria it contains can cause an array of problems. Problems such as diarrhea, serious infection leading to hospitalization, miscarriages and even death. Just as with any bacteria or food-bourne pathogen, people with compromised immune systems are at greater risk. This includes children, older folks, and people with weak immune systems (as in those of us with auto-immune and/or gut problems).

Every day I get nutrition related news from around the world. Today I saw two articles about children that have died due to drinking raw milk.

From the CDC:

“A study published today in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal shows that the average annual number of outbreaks due to drinking raw (unpasteurized) milk more than quadrupled since the last similar study – from an average of three outbreaks per year during 1993-2006 to 13 per year during 2007-2012. Overall, there were 81 outbreaks in 26 states from 2007 to 2012. The outbreaks, which accounted for about 5 percent of all foodborne outbreaks with a known food source, sickened nearly 1,000 people and sent 73 to the hospital. More than 80 percent of the outbreaks occurred in states where selling raw milk was legal.”

For a more comprehensive review of the pros and cons of raw milk, check out the CDC’s page.

Christmas Fun with Food

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Another in the fun with food series in honor of the next upcoming holiday! Make these for your kids and watch the fruit and vegetables disappear.

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Broccoli, tomatoes and carrots. Serve with Ranch dressing as dip!

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Bananas, clementines, grapes, pomegranate, and pineapple for the star!

Check out more ideas on my Christmas pinterest board.

Subscribe to my blog (by putting your email in the box and clicking on subscribe) to get regular posts.

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Want your kids to eat veggies? Transform the veggies into FUN! Chanukah is next week, and here’s what I have made for my kids for the past two years. They eat is up like it candy.

Above: Asparagus for the candles, halved orange (or yellow or red) grape tomatoes for the flames, and a carrot base.

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Celery and peanut butter with a wheat pretzel base.

Tons of other ideas, not so healthy ones too, on my Jewish Food and Fun Pinterest Board

Sharing is caring-please use these handy buttons to share on your social media sites. Thanks!

Does Constipation Cause Accidents?

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This one is for all you parents out there.

It’s No Accident: Breakthrough Solutions To Your Child’s Wetting, Constipation, Utis, And Other Potty Problems
Steve J. Hodges

Dr. Hodges says that constipation is to blame for most accidents, whether they be nighttime or daytime, pee or poo.  He says that kids can be pooping regularly and still holding large amounts of old poop in their rectum. This causes pressure on the bladder, and loss of muscle sensitivity and control of the rectum. It’s worth considering if your child is struggling with this problem. He lays out treatment plans and schedules, and includes two bonus chapters. One on nutrition written by a dietitian and one on behavior written by a psychologist.

And even if you are sure your child isn’t constipated, there is still great info on peeing accidents and holding. Holding leads to bladder muscles becoming so strong that they spasm and overpower the ability to hold in pee. He lays out treatments for this.

Buy it on amazon

Family Meals

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It has been known for a while: the family meal provides numerous benefits to the children. Several studies over the years have been done on this.

Children who eat one meal a day with their family as a whole:

  • eat more fruits and veggies
  • are less likely to do drugs
  • are less likely to bully and be bullied
  • are less likely to be overweight and obese

A study came out recently on the last bullet. Here is a quote from the abstract:

“Family meals may be protective against obesity or overweight because coming together for meals may provide opportunities for emotional connections among family members, the food is more likely to be healthful, and adolescents may be exposed to parental modeling of healthful eating behaviors”

In our busy lives, it is easy to forgo a sit down meal with the whole family. Since family meals have so many significant benefits, it is important to make the effort and build your day around one family meal.

Snack Ideas

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Children need to eat regularly. Ideally on a schedule (no grazing) and with the proper surroundings (at a table and NO TV).

Snacking is an important part of a child’s overall nutrition. And because snacking contributes to the nutrient needs of your child’s day, a snack needs to be healthful.

Look at a snack as a mini meal. Would you give your child a pile of chips and a juice box for dinner? (Let’s put it this way-if you did, your child wouldn’t get the protein, vitamins, minerals and other things he needs.) So a snack should be no different.

Here are some ideas:

  • Cheese
    • With crackers
    • Stick pretzels through slices or cubes
    • Make cheese and fruit kabobs
  • Peanut butter
    • And apples
    • And celery
    • And banana
    • Add raisins and/or shredded coconut to any of the above
  • Homemade bread or muffins
    • Zucchini
    • Pumpkin
    • Carrot
    • Banana
  • Hummus
    • Crackers
    • Carrot sticks
  • Fruit
    • Make it fun: eat a banana like a monkey, clementines into pumpkins
    • Kabobs
    • Rainbow of fruit
    • Served in an ice cream cone
  • Ants on a log variations
    • Original: celery with pb and raisins
    • Celery with ricotta cheese and tomatoes
    • Celery with hummus and olives
    • Celery with cream cheese and fruit
  • Smoothies
  • Yogurt
  • Popcorn
  • Nuts
  • Avocado
    • And tomato salad
    • Smeared on cracker or bread
  • Deli meat
    • Ham and cheese rolled up and cut like sushi
    • Turkey, ham, cheese kabobs on a pretzel
  • Corn chips and
    • Salsa
    • Bean dip
    • Guacamole

Save things like:

  • dry cereal
  • granola bars
  • pretzels
  • whole portable fruit

for when you are on the run.

For more ideas go to the kids board on my pinterest page or just go to pinterest and search around!

 

photo: freedigitalphotos.net