Nutrition For Kids

Following the Food Guide Pyramid for Kids is an easy way to gauge how much food our children should be consuming.

Here are a few tips to help prevent our children from obesity:

• Make half your grains WHOLE! Choose whole wheat bread, oatmeal, brown rice, and low-fat popcorn, more OFTEN.
• Vary your VEGGIES! Go dark green and orange with your vegetables - eat spinach, broccoli, carrots, and sweet potatoes.
• Focus on FRUITS! Eat them at meals and snack time, too. Choose fresh, frozen, canned, or dried, and go easy on the fruit juice.
• Get your CALCIUM-RICH foods! To build strong bones, serve low-fat and fat-free milk and other milk products several times a day.
• Go LEAN with PROTEIN! Eat lean or low-fat meat, chicken, turkey, and fish. Also, change your tune with more dry beans and peas. Add chick peas, nuts, or seeds to a salad; pinto beans to a burrito; or kidney beans to a soup.
• Change your OIL! We all need oil. Get yours from fish, nuts, and liquid oils, such as corn, soybean, canola, and olive oil.
• Don't SUGARCOAT it! Choose foods and beverages that do not have sugar and caloric sweeteners as one of the first ingredients. Added sugars contribute calories, with few, if any, nutrients.

A simple way to include all five food groups into one is PIZZA!

http://www.letsmove.gov/

Get moving!

Get your children moving!



It is important to adopt excercise into their routine in order to decrease their risk of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

Here are some ways to keep your child moving!

• Go for a bike ride as a family!
• Jump rope (this can be done inside or outside, weather permitting)
• Go swimming...SUMMER is coming!!!
• Walking is a great opportunity to bond with your family and talk about what's going on at school.

Raising Healthier Kids

We can encourage our children to adopt healthy and nutritious eating habits by having yummy snacks when they come home from school; eating together as a family; and excercising with our children.


Teaching our children about healthy nutrition and excercise reduces their risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and being overweight.

Here are a few steps to take towards a healthy lifestyle for your family:

• Become a better "health" role model. If your children watches what you eat and drink, they will adopt similar habits.


• Talk "Healthy" with your children. Explain the importance of a healthy weight, excercise, and overall health.


• Limit screen time. Screen time includes t.v., computer, and video games (including hand-held). Limiting or avoiding screen time will encourage your children to play outside and get some excercise!