Healthy Power Snacks for Healthy Kids

When your child comes home from school, does he make a beeline for the cookie jar? Kids need food between meals to nourish their growing bodies. But processed foods laden with sugar are not the best choice for them. They need a snack that offers vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.

Keeping healthy snack options on hand will help your child get the nutrition he needs while satisfying his hunger. Here are some ideas:

* Raisins – Individual serving size boxes of raisins are great for snacking. They have that sweet taste that kids crave, and they provide nutrients such as iron, vitamin A, vitamin C and the B vitamins.

* Apples – Most kids love to eat apples. If possible, serve them with the peel on for the most vitamins and minerals. But if your child refuses to eat the peel, apples are still healthy without it. Top with peanut butter, cheese or yogurt for even more great taste and nutritional value.

* Yogurt with berries and granola – If your child likes yogurt, he’ll probably like it even more with some berries and granola added. This snack provides healthy doses of protein and fiber, plenty of vitamins and very little fat.

* Trail mix – Nuts are great for an energy boost, and they provide much-needed protein for kids. Dried fruit provides vitamins and sweetness.

* Ants on a log – If your child is stubborn about eating healthy food, try this fun snack with visual appeal. Cut up some celery sticks, fill them with peanut butter, and top with raisins.

* Fruit and cheese kebabs – Here’s another idea that’s nice to look at and fun to eat. Spear pineapple chunks, grapes and cubes of cheese onto a toothpick or popsicle stick.

* Baby carrots – When it comes to vegetables, carrots are one of the most popular among the younger set. Keep some baby carrots on hand, and chances are they’ll be gone before you know it.

* Chewy fruit snacks – Kids who insist on eating nothing but junk food are often happy to eat pre-packaged fruit snacks. Little do they know that they’re actually good for them! Choose a brand with no added sugar and plenty of vitamin C.

* Mini bagel pizzas – If your child is really hungry, a more filling snack might be in order. You can make bite-sized pizzas by topping mini bagels with a dollop of pizza sauce and a pinch of mozzarella cheese. Add some finely chopped sweet peppers for extra nutrition, and heat in the microwave or toaster oven until the cheese is melted.

Kids often crave sweets or greasy chips at snack time, but there are healthier options that taste great too. Fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and yogurt are good for our kids, and if they will give them a chance, they’ll find that they taste great too. So on your next trip to the grocery store, leave the cookies on the shelf and stock up on these healthy alternatives.

Kristy Lee Wilson

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Tips to Get Your Kids Eating Healthy

Fast food is a big part of modern life these days, making it very hard to teach a child how he or she should eat healthy. The cheapest and easiest foods are those that are normally the least healthy. If you give your child the choice between healthy food and junk food, you normally won’t like the results.

Even though it isn’t possible to get a child to like all healthy foods, there are some ways to get your child to try and hopefully like at least a few of them. You can be as creative as you like, as getting kids to eat healthy foods can be a little harder than you may think.

1. Sneak the healthy food in.

Even though it would be great if your kid understood the importance of fruits and vegetables, this isn’t always possible. If you can’t get them to eat good food willingly, there are ways to sneak them in, such as making muffins out of bananas or apples, or pizza with spinach on it.

2. Call fruits and vegetables by funny names.

You can refer to broccoli as “trees”, making them more fun to eat. There are many different names you can call fruits and vegetables, even making up your own if you prefer. Most kids prefer to eat foods that sound fun.

3. Make the foods taste better.

Ranch dressing is great for broccoli, while peanut butter is a great topping for celery. There are several combinations for vegetables that can make them taste much better. You can let your child pick a topping for a vegetable, even if it’s something you wouldn’t normally like yourself.

4. Dress the vegetables up.

Just as much as calling them names help kids eat healthy foods, making them look funny also helps. You can do this by making funny designs on the plate, or setting them up to look like people. Although some parents don’t like their kids playing with their food, sometimes it helps to get them to eat healthier.

There are several ways to make your kids eat healthier, but to make them enjoy it also has to be fun as well. This isn’t always an easy task, because kids normally don’t like foods that are good for them. It can however, be done with a bit of creativity. Hopefully, doing this will help your child develop a love of healthy foods for the rest of their lives.

As always, please feel free to contact me at wilsonk92@mac.com

Kristy Lee Wilson

Exercise Is Good For The Young

Individuals under 20 are naturally more flexible, have higher metabolic rates and more energy than those older. But they, too, need to exercise (in appropriate ways) to avoid injury and build strength and endurance, avoid obesity and stay fit.

Particularly today, when there are so many electronic alternatives, young people may exercise less than they should. It’s during the formative years that individuals lay the groundwork for what later become healthy or poor habits. My Nutrition Store concurs that exercise along with proper nutrition is essential for the young to develop healthy habits that they will carry with them into their adult life. My Nutrition Store is proud to be offering My Kids Nutrition which will help families ensure that their Kids get the nutrition they need and will assist them in developing healthy habits.

Kids will usually become quickly bored with routines designed for adults. But the activity doesn’t have to involve organized group sports, either. A gentle jog with an adult, a tennis game, swimming, golf, martial arts, bicycling, dancing, gymnastics and many other sports are enjoyable for the younger crowd.

Kids are usually sensitive to anything that appears inconsistent or hypocritical from adults. Be prepared to follow your own advice and exercise with them. That also helps parents share quality time with their kids outside the house and during activities that benefit both. Parents get the added benefit of monitoring to ensure that the kids are exercising in a safe and proper way.

Like any routine, if it produces pain – even the day after – the individual is less likely to continue. Keep it simple and build up the difficulty and length gradually. Kids are more flexible, but they too need to warm-up and gently stretch before engaging in vigorous exercise. A few minutes of static and dynamic stretching will help avoid injury.

Exercise routines should take into account the age group of the individual child.

Children from about 4-7 should focus primarily on developing basic physical skills, such as coordination and balance. These are the years when motor skills, eye-hand coordination and other things adults take for granted are still fluid. Children take to these activities naturally, as well. Jumping rope, hopscotch and other simple activities help guide the development of these skills.

From the age of 8 or so, exercises can become more vigorous in order to keep that active metabolism from turning food into fat. Here again, though, adults need to guide kids in order to build good habits and avoid injury. Weight machines are almost always a bad idea for pre-teens, for example. They’re risky and unnecessary.

Gymnastics, by contrast, helps build on those basic motor skills learned earlier while developing strength, balance and keeping the endocrine system active and healthy.

For teens, the field is wide open. They have the basic bone and muscle structure that gives them the potential for high performance activity in a wide variety of activities. But here, too, the possibility of injury remains for those who don’t get the proper guidance.

Teens are inclined to roughhousing and rebelliousness. Give them an outlet that directs all that energy and independence to the achievement of positive goals – fitness, endurance, high scores.

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