As more kids in this country become clinically obese, I find it increasingly more relevant to discuss obesity on my blog.  Recently I was sent the book, “Overweight- What Kids Say” to look through. The entire book contains discussions from this online chat site for overweight kids.  Reading through their stories is literally heartbreaking! The pain that these kids are going through makes me so sad! Some of them feel so hopeless.  

The reasons for childhood obesity are clearly multi-factorial. In fact the book outlines several reasons.  However, it makes me so sad to read stories where the parents are being hurtful like these:

(Amanda Age 15) I live with my mom, brother and grandparents…and my grandparents love junk food, not to mention theyre the ones going shopping.. so basically i have to choose to pic the sad carrot over the box of donuts or bag of chips… plus the soda.. i love soda, and i drink so much .. but thats all my parents buy… and they wont give up their junk food habits for me..so basically i wonder if i should just give up and eat myself into the grave..its like putting a drug addict in a drug house and telling them to stop the drug abuse.

(Rach Age 14) both of my parents are overweight (almost obese) and we have chips and stuff in the house that my dad likes to eat…all of.. my mom usually cooks fattier foods that i dont need.. i do have to get food somewhere. ya know? they’re not very active.. my question is this.. why can’t they start living healthier..for me?

It’s helpful when looking for solutions to get into the minds of these kids, through their own writings and discussions.  I highly recommend browsing the site (or checking out the book) if you have a child that suffers with obesity, or are in a position to help those kids who are.  There is also a blog from the Dr. Pretlow (based on the book) to check out.

For more help, one of the sponsors of Super Healthy Kids is 45pounds.com who specializes in helping kids lose weight.

Whew, that’s heavy stuff! Now onto lighter issues.

* This weeks recipes came from “The Paleo Diet” by Loren Cordain.  Any meals you find appealing, email me for the recipe!!  Seriously folks I have over 50 ‘healthy living’ cookbooks! It’s a small obsession.  I could make menu plans from today till the day my grandchildren are grown.  

Our snack on Wednesday is Yumnuts!  We all know nuts are good for us, but sometimes, we really want them to taste good too, right?  Yumnuts achieved this without the oil and artificial ingredients that some nut companies add.  They have flavors like: Coconut, sea salt, chocolate, and honey.

We were actually so glad to have these nuts on our long day’s out with Anna and Fumiko.  When the only food at the outdoor mall was fast food, these tied us over till we got home.  But the Yumnut people also recommended using them in other ways:
·     Coconut Yumnuts as a salad topper
·     Chocolate Yumnuts served with fresh strawberries and raspberries as a dessert
·     Cajun Yumnuts to top your favorite stir fry
·     Chocolate and Honey Yumnuts as part of a healthy snack mix
·     Coconut Yumnuts to crust tilapia
·     Rice crispy treats with chocolate Yumnuts
·     Honey Yumnuts over Yogurt
·     Banana bread with Chocolate Yumnuts
·     Coconut Yumnuts over chocolate ice cream

*The company provided us with samples, but really- they were great!

I am so fascinated by the dietary habits of the children in Japan. This is what we’ve learned from our exchange students staying with us:

• Japanese children do not eat sweet things for breakfast (like sweet cereals)  Typical breakfast is rice and miso soup, or a rice ball with tuna in the middle.
• Japanese mothers get very angry at the children if they are caught snacking on sweet things such as cookies or candy.
• Japanese children have to clean their plates!  No food left on their plate or their mothers will be mad.
• Japanese families have dessert almost every night.  When I asked what the dessert was… they responded with, “Fruit.”
• Many food products in America are too sweet for our Japanese friends.
• Bottom line.. they eat much less sugar than American children!

This is some of the food that our friends brought for our family to try:

We haven’t tried the shrimp chips yet.

Anyway- I’ll share a few Japanese meals we’ve had this past week with you later this week.. In the meantime, here is the Meal plan for the week:  (Another Dr. Fuhrman plan) from his Eat for Health Book. (email me for recipes if you like one)

The girls are calling me down for some fried rice, so gotta go… recipe and pictures to come! 

I’m a little anxious about our meals next week. We are having two girls staying with us all week from Japan.  I don’t know what they’ll want to eat, and what they won’t want to eat.  I do remember last time we had an exchange student, she thought it was really strange that American’s would eat brown rice.  They love their white rice!

This is Anna, the first year (2007) she stayed with us.  My kids LOVE HER! This time, she is bringing a friend.

I just hope she brings us some more bento boxes!!

Here is next week’s possible meal plan.  don’t forget to add fruits and vegetables to every meal!

For posts I’ve written, last time we had an exchange student:

• Okonomiyaki
• A lesson in Bento
• Portion contortion

Lastly- Visit 45pounds.com to see their latest newsletter. It has lot’s of articles, including “How Bad is Fast Food” and “What Motivates Kids to exercise”.

Do you need a gift for Grandma, mother-in-law, or yourself?  Enter this week’s giveaway for a $50 gift card to Dakota Gifts!!

Wow am I behind. I apologize to those expecting a new meal plan on the weekend.  We got back late Saturday from our Trek, and Sunday I was just too lazy to get out a cookbook!  So, here you are: This week’s meals:

	Breakfast	Lunch	Snacks	Dinner
Monday	“Fruity-Fruity – Protein Smoothie. Too cute, you have to see this little guy’s recipe.	Peanut butter and apple sandwich with baby carrots	Cashews and Dried Apricots (these are falling off the tree’s.  I can get them for free )	Turkey Patties iwth Corn and tomato relish
Tuesday	Green eggs and whole wheat toast.	Veggie sandwich with whole wheat mini bagels (sprouts, avocado and tomato)	Energy Bars	Beef- Noodle and vegetable dinner
Wednesday	Kid Friendly Quiche	Chuck Wagon Salad	Fruit leather (with all our apricots)	Beef and Bean tossed salad
Thursday	Ellie’s Apple Pecan Muffins	Zucchini Quesadilla’s (recipe coming this week)	Grapes and baby carrots	Chuck wagon vegetarian chili
Friday	Blender Wheat Pancakes	Rice and Beans	Sliced cucumbers dipped in Ranch	Sweet and Sour Pasta Salad

*As always, many of these dishes are from cookbooks I own, so If you would like a recipe emailed to you, just ask and I’ll send you an email!!

* For printable meal plan archives

Picture of My husband and I at the beginning of our 22 mile handcart pulling Trek.

I wasn’t much into getting a photo taken at the end of the Trek

Grape Juice, we love it.  Know what Erica Loves? The grape juice cartons!  As soon as Erica saw the Welch’s cartons we got in the mail she said, “Finally! Now I can make a bird feeder!”

Welch’s has a new line of juice called Healthy Start.

The moms and dads at Welch¹s have created Welch¹s Healthy Start fruit  juice ­ a 100% juice that has calcium, vitamin C and natural antioxidants straight from the grapes.* What it does not have are added sweeteners or high-fructose corn syrup. So it¹s good for you and a great way to start the day. Not to mention it also tastes great.

We had three cartons, that took my kids a day and a half to polish off. We didn’t even get a chance to use it in smoothies, or to make popsicles, Just drank it pure.   We tried Concord Grape, White Grape Orange Mango, and Blueberry Pomegranate Concord Grape.

Anyway, want to try it? Go here for a $1.50 off coupon.

(Sucking every last drop out)

And, on to our meal plan for next week:

For past meal plans, go to the meal planning archives.

Monday- Another giveaway!!

It’s so good to be home!  We had a fun week at Lake Tahoe with my family, but it’s always so nice to be home.  Lake Tahoe is gorgeous! We swam, we hiked, we played games, and of course we ate!  And now, I have laundry, a car to clean, groceries to buy, mail to read, and phone calls to return.  ARGHHH!!

I want to abandon my meal plan template in favor of a Gluten free diet this week. Many people have been asking for this, and it isn’t going to hurt us to avoid gluten now and then.  I do however have a slight inkling that Erica has an aversion to wheat.  My husband thinks I’m crazy, but she does have several symptoms that indicate a gluten intolerance.  Such as eczema, stomach pain, gas (bad gas!!), and bloating. So, this is trial week. We’ll see if at least her eczema clears up a little.

Have a great Saturday night, and I’ll be back Monday morning with a giveaway and some new yummy snacks for summer!

My quick tip of the day I heard on a radio podcast with JJ Virgin.   I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner… it’s genius. It’s easy, and it’s so delicious.

Broccoli slaw- you know the bag of sliced/ shredded broccoli you buy in the produce department of your grocery store.  Well, instead of making salad, or eating it raw, the lady on her show sautéed it in a skillet.  It turned out so good, and it was so fast to make.

So here is next weeks free healthy meals ideas.  Take what you like, leave what you don’t.  I am still using the template from the meal planning page. (and printable meal plans here)

Have a great weekend!  I’ll be back Monday with a DESSERT!! MMMM,  I really need to post more dessert!

Hooray for the 4th of July!!  We love this holiday, and I love this country! I am so grateful for the men and women who serve in the military!  So, THANK YOU to those who sacrifice to provide us with our freedoms.

My 11 year old, Nathan has been obsessed this summer with making flip notes.  So I asked him to make one for my blog about healthy eating.  Here is what he came up with:

And lastly, next week’s Healthy Meal Plan.  Many of these meals came from Eating For Life (a Body for Life book)

For free printable meal plans

Giveaway on Tuesday!!! It’s one of my favorite cookbooks EVER!

If I could go back three years to the reason I first created the plate, and then started the healthy kids blog, It was to convince parents that if they just changed one meal to include more fruits and vegetables, their kids would be healthier!  That’s all! 

However, roadblocks get in the way of parents intending to do this. Such as:

• They have Picky eaters!
• Parents don’t know what to serve the kids, or they are short on ideas.
• Families don’t have money to purchase fresh and healthy fruits and veggies
• Parents are often overwhelmed at the task, and it get’s lower on their priority list.

Here is where we can help each other out!

THE CHALLENGE:

• JUST CHANGE ONE MEAL!  Choose breakfast, lunch, or dinner to make HALF of that meal fruits and/or vegetables.
• Share with us your meal so we can all get ideas.
• Add your ideas to your own blog with a link here to it.  Or add your ideas to a group flickr page for Change One Meal Challenge!
• For the image code go here.

So, here is my idea for today:

Lunch or Dinner

• Balsamic Vinegar Strawberries (berries soaked and chilled with balsamic vinegar)
• Pork chops
• Pita bread
• Why we like it?  It’s simple and Fast!

I am going to have a permanent link to this post on my sidebar for you to add your ideas any time!  This is not a weekly meme, but an anytime contributing meme.  All we need is

• What meal it is (breakfast, lunch or dinner)
• and what is included
• If you have a blog post, you are welcome to link back to here, or use the image to link back to this post.

I know this will take a while to build up a real good list, so add to it anytime, with as many ideas as you have.

This is my first ‘link up’ project… so I’m not really sure how it will work.  But here, we go!

Personal note:  Look who I met last night: