Fix a healthy snack for your children

January 3, 2011 | Charles Chi

I don’t know why, but let’s say for some reason you went for that bag of potato chips instead of the carrots and hummus as your snack. All is not lost if you can find the time to burn off some of those extra calories with some additional activity. Just by spending a half an hour on the basketball or tennis court you could burn approximately 275 calories. You see, snacking in itself isn’t bad for us, as long as we’re mindful about what snacks we choose and how much of them eat.

As a rule of thumb, try to eat snacks that are low in fat, sugar and sodium. If you’ve been in the dark about how big a snack should be then you should know that about 100 calories is the norm. Doesn’t sound like much does it? Don’t worry, when you’re snacking on healthy food, 100 calories is more food than you think. For example, two Oreo cookies are about 100 calories. Twenty Lay’s potato chips (a serving size) add up to 150 calories. But healthy snacks that fit into the 100-calorie snack size include 1 cup of blueberries, a medium-sized banana, or a cup of carrots with 2 tablespoons of hummus for dipping.

Take the time to teach your kids to combine food groups in their snacks; this will add to a snack’s health factor. Protein and carbohydrates are a good pairing, think cheese and crackers, yogurt and fruit, because these types of combinations are filling enough to hold you over until your next meal.

Bullying – What can you do?

January 3, 2011 | Charles Chi

Recently I saw another story on the local news about a teenager committing suicide because of bullying.
Unbelievable!  Isn’t the school supposed to be watching what’s going on with these kids?

And just last week there was another story about a Dad who had enough of kids bullying his crippled daughter. He actually got on the bus and threatened the bullies.  Kids bullying a cripple, can you believe that?
I mean, how low can you sink when you feel the need to pick on someone that’s sitting in a wheel chair?
As a parent I’m not sure what to think of that.  Didn’t the other kids see what was going on and say something? The sad fact is that nowadays kids are too afraid of what the others kids will think of them to even get involved. After all they don’t to become the next victim.

My first reaction to hearing about the Dad who confronted the bullies on the bus was that of support. Then as I thought about it more I said to myself he should have went to the principal of the school and the bus company first before taking matters into his own hands.  The problem was that he did. He contacted the principal not once, but several times in an effort to get help for his daughter. Nothing was done and the problem continued.

It would be easy for us to just blame the school officials but I’m sure that would not solve the problem. The truth of the matter is that we need to educate our kids about bullying. Yes, even the bullies need to be taught more about the damage that they are doing to others and how really wrong it is.  Most times the damage goes much deeper than what we see on the news. Children are actually afraid to go to school because of what happens to them while they are there. Instead of a fun learning experience many of our children are subject to verbal abuse and intimidation to the point that it starts to affect their grades and emotional stability.

The atmosphere in our schools needs to be changed. When a child is exposed to bullying in school their ability to learn and trust in their teachers’ is dramatically reduced. Solid evidence from national research has shown that students will learn more, and be physically and emotionally healthier, when nurtured in positive a social environment.

Now when I refer to “The School atmosphere” I’m talking about the unique social character of school as perceived by students. After all if the students do not feel they are in a safe environment they can’t concentrate on their studies and achieve their potential.

So what can we do? As parents we need to make sure the lines of communication are open and that our children feel that they can talk to us about anything. Teach your kids that if anyone is bothering them at school that they can and should immediately let you know.

Secondly, as a parent you need to learn everything that you can about bullying. The better Kids Institute is here to provide you with valuable insight that you can use to help protect your kids. Learn to recognize the telltale signs of bullying and talk to them about it.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to ask for help. You say that to your kids and sometimes as parents we need help too.

A healthy breakfast to start the day

January 3, 2011 | Charles Chi

As concerned parents it’s important that we look for breakfast cereals that are low in sugar but still contain at least 5 grams of fiber in one serving.

Eating a healthy breakfast is particularly important if your child is overweight or has trouble keeping their weight under control. No matter how rushed you and your children may be each morning, or even if your kids aren’t usually hungry in the morning, then you need to make breakfast a grab-and-go event. Offer foods that travel easily such as yogurt and trail mix or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole grain bread.

Kids and teens who skip breakfast are not only at risk for developing a weight problem, skipping this meal also leaves kids and teens tired and irritable during the day… and hungry. Studies have shown that children who don’t eat breakfast perform poorly under stressful conditions in school like taking tests, learning new concepts and peer pressure. And the hungrier they are, the more likely your kids are to reach for high calorie foods that aren’t very good for them.

An overweight child? Whose fault is it?

January 3, 2011 | Charles Chi

I was reading an article in the paper the other day about childhood obesity. With all the challenges that our children are facing now a days I would have thought this was no big deal… boy was I wrong. The statistics were shocking. I never realized all the medical problems caused by being overweight, let alone the fact that overweight children are 3 times more likely to be bullied in school.

But the one thing that hit home with me the most was that they blamed the parents. They have some nerve, right? After all, we work hard to give our kids all the things that we never had. I don’t ever want them to be hungry or need anything that I can’t give them. I just want them to be happy.

But something kept resonating in the back of my mind about being an enabler. Could I actually be contributing to my child’s weight problem? I couldn’t help but think back to my childhood and remembering my Mom telling me to clean my plate before I was allowed to get up from the dinner table. Sometimes even giving me the lecture about people starving in other countries and that they would thankful to have what I had on my plate. I must admit, even to this day, I still feel a little guilty when I don’t finish everything that on my plate.

The article went on to list dozens of products that contribute to child obesity. Wanting to confirm my innocence in this matter I quickly went to the pantry and refrigerator to see if any of the “Bad Food”s listed was on our shelves. Well, to my shame I found product after product with empty calories and ingredients that I could not pronounce. It was true, in an effort to make our children happy we were allowing them to consume snacks that had absolutely no nutritional value. Undaunted I was still determined to prove my innocence by justifying my children’s eating habits with their activity levels. So when they got home from school I kept a watchful eye on everything they did.

Well, I’ll bet you can guess how that turned out. Apparently I have been a bit out of touch with what my children actually do when they get home from school. The kids spent almost all of their time watching TV,  develop bad habits that would destroy their health. After discussing this whole revelation with my wife we immediately cleared the shelves of all the bad snacks and replaced them with healthy ones. Then we gave our kids the choice of which after school activities they would like to participate in. To our surprise the kids now love the healthy snacks and they can’t wait to get to their after school activities.

The moral to this story is that we as parents are indeed responsible for teaching our children good eating habits and seeing that they stay involved in positive activities to promote good health. Our kids don’t need another friend that just agrees with everything that they want to do; they need a parent’s watchful eye to help them make good decisions and choices about the things they eat and the activities that they participate in.

Do you recognize an obesity problem in your child?

January 3, 2011 | Charles Chi

If you’re like many people you might tend to turn a blind eye to your child’s increasingly expanding waistline. You also may be in denial about their need to lose weight.

As a concerned parent, some of the latest research indicates that many parent’s have potentially dangerous misconceptions about their child’s bodies and overall health.
One study actually said that out of 2,000 parents surveyed, all of whom had children that met the BMI (Body Mass Index) criteria for obesity; 14 percent of African-Americans,11 percent of Hispanics, and 2 percent of whites, saw no need to lose weight.

Wow! Talk about living in denial. In addition, a surprising two-thirds of these respondents said they were at low risk of becoming obese. These parents were also more likely to report that their children were more active and felt healthier than they actually were. They even considered their children at low risk for such obesity-related medical problems as high blood pressure, heart attack and type 2 diabetes than those who recognized their child’s obesity challenge.

Now I don’t know about you but that’s not a mistake I want to make with my kids. Let’s face it, a healthy body image is important to kids in order to maintain self-esteem and confidence, two traits you no doubt want to see in your children, too. But there’s a fine line between helping children to feel comfortable in one’s skin and putting oneself at risk by neglecting good health habits and denying the need to lose weight.

Educating your children about the negative health effects of childhood obesity is crucial to getting your children to lose weight and make healthier lifestyle choices. Even more important is the fact that we as parents have to be conscious about the process.

As parents we need to continue to promote awareness by using all the resources and information at our disposal. Make sure your children understand the concept and consequences of being overweight and assist them in adjusting their diet and exercise habits.

And of course, empower them to take their health into their own hands by encouraging a good diet and exercise regime as the primary tools for weight loss and weight management. These measures might be just what are needed to open their eyes to a healthier lifestyle.