kiddie cone controversy

This past weekend I had an opportunity to take my kids to a local farm for some end of the summer fun. The trip ended with the kids asking for an ice cream cone so I agreed to it, but only a kiddie size. When the order came to the window I was shocked, I said to the man "oh there must be a mistake I ordered kiddie cones" and he said these are kiddie cones. There had to be at least 5 servings of ice cream in this one cone that I was about to hand each one of my kids, which I did it reluctantly, because this portion distortion that I just experienced had really struck a chord with me. Here, I was trying to enjoy a little end of summer fun and the ice cream we ordered made me angry (lol). This got me thinking and more and more thoughts just kept coming to me about where we need to make changes in this country. There is so much obesity in our country not only in adults, but now in children. I am very passionate about the health of not only own family and children, but I want to help others realize that we have options. We can choose to take a stance on this epidemic and do something about it. Our kids are precious. They deserve to be fed healthy foods every day of the week from what they get at home to what they eat in schools. We have to be aware of the choices that are in front of them and how these choices will shape who they become in the future.

We, as parents, have to stop making excuses as to why it is too hard for us to provide healthy foods for our kids, and why they won’t eat it. The list of excuses is long. Whether it is because we are busy, we work, we don't have time to cook healthy dinners for them, or my favorite is; it's too expensive to eat healthy.
I will be demonstrating ways to make food shopping affordable. Believe me, I always am looking for ways to cut the grocery bill for a family of five.
My first suggestion and what I learned through my own first-hand experience is: To pre-plan your week meals and shopping trips. Everyone already makes routine trips to the grocery store each week. Why not make it into a new adventure? A new perspective on how we are feeding our children. I challenge anyone with children to make the grocery store fun. How you may ask? By getting your kids involved in the shopping experience! Ask them to pick one new fruit to try this week or one new vegetable. If you find yourself saying “My child will never eat veggies,” I suggest you present the foods in new, FUN ways. If they don't like cooked veggies offer it up raw with some yogurt dip dressing. You can find this at any grocery store. Or play with dipping cut vegetables into hummus or even serving up plain. By making healthy food fun, like “Ant’s on a Log”, which is a celery stick filled with a serving of almond butter and topped with raisins kids love it! Kids (and adults alike) are visual. If the food looks boring and dull – they will not be as excited about tasting it. By involving your children in the process of making healthy food fun, they will look forward to spending time with you and fueling their bodies better.

I have lots of tips on these kinds of things, for now I just want to get it out there. If they ask for the fruity pebble cereal consider saying, “Well let’s see what the sugar content is in that cereal.” By showing your children the nutritional labels, and actively involving and educating them about the information on labels, you are making the process interactive so they absorb some of the information. Parents must recognize that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast is the meal that jump-starts our kids when heading off to school to learn in the classroom. We must identify ourselves which choices will provide our kids and ourselves with the energy and nutrition we need to thrive. Learning which breakfast foods have too much sugar and which ones will cause our kids will crash and burn within an hour or so of arriving to the classroom is a critical decision.
We need our kids to be educated on health. Be doing so they will have more energy and confidence in themselves. WE as parents MUST take action to educate them. It cannot be left up to the schools or the government alone, as a parent - this is OUR job!
I LOVE children. I love being a role model to them and making good choices on my own. I do this by teaching them and other parents what I have learned from the trial and errors of my own parenting experiences. Kids love to see their parents making good choices. They are so proud of their mom or dad's new exercise regimen or seeing a parent sign up for a road race or just cooking differently than usual. Kids look up to you when you do things like this.

I do not want to sound like a goodie-goodie parent here because I am far from that. I would be lying if I told you I do not like the occasional treat or I don't allow my kids to eat them once in a while because I do.
My goal is to get the message out there that just because they are kids does not give us as parents any type of license to just go and eat a bunch of processed junk food. We all are aware that our eating habits are stemmed from what we were served as children. It is evident many parents are feeding their children foods they want to eat themselves – playing the role of an enabler. Let's give our kids the BEST we can and BE the best parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents we can for them by being good role models. Let them see us being active and making healthy lifestyle choices, so that they, in turn, will do so and can pass those habits on to their kids and grand kids.

Let's get back to basics here everyone. I am on your side. I am here and I want hear what you have to say, both good and bad. What are some of the struggles you may face trying to make it happen? I am here for you. I want to hear from you. Let's work to get our kids on the health kick. We can do this. This does not have to be complicated, small changes each week to get your kids, family, and the country on the right track.

I want to leave you with a “food for thought” concept today. Something I have observed. I have visited Italy several times to see my grandmother in a small mountain town just North of Rome. I found myself in awe of this country, even at the ripe young age of 19 my first trip. I actually lost weight in my weeks spent there each time. You might be wondering why, well - there was never an opportunity to eat junk food or to even find it at a grocery store. The people of this area rely on whole foods, fruits & veggies and yes, even some white pasta. It is that portion of pasta that is different than what we as Americans may consider being a “portion”. The pasta they ate was served A) at lunch time only B) it was only about a cup or less and C) they are a very active country that walks everywhere. It is a country where I could not find too many overweight children if I tried. They were out in the fields or yards running and playing. They sat together to eat their meals, they even enjoy a taste of red wine with their meals. There is something to take from all of this. They are clearly are doing something right. They even take an evening stroll to the local gelateria and enjoy a small gelato (ice cream) but when they say small they mean small.

Our eateries in this country need to get real about the portions they are serving up to us and our kids. We need to get real about realizing where “value” lies in supersizing and family-portion dinners. Are we getting your monies worth, or just getting fat? This is contributing to the population packing on the pounds, and we as a nation need to get mad about this. It's not only portion size causing this issue but the choices that we are presented with at our local grocery stores. Should there be a tax on junk-food? Probably. Should there be something done about the sugar in sodas? Yup. Should there be more nutrition regulations in restaurants and fast-food shops? Yes. However, we cannot wait for the government to make changes here we have to make those changes right in our own home and the time is NOW! Take a stance just because what is strategically placed in isle 5, on shelf 3 at the market is enticing you or your kid with a treat does not mean we have to stand for it. Let’s show them, that we are not choosing their bag of Doritos but a healthier option.

I could write so much more on this subject. I hope we can start a discussion on this critical childhood obesity subject matter and work on educating our youth of today on its importance.

I promise you do not have to feel like this will be too much deprivation for you or the children just small baby steps towards making a change that will make a big difference. Take it one day at a time as I have learned at Cutting Edge Fitness.

To be continued..................

Brenda