Healthy Eating- a Family Affair

I watched Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (fridays 9pm on ABC) and was almost as upset as he was about the crap our schools are feeding our kids! I know, I've worked in the cafeteria at my kid's school and I have seen the choices: Chocolate milk, strawberry milk, chicken nuggets, pizza, mac and cheese, and the best one from my kid's school is "taco in a bag" which is a bag of Doritos with meat sprinkled inside the bag - UGH! This show takes place in Huntington, West Virginia which was dubbed the "unhealthiest city in America" with a largely obese population and people dying premature deaths because of bad eating habits and lack of exercise. His quest is to change what the cafeterias are feeding these kids in Huntington by educating the kids, teachers, parents, lunch ladies and convincing those in charge that cafeteria cooking can be like restaurant cooking with fresh, raw ingredients, including meats, chicken, fruits, vegetables prepared to order, not a bunch of boxes in a freezer that are simply reheated. It was amazing when he went into the class room and held up a bunch of vegetables and asked the kids what each one was - none of them knew one!

After watching Jamie teach an obese 6th grader, from a family that ate very unhealthy (their deep frier was the most used appliance in the house) to cook, it motivated me to teach my own kids. My kids are in the kitchen with me a lot, but this time I asked my 5th grader to put together a menu he wanted to make and I would help him prepare it. He chose to make a shrimp and spinach sauce served over rice pasta topped with Feta Cheese. I wasn't about to squash the cheese idea - so we went with it! All my kids loved it and my son was so proud of his efforts. My 4th grader is on tomorrow night - he wants to make turkey tacos with whole grain soft tortillas topped with salsa. Although I am not eating meat, it is hard for my kids to eat a total vegetarian diet (for now) so I'm buying the freshest of meats when possible and supporting their culinary quests. I always make a huge salad chock full of veggies or have broccoli, asparagus, sweet potatoes, carrots as a healthy side. We never open a box of anything and reheat it!

I was asked by a friend about lunches. I always pack my kids lunch, they will buy occasionally when it is something they really want like "thanksgiving meal" or "french toast day" as a special treat, but they rarely buy. Lunches are hard because I really don't like lunch meats and there is only so many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches you can make. If I am going to make peanut butter and jelly, the peanut butter I buy is "Tree of Life" Organic Crunchy Peanut Butter because no salt is added and the only ingredient is organic dry roasted unblanched Valencia peanuts - how great is that? As far as jelly, you have to watch out for added sugar, look for jams sweetened only with fruit juice or even pure cane sugar - stay away from any with high fructose corn syrup. Cranberries and cherries are so crazy healthy for you, I often take fresh or frozen cranberries or cherries, put them in a stock pot with pure maple sugar, cook it down - maybe add a little Arrow Root as a thickener and make my own jam!

As far as lunch meats go, they are filled with sodium (sometimes as high as 1,000 mg per serving) and preservatives such as sodium nitrate which are converted into chemicals called nitrosamines in the stomach. Nitrosamines have been shown to cause cancer in lab animals. Best bet would be to buy a fresh turkey, slice it yourself and put on your sandwich. We will go to Whole Foods and buy their low sodium, fresh off the bone turkey. What we do is put a few slices of turkey and pile our kids sandwich sky high with romaine lettuce - which my kids love. We put a little "Spectrum" eggless, vegan light canola may on whole grain bread and done! We don't give them lunch meat everyday. We'll make tuna salad on whole grain wraps like "Mission Multi Grain" wraps and of course pack with lettuce (unfortunately my kids will not eat tomatoes). As far as snacks in their lunch, we pack grapes/apples(fruit), pretzels, veggie chips, cucumbers/carrots/celery and a water bottle.

TAKE AWAY

As I saw with the family Jamie Oliver was trying to help eat healthier (he had them bury their deep fryer in the backyard) it takes a family to make healthy choices and positive changes. It is hard to do over night, but over time, day by day, start clearing out the junk and filling it in with fresh veggies, fruits and whole grains. It is time consuming I will admit, but stay far away from processed foods! If you want junk food, make it yourself!