"I like veggies, corn is my favorite!"

So I spent a week at Science camp with my sixth grader and her classmates, it was awesome to learn, worship and play with those kids! Not so awesome at mealtime! I will never understand dehydrated eggs (gag) or Tang (puke) or a whole meal pulled out a deep fryer, so the salad bar became my best friend! Too bad the didn't serve salad for breakfast! Anyway, in discussing the food with the kids I find they don't really know the definition of a vegetable, or a fruit for that matter. Britannica Encyclopedia says that a vegetable is the fresh, edible portion of a herbaceous plant (roots, stems, flower, or fruit). So nothing off a tree, right? A root would be a potato or turnip, stem would be like asparagus, flower would be lettuces and artichoke, and fruit would be the squash family. The definition of fruit is kinda gross sounding, the ripened ovaries of a plant enclosing the seeds. Thus corn is a fruit, not a veggie! Surprising fruits, bean pods, acorn and almonds! Tomatoes are fruit! Seeds on the inside people! All this means is that you need to make sure the sweet fruits are not taking over the place on your plate reserved for veggies! 5 servings of fruit a day and 5 servings of veggies would be awesome! One way to help younger children with getting a variety is to take a blank peice of paper and draw the outline of a rainbow on it, remember ROY G BIV! Have them color in a square of each color everytime they eat one of the coordinating colored friuts or veggies (better yet, make one for veggies and one for fruit) and then they know they have had enough banana's this week and maybe red grapes would be a better choice for an after school snack. Or if tuesday is a day when the oranges were just right and they had two big jiucy ones, thursday would be a great day for pears! Watching that variety gets in there is important! We started buying 6 of 4 or 5 different friuts so that we would each get one a day instead of all apples or bananas (we still eat more of those than anything else! Also, go with the flow of the seasons, notice how God orchestrated it all and planned watermelon to be ripe in the summer when you need the extra water and oranges in the winter when you need the vit C. Spinach is also a great source of Vit D (great in the winter when there is less sun) and squash has so many different colors right now, you can do soooo many things! My kids beg for roasted butternut squash! Go colorfull with your plate and mix sweet, red and yellow potoatoes! So Fun! Don't think you are lying to them if you sneak it in. Children are born with more taste buds so some of the stronger more unique flavors may be plain less palatable, don't get mad, get sneaky. Pureed eggplant tastes great with out eating a sponge, my favorite way!Mix it in your tomato sauces and it makes it more "meaty" Deceptively delicious was an eye opener for me! I loved that she mixed spinach in her blueberries for oatmeal bars and you never knew! It's by Jessica Seinfeld and it's got great ideas! I felt like an idiot when I saw her put sloppy Joes in hot dog buns, so smart! And the recipe for sloppy joes is a family fav! Anyway, have fun with fruits and veggies and take some time to tell your kids the difference and learn an appreciation for all the colors of the rainbow!

Challenge 1

Baby steps and we'll get there! Make it your goal to put only one packaged item in your kid"s lunch each day this first week. I always say, if you have to open a package, there is probably a better choice. So what does that leave you with? A sandwich, piece of fruit, packaged item (granola bar :), storebought cookies :( Chips :( pretzles :) ) One option that may make you look like the world's coolest mom is on Saturday or Sunday you could make up a bunch of "healthified" oatmeal cookies. I just use half the butter the recipe calls for and no white sugar. What it asks for in white sugar, use applesauce and as a way to give it an extra ump to get your kids though the day, throw 1 scoop of protein powder in there and they'll never know! The more "candy" (raisins, craisens, dried anything really) you put in the cookie the more they'll love it! Just so you know, they will cook up smaller, so throw two or three in their lunch feeling good that you have given them fuel for their hard day! And even if they aren't loading up on sugar, for some reason it is important to kids that their friends see their mom packs them cookies. It's weird, but whatever! There are a lot of great ideas out there, but I want this to be a successful mission and one with great rewards along the way! You will see your kids have more energy, trimmer waistlines and all around feel better when they eat whole, real food that energize and strengthen their bodies. So take the first challenge and eliminate all but one packaged item from their lunch!

Getting Started

We're all examining the list of what they need, sharpened pencils (cause how frustrating to start the year with unsharpened pencils!), erasers (lets be honest, we all make mistakes), colored pencil, crayons (there is fun to be had as well!) and paper, lots of paper. If you have a daughter like mine, who is going into sixth grade (double gulp!) and needed a real backpack, not a tinkerbell backpack with her name embroidered on it like in second grade, but a real Jansport, lifetime guaranteed $50 backpack (which I only paid $40, cause that's how I roll!) then you have a lot to prepare for. I wouldn't trade her places for a million dollars. Junior high is looming and it's all downhill. Even if you are sweet and darling and precious (as they all are, created in His image) there are some girls out there that may not be feeling as loved as they are and take it out on everyone else. I was the target as a child and my heart breaks that so is my daughter. I spent years trying to help her see it differently. Maybe they didn't mean it that way, or maybe they were having a bad day, in the end, they were kind of nasty and why would you want to be their friend anyway? Back to my point, Junior High Stinks, bad, like the baby's diaper. Add to that the prevalence of obesity in out children and you have my new mission in life. Childhood obesity and what to do about it. I challenge any mom to get on board with me and take back the lunchbox, Dora or peace signs, transformers or camo. These are our children that we love and cherish and we need to educate ourselves on how to fuel their best possible day! This blog will certainly not be sponsored by Doritos or Capri Sun, but in the end, I Hope that we can all bring a better future and a better health to our children! I plan to post a healthy option to your child's lunchbox that will help them maintain their health and energy at the "job" (School)