My Thoughts on
Childhood Obesity
According to the CDC, one in every
three children in the US is overweight or obese. With over 20,000
McDonald’s and Burger King locations in the US alone, that CDC
statistic doesn’t surprise me much.
Now, I’m not blaming our obesity
epidemic on McDonald’s and Burger King, please don’t
misunderstand me. I believe our obesity epidemic has been born out of
convenience and people not knowing about proper nutrition.
Which is easier? Heading to the
grocery store, getting out of your car, fumbling through produce,
picking out some meat, some fresh baked bread from the bakery, paying
for your groceries, getting back in your car, driving home, then
spending the next 30 minutes or so preparing the food, or heading
through a drive through, ordering, driving home and immediately
eating (though we all know some french fries disappear on the drive
home)? Option 2 is definitely easier, but comes at a cost of probably
over 1,200 calories and over 25 fat grams for one meal, vs. a
potentially healthy homemade meal of 700 calories and 10 fat grams.
Adults should know this. Children do
not. Generally speaking, children eat what they are given, especially
the 6-11 age group, whose obesity statistics have more than doubled
in the last 30 years. Those kids then grow up with those eating
habits, and become part of the 12-19 age group whose obesity
statistics have tripled in the last 30 years- yes, tripled.
I believe the best way to end this
epidemic is to educate parents and children on nutrition, and put an
end to convenience eating. Get people into the kitchen and out of the
drive-through. Put emphasis on fresh fruits and vegetables and not on
the $1 menu.
I started having my children help me
in the kitchen when they were only 2 years old. My daughter loved
sitting next to me while I chopped fresh vegetables, and she always
wanted to try whatever Mommy was nibbling on in between cuts. The
result was a toddler who ate red peppers and loved them. Now, 10
years later, she doesn’t eat red peppers anymore, but prefers fresh
cucumber, carrots and broccoli to munch on, and I’m perfectly okay
with that.
The more parents can emphasize healthy
eating and nutrition as a way of life for themselves and their kids,
the more we will see the waist lines of America’s children shrink.
The more we focus on freshly made meals and making fast food a less
common occurrence instead of a weekly standard, the more we will see
this nation’s health improve.
America and Mexico are pretty much
tied as the most obese countries in the world- a statistic that I
think all of us would like to see erased from the books, and
something we definitely need to change.
Author Bio: Morgan Moss is the creator of The Inklings of Life humor parenting blog (www.theinklingsoflife.com), which was named a Top 10 Mom Blog of 2013 by the parenting website VoiceBoks (www.voiceboks.com). Many of her parenting and motherhood articles have been featured on sites such as the Huffington Post, Babble, WhatToExpect.com, Mamapedia, Parent Society and BlogHer.com. She is a trained tattoo artist, and spends her free time creating mixed media art. Author Links - The link for any or all of the following…
Blog | www.theinklingsoflife.com
Facebook | www.facebook.com/theinklingsoflife
Twitter | www.twitter.com/tattedmom81
Pinterest www.pinterest.com/tattedmom
Goodreads | www.goodreads.com/TattedMom
Book Genre: Nonfiction Parenting/ Humor Parenting
Publisher: Inklings Print
Release Date: October 17, 2013
Buy Link(s):
Motherhood is chaotic. Some days are filled with unicorns and fairy dust, and some days the unicorn craps on your brand new rug and the fairies are flying around, crashing into walls. Mainstream parenting books help with the unicorn and fairy dust days, but what happens when your kid drops the f-bomb in a crowded grocery store? That's where "Tatted Mom's Guide to NOT Screwing Up Your Kids" comes into play, tackling situations in motherhood that you were definitely not warned about. Think of this book as your manual to the parenting problems that leave you throwing your hands up in the air, wondering if you are the only mom who goes through this craziness, and has you hiding in the back of your closet with a bottle of Moscato and a cheesecake (we've all been there). "Tatted Mom's Guide to NOT Screwing Up Your Kids" includes: ~The myths that mainstream parenting books tell you, and how they don't apply to every mother. ~How to deal with temper tantrums from toddlers to tweens. ~How to "win" the various battles you will have with your children (like the Personal Hygiene Battle and the Clothing Battle) ~Tips on dealing with picky eaters and the difficult potty trainee. ~Helping build your tween's self esteem and creating a strong family unit. ~Motherly advice on parenting from birth until the tweenaged years (around 12 years old) ~Mom Competition, unplugging your kids, chores, peer pressure and more! Written by an unconventional, tattooed, colorful mother whose out-of-the-box parenting tips have proven successful for many families, regardless of parenting style, "Tatted Mom's Guide to NOT Screwing Up Your Kids" weaves together helpful advice with humorous stories from the author's own trials and tribulations as a mom, as well as stories from other moms and dads on their own parenting journeys. So get the kids in bed, grab a glass of wine and something sweet from your hidden stash of goodies (we all have one of those, too), and crack open "Tatted Mom's Guide to NOT Screwing Up Your Kids". Your mom-sanity will thank you.
Excerpt:
From Chapter 7: Fixing
More Than Macaroni and Cheese
Myth #1: Fixing my kids what they want ensures that they are at least eating something. If I don’t fix them what they’ll eat, they’ll starve.
Tatted Mom’s Truth #1: Your child will not starve themselves. I can 100% guarantee it. These are the same kids who make mud pies in the back yard and try them out to see what they taste like. They will not pass down a hot meal of seafood alfredo because the little shrimps look gross. They reason so many moms use this as an excuse is because they try for one meal to get their kids to branch out, and when it doesn’t work, they give up. Let the kids skip that meal. I promise you, they won’t skip the next one. And don’t go letting them have snacks after the dinner they refused to eat, either. That just reinforces the horrible eating habits. This whole picky eating thing is usually a test of wills with kids. They love macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets, so they turn down everything else put in front of them until you feed them their favorite meal again, and they stick to it. The more you give in, the more they will take advantage of you.
Tips for Creating Healthy Eating Habits in Children
Myth #1: Fixing my kids what they want ensures that they are at least eating something. If I don’t fix them what they’ll eat, they’ll starve.
Tatted Mom’s Truth #1: Your child will not starve themselves. I can 100% guarantee it. These are the same kids who make mud pies in the back yard and try them out to see what they taste like. They will not pass down a hot meal of seafood alfredo because the little shrimps look gross. They reason so many moms use this as an excuse is because they try for one meal to get their kids to branch out, and when it doesn’t work, they give up. Let the kids skip that meal. I promise you, they won’t skip the next one. And don’t go letting them have snacks after the dinner they refused to eat, either. That just reinforces the horrible eating habits. This whole picky eating thing is usually a test of wills with kids. They love macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets, so they turn down everything else put in front of them until you feed them their favorite meal again, and they stick to it. The more you give in, the more they will take advantage of you.
Tips for Creating Healthy Eating Habits in Children
- Introduce your kids to the kitchen as soon as possible. Each of my kids was around the age of two when I had them actually help me prepare meals, but even before that, I’d put them in their high chair, give them a snack and pull the high chair into the kitchen while I prepared a meal with fresh meat and vegetables. I’ve always had my kids pick out meals for us, help cut vegetables, or even given them easy instructions for sauces. When they were too young for any of these options, I had them hand me things so I could cook. A toddler feels like king of the world when you say to him, “Hand Mommy that spoon right there, please,” and even if he hands you the salt, a random apple or the cat instead, he’s a big boy who helped his mom make dinner. Having the kids interact with the cooking process almost guarantees them to eat it, because their pride will kick in, as well as their curiosity. They’ll think, “I helped make this sauce, so I wonder if it sucks or not.” Plus, they’ll see that, despite the fact that those shrimp look like fat worms, no worms went into the making of the meal.
- Put the “Mom is eating something, I want a bite” quirk of motherhood to work for you. It never fails. As soon as you go to take a bite of your favorite cake or try and sneak a single M&M into your mouth as a mom, your child will appear out of nowhere and ask for a bite. I can remember one afternoon, when I was chopping up red peppers to go on a vegetable tray for a cookout we were going to, and as I popped a fresh red pepper slice into my mouth and started crunching away, The Girl, two at the time, appeared out of thin air and asked for a bite. I stared at the red pepper for a moment and thought there was no way she would eat it- two year olds didn’t eat fresh red peppers. But, I handed her one anyway, she took a bite, and happily trotted off with a smile on her face. No dressing on it, no salt, nothing, and the child ate it and returned for a second one. Nine years later she’s not a fan of red peppers anymore, but when I put a vegetable tray out for us to munch on, she’ll eat carrots, celery, raw broccoli, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers. This concept worked at introducing my kids to sushi, too. Hubby and I love the stuff, so we would get some for just us and order the kids stir fry or their favorite Asian dish. Curiosity got the best of both of them, and soon they wanted to see why Hubby and I loved sushi so much. We let them try it, and they were hooked.
Giveaway:
Signed paperback of A Tatted Mom's Guide To NOT Screwing Up Your Kids
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