Making Kids Sports Snacks Healthy!

It takes strong parents to try and buck the current sports snacks & drinks trend.  Every game and practice, kids are loading up on high-fructose corn syrup snacks and juice boxes.  And if it isn’t the snack, they are hitting the snack bar for donuts, hotdogs and candy.  Parents also report visits to fast-food outlets on days that their kids take part in sports, relying on convenient foods as they juggle busy schedules of games and practice.  “The food environment in youth sports exposes kids and their families to many unhealthy foods and beverages and few healthful options,” said Toben F. Nelson, ScD, of the University of Minnesota.  His team of researchers believes that youth sports programs offer a promising setting for promoting better nutrition.  They recommend collaboration between sports leagues, dietitians, and health professionals to create positive messages about nutrition that can be integrated into youth sports programs.  They also suggest that youth sports programs develop guidelines for which foods and beverages should be offered as snacks or sold at concession stands.

Fruit makes a great snack during breaks from sports, particularly bananas, apples, grapes, pears and oranges.  Skip the sugary drinks and encourage kids to bring their own water bottle!

Articleexcerpted & adapted from TasteforLife

families who eat together are healthier

According to Taste for Life Magazine, "Family mealtime leads to better health and sociability, particularly among children.  A review of 68 studies found that kids who eat more meals with their families consume more fruit and vegetables, calcium-rich foods, and fiber, and less junk food. 

Teens who regularly eat at home are likely to show fewer signs of depression.  And all family members benefit from lower obesity rates. 

Mealtime quality was also shown to be important.  Families who watched TV during meals or ate together at fast-food outlets did not gain the same benefits."

 

We love family meals and are going to have some great articles coming up about incorporating them (along with easy, delicious & nutritious recipes!).

 

 

 

photo courtesy of Three Loud Kids

 

Spring Foods in Season Now!

Spring has sprung and so have seasonal fruits, vegetables and herbs!  Eating seasonally (and locally) is an easy & tasty way to be green! 

NaturalHome Magazine just posted a wonderful list of what will be hitting your local farmers market or natural grocery stores now (or soon).  Eat seasonally with:

 

Herbs: chervil, chives, dill, horseradish root, mint, parsley, tarragon

Salad greens: arugula (rocket), baby lettuces, endive, mâche (corn salad), mizuna, pac choi, sorrel, spinach, watercress

Cooking greens: beet greens, chard, collards, kale, radish greens, spinach, turnip greens

Root veggies: beets, parsnips, radishes, salad turnips

Fruits: apricots, blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, cherries, nectarines, peaches, plums, raspberries, rhubarb (not technically a fruit), strawberries

Ephemeral garden treats: garlic scapes, pea shoots

Wild edibles: cactus pears, cattails, claytonia (miner’s lettuce), dandelion greens, fiddlehead ferns, lamb’s quarters, morel mushrooms, nettles, pokeweed, purslane, ramps (wild leeks)

Garden veggies: asparagus, garden peas, potatoes, scallions, spring onions, sugar snap peas

Meat: Most pasture-raised meat and wild game is best in the fall and winter, but spring is a great time to stock up on frozen and aged meats. In some areas, there is also a spring turkey season.

Fish: Spring is the season for most freshwater fish including bass, carp, catfish, crappie, pike, salmon, sunfish, trout and walleye. Saltwater seasons vary.

Dairy: Fresh milk and cheeses made with milk from animals that graze on green pasture are highly nutritious in late spring.

Eggs: Fresh farm eggs are rich with omega-3 fatty acids and other grass-derived nutrients in spring.

Nuts and seeds: Because most kinds of nuts are not harvested in the spring, you will want to choose roasted nuts for the best flavor. (Note: Nuts freeze well, so stock up like a squirrel in fall when they are in season.)

What we’re reading now:

Eat Like a Dinosaur:Recipe & Guidebook for Gluten-Free Kids

Written by The Paleo Parents and Illustrated by Amanda Gates

Eating Ch-ch-ch chia seeds

I love chia seeds!  Lately, I have been throwing them in baked goods, cereal and sometimes savory dishes.

                 

When you hear chia, you’re probably thinking chia pets… and you would be right… these little seeds are nutritional gems and help your clay pet grow hair (but please, only buy your seeds from a health food store!).

Chia seeds look like poppy seeds and have almost no taste.  They are a member of the mint family and pack a lot of nutritional punch!  One ounce of seeds (approximately 2 Tablespoons) has:

• 4.9 grams of omega 3 fatty acids 
• 11 grams of fiber
• 4 grams of protein
• Calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, manganese, copper, zinc, vitamins B1, B2, B3

They are gluten free and vegan.  The seeds are a great alternative to flax seed.  They have a longer shelf life than flax seed and do not have to be ground to release the omega 3’s (and, they actually have more omega 3’s than flax seed!). 

I find chia seeds to have no taste… which makes them the perfect addition to any dish.  Throw them into salads, yogurt, smoothies or a pasta dish.

They pack a crunch and are loaded with health benefits.  What are you waiting for?  Grab some ch- ch-ch- chia seeds!  Check out Chia Seeds and other foods we love in the eco ike store!

How do you eat chia seeds or what foods do you put them in?

heart fruit kabobs with yogurt dip

Your sweethearts will love this snack!  Pull out a heart shaped cookie cutter and use it on apple slices, sandwiches and cheese slices… anything that can be cut. 

1 cantaloupe
1 honeydew melon

1/2 watermelon

1 6 ounce container plain yogurt

1 tablespoon frozen orange-juice concentrate, thawed

1 tablespoon honey

1. Cut fruit into 1-inch-thick slices. Using a small heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut hearts from melon slices. Poke a hole in each heart with a toothpick, going from top to bottom. Then thread fruit on ice-pop sticks.

2. Make dip: Stir together yogurt, orange juice concentrate, and honey until well combined. Serve with hearts.

recipe & photo courtesy of parents.com

just a spoonful of sugar!

Who doesn’t love sugar?  It’s one of the most delicious ingredients in the food world… but unfortunately, it is also is one of the unhealthiest!  Our beloved sweetener is void of any nutritional quality and worst of all, is linked to diabetes, depressed immune systems and obesity.  According to Pediatrician, Dr. Kavey, “The reason that we think of it as a problem is because of the big rise in obesity in childhood, and that rise has occurred over the same time period that there’s been a major increase in the amount of simple sugar that children consume.”

The American Heart Association recommends eating no more than 5% of total calories from sugar and that children should have no more than 3 teaspoons a day and teens should consume no more than 5-8 teaspoons daily.  Considering that one can of soda contains approximately 10 teaspoons of sugar and one cup of children’s sweetened cereal has roughly 5 teaspoons of sugar, it’s pretty safe to say that most families are exceeding the recommended daily sugar intake!

Knowing that an excess of sugar is not good for us, what can parents do?  Here are four steps to consume less of the sweet stuff:

• Be sure to read labels!  You wouldn’t think that a company is putting sugar in your marinara sauce, peanut butter, crackers or soup, but they are.  They are also doing in it obscure ways.  You are looking out for “sugar” on labels and food companies are sneaking them in with murky words like: barley malt, cane juice crystals, carob syrup, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, dextran, dextrose, diatase, diastatic malt, ethyl maltol, fructose, fruit juice, fruit juice concentrate, glucose, glucose solids, high fructose corn syrup, lactose, malt syrup, maltodextrin, maltose, mannitol, refiner’s syrup, sorbitol, sorghum syrup, sucrose.  Basically, anything ending with, “-ose” is a sugar.  Know the sugar lingo!  One of my golden rules with food products is that if I do not know what the ingredient is, I pass on the product! 

• Know that “healthy”sugars (honey, molasses, maple syrup & agave) are still sugars!  They all have added nutrients and would be the preferred sweetener choice.  Honey contains minerals, amino acids and B Vitamins.  Molasses contains iron, calcium, potassium and magnesium.  Maple syrup contains zinc, manganese and potassium.  Agave contains small amounts of calcium, potassium and magnesium.  Even though they are not stripped down of all their nutrients, these sweeteners basically break down in the body the same way that sugar does.  They may have some added nutrients, but once digested they are basically seen as sugar by the body.

• Modify family-favorite recipes!  An easy way to omit or reduce sugar consumption is by modifying recipes.  When possible, omit sugar in savory dishes.  When it comes to baking, try reducing the sugar by tablespoons or ¼ cup.  You can compensate the lack of sugar by adding another dash of cinnamon or your favorite spice.  Baked goods are not as adaptable as savory dishes, so some trial and error may be involved.

• Start a food journal!  I know that families barely have time to sit down for breakfast, let alone write in a food journal, but the best way to reduce sugar is to be aware of the sugar being eaten on a daily basis.  Once you are conscious of how much is being consumed, you may realize that the family’s daily intake is far more than you realized.  A quick notation of the food & sugar content can be a great tool to see how quickly and frequently you are consuming sugar.

apple chips

Feel like trying a fun, easy and yummy new snack?  These apple chips are the perfect thing!  My four year old can’t get enough of them!  Every time that we run out (which seems like every other day) he wants to make more.  They are so healthy and simple to make that it’s no problem… the hardest part is finding a three hour chunk of time for them to bake. 

This is a great recipe to make with your kids!  I do the mandoline cutting and I always let my son arrange the apples on the tray (and then I correctly arrange them afterwards :)    I let him help sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top and the chips taste just as good where he doused the cinnamon sugar as well as the ones that he completely missed.  This recipe is uncomplicated and hands-on.  It is great to make with children of all ages.

One thing to note, when slicing into the middle portion of the apple, I try to get the seeds out with a knife, but leave everything else in tact… I like the natural star shape in the center of the apple.

2-3 granny smith apples

2 teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 200°.
2. Line two baking sheet pans with parchment paper.
3. With a mandoline (or very sharp knife and great cutting skills), thinly slice apples. 
4. Arrange slices in a single layer on the baking sheet pan.  Be sure not to overlap. 
5. Combine sugar and cinnamon.  Put in a fine sieve and sprinkle evenly over apples.
6. Bake in the top and bottom third of the oven for 1.5 hours.  Pull apples out and turn them upside down and rotate baking pans positions when putting back in the oven.
7. Bake for another hour and a half (if your apple slices were a little bit thicker, it may take them a teeny bit longer to crisp up.  After 3 hours, if you have a combination of completely crisp and some that are a little chewy/crisp, take the crisp ones off of the baking sheet and put the rest back in the middle of the oven for another 20+ minutes).
8. Remove from oven and cool chips before transferring to a sealed container.

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Recipe adapted & photo courtesy of Ontario Apples

mango ice cream

I scream, you scream. We all scream for home-made ice cream!

This dessert is so refreshing, simple and healthy. It has the creamy goodness of ice cream & the refreshing taste of sherbet. Grab a spoon and dig in!

1 ½ cups mango, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
15-ounce can of sweetened cream of coconut
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
¾ cup water

(1.) Place the mango in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Push the mango through a sieve. Rinse out the blender to discard the mango fibers.
(2.) Pour the mango back into the blender or food processor. Add the cream of coconut, lime juice and water. Blend all of the ingredients and freeze in an ice-cream maker.

want to get your kids in the kitchen? our e-cookbook has 56 yummy, healthy & quick recipes for kids & grown-ups!  buy our e-cookbook at Amazon! only $3.99!

asparagus

These mighty green spears are a favorite spring-time vegetable!

Did you know that asparagus is one of the only plants that have distinct male and female versions? The male plants are skinny and the females are plump! The younger plants are the tastiest and most tender. As asparagus matures, it becomes fibrous and actually develops a fern. Asparagus is a member of the lily family and is grown in sandy soils.

Eat up! Asparagus is high in folic acid, is a good source of potassium, thiamin, fiber, Vitamin A, C, K and B6.

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the incredible egg

Crack open an egg – they are high in the nutrients lutein & choline, loaded with vitamins, have all 9 essential amino acids and contain 6 grams of protein!

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red kidney beans

Try adding (or sneaking) red kidney beans into your meals! One cup of red kidney beans has 14 grams of fiber! They are a major source of protein, amino acids, antioxidants and iron.

Add beans to salads, soups & rice. Smash or puree the beans and add them to meat dishes, quesadillas and sandwiches.


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