Parents and kids both desire improved physical and mental health. Tips for Cultivating Health Conscious Kids will give options for improved well being. Healthy kids will become confident about themselves and learn to make choices that affect have they think and behave.
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Do you have a teenager in your house? Clean Eating Tips for Teens has encouraged many teens to make the switch to healthier diets.
Benefits of a Health Conscious Kid
You won’t be surprised that a child that has a healthier lifestyle will not only have less physical health problems, but they will have stronger mental health.
Teach kids that their food choices, thoughts and physical activity have a direct affect on their health.
10 health benefits for Kids:
Mental/Emotional benefits: Improves mood, clearer thinking, more emotionally stable, improved behaviors and increases creativity.
Physical benefits: Normal blood pressure, healthy weight, physically active, fights against disease, and improved brain health.
Tips for Cultivating Health Conscious Kids
Explore ways to be physically active. Chose traditional competitive sports, hiking, geo-caching, biking, playing tag games, participate in dog sports with the family dog and explore the outdoors.
Become Avid Label Readers. Read the ingredients & nutritional labels on store-bought food. This is fun, scary and informative all in one! Compare sodium content, sugars, and unrecognizable words.
Learn to Eat a Variety of Vegetables. Kids need to know their taste buds will change and they should regularly try new foods. Simply Serve Vegetables that even Kids Will Eat!
Educate about Vitamins and Minerals. Our bodies need real whole food vitamins! Synthetic vitamins that are added to milk, cereal, and multi vitamins have a different molecular structure than the real thing. Vitamin information below.
Explain the affects of sugar on our body. Sugar negatively affects our brain function, immune system and energy levels. 9 Tips for Surviving Sugar Season will give you practical ways to resist too much sugar intake.
Know the origins of food. Visit a dairy farm, raise backyard chickens, start a small garden and shop at the local farmers market. It’s amazing that many kids do not know how food gets to the grocery store. Take time to explain farming and the importance of quality grass fed animals.
Prepare a meal from scratch. Encourage your kids to experience food preparation, cooking and baking with whole food sources. Look for ideas together, either from this site or Pinterest.
Encourage healthy thoughts. Minimize negative thinking in your family. Focus on being grateful and complimentary.
How the Lehr Family Became Health Conscious
We started with label reading, as soon as my daughters became old enough to read, they would read everything. Eventually if we were shopping at a health food store, they would read the label before asking me to buy the item.
In the kitchen, we encouraged baking and meal preparation. When our kids turned 12, they each got a personal-size cast iron skillet, spatula, and gluten-free/sugar-free cookbook.
Cooking and baking allergen-friendly fun food has become a way of life for them. Once they entered high school, they started their own website to share recipes. Visit The Pioneer Chicks to learn about raising backyard chickens and fun gluten-free & dairy-free recipes.
Quick Look at Vitamins and Minerals!
Growing kids need essential nutrients in their diet. The following list give whole food examples of these vitamins, but the list is not inclusive. Keep in mind that our body does not store up “water soluble vitamins” like vitamin c, and b vitamins.
Calcium: broccoli, kale, collard greens, raw organic cheese, sardines, bone broth, and chia seeds.
Vitamin A: beef liver, wild caught salmon, bluefin tuna, raw cheddar cheese, sweet potatoes, red bell pepper, and spinach.
Vitamin B12 (naturally found in animal products): pasture raised beef, wild caught fish, eggs, free range chickens.
Folate (vitamin B6): eggs, raw hard cheese, spinach, sweet potatoes, avocado.
Vitamin C: broccoli, oranges, lemons, strawberries, kale, red and orange peppers, kiwi, and parsley.
Vitamin D: fatty wild caught fish like salmon and mackerel, beef liver, raw dairy, and egg yolks.
Zinc: pasture raised beef, lamb and chicken, shellfish, eggs, raw dairy, quinoa and whole oats.
Potassium: mushrooms, dates, cucumber, butternut squash, Swiss chard, pomegranate, and beets.
Choline: free range chicken, wild caught salmon, eggs, broccoli, green peas, and Bok Choy.
Magnesium: tree nuts, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, oats, buckwheat, quinoa, bananas, and leafy greens.
Th list could go on! Kids need to eat a variety of whole foods every day. Food that is processed or manufactured in a can or box isn’t going to have the same whole food nutrition a body needs to thrive.
Tips for Health Conscious Kids
I want to encourage parents to keep cultivating an atmosphere of a health minded family. It takes practice, be “daring” with food, and be consistent!
Summary: eat a variety of Whole Foods, stay positive, find different ways to get outside and move, read food labels, know where your food comes from and keep a close on a limiting sugar intake.
Pursing Better Health Together