Because Nothing Should Weigh a Child Down

Healthy everyday

Nutrition Know How…. Tips to get Through the School Year!

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Nutrition Know How….Tips to get through the school year!

November is upon us, and the kids are well into the school year. While most of us plan on what we will wear to school each day, or do we have all of our homework? Are you still struggling with, What do I eat for lunch? It is time to refocus your efforts as a family to ensure your children’s nutrition and physical activity habits are on track this year.

  • Do you make time for breakfast? Breakfast is a very important meal for growing children. Studies show that breakfast eaters tend to have higher test scores, they concentrate better and solve problems more easily. So whether they eat at home or at school, be sure your children eat a nutritious breakfast every day.
  • Review weekly lunch menus. The National School Lunch Program requires that the meals offered in most schools must have a certain amount of calories, fat, saturated fat, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and iron. It may surprise you to learn that many foods fit into these guidelines, including chicken nuggets and tater tots.

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Help Your Child Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

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During the holiday season it is easy to pack on the pounds. Mixing large amounts of tempting food with time off from school to indulge in sedentary activities like watching TV and playing computer games can lead to unwanted pounds. With a little advance planning, you can help your child navigate the holiday season successfully. So what can you do to see that your kids enjoy this year’s festive season without gaining unnecessary weight?
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Tricks for Limiting Your Halloween Treats

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It’s that time of year again where your favorite candies and cookies in orange and black wrappers are everywhere. Halloween candy is hard to resist because these seasonal treats hit the shelves just after Labor Day and stick around until long after October 31. Interested in managing your weight during the Halloween season? Here are some tips to help you succeed! Continue reading →

Healthy Tip of the Month: Slow Down When You Eat!

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Next time you sit down to eat a meal, try this trick. Stop, take a deep breath and then pick up your fork. Before you take a bite of the food, look at your meal. Think about slowing down. Eating more slowly  can help you control your weight. When you eat fast, your stomach has no time to tell your brain that it’s full! It takes 20 minutes for your brain to catch up to your stomach signals. But if you slow the process down, your body will realize that it’s had enough and you may find that you weren’t as hungry as you thought you were.

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Junk food cravings get worse if you don’t get enough sleep

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Pulling an all-nighter might help when it comes to cramming for a high school chemistry test, but it can also make you reach for a Big Mac the next morning. When people don’t get enough sleep, they are more likely to eat junk food, say researchers.

A new study from the University of California, Berkeley found that people who did not get enough sleep had impaired decision-making skills and the reward center of their brain was heightened. So people who didn’t get a good night’s sleep were more likely to reach for an unhealthy snack than someone who was well rested. Continue reading →

Making healthy choices at the salad bar

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Salads can make a wonderfully healthy meal, but when the ingredients aren’t chosen wisely, they can also be deceptively fattening with rich creamy dressings and fatty toppings like bacon that pile on the calories.  Learning how to navigate the salad bar options can take some time, but the reward is certainly delicious.

When you go to choose a salad, fill your bowl with healthy, low-fat ingredients. Here are some of our favorites: Continue reading →

Drink Up: How to stay hydrated this summer

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Did you know that water makes up between 45% to 75% of your weight? That your blood is 80% water? That if you don’t replace what’s lost every day, blood thickens, forcing your heart to work harder and raising your risk of a heart attack? But you choose your drinks wisely, because many are packed with calories.

In hot weather, maintaining a healthy fluid balance can be difficult. Yet staying properly hydrated not only helps you stay alert, but helps control appetite, improve your activity and athletic performance, and keeps every day symptoms like fatigue, headaches, and dry skin at bay.

While a large 24-fl oz glass of iced soda or a fruit juice or a chilled juice concoction or energy drink will keep you cool on a hot day, it can pack nearly 300 calories daily from sugar and other unhealthy ingredients!. So that clearly is not a good choice. But there are terrific low-calorie alternatives to a Big Gulp, and they can be just as tasty. Continue reading →

Raquel’s Thoughts on Health and Weight

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Raquel Allen

Live Light participant Raquel Alen wrote a wonderful article for her school newsletter. We were so impressed by how eloquently she spoke about weight and health. We just had to share it. 

Part of being healthy is getting to and staying at a healthy weight.  I am not talking about being model skinny either! We’re simply talking about how you can get to a weight that reduces your risk for diseases, like diabetes, in the future. Continue reading →

Feeding Your Newborn: Tips for New Parents

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If you are overweight, gained excess weight during pregnancy, had gestational or pre-gestational diabetes, read this. If your baby weighed more than 9lbs or less than 5lbs at birth, read this. These are all risk factors that increase your baby’s risk of developing obesity, diabetes and cardiac risk factors earlier in life.  But you can improve your child’s health now, when he’s newborn.

Here are 8 easy steps to help your baby have a healthier life: Continue reading →

Pick the Fruit

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Fruits are a good for getting vitamins and minerals, fiber, and even your daily water intake. Because different fruits contain different vitamins, it’s important to eat a variety of them. Here are some benefits of different fruits:

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Protein Power!

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Protein is important for your body cells, hair and nails, for healing an injury, and building bones, muscles, skin, and blood. You need protein in your diet along with carbohydrates and fats, and vitamins and minerals. Getting enough protein from your food is not usually a problem. But getting protein from better sources is.

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