The Colorful Plate
Nutrition and Exercise

Children and Nutrition

The old adage, "You are what you eat," becomes more thought provoking when you think about children and their diets. Starting them out right nutritionally should be an easy task, but with some children, it can be quite a challenge. They learn eating behaviors and attitudes about food by watching their world. Friends, teachers, parents, television, and advertisements may affect what children eat but, unfortunately, do not always present the best influence. It is important, therefore, to provide a good example for the children in your life by eating well-balanced meals and expressing a positive attitude about a healthy diet.

One way to instill good nutritional values in children is by planning fun, food-related, learning activities, such as:

• Teach children to read food labels and help them to place each food in the proper group on the Food Pyramid.
• Encourage them to call toll-free numbers on food labels and request nutritional information.
• At meal times, talk about the type of food on the table, the food group it belongs to, and what quantity should be consumed.
• Promote listening to hunger cues. Do not insist that children "clean their plates."
• Provide healthy snacks. Set aside an area in the kitchen/refrigerator for children’s snacks to which they are allowed access without asking.
• Buy a children's cookbook and allow your children to select a recipe to cook with help. Ask them to explain to the family how it was prepared and what ingredients were used.
• Ask your children's opinion on healthy menus for the week and discuss the pros and cons of the choices.
• Let your children help prepare the shopping list and choose food when grocery shopping. Encourage their suggestions for healthy snack purchases. Agree on foods to buy before going to the market to avoid last minute unhealthy purchases.
• Allow your children to choose one sweet food item during each shopping trip. Always denying "forbidden fruits," such as candy, may only increase their appetite for these items.

Exercise

Exercise benefits physical health and relieves stress. Exercise regularly together as a family. Families can swim together, bicycle as a group, and walk or run after the evening meal. Today's families are busy with complicated schedules, so look at your specific situation and choose activities that fit your schedule, your children’s ages and abilities and your budget. Don't set rigid schedules, leave room for compromises like skipping a planned activity. Start slowly with the intention of making a long-term change and investing in a healthy future for yourself and your children. Some suggestions for families:

• Remember that children are natural mimics and if a parent exercises frequently so will the child and if a parent is a couch potato, the child will choose to be a couch potato also.
• Avoid excessive TV viewing. Set a limit per day. Find other more active interests like biking, bowling, dancing, weight training, playing ball, or practicing karate.
• Use local bike trails to go biking as a family.
• Hike in a local or state park.
• Join a local athletic club or YMCA and go three or four times a week as a family.
• Give sporting equipment like balls and skates or dance lessons and karate classes for gifts.

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