Robynn sent the story about breakfast, and that's a really interesting one and one that really interests me because I'm hyperactive and a classic mesomorph, and I know that food is power.
With our recent contact with the Child Care Food Program, and all the questions about nutrition, the manner things are served, the availability of food, its management, its prep, its delivery and the acceptance by the children has become even more important to me. Food investment in a child's health will insure a healthier adult. Education about eating will prevent obesity.
Miss Molly and I were traveling together across Newburgh the other day on our way to pick up Jack from school. We were behind several school buses. When they stopped, about 50% of the children who got off were over weight. When we arrived at school, I noticed one of the children had absolutely beautiful hair. When she turned around her face was sadly swollen by a shocking and unfortunate fat.
The questions caring adults should be asking for the sake of children are about food. We are not a cooking country anymore. But we can still serve a nutritious meal to children with what's on hand in the kitchen. I always tell parents that most children don't want to eat after a last snack at 4:00. Their bodies are getting ready to shut down for the night. Big dinners are always a battle. Dinners served at 5:00 without an earlier snack have the best result. It's just better for very young children to snack on fruit and cheese and crackers rather than insist they eat a full dinner at 6:00 or 7:00.
At the same time, the morning quick grab a sweetie before you dash off to work might be OK for a parent, but morning time is a child's time. That's one reason we always serve breakfast at school.
Lunch is a child's nutrition binge. "Bring it on." We serve lunch late to insure children are starving, and rarely do they not clear up twice what the state recommends they should eat. Then it's outside to work it off. None of this nap time stupidity. Eating and sleeping as a one-two step is about as unhealthy as injecting Crisco into a vein.
Snack has always been a calorie spree for me - that's because I had to fill up 4 hyperactive children after school. My kids could finish off a two layer chocolate cake in twenty minutes. But my kids would eat dinner. They could consume any amount of food at any time. At midnight I could have awakened them and offered a turkey dinner and they would have eaten it with relish. But that's not every kid and weight has become a problem to my healthy eaters in their twenties and thirties.
So the question remains: what, when, how, and how much.
How much is easy. Children should eat until they don't want any more, but what is the real question. Any suggestions?
1 comment:
not all overweight children eat too much. i don't care what anyone says it is metabolism. one of my children is bone thin. the other doesn't eat nearly as much and is heavier. they are equally as active. i dislike the word fat. sometimes you never shake a label.
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