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Healthy Living www.help4everyparent.com |
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On this page you will find information about
Click the headings at the side for more healthy living information. Make sure active kids have plenty of fluids in hot weather. Water is the best drink. Avoid sugary juice and soft drinks. Summer holidays are a time for relaxation. Parents deserve lots of relaxation too but kids are on the go all day and get hungry as horses. Fruit smoothies are a great way to fill children up in a healthy, refreshing way. Try some of these combinations blended with two cups of milk for a meal in a glass.
Main meals. On very hot days it is hard to settle to cook the usual dinner. A quick solution is to cook an omelette or grill the meat and serve it with wholemeal bread and
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By lunch time kids will be hungry but they want to eat fast so that they can play and mess around with their friends. Include foods that satisfy the hunger and cool foods for this hot weather. Hunger fixes All types of bread and sandwiches – use favourite fillings that are sure to be eaten such as vegemite, cheese, sultanas, peanut butter, ham, tuna. Keep the sandwiches small for easy handling and fast eating. Keep to school guidelines as some do not allow peanut butter because of the risk of life threatening anaphylactic responses in some children. Pasta or noodles – crisp noodles or noodle salad if your child will eat salad in a lunch box. Cool food - Drinks can be frozen overnight and will keep the rest of the lunch cool. lunch time they will be defrosted and ready to drink. Freeze:
Fruit is a favourite food with most children. Make sure that your child can remove the skin easily or provide peeled or diced fruit. Chilled fruit salad is usually popular. Tell your child to bring home any food that is not eaten. This way you can see what works and what doesn’t work in your child’s lunch. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Choice, the consumer watchdog in Australia, analysed many of the drinks and snacks we think are healthy for our kids, and found that along with vitamins they contain loads of sugar. Two of the foods they tested are milo cereal and Ribena blackcurrant fruit drink. The latter has only 5% blackcurrent and the rest is sugar and water. If your child is having several of these drinks in a day, they are having way too much sugar. So called health snacks like muesli bars often have the same problem. This is really false advertising but the manufacturers refuse to change their approach. Kids don’t read labels. It is up to parents to be responsible and see that sugar and fat consumed by our children is not excessive. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At one of the centre I visit, there is an emphasis on children preparing their own snacks. Recently I observed twenty children sitting to prepare ‘pizzas’ on wholemeal buns. Each child had a half bun on a plate and the teacher had prepared dishes of toppings that the children would spread or sprinkle on their bun. The toppings were tomato paste, diced cheese and diced ham. Other toppings that could be used are diced beef or lamb, diced or mashed egg, pineapple pieces, diced celery, tomato, avocado, beetroot, tuna, salmon or sardines. The teacher first demonstrated to the group how to hold the bun with one hand while using the knife in the other hand to spread paste. Children actively involved in such an activity are
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lebanese bread is flat, thin and easy to roll up. One round of bread will make a filling snack in a jiffy, for two kids. Cut a round of Lebanese bread in half and prepare both halves as follows:
________________________________________________________________________ Eggs are a great body building food and can be served up in many ways. Kids like something different so why not try astronaut eggs in a rocket? It will be worth the trouble when you see the expressions on their faces.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Baked potatoes Winter time is the time to enjoy hot food. Try oven baked potatoes with a luscious filling.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Most children like rice from an early age. Here is a quick, no-fuss variety. You will need 1onion, 2cups of rice, 1 chicken stock cube, parsley, cheese and other titbits such as corn nibblets and cubed tomatoes, 1 cup of hot water, extra water. Method
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chicken and fruit are tasty when combined and are quick snacks to prepare Ingredients: Cooked chicken cubes, tinned pineapple pieces, cherry tomatoes, avocado chunks Method: Thread onto skewers drizzle with oil and heat under a griller just till warm, or eat cold if preferred. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you look around for ideas for kids cooking, the main ones are still sweets and cakes. These are no good for diabetic kids. Most children I know love fruit and some colourful Christmas treats can be made using fruits in season. Here are a couple of ideas the children can make themselves. Watermelon Christmas tree
Santa Face
On the Fresh Food site www.freshfoodkids.com.au there are easy and fun food things for the kids to make. Sam and Tim made naughts and crosses. Your kids could make naughts and crosses with fruit. Give them a plate full of fruit and vegies cut into different shapes and sizes and suggest they make a lot of different things to surprise you. They will come up with lots of their own ideas. If you have not pre-cut the shapes, be sure to supervise and tell kids that you will need to do the cutting. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A survey of Australian children shows that over 40% of our children go to school at least one day a week without any breakfast. The reasons given are that there is no time, the children are too tired and slept in late, or they couldn’t be bothered. Eating breakfast has long been recognised as essential for people who want their brains to function well all day. Kids who are to concentrate at school and be effective learners need food for the brain at the beginning of every day. Missing breakfast also increases the chance of poor food choices such as quick sweet, or fat-filled food, over the rest of the day. Long term effects are likely to be obesity and constant dieting to control obesity. We know what happens when we don’t put petrol in the car, if we don’t fuel our brains our brains will be at a standstill. Don’t let this happen in your family. Make breakfast a priority. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mothers are renowned for putting their family first and their own needs last. Mothers with new babies have special needs when it comes to food and may need help from family members to maintain healthy eating habits. Those breastfeeding may produce a plump, healthy baby even if they neglect their own food intake, snatching a snack here and there, but their health will suffer in the long run. Here are some facts:
Make sure the mother in your family is eating the right foods. It is just as important as eating good food while pregnant. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nutritionists recommend that adults eat 5 servings of vegetable and 2 servings of fruit every day. It sounds a lot but when I added up what I ate I was doing the right thing. What about children? Toddlers need 2 servings of fruit and 2 of vegetables per day. School aged children need 3 to 5 servings of vegetables and 2 to 4 of fruit. Children are often fussy eaters but showing by example is one of the best ways to encourage healthy eating. You can’t expect children to eat the food on their plates if you have different food on yours. Here are some hints to broaden a child’s menu.
With summer just around the corner there is a bigger variety of fruit and vegetables available. Take the children shopping and let them choose some of the food. Be guided by their interest instead of the price. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Over Christmas and New Year supplies often run short. With floods in many areas of NSW families will run out of bread and damper is a quick, easy substitute that kids can make. Extras like cheese and chopped ham and herbs make it tasty. For this recipe you will need
Method: Sift flour and salt into a bowl, rub in butter until mixture is like fine crumbs. Make a well in the centre, add the milk and water. Mix cheese, ham and herbs into the dough. When it forms a ball gently knead it on a lightly floured surface and then shape into a round about . Put on a greased oven tray. Pat into a round 16 to diameter. Cut a couple of slits across dough like a cross, approximately 1cm deep. Brush top of dough with milk. Bake in a hot oven for 10 minutes, or until golden brown. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sports stars are role models for kids in so many ways. Geoff Heugil an Australian swimmer is doing his best to help kids, especially sick kids. However, he is also a great example of determination and how to change lifestyle. Geoff has overcome an obesity problem caused by poor diet. I hope he will be an inspiration to parents and kids alike. How do you know if your child is obese? A child is obese if the body mass is above the recommended size. A doctor is the best person to advise you about this. The reasons for obesity include genetics, diet, and the amount and kind of physical activity. The lifestyle children today follow, is quite different from that their grandparents or even their parents followed. Now, the main entertainment for kids is likely to be electronic games, TV and texting their mates. Walking and cycling have been replaced by car transport. What can you do? Accept that your child is obese – it isn’t puppy fat. Gradually change diet and lifestyle. Implement change for the whole family, focus on health with your child, not on weight. Support and encourage each other. Kids need active play like swimming, cycling, walking, ball games, running every day. Set aside time every day for these active sports as a family, don’t use food as a reward, watch TV without eating snacks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Most young adults will know about the five food groups from which health authorities recommend we take our daily food intake. However, it is good to revise our knowledge from time to time. It is also necessary to teach young people how much of each group they should eat. Many kids and teens think that they can eat as much fruit as they like. However, fruit is high in sugar and no more than three pieces are recommended for each day. Number of servings also depends on the size of the piece of fruit and the weight of the child. A person who is already on the path to obesity will need to eat the lower level. The amount of each food group must be selected carefully or there will be no improvement in weight. Here are the food groups with recommended servings. 1) Breads, cereals, rice pasta, noodles- 5 to 9 servings. If you want each of these foods, choose small helpings. 2) Vegetables and legumes – 4 or 5 3) Fruit – 2 or 3 4) Milk, yoghurt and cheese – 2 to 4 5) Meat, poultry, fish, beans, eggs and nuts – 1 to 2 Other factors should also be considered such as how and when the food is eaten. If the food is eaten very quickly, it will not give as much satisfaction as food eaten slowly. Food eaten before rest, sleeping or sedentary activities will make fat, instead of energy. Diets seem to fail. That is because the metabolism of the body changes. Once a person has become obese, it will probably mean that care will be needed throughout life to avoid a return to obesity. Prevention is certainly better than cure. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cooking the dinner for a family can be a pleasure but if you have a young family and limited time, cooking can be a boring necessity. It is easiest to dish up the same meal with little variation night after night. Some families eat more and more fast food, high fat dinners even though they know this is a poor health option. An alternative is to plan weekly menus; easy, healthy dinners. I recently found a large book of healthy barbecue recipes at the local post office. Best of all it was at a low price so I bought it to give as a gift to a family member and I looked through the book before parting with it. The recipes were simple to prepare and although I didn’t have all the ingredients, many of the herbs and spices recurred throughout. Most of the meals were quick to prepare and cooked quickly too. While on holidays I was introduced to a slow cooker and a recipe book to use with it. The recipe book was well organised to include seafood, lamb, beef, poultry, pork, vegetable dishes etc. and again the number of new ingredients not in the pantry was small. I know families where one partner spends fifteen minutes every day to prepare the slow cooker so that when they come home from work tired and hungry, the dinner is ready to eat. To plan menus, I suggest you plan seven dinners using foods in season to begin with. Note the meat, vegetables and spices you’ll need so you can get everything when you do the weekly shop. If the meal you cook is enough for two nights you have the option of freezing the second dinner for the next week. You don’t have a slow cooker or the necessary recipe books? How about asking for that when a birthday comes around, or visiting your library to look for an inspirational book? Happy cooking. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Although we all do whatever we can to keep our kids healthy, sickness comes to every family. However some families have to cope with very serious sickness. Perhaps you know a family where a child has been diagnosed with cancer. There are 600 children in Australia who are diagnosed with cancer each year. Fortunately many children will survive as 80% of some leukemias can be treated successfully. It is now believed that many childhood leukemias are preventable. A study of one million pregnant mothers and babies is underway. The study, led by a team at Murdoch university in Melbourne, Australia is taking place in fifteen countries. It was this team that discovered that sleeping babies on their stomachs was a high risk factor in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). The incidence of that cause of death has now been lowered by 80% in many countries. The adults in the families of children undergoing cancer are under great stress too. In the future perhaps this disease can be prevented by simple measures. How wonderful that will be. It is Daffodil Day on August 22nd. Can you do something special for kids with cancer on that day? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10-steps-for-healthy-families.
4. Keep fat intake small. Fat is important for energy but people tend to overdo it especially by eating fast food. 5. Plenty of water is necessary to keep the body functioning. Offer children water from infant age so good habits are learnt. 6. Fruit drinks should be restricted as they are high in sugar. 7. As soon as baby has a tooth start, start to brush them. An adult should continue to brush teeth for pre-schoolers. 8. Establish a rest/sleep routine for baby and adjust it for toddlers and pre-schoolers. School age children, even teenagers, must have lots of sleep. 9. Regular exercise is necessary for muscle development. Team games are fun for school age kids. Family exercise like walking, gardening, bike riding, swimming will keep the whole family fit. 10. Discipline in a positive way with lots of encouragement and reinforcement of good behaviour rather than focusing on the negative. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How much time do your school-age kids spend being truly active? Between the ages of five and eighteen, they need at least an hour of moderate and vigorous physical activity each day. Many children turn on the TV when they get home or play electronic games. Before you realise it, it is time for dinner and the daylight is gone. Much of school life is spent sitting down, walking in leisurely fashion between classrooms, or sitting chatting to friends. Unless we take a conscious decision to see that there is real physical activity after school, it may not occur. The TV and electronic games really shouldn't go on until night time, unless you can supervise to see that only one favourite program is watched. This should be followed by outdoor games or sport e.g. gymnastics, ballet, swimming, cycling or skateboarding. These types of activities build strong bones and muscles, improve lung capacity, help coordination, improve balance and reduce stress. Itr isn't easy to balance all the activities that a child wants to do with what is best for health. computer games and texting won't improve physical health. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I recently visited a family aunt. In September she turned 99 and is still living alone and getting much enjoyment from the birds that come to be fed daily and from her kind neighbours, and from her family who keep in touch daily by telephone. Her sight is not good and she is really rather deaf. Many older people suffer some degree of deafness but in the past deafness from birth was a real disadvantage. Following the visit to the remarkable aunt, I heard a talk about deafness in children. Dimity Dornan, the speaker on ABC radio, was talking about the research and work at an organization called First Voice Organization in Queensland. At the moment this program is based in Queensland and has an outreach branch so families in regional areas can take part. Parents are recognised as the natural teachers, so the parents are taught how to help their child. The program doesn’t receive any Federal funding yet and only one third of the funding comes from the state. The organization was launched by the Governor General of Australia on 7th October. In her speech her Excellency said that “9 to 12 Australian children in every 10,000 are born with moderate or serious hearing loss in both ears. 23 more per 10,000 will acquire a hearing impairment that requires aids by the age of 17and 54% of our indigenous children suffer some form of hearing loss.” On the radio program, I heard Hamish a ten year old boy answering questions from the interviewer. Hamish’s speech was clear and he answered without hesitation exactly as a fully hearing boy would have. His father explained that from the time Hamish was diagnosed and fitted with a hearing aid at eight months of age, his Mother in particular had saturated his environment with language. To get further information about the help available to deaf children, I visited the website of the Hear and Say centre which is linked to the First Voice Organization. It aims to help deaf children achieve a normal rate of speech and language development by six years of age. This allows them to have mainstream education resulting in employment and career opportunities that would otherwise always be denied. Social opportunities are also expanded. On the website, www.hearandsaycentre.com.au I read stories written by parents of children who have hearing impairment. Impairment can be the result of prematurity or illness but also of genetics. One mother writing on the site, has four of her five children with impairment caused this way. No one knew that these children were deaf for quite some time and early diagnosis would have saved those parents from so much stress. The Federal government is implementing a mandatory test now for all babies. This is a first step ( already in place in some countries), that will mean much earlier intervention for affected children and early intervention is vital. We have all heard of Cochlear implants now, and 200,000 people world wide have received these implants. Hamish mentioned above, has an implant in one ear and a hearing aid in the other. Not all deaf people think that learning to speak as hearing people do, is the best way to go forward. Some feel strongly that sign language is far superior. There is still a real need for sign language and a greater awareness of its importance in communication should be fostered. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parents rarely get uninterrupted sleep when they have a baby and often suffer from sleep deprivation. Babies and children can also suffer when they don’t get enough sleep and it is estimated that 35% of children have a sleep problem. Asthma and eczema as well as sleep apnoea can affect the quality of children’s sleep. If your child has a pattern of poor sleep, have a health check done, especially if the child snores. Poor sleep can affect a child’s thinking and problem solving, memory, growth and behaviour. Behavioural problems are the most likely. Here are some hints to help your child sleep.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Make the summer holidays following Christmas the best time of the year. Food: Keep an eye on the amount and type of food the family has. Holidays shouldn’t mean an end to healthy eating. Hot weather is an ideal time to eat salads and fruit. Drinks: Water is vital in hot weather. See that children have plenty available. Most fruit juices have lots of sugar so water is the best option and it won’t make anyone fat or increase caries in the teeth. Energy: The early morning and late afternoon or evening are the best times to engage in vigorous physical activities. Avoid overtaxing the body in the hottest part of the day. Sun: Hats and sunscreen are not just for school days. When at the beach or outdoors, all the family should wear protective clothing. Infants and toddlers have extremely sensitive skin. Teens need to be reminded about the dangers of sunburn. Safety: Supervise, especially near the water. Only drive when you are rested. Explore any new environments carefully for hazards before sending the kids off to play. Always have the first aid kit handy. Stress: There is no need to rush to fit in dozens of activities. Take more time and you will stress less and enjoy each thing more. Holiday time is a great time to teach the kids new skills but you may need to lower your standards of perfection when the kids are doing things. It is the doing, not the product that is important. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jamie Oliver has come to Australia to begin a healthy eating program at schools in the far north Queensland town of Ipswich. The town already has a number of healthy lifestyle programs and felt that Jamie’s Ministry of Food program would add further motivation to the whole community. The program which was to start in December, will run for 4 years with the state government providing a large amount of funding. In my home town, plant nurseries have provided above ground gardens with vegetable plants, herbs and strawberries, to pre-schools and long day care centres. The children are showing a real interest in the progress of the plants. For example at one centre before Christmas, children delighted in taking me to show me the one red strawberry on their bush, while pointing out other strawberries beginning to grow. Developing this early interest in healthy food and in the skills needed to produce it, is the first step towards healthy diets. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Grow your own food and beat price rises We really expect the prices of fruit and vegetables to rise considerably as a result of the floods in three states. Grain crops have also been ruined that will impact on the price of flour and all the products that use it. It is not only the present floods that will impact on food prices. I have read that prices are set to increase dramatically over the next few years because of climate change, the lack of enough suitable arable land, and decline in possible irrigation available. The best solution is to grow your own fresh food where ever possible. Not only does this save money but it is likely to have better flavour. You don’t have to have chooks. Begin with some easy vegetables. There are places to help you too. Nurseries and other suppliers have begun workshops for young people and give advice to customers. The magazine Choice points out that there are free tips on many internet websites. You don’t need much space to have a garden. It is possible to grow good vegetables and herbs in containers on balconies so have a go. You’ll be proud of your successes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taking responsibility for family health Mothers generally have the responsibility of planning the menus for their family and also do most of the food shopping. Since the floods and cyclone, prices have been going up because many crops have been lost. Bananas for example will be in short supply. However, fruit and fresh vegetables are still important. Look for the most cost effective alternatives if your favourites are too expensive. If you buy different fruits and unfamiliar vegies, you may need to introduce them gradually to the family or present them in an interesting way and be a good role model in the way you eat and enjoy the different foods. If you need to stretch your budget, be sure to retain the most nutritious foods. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unless you live near a heated pool, swimming will soon be over for some months. What kind of fun exercise can you and the kids do together? Try dancing. There are many kinds of dance and there need not be any rules and it needn’t cost any money.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A recent survey of the amount of salt our children are having in their diets showed that most of the children in the survey had twice as much as recommended. A larger group will now be surveyed. Salt is included in many processed foods such as breakfast cereals, bread and cheese. Manufacturers are encouraged to reduce the salt in their products but this will be a slow process. Many people still add salt before cooking food, and then add more from the salt shaker, before eating. Cooking without salt will reduce the amount in our diets. There are health problems from too much salt and we don’t want to set our children up for these. Also look at the amount of salt in the cereals you buy, in soups, canned food and in spreads such as peanut butter. Buy brands with low salt content. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jump Rope attracts over 400,000 school students, in over 2,300 schools around the country – the organization has given Australian schools enough rope to stretch from Sydney to Perth. See www.heartfoundation.org.au/ Click the Active Living heading ,and then on Jump Rope. Skipping with a rope is one of those timeless activities that every generation loves. Kids today have developed so many skipping moves that it has become an art for some people. However just basic skipping is tons of fun and such excellent exercise for whole families. Encourage your four and five year olds to master a skipping rope and get your ten year olds to teach you some fancy moves. Skipping is just as appropriate for boys as it is for girls. If boys are in doubt, remind them that skipping is an important part of football training. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Did you realize that a baby with impaired vision needs lots of help in order to develop physical skills such as rolling over, reaching out , learning to crawl and to walk? When baby can’t see the environment, there is no motivation to learn to move. Baby will need lots of stimulation through aid in touching things as well as provision of interesting sounds. Impaired vision can be cause through genetics or it can be caused through very premature birth. Although a register has been kept of children with hearing impairment, one for sight impairment is still under way. There may be as many as 5,000 children in this category and not all these children will be receiving the help they need. A register will help in many ways but particularly in making it possible for parents to find resources and to contact other parents of children with impaired vision. A network is always a valuable resource. It is possible now for parents who have registered their child, to take part in forums and to make regular contact through using Skype. Families may be at the far reaches of the continent but still be able through Skype to talk to each other and share tips free of any charge. For families in regional centres this is a great step forward. The link to the Impaired vision network is http://vifamilynetwork.org.au Recently there has been a week-long Braille Music Camp for children from all over the country, held in Mittagong NSW. The tutors, all former students with impaired vision, helped children who are just being introduced to Braille not only to read but to read Braille music. Music is such a wonderful thing to motivate movement and for people of all ages to share. It is exciting to hear that it is part of the education of children with low sight. If you know anyone with a baby or young child with impaired vision, please help them to find this resource. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nutrition week is from October 16th to 22nd. We hear statistics that 25% of Australian children are at risk of childhood obesity but what are we doing about it? The Heart Foundation has just removed their tick of approval from McDonald’s food because only 2% of people chose the healthy options available. They will target restaurants instead and show the number of kilojoules in items on the menus. As parents or as childcare workers and educationists we must take responsibility for helping children to make healthy decisions about their health. The amount of energy we use must be balanced by the number of kilojoules we consume in our food. If we are not very active, we must eat less, especially of high kilojoule food such as fat and carbohydrates. One of our problems is that we tend to eat the same amount whether we are having an active week or a sitting-about-lazy week. It comes down to planning a healthy, active lifestyle. Look at the Nutrition website for some ideas. www.nutritionaustralia.org Children like to be active, but now they have many electronic devices that encourage them to sit around instead of being fully active. Children learn from example. If their parents spend their leisure time at the computer or in front of the TV, the children copy that lifestyle. Here are some tips:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The best way to help a baby build up the immune system is to breast feed and to keep everything very clean. However, once baby begins to roll over and get mobile he/she will come into contact with many germs in the environment. There is some evidence that in our determination to eradicate germs, we prevent children from building immunity and this may be one cause of an increase in asthma. We should not be over-protective or over-fussy about our children touching and exploring their environment and getting messy, but strike a balance. Whatever we do children will get sick sometimes and the cause won’t be clear. I was alerted to a very sad case recently in which a 10 month old baby in Sydney, died of a mystery illness. The baby’s body immune system seemed to be attacking her nervous system and despite specialist treatment in hospital, the baby died. The autopsy revealed that she had died from rat lungworm which is carried by slugs and snails. Her mother thinks that her baby must have either eaten a slug or a slug trail. Most people will never have heard that slug and snail trails can be harmful and not all of these creatures are infected. Snails are fascinating creatures but we should take precautions and make sure that babies cannot come into contact with them, and that older children watch rather than pick up snails or slugs. After any outdoor play make sure children wash thoroughly.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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