“Improving the quality of the school meals is a critical step to building a healthy future for our kids.”

– Tom Vilsack, Agriculture Secretary

“A healthier population will save billions of dollars in future health care costs.”

–Dawn Undurraga, Environmental Working Group staff nutritionist

New guidelines were recently released to help improve school lunches.

The good:

Doubling the amount of fruits and veggies in cafeteria lunches. More whole-grain foods. Limiting calories, sodium and trans fat.

The not-so-good:

Big Food made sure that french fries are still readily available. And don’t forget, pizza counts as a vegetable. Ha.

Interesting stuff. Don’t know how much of a difference this will really make but at least it’s something.

Source:

FoxNews.com: USDA Sets Guidelines for Healthier School Meals

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“Any combination of steps–making fruits and vegetables part of every meal, limiting treats, walking and playing, even shopping together—can add up to make a real difference in children’s lives and help build healthy habits for life.”

– LetsMove.gov: For Parents

Parents can really make a difference in helping kids develop healthy habits. You already know that. Think of a way to do it better.

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Nothing better than involving the kids in the cooking. Help them learn cooking skills and healthy eating habits. Have a Healthy Monday!

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Tips for parents from LetsMove.gov. What do you do as parents to promote healthy lifestyle habits?

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If you want to help your kids develop healthy habits, you need to have healthy habits. I don’t think there is any way around that. Why would you expect your kids to choose vegetables, fruits and other healthy foods — both now and as they get older — when as parents we gorge ourselves on fast food, sodas and cookies for the majority of our meals?

“You don’t have to be perfect all the time, but if kids see you trying to eat right and getting physically active, they’ll take notice of your efforts. You’ll send a message that good health is impor­tant to your family.”

– American Heart Association: Help Children Develop Healthy Habits

I’ve never been prouder of my 2-year-old daughter than when she says “I want brock-lee [broccoli]” or ” I want a ooornge [orange]. What really makes me happy is when she says “I wanna go yunnin [running] with daddy.”

My wife and I certainly aren’t perfect but we try to set a good example for our little one each day. We all feel better — yes, even the little one — when we get plenty of physical activity and eat nutritious foods.

My daughter stuffing her face with broccoli and sweet potatoes.

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We all need physical activity, kids included. Here is more about physical activity for kids from LetsMove.gov.

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40%: Percent of pre-school aged kids who ask parents to go to McDonalds on a weekly basis.

84%: Percent of parents who say they’ve taken their kids to get fast food at least once in the past week.

12: Number of kid’s meals (of the 3,000 possible combinations) at 12 popular fast food chains that met the nutritional guidelines for preschool-aged kids.

Interesting. Not surprising.

Source: CNN.com: Fast food marketing up, food still unhealthy

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Their mission includes ending “chronic preventable disease in the U.S. by offering people and organizations a weekly prompt to start and sustain healthy behaviors.”

“Exposure to scratch cooking helps kids develop a mature palate and a taste for fresh, wholesome ingredients. The earlier kids become accustomed to nutritious foods, the less likely they will acquire a taste for processed foods.”

– The Kids Cook Monday General Overview

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Honestly, I’d like to think that everyone working together can make a difference, but I really think it starts at home. Parents need to do their best to teach kids about eating healthy and being active and they need to show them.

But my guess is that it does get tough for a kid to make better choices when everyone around him is not, including other students, teachers and other relatives, etc.

My wife and I plan is to do what we can to educate our kids about why it’s important to be healthy and show them that it’s possible. They will grow up and decide if they want to, but we want to give them the best chance possible.

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Well said by the American Heart Association. I hope my wife and I are good examples to our little rascal:

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