How to Get Your Kids to Eat Right

Here’s a sad fact, just go to any playground or school yard in town and you will see more overweight kids than at any other time in history. Childhood obesity is growing in alarming rates. Since 1980, obesity has more than doubled in children ages 2 to 5 and tripled in children ages 6 to 11. The “cure” for childhood obesity rests with the parents.  The US Surgeon General office proclaimed that when parents eat well and exercise regularly the odds are their kids will too. Parents, you need to be role models for their children. You need to walk the walk and talk the talk!

Here are 5 tips to get you started:

1.       Stock your kitchen with lots of delicious healthy treats and snacks – such as: frozen grapes, whole grain crackers, air popped popcorn.

2.       Get your kids involved with how food is prepared and served in your home – shop, cook and plan with them.

3.       Eat as a family so your kids can see you eating whole healthy foods.

4.       Plan family exercise time- a bike ride on Sundays, everybody walks the dog after dinner, once a month you all wash your car by hand

5.       Limit TV and computer time and emphasize active activities

Until next time,

Dr. Sheila

Balance Takes Action!

Have you ever watched kids on a teeter-totter or as we called it when I was growing up a see-saw? If one kid is bigger than the other what happens to the teetering and tottering?  Not much, right? But when the kids are of about equal size then the fun starts! They rock up and down with ease. But… what happens when they want to get off? They need to find their balance and finding that perfect sweet spot can take work. Such it is in life. Seeking and reaching balance are worthy causes.  However, as we all know balance doesn’t come easily.

To create a balanced life, to create a balanced relationship with food, takes effort.  In creating balance it is important to take into consideration all factors that are relevant to you. Sure you could go on a stringent diet and refuse all social invitations and ignore signs of physical hunger, but is that balanced? Or, you could abandon everything, dine out for breakfast, lunch and dinner but is that balanced? 

As you contemplate your next diet, weight loss strategy or other life goal look at your whole life and ask yourself what would you have to be or do to reach your goal while still taking into account the other factors that are important to you? Strive for balance. It might take some effort but in the end I believe you will be more satisfied with the results.

Until next time,

Dr. Sheila

It’s not about what you eat - It’s about what’s eating you!

The next time you are feeling fat or feeling as if you always make the wrong food choices, ask yourself these 10 questions:

• What’s really going on that I want to distract myself from?
• What am I thinking about that’s bothersome?
• What is truly troubling me?
• What is the truth about my life right now?
• Where is sweetness missing from my life?
• Where is the genuine suffering in my life?
• With what am I honestly not satisfied?
• Where do I legitimately feel too much pressure?
• Is there any unfinished business that needs finishing?
• What do I really need right now?

After more than twenty years helping people address their food and weight issues, I have learned that is in fact rarely about the food.  Most often it is about some part of the person’s life that needs attention. Focusing on food is an excellent way to distract oneself from the tough stuff that life presents. As I have heard it said many times before – life is hard but food is easy! Address what is really going in your life and you may find that you eat less.

Until next time,

Dr. Sheila