Sunday, July 31, 2011

Fun Food for Kids to Escape from the Junk Food Jungle.


Fat kids are hitting the headlines again. That means finding fun food recipes for kids. Discovering a nutritional health program at school and at home will be of paramount importance for a healthy lifestyle from now right into adulthood.


Just think - kids view over 20,000 food ads each year. As kids snack constantly - if it's healthy foods, it's not necessarily a bad thing. Unfortunately the snack foods in most homes are loaded with Trans fats and sugar, not good. Kids love to try cooking and have great fun in eating fun food for kids. Kids are curious by nature so a great way to exploit that is to eat lots of new things and rave about them. Why do kids always choose the same old boring things on the kids' menus?



fun food for kids images 1


* Use metal cookie cutters to make different shaped pancakes. (Pour the batter inside a heart, elephant, star etc.) You can also shape bread with cookie cutters for sandwiches.


* Let children decorate their own pizza offering all sorts of colorful healthy toppings.


* Experiment with different shaped noodles. The same spaghetti sauce just seems more fun somehow on shells, bows or butterflies.


* Give your meals crazy names like Betty Crocker does. Toothpicks with strips of meat, vegetables or fruit attached can become boats. Peanut butter and raisins on celery are called bumps on a log.


Food can be playful and fun and it doesn’t have to be, nor should it be a serious chore to eat.




Children are hardest to decide for when it comes to food. One food that never gets old for children are chicken nuggets. It’s easy to make and easy to eat. Kids love fast food these days, especially pizza. Pizza can be good for your children. Children love Macaroni Pasta with all the tomato sauce and the grated cheese. With the calcium-enriched cheese, it can promise your children stronger bones just as if they were drinking a glass of milk. For cold days, parents can prepare some Ramen noodles that children just love. Since children love finger foods because they’re ready in a flash and don’t require utensils, a fun food for kids would be Oatmeal cookies. For after school snacks, try some Granola Bars.




Choosing Healthy fun food for kids


You can start to choose the healthy fun food for kids instead of the sugar-filled garbage which actually can harm the health of your children. Vegetables


Fruits


Melons, peaches, apples, oranges, berries, and other fruits are very healthy snack foods that you can serve for your children. Yogurt


Serving yogurt for your children is a good alternative too. Dried Fruit


Another healthy snack food for your children is dried fruit. Popcorn


The natural popcorn is good for your children as well. Instead of serving healthy snack foods for your children, you should also pay attention to their health.




Entertain Your Child With fun food for kids


Have your children lost interest in their usual snacks? You don't have to be a master chef or a child food specialist to create a fun food for kids that will grab your child's attention (and approval!) during snack time. Kid-Sized Personal Pizza


What you’ll need:


4 English muffins split


3/4 cup pizza sauce


1/4 pound Canadian bacon (or pepperoni)


6 large mushrooms, sliced


4 large black olives, sliced


1 small onion, sliced


1/2 medium green pepper, sliced


1/4 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded


1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated


Ants on a Log


What you’ll need:


2 sticks of celery


6 tbsp smooth peanut butter


1 box of raisins


This next recipe is a great spin on the traditional peanut butter and jelly sandwich that your children are sure to love!


Fried Peanut Butter and JellySandwich


Smooth peanut butter


Jelly


Butter


Make a traditional peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Fruit and Yogurt Smoothie


1/2 cup chopped mango


1/2 cup sliced banana


1/2 cup chopped strawberry


2 - 3 cups plain or vanilla yogurt




Our children are larger than ever before. Obesity in children is usually accompanied by a general lack of fitness. Amazing! Taking Control of Obesity in Children with Your Child's Food Choices Can Prove to Be More Difficult.


It is much more expensive to provide natural healthy food choices than it is to consume chemicals along with our dead, vitamin-deprived mainstream supermarket choices.  To choose whole, live, healthy foods with vitamins and enzymes intact can cost more. Replace unhealthy kid's snacks like chips, cookies, and processed snacks with healthy fun food for kids like fruit, whole grains, granola, nuts, and low sugar organic yogurts.


My children want all the same junk foods as other kids.  Read the sugar and nutrient content. We should strive to give our kids foods that are healthy to begin with, not foods stripped of all nutrients and loaded with synthetic vitamins created in a lab.


Avoid added sugar and artificial sugars like the plague! We are not just talking about obesity in children; we are talking about their health.


I do realize how difficult it is to turn a household of junk food-loving children into those that make healthy fun food for kids. I put my foot down about certain foods. The YMCA allows children to attend certain classes with you. Let your children see your active lifestyle to understand the value of physical activity on the mind and body.


Make a change to healthy food choices, and healthy kid's snacks.



fun food for kids images


Having healthy fun food for kids can have a lot of values in our day-to-day lives. Having healthy food choices will also eventually improve our focus, memory, and mental fitness so that we may succeed in life.


How do we make this kind of choice among foods? The act of ordering food to save time has replaced the need to eat healthy and safe foods.


The following are some reasons why we should make healthy fun food for kids. Savor the flavor that your home-made healthy food will give. Let your family enjoy the fresh flavor of veggies and fruits. Healthy food choices will help in making you live longer. Problems on obesity and overweight will be lessening if only people will learn to eat properly. So you see now how healthy food choices can go a long way?



Food manufacturers spend billions on marketing campaigns that entice children to eat their products. Even children as young as 2 years will choose a food with a cartoon-laden package over a food in a plain package. Besides food companies, children are influenced by what other kids are eating. For children food can affect mood, energy level, and performance and even test scores.


A child can quickly fill up on foods that are high in sugar or salt and low in fiber like many brands of crackers, cookies, pretzels and snack foods. When low-nutrient foods replace foods that offer health promoting properties, there often isn't enough room left for foods that help with optimal brain development, healthy growth and disease prevention.


To get started, here are some tips on getting fun food for kids.


A good starting point is to eat the foods you'd like to see your kids eat. Include more fruits and vegetables as meals and snacks. Enjoy special treat foods as special occasion foods, not food rewards. Over-encouraging certain foods (such as vegetables) can lead to dislikes of those foods. If your child won't eat a food, try cooking the food together. Eat it together. Continue to model healthy fun food for kids like good food choices and exercise.


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