Month: October 2010

Lifestyle

Healthy Halloween Treats On A Stick

By Annie Daulter
halloweenpopsFall is my favorite time of year, but my kids miss the warm summer days. I want to share a festive Fall treat that will trick your little ones into thinking it’s summer time all over again.

Harvest Pops
My 3 year old Bodhi, is a picky eater. I mean really picky, and for a mom like me who is obsessed with good foods, it often makes me crazy that he won’t eat. However, one thing he does like are popsicles! This inspired to me to start making all kinds of healthy pops and so, I did what I do…I wrote a book about it!
These Harvest Pops and many others will be featured in my newest book, Ice Pop Joy next March (Sellers, Spring 2011). So this Halloween, instead of putting candied apples on a stick, puree your apples and some butternut squash and make a fun new ice pop treat! They might sound scary, but the real trick is, they are actually a delicious treat!
Harvest Pops
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Education

Empowering Children to Make Their Food Decisions

By Dr. Judy Bin-Nun
nathlieIt is always best that we see “feeding” as a “Line of Development” as the scholar Anna Freud discussed. Anna Freud’s line went from “feeding to rational eating” as a specific developmental progression.
How to learn rational, intuitive eating unless children are able to explore foods, help themselves to food from a “family platter” or “family bowl?” The more a young child can select on his/her own meal portions, the more responsibility is taken in making independent food choices. Try not to pile food on your child’s plate, see what happens when the child begins to take responsibility for food at mealtime – make this a two-week experiment.
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Health

Tackling the Obesity Crisis

By Peter S. Waldstein, M.D., F.A.A.P and Julia A. White, M.D., F.A.A.P
DoctorStarting a healthy lifestyle is not something you begin only after there is a problem. Proper diet and nutrition in early childhood are essential. A child’s diet in the womb, during infancy, and as a toddler can have lifelong effects on his or her health.

Researchers are showing that baby’s food preference can be traced to the womb. For the first six months of a baby’s life, nutritional needs should be summed up in two words: breast milk. Human breast milk is perfectly designed for the building of infant brain tissue. It has six times the essential fatty acids of cow’s milk. This is imperative since the type of fat a baby consumes at this stage can affect brain development and function.

Babies are usually ready for solid foods after six months, but they should continue breast-feeding until at least one year. Unfortunately, only 15 percent of American infants reach that goal, and only six out of ten breast-feed at all. Mothers should also be concerned about what they are eating during this period. Infants can develop allergies to foods passed on through breast milk.
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