The report talked about school breakfasts and lunches, saying that higher fat and less nutritious food items should be replaced with healthier alternatives like vegetables, fruit, low fat yogurt, and whole grain snacks.  The report also called for schools to get rid of soft drinks and snacks that are sold to raise money.

I guess it seems kind of obvious to me that healthier foods are better for children and should be the options available for our kids.  But then I started to think about the statement made that soft drinks and snacks were sold to raise money for schools.  What does this say about our education system that sugar filled, zero nutritious value foods are sold in order to put money in the school budget?

Congress requested that the Institute of Medicine look into this issue.  Perhaps Congress should appropriate more money for the education system in America so our local schools don’t have to stoop to selling carbonated drinks in order to purchase what is needed.

I’m not trying to make any kind of political statement here.  This is one parent speaking from the heart.  If our schools have to sell the very foods that are hurting our children to our children in order to make money for our children then that’s a very said situation.  If Congress wants to address the problem of childhood obesity in America then maybe they should start by funding our schools better.  How about providing education about healthy eating to our children?

I found a great web site called The Sneaky Chef. It’s run by Missy Chase Lapine (the sneaky chef herself) and gives some ideas as to how you can get fruits and vegetables into your children’s meals without their knowledge. There are a few recipes on her web site, but she has also published a book called The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids Favorite Meals. There are a bunch of recipes as well as some make-ahead sauces (for lack of a better word) you can add to meals you make for your children (like macaroni and cheese) to make them healthy and full of some good nutrients. On her web site there’s also a hint as to how you can make brownies healthier for your children. Who doesn’t love brownies?

Vitamins are organic substances needed by the body for healthy development and growth. Our bodies are unable to produce them ourselves, so we need to get vitamins from outside sources. There are two ways to get vitamins: through a healthy, balanced diet and through nutritional supplements.

Most children will get the vitamins they need through their diet. Up until about the age of one children get the vitamins and nutrients they need from formula and breast milk. Once children begin eating regular food there becomes the concern about vitamin intake. Many processed foods have little vitamin content, and many families are too busy to have the time to make proper balanced meals so eating out becomes more frequent.

If you are concerned about your toddler’s diet, ask your pediatrician if she recommends a multi vitamin supplement for your child. She can prescribe a vitamin for you (and the cost usually isn’t too prohibitive). If she does not recommend you give your child a vitamin then you don’t need to do so. Toddlers are pretty good at getting the nutrition they need. Remember that the serving size of foods for toddlers is much smaller than that for an older child or adult, and that your toddler is not growing at the same rate as she was when she was an infant.

Ask your pediatrician what she recommends. If she thinks your toddler could benefit from a multi vitamin then go ahead and use one. Do not rely on the vitamin supplement to be the sole source of vitamins for your toddler. Keep offering your child healthy foods and they will be able to get the vitamins they need from the foods they eat.

Children, when between the ages of 2 to 6, often go on what is known as a food jag. A food jag is when a child will only eat one food and eats it at every meal, or a child stops eating foods that were their favorites only a few days ago. A food jag can happen if your child begins getting bored with what you serve them, or more likely it’s a way for your toddler to exert her independence. She’s deciding what she wants to eat.

Refusing to eat a meal can be a way a toddler is trying to control her parents. She won’t eat the meal served to the rest of the family so Mom jumps up and cooks her a favorite meal (whatever it is). Your child has just controlled your behavior.

It’s important to remain low key when your child is on a food jag. Don’t make a big deal out of the fact that your three year old has had grilled cheese sandwiches for every meal this past week. Your child will become bored with the food and the food jag will eventually end. If you show a reaction to it then your child might not change the behavior since she has gotten your attention.

While your child is “controlling” what she eats, you can control what food is served. Offer her the desired food, but also offer her small portions of other healthy foods. It often takes a child 10 to 20 tastes of a new food before she will accept it, so don’t worry if she doesn’t like broccoli the first time it is served. Praise your child for trying new foods, but don’t punish them for not eating something on her plate.

Our taste buds develop as we age, so don’t worry if your toddler won’t eat many different types of foods. As long as you continue to provide healthy foods and set a good example by eating a balanced diet your toddler will grow out of these food jags.

So what is the right serving size for foods for toddlers? The experts will tell you that a serving is about 1 tablespoon for every year of age, so a serving of vegetables for a 2 year old would be 2 tablespoons. For a two year old child, some examples of the serving sizes of foods would be:

• ½ egg
• ¼ cup cooked or cold cereal
• ¼ cup pasta
• ½ cup milk
• ½ slice bread
• 1 ounce of cooked meat

For children over two years old the Food Pyramid suggests the following amounts of food be consumed on a daily basis:

• 6 ounces grains
• 2 ½ cups vegetables
• 1 ½ cups fruit
• 3 cups dairy products (over age 8 – for children under age 8 it is 2 cups)
• 5 ounces meat or beans

You can check out the USDA web site for more information on the food pyramid.

The free baby formula samples you can get are:

Enfamil Nutramigen LIPIL, which is a baby formula designed to help children suffering from colic.

Enfamil Gentlease LIPIL, which is a baby formula for children that are fussy or have problems with gas.

Enfamil A.R. Lipil, which is a baby formula that helps children prone to frequent spit ups.

All you need to do to get your free baby formula sample is to click on the print button on this page and bring it to your pediatrician. You can ask your pediatrician if any of these free baby formula samples would be appropriate for your child. Bring the baby formula coupon to your pediatrician and redeem it for the sample of the Enfamil formula most suited for your baby.

Why not take a second and print out this free baby formula coupon? It might be just the ticket to help your baby with problems like colic, frequent spit ups or fussiness and gas.

I guess I thought I would have all this “free time” on my hands, staying at home. I could make some great meals from scratch. Wouldn’t it be a trip to have a pork roast on Tuesday evening, complete with fresh rolls and dessert? Well, my fantasy of having free time was shattered pretty quickly. My time is spent with the boys and what time I have while they are napping is spent doing laundry and cleaning the house.

I also had this notion that the toddler boys would wait until dinner was ready to eat. Boy was I wrong! When my guys are hungry they are hungry right then and there. You better have something ready to go or they are going to have a fit.

Since I need to have healthy meals ready to go on short notice, I started doing some thinking about what I could do to make it easier on me (and easier on my ear drums). Here are a few things I do and some suggestions I’ve read:

Prepare meals ahead of time. My boys love meatloaf. What I do now is use a mini-loaf pan (8 mini loaves per pan) to prepare the meatloaf. 1.5 pounds of ground beef make 8 mini loaves, and I use the recipe in the Betty Crocker cookbook. Instead of cooking them for an hour or hour and 15 minutes I cook them at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. The boys have one loaf for dinner that day, and then I have seven in reserve in the freezer. You can do this with just about any meal – wimpies, lasagna, etc.

Use pre-packaged food. I would spend a lot of time and effort making home made meatballs. One day I thought I would give the frozen ones a try – and they liked them better than mine! Be careful of the salt content in the foods you buy pre-packaged to make sure it isn’t too bad on your children.

Store made chickens. Whoever came up with this concept is a millionaire. You can use one of the chickens for dinner one night, cut the meat off the bone to make chicken salad for the next day’s lunch, and then throw the carcass into a soup pot to make chicken noodle soup (which you can freeze for other meals).

Have a few meals you can make well and quickly. What about quesadillas? Grilled cheese sandwiches with canned vegetables? Pasta noodles and jar sauce? You get the idea – things that don’t take a huge amount of time to cook but taste good and are kid friendly.

Don’t be afraid to have breakfast for dinner. Slice up some fresh fruit and serve with yogurt while you cook up some eggs, pancakes or French toast for your children. Kids get a big kick out of eating these foods for dinner.

Finally, if all else fails, head for the Spaghetti-O’s. I’ve done it. It’s not the best meal for your children but heck, once in a while it’s not going to kill them.

With a little bit of planning and thought you can come up with some meals that are healthy, tasty and quick to make. Why spend hours in the kitchen every day, if you can take a few hours one night or on the weekend to get your food ready for the week?

Store bought baby food has two disadvantages – it is often expensive and some of it contains preservatives you may not want your baby to have. Some parents prefer to give their baby organic items. If this is the case, you can save money and give your baby healthier food by taking the time to make your own delicious baby food.

What you will need to make your own homemade baby food:

A steamer. It will be better to steam the baby’s vegetables rather than boil them. When vegetables are boiled, many of the nutrients are taken away. With steaming, it leaves in all the vitamins and minerals the baby needs.

A food processor. While you may be able to use a blender for some foods, you will probably find it does not puree the food enough for the baby. Plus, a blender is often more messy than a food processor.

Ice cube trays, freezer bags, and space in your freezer. To prevent from cooking and processing food each day, you will want to make up several days then freeze it. That way, you will be able to put the food in the microwave to warm it easily. Using ice cube trays allow you to make small, convenient sized portions.

Before you start, make sure you wash the fruits or vegetables carefully then remove the skin. If you dislike the skinning and peeling, you can purchase prepared foods at the grocery store, such as baby carrots. Cut the item into small pieces.

Next, if you are dealing with vegetables, you will want to steam them. After you steam them, retain the water. It can be used later if the food is too thick. If you are cooking meat or pasta, cook it as you normally would but remember to avoid oil or spices. Even salt and pepper should be avoided. If you have leftovers from your dinner, you can save them to make baby food as well.

Once you have steamed the vegetables, you are ready to process them. Most fruits do not need to be steamed before they can be processed. Put the items in the food processor and puree until it has the smoothness for which you are looking. You may want to stir it with a spoon to check for lumps.

After pureeing the food, you will need to store it. Food that you plan to use immediately or within the next day or so can be stored in the refrigerator. But, if you are making up a batch for a later date, you will need to pour it into an ice cube tray then freeze it.

After the portions freeze, you can remove them from the ice cube trays then place about four cubes in one freezer bag. You may want to keep the different types of items separate at first, but later on, you may want to combine veggies and meat or pasta in the same bag to provide a balanced meal.

Once you are ready to feed the baby, simply pop one of the cubes into the microwave to heat it. If you don’t have a microwave or don’t want to use one, you can heat it up by placing the bag in saucepan full of hot water.

With just a little time and effort, you can have flavorful, nutritious, inexpensive meals for your baby.

You can stop the middle age spread! Here are some things you can do to help yourself.

Exercise. There’s no getting around it – in order to stay healthy and lose weight you need to exercise. You don’t need to hit the gym five days a week doing major weight training. You can begin the road to health with simple walking. Experts say that the people most likely to gain weight are those who don’t exercise, so get out your sneakers and give it a try. Start out with 20 minutes a day several days a week, working up to 30 or more minutes most days every week. It’s advisable to have a physical and speak with your doctor before starting any exercise routing to make sure you are healthy enough to exercise.

Diet. Make the most of the calories you take into your body. Lean meats, chicken, and low fat dairy products are good choices not only to satisfy you but to help you burn calories. Your metabolism changes as you get older, so the diet you followed in your 20s isn’t necessarily the best diet for your 40s. Your doctor is a great resource to consult before changing your diet.

Keeping your stress level in check is a good way to also help you fight the middle age spread. I know from personal experience that when I get stressed I eat – and I don’t eat good foods I eat chocolate! If you can keep your mental balance you can help to prevent this stress induced eating.

Getting older doesn’t mean getting heavier. With a little attention and work you can prevent the middle age spread!