Back to School: 5 Ways to Help Kids Develop Healthy Habits

Dear Body Buds,

I love seeing the posts and comments on social media from my friends and family who have children heading back to school. It seems the overwhelming consensus is that parents love their children and love spending time with them, but are also able to be more structured and spend a little more time on their hobbies and work when the kids are back in school. Seems like a win-win to me!

It may not come as a shock to you that America’s childhood obesity rates are sky-rocketing. As a coach who has worked with multiple obese children ages 8-16, I need you to know how severely their health and appearance impacts them and their life from a very young age. Children already have it tough—they don’t need the emotional baggage of being ridiculed and made fun of, they don’t need the lack of confidence that comes from feeling “ugly” or “fat,” and they most certainly do not need the disapproving words from their parents. Please seek to always use positive and uplifting words with your children.

If your child needs some changes in their health habits, use it as an opportunity to teach and lead by example, not to tell or command. This will cause even greater resentment in the child and cause them to pull away from you, turning to their unhealthy habits with more intensity. I’ve seen this cycle happen over and over and need you, as the parent, to understand the importance of your role in this situation.

So how can you teach and lead by example? What if you, yourself, are not eating as you should and are leading by example in the wrong direction? I’d like to offer a few tips on helping you and your children develop healthy habits as they head back to school. Realizing each of you have different living situations, financial and emotional budgets, I hope you will choose even just one principle on which to focus—a concept or focus that may make a big difference for you and your child/children.

Me with a few of my nephews and nieces during a family reunion weekend.

1. Prepare a Power Foods Lifestyle breakfast.

A Power Foods Lifestyle breakfast is a PVC meal (protein, veggie, carb). Protein in the morning will help your child feel fuller longer, carbohydrates in the morning will give their brain the glucose it needs to learn and understand new concepts in the classroom, and veggies will provide your child with vitamins and minerals they need to function optimally and healthily. Consider one of the 5 recipes from the Power Foods Lifestyle Recipe Book, Volume 1: Cinnamon and Banana pancakes, Zucchini Hashed Browns, Cinni Scramble or for faster grab-n-go options, try out the Egg Muffin or Yam Pancakes. You can purchase the recipe book on the Products page of www.body-buddies.com. Does it take longer to make breakfast versus dishing out cold cereal? Yes. But you are the parent and you have a responsibility. Love your children enough to wake up 20 minutes earlier and prepare them a healthy breakfast. The impact on their long-term health, learning and education, and confidence as a person will be great.

2. Pack equal parts vegetables with a sweet treat for lunches.

Sure, it’s easy to throw in a packet of cookies, oatmeal crème pies, fruits snacks, or ho-hos. But it’s not as easy to throw in the veggies, is it? Find out which veggies your child will eat (because we don’t want them just chucking them in the nearest garbage can, do we?) and seek to give them those veggies, while introducing 1-2 new veggies each week only. Stick to carrots, sweet peppers, celery, cucumbers, and zucchini sticks as these are some of the veggies kids will eat (over the dreaded broccoli and spinach!) But more than providing the veggies, seek to help your child understand why you are packing them in their lunch. Help them understand that it’s food for their brain and will help them think better and feel better. Give them a task to tell their friends about how important veggies are too. You never know how children can take a task and make a mission out of it!

3. Provide vegetables or fruits for after-school snacks before sweet treats.

I remember coming home from school as a child to a plate of cut-up veggies on the counter. Hungry from school, I immediately grabbed a fistful before I ever dropped my backpack and removed my shoes. My mom usually always had a batch of homemade freshly baked bread, cookies, cinnamon rolls, or something delicious. But veggies were promoted and required just as often as we were allowed a sweet treat. It’s important not to deprive your children from sweets, but to use moderation and if/then statements of restriction. For example: If you eat a handful of carrots then you may have one cookie.

4. Encourage water as the choice beverage, and fruit juice or soda as a reward.

While fruit juice is marketed as healthy, it is FULL OF SUGAR. Please do me a favor and flip over the label of one of the drinks your child is drinking. If it is over 5 grams (good for us when we are working to drop body fat) or 10 grams (pretty average for children), then we should heavily evaluate if this is a drink for an everyday occasion or a special treat or reward once in a while. Soda should be used as a reward—perhaps a Friday or Saturday night treat, instead of an expectation. Be careful not to suddenly adopt this principle if you are a heavy soda-drinking family. Perhaps start off with one day each week that you say is a “no soda day.” The next week, add another week. Make it a family goal, and ask your child/children what he or she thinks about it. Discuss the impacts on your body and how soda weakens your bones and can lead to sickness and illness as well as weight gain.

5. Plan traditional indulgence meals as a family.

What if your kids were to look forward to Thursday nights as that was Pizza night, or Fast Food night, or one of our more “indulgent” meals rather than expecting or getting those types of fattening, health-debilitating foods every night? Yes, it takes more work for you to grocery shop, prepare, and serve a healthy dinner. But this can be very simple and easy—especially when you spend an hour or two on Saturdays or Sundays to prepare some staples for the week (chop veggies, mass cook chicken/beef/turkey, prepare a casserole or two, or make a large pot of soup). Consider one of the 5 FAST and EASY recipes from the Power Foods Lifestyle Recipe Book, Volume 1: Crispy Chicken Nuggets, Curry Chicken Volcanoes, Spinach Enchiladas, Happy Shepherd’s Pie, and Nacho Momma’s Taco Salad.

I hope you will consider any of these principles and the adoption of them into you and your family’s lifestyle. Just as the well-known saying goes, you cannot eat an elephant all at once—you must eat it one bite at a time. Don’t expect to change your family’s habits all at once. It starts with one thing at a time—baby steps—that move forward in progress until one day, you look back and see how far you have come.

The other best-kept secret for helping kids develop healthy habits is when YOU take control of your own life and make an effort to fuel yourself correctly and be active. Is it time for you to join my next Power Foods Lifestyle 8-week Challenge? Head over to the Power Foods Lifestyle tab on this website and register today for a one-time $30 fee. Over the course of the 8 week Challenge, I will provide you with a meal plan and grocery list each week, a weekly fitness challenge, and several email video trainings each week to help you learn and master the educational and logical part of this—debunking the many myths that are common in the health and weight-loss industry today.

I’m your bud, and I want to see you succeed! I want to see your children running around, healthy, vibrant, and happy! And I want to see you running around with them!

Remember—b...a...b...y... s...t...e...p...s.

You can do this.

Love your bud,

Kristy Jo

*Information in this article is provided for informational purposed and is not meant to substitute the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professional. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

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