Do you remember watching Saturday morning cartoons when you were a kid? The best thing about it sometimes was watching all of the different commercials for candies and cereal. Times have not changed much. Many parents still use the boob tube as a built in babysitter on Saturday morning. However unlike back when we were kids it is not so permissible diet wise to consume so many sugary foods. Yet these commercials play endlessly on Saturday mornings so your kids will bother you to eat some.
According to the Cleveland Health News most of the programming your kid’s watch on Saturday morning is for foods that have lousy nutritional content. Researchers at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, (known as the Food Police) and student researchers the University of Minnesota studied a sample of 27.5 hours of show directed at pre-school and elementary school-aged children. They found four straight hours of what your kids could watch on Saturday morning was nothing more that food commercials. The programming sample came from the major networks so it is likely that they were watching what every kid in America watches on a Saturday morning. Talk abuts brain washing!
In fact, they found that 49 percent of the 4 hours of advertising was for food, and that 91 percent of food ads were for foods or beverages high in fat, sodium, or added sugars, or low in nutrients. These included advertisements for everything from potato chips to dessert items to soups.
Of the 281 food ads included in the sample, 59 percent were for products with higher levels of added sugar. One in five of the foods advertised had higher total fat content, levels of saturated plus trans fat, and sodium. As you may have guessed a lot of these ads were for take out food places like MacDonald’s, Taco Bell and the like.
The food police concluded that this advertising mainly promoted unhealthy nutrition and that there were next to no ads marketing fruits, vegetables, low fat dairy products or whole grains. This of course may solve the mystery as to why our children seem to be so out of it when it comes to eating healthy food and so wildly desirous of junk foods, potato chips, creamy foods and snack foods.
One of the things that are sad about all of this is that it is just as easy to make an apple look “sexy” to a child, as it is a Big Mac. The problem is that there is no money or motivation to make health foods look good to your kids on television. Psychologically these junk food ads can do a lot of damage as they train your kids to desire the wrong types of foods. They create cravings where they need not exist and once your kid gets the food they then create physical cravings for sugar and fat as well. Seeing the imagery for the food is what initiates the whole toxic cycle in the first place. Perhaps in Canada they have the right idea by getting these commercials banned in the first place.
Children who have been diagnosed with ADD can be disruptive to say the least. Parents are often tempted to use corporal punishment because they feel that nothing less will get a child’s attention. Parents will try everything from emotional black mail to ignoring the problem to care taking in order to try and manage the situation. I know from experience with my nine year old that nothing seems to work.
Unfortunately, individuals with ADD do not respond well to any kind of punishment, whether it is corporeal or emotional. In the case of children, attempting to discipline them with violent acts only teaches them that violence is the best way to resolve conflicts. You cannot teach an individual with ADD to be accountable for their actions. All you can really do is minimize the heart-rending guilt that they feel when they do commit a misdeed.
Many parents of ADHD children are still waiting for their child’s case of the “terrible twos” to be over even after the child has reached adolescence. These impulsive and hyperactive children are often unable to “look before they leap” and cause serious safety threats to the entire family. As children with ADHD are also usually very creative and intelligent, it is difficult to quell their curiosity. They are always getting into medicine cabinets, trying to cook supper on their own and seeing how high they can climb up a tree. To make things worse some ADHD children have perceptual, coordination and balance disorders that affects their judgment when it comes to determining whether or not they are about to put themselves in a precarious position. This also leads to a lot of spills, breakage and loss of valuable property. I should know my nine-year is like a bull in China shop.
Individuals with ADD or ADHD can also cause serious emotional rifts between yourself and other members of your family. For instance, siblings of a child with ADD can act up because they feel they deserve the same kind of attention and focus that is given to the child who is misbehaving all the time. They may also resent the child and shun them from their social circle because they are embarrassed by his or her behavior. Physical and emotional injuries are frequent as conflicts break out between frustrated siblings and baffled sufferers of ADD. My older children are furious I spend so much time withy troubled nine year old.
Parents and spouses of ADD afflicted individuals may also find themselves taking a lot of heat for the behavior of there loved ones. Parents may be admonished by grand parents and friends and advised to discipline the child more often. Some parents may suffer from low self-esteem as the result of repeated accusations of not knowing how to raise a child. Some ADD children scream and act out so much that the neighbors and teachers suspect the parents of abuse. Teachers may also suspect a negligent or abusive family life is behind the child’s disturbed behavior. As the parent of one of these possibly ADD kids I can tell you that this is definitely not the case. I am a good mother. Still it can be hard to tell others why your kid acts up so much.
If you are concerned about nutrition, and of course you are because you are a mother then you will want feed your kids the foods that are most packed with vitamins yet at the same time won’t cause your kids to gain weight. Best of all the foods on this list pack the most punch when it comes to vitamins and enriching your child’s diet.
Maximize your nutrition and minimize your waistline by eating hose
1. Broccoli - Contains lots of vitamin C, carotenoids*, and folic acid (needed to metabolize iron). I make a soup with pureed broccoli and add lots of cheddar cheese so the kids like it.
2. Beans - Inexpensive, low in fat, and rich in protein, iron, folic acid, and fiber. Choose garbanzo, pinto, black, Navy, kidney or lentils. Eat them as a side dish or snack, in a tortilla with salsa, or in a soup. I mix them in Taco hamburger mix so my kids get the benefits. They think they are eating junk food but they are night.
3. Cantaloupe - A quarter of this delicious melon supplies almost as much vitamin A and C as most people need in an entire day. You can make a great shake with a touch of milk, ice and cubes of cantaloupe whipped up in a blender.
4. Fat-free (skim) or low-fat (1% but not 2%) milk - AN excellent source of calcium, vitamins and protein with little or no artery-clogging saturated fat and cholesterol. (Soymilk can have just as many nutrients.) I add chocolate powder with vitamins, such as Nesquik to boost the nutritional quotient higher.
5. Oranges - Rich in vitamin C, folic acid, and fiber. Freeze mandarin segments with grapes for a special treat.
6. Salmon - The omega-3 fats in fish, especially fatty fresh fish like salmon, swordfish, and rainbow trout, can help reduce the risk of sudden-death heart attacks.
7. Spinach, Kale, Collard Greens - load with vitamin C, carotenoids, fiber and calcium that your body can actually absorb. I admit this is harder to get the kids to eat. Try adding salt and vinegar to steamed versions.
8. Sweet Potatoes - They’re loaded with carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber. Mix in unsweetened applesauce or crushed pineapple for extra moisture and sweetness.
9. 100% Whole-Grain Bread - It’s higher in fiber and about a dozen vitamins and minerals than enriched while bread or “wheat” bread. Look for whole-grain crackers that have the word “whole” in the first ingredient on the nutrition label.
10. Pineapple - Contains plenty of Vitamin A, fiber and an enzyme that breaks down foods efficiently for digestion. Mix it with yogurt if your child finds the taste of it too be too tart. I also bake it into cakes and muffins.
Stick to these foods and not only will you have a kid that looks less like a couch potato but you will be leaner and meaner yourself.
