How to Raise a Healthy Child

“The percentage of overweight children in the United States is growing at an alarming rate, with 1 out of 3 kids now considered overweight or obese.”

Are your children hooked on electronics?

Hours and hours of video games, on the phone with friends, on the computer chatting with friends and too much junk food can lead to overweight children and later overweight adults. You already knew this and it’s no wonder with all the “excess” in this world today.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average child is watching about 3 hours of television a day. And the average kid spends 5½ hours on all screen media combined (TV, videos and DVDs, computer time outside of schoolwork, and video games). (1)

The combination of to much excess and not enough of the healthy components can leave your child lethargic, depressed and unhappy. What follows is craving more of the bad stuff like TV, candy, fast food, and more junk.

How can I get my kids to exercise?

Don’t refer to exercise as exercise. Just ask them if they want to go play outside or ride their bike. Children love to play and run. They don’t know that playing tag and soccer is exercise. Well, not consciously anyway.

Adults usually think of exercise as something negative, a chore, something like a never ending treadmill session. For children, exercise is fun. Remember your school recess? Running after others, being chased by your friends, ( hopefully they were playing a game of tag!), skipping rope and so forth. Remember how much fun you had climbing trees and spending hours outside with classmates monkeying around on play structures?

How important is outside play to children?

You as a parent can provide the happy childhood you had to your children, by replacing the negative habits with positive ones.

Let them play almost everyday outside, even if there is a chill in the air or it’s rainy. I understand how that might not seem like fun to you, but hear me out. Children love to play in wet leaves, in puddles and on forest trails. Why not, how much harm can they get into if it’s a little wet outside. Put them in warm clothing, a pair of rain boots and a hat. Fresh air detoxifies the lungs and body and can clear your mind.

Exercise doesn’t only control obesity, exercise helps them:

• develop stronger muscles and bones (1)
• have a leaner body because exercise helps control body fat (1)
• decrease the risk of developing type 2 diabetes dramatically (1)
• possibly lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels (1)
• fell positive about themselves (1)
• fit in better with their peers (1)

How to spot dehydration symptoms in my child?

The human body is about 60% water. It is necessary for our health and well-being. Water is part of our cells, blood, digestion, and waste elimination. Water also controls cravings. We can’t live more than a few days without water – water is life.

Too little water can lead to dehydration and the following symptoms:

• Fatigue
• Headache
• Dry mouth
• Dry and itchy eyes
• Muscle weakness
• Dizziness
• Lightheadedness
• Lack of concentration
• Overeating

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Apple – Celeriac and Strawberry Salad

What you’ll need:

• 1 celeriac root
• 1 apple
• 3 medium carrots
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
• 5 strawberries
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 lemon
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• little mint

Put it all together:

1. peel the celeriac root and carrot
2. grate celeriac, carrot and apple in the food processor
3. set it aside
4. in a bowl, mix the orange juice, lemon juice, olive oil together
5. mix the vegetables with the dressing
6. cut the strawberries into slices
7. mince the mint
8. mix the rest of the ingredients
9. you can garnish each serving with more mint leaves, pumpkin seeds or more strawberries

Enjoy!

Stay Healthy!

Monika Baechler

Cert. Nutrition Specialist

Some Parents ought to be slapped!

Enough is enough. When will parents realize that they are responsible for the health of their children and their grandchildren. Stop feeding your kids fast foods, Take-Outs and microwave oven meals! All I hear is whining and complaining from parents who say that they don’t have time, money or the know-how to prepare a homemade meal? Really, that is your excuse? Isn’t it just laziness? North Americans watch three, four or five shows at night and during the day and it adds up to 13 years in one’s lifetime. The weekends are mostly reserved for TV and food, they sit around on the weekends doing nothing. How is it possible that there is no time to care for our children’s health or your own health for that matter?

You are the parents and you only make the decision what to feed your kids. Not the other way around. “But I feel so guilty if I don’t take her/him to McDonald’s for lunch”. Is that your final answer? You feel guilty? Don’t you think you should feel actually guilty for taking your child there in the first place? I do get it, It’s so much easier, faster and more convenient to drive up and let them eat what they want. At least they leave you alone for a while. Right?

What about, “I’m just not a great cook! I have no idea how to prepare a nutritious meal from scratch!” This answer is unacceptable as well, with all the different cooking shows out there and youtube videos you can not be serious. Better yet, ask your neighbor, your friend, your mom or aunt to teach you. It is so simple to take action and responsibility. If your mother didn’t teach you how to cook homemade meals – shame on her too. Don’t make the same mistake.

Would you let your kids eat from a garbage pile? Why not? You’re already feeding your children dead food. You heard me “DEAD FOOD”. There is nothing nourishing in a burger with fries. It has been processed, poisoned and killed. Oh, excuse me, you are feeding your kids the chicken nuggets with apples and milk. Well of course, that does sounds much better! The nuggets are all leftover garbage meat (if you actually can call it meat), filled with poison like antibiotics and other medicine, shaped in a neat little shape and then fried in hot, rancid, carcinogenic oil bath. The apples are soaked in chlorine so they don’t turn brown and the milk is filled with lots and lots of more chemicals, antibiotics and hormones to really make sure that your kids get the daily toxin and poison requirement of the day. There you have it! The perfect meal for your precious little one, a child you brought into this world  whom you promised to take care of with all your strength and means.

Whole foods are simple, inexpensive, wholesome and a necessity to our and our children’s health. Period.

Whole foods are simple, inexpensive, wholesome and a necessity to our and our children’s health. Period. Most behavior problems arise from malnutrition and deficiencies. What about learning difficulties or social problems. Even allergies like asthma will be gone by providing our children with home made foods from whole foods, the way mother nature made them. (not your local fast food chain)Now you can argue with me about this topic all you want, and if you do argue with me, that means that you are feeding your children manufactured crap and you are trying to defend your actions and thoughts.

The only right thing to do here is to acknowledge your mistakes and work towards a healthier and more nutritious home for your kids and family.

With that said, I do believe that mothers can make a change if they are organized and are taught how to do it right. Why do I say Mothers? Well, Mom is the Head of the household. She buys the food, brings it home and cooks the food (zapping it in the microwave). Not only does the Mother buy the groceries but she also budgets the food money (sometimes anyway).

Every time you’re thinking about the next meal, I want you to have one thought: Would Monika approve of this meal I’m about give my family? If the answer is “no” or “maybe not”, I want you to rethink your menu. Wholesome meals are very easy to prepare, they sometimes take less time and money then ordering from your local pizza delivery place. Think about it! Sometimes I spend less then $20 on three days of groceries. Vegetables, whole grains and fruits are not more expensive than manufactured crap that comes in a box. Take out all the processed foods off your grocery list and only add whole grains like millet, brown rice and whole wheat pasta (there is more), vegetables and fruits. Your bill will be much, much less.

Eating healthy, nutritious home cooked meals is less expensive

This morning for example: it was fast, delicious and inexpensive

Breakfast Banana Smoothie with dates

• 2 bananas
• 2 cups almond milk
• 3 dates
• 2 tbsp silken tofu
• add 2 servings of green+ (green food supplement)

blend everything until smooth, done! The boys gobble it up in seconds, and I mean seconds!

Grain and vegetables dishes and fruit dessert are not only feeding the mind and body, they also feed the soul. If you feed your children’s soul, you will experience a more balanced family life without frustration and conflicts. Some kids are very angry and troubled because of malnutrition, deficiencies and toxic livers. Whole grains and vegetables will balance hormones and toxic blood from over acidity.

One more thought. If you’re still using dairy products, make sure you are only choosing organic whole milk. Organic means without any antibiotics or hormones given to the cows. Just to be clear, dairy is not a necessary food group. Not even for children – specially not for children. Milk is mucus forming and very hard to digest for little tummies. Children get many ear infections because of milk products as well as other allergic symptoms, but that is a topic for another blog.

Today I would like to leave you with this:

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.” Buddha

Stay Healthy!

Monika Baechler

P.S. Your pediatrician got 6 hours of Nutrition Education and I studied Nutrition and Asian Nutrition since 1999, who are you going to trust? Think about it!

Who Else Wants a Fit and Healthy Body?

“You take a small pill, one a day, and all your weight issues are gone. All you have to do is not to forget to take the pill. It’s very easy, just continue to eat what you want and sit around all day and not move your butt. We promise, in 30 days you will have lost 20 lbs or more.”

That sounds like the absolute best thing in the whole world. Healthy and slim by eating what you want and not having to move at all.

Slap…Wake up!

This dream you have set up so nicely in your head is not going to happen – EVER!

• Your body is not made to eat crap and junk.
• It’s not made to do “nothing”!
• Not made to sit in the same spot all day long!

Your body is a very precise engine that needs tuning and fuel and maintenance as well as tender loving care.

• Listen, are you just waiting around until somebody comes up with the newest and latest in weight loss drug?
• Are you waiting for the most technological weight loss machine on the planet?
• A weight loss machine, where you get hooked up and sit on the couch and lose inches?

Don’t wait any longer. There is no magic weight loss pill and for sure no magical machine that is going to help you lose weight without “sweat-equity”! I just saved you hundreds of dollars and years of yo-yo dieting.

Do you want to hear the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

• In order to lose body fat you have to eat whole foods and exercise!

There it is, this is the real plan to lose weight. I know it’s nothing new but people are always willing to spend hundreds of dollars every month to lose weight fast. Every time a new bottle of magic pill hits the weight loss market people just give up their hard earned money and buy into it. Most of the testimonials are fake or bought from other companies that actually had results with exercise and diet! Don’t be fooled by these people and companies. People who do lose weight do it with nutritional changes and adding exercise to their daily program. Sometimes they do supplement with weight loss aids to keep hunger down and energy up, I get that, but the real outcome is because they added exercise and changed their eating habits.

You don’t need any manufactured products or Over-the-Counter Drugs to lose weight!

Do this:

1. Clean, Healthy, and home cooked whole foods (80% of your success)
2. Exercise three times a week – maximum five times (20% of your success)
3. Socialize with like minded people!
4. cut out people who criticize you for who you are or for who you want to be!

I sure hope, I helped to open your eyes about weight loss pills and diets in general. It took me year and lots of money to finally give up my hope for a magic-pill and to realize that I had to hop onto the nutrition and exercise train.

After years of riding the nutrition – exercise express, I have arrived at pit stop “Health”, and I’m well on my way to destination “Lean and Fit “

Stay Healthy!

Monika Baechler

10 Secrets for a Healthy Weight

Were you wondering about the most important rules to stay healthy and fit?

This is a free list for you to keep on your fridge as a reminder. You can also refer to my Food Pyramid as guidance. My complete e-book for healthy lifestyle and positive habits is coming soon. Loosing weight is not easy and it certainly wasn’t easy for me. The rules on the list helped me get back in shape after having the kids. This ebook is free, just sign up to download, cheers.

If you are unsure about something please ask your doctor.

DOWNLOAD

“Sticking With It in 2010″ The New Years Resolution Help book

“Sticking With It in  2010″

How can you be successful and stick with your New Years Resolution past January?

8-week program to help you develop positive habits and sticking with them for life – starting today!

This is a FREE gift to you, no kidding, this 8-week program to help you with your resolutions this year is a FREE gift to you for the New Year, enjoy!

By Monika Baechler

Download for FREE

How to look 10 or 15 years younger without surgery?

You probably think, yeah right Monika, what kind of snakes oil are you selling? I’m not selling you anything but you probably spend to much on anti aging creams already, am I right? It’s the same thing in every commercial, buy our cream and you will look younger.

Yes it is true, you can make a little change with creams and serums but is it really going to make you look 10 to 15 years younger? Not very likely.

One thing I can bet my shirt on is this. Change your lifestyle and see the result. What would you pay to look 10 to 15 years younger without creams, gimmicks and no pain or recovery? To see real changes, all you need is 8 – 12 weeks. In the summer, you could be looking in the mirror and see your younger sister or your baby brother.

How am I going to do that, you ask? It is soooo easy if you follow this rule! “Don’t live life like a young person, love your life like a smart and mature one!” Now you think, how does that make sense? Let me explain. Most young people eat like crap, smoke, don’t care about their health and go party all night and stay up all night. Now the smart mature people who love themselves, will start respecting their bodies. Respecting your body and loving your life means eating nutritious food, not smoking, little or no alcohol, exercise and lots of sleep. If you can add a healthy relationship, you are set.

If you are interested in a detailed outline of the program, please let me know!

If this or an other article helped you and you enjoyed it, please donate to monikabaechler.com, thank you!