Eat it up.

Last post, I covered the first habit that I know kids need to have to be healthy. This post, I want to cover the second most important thing we can teach our children.

Healthy Habit # 2 - Teach your kids how to eat healthy.

Nutrition, the discussion of it, and the business of it, are a big (pun intended) topic in this country. Multiples of a billion dollars are spent on diets, supplements, and the like. Given that we spend so much more on these types of foods and ingredients, we should be one of the thinnest nations around right? As it turns out we are one of the fattest and sickest in the world.
How can it be that so much money is spent and so many people remain overweight? The answer is simple. People do not know what to eat, and they do not know what to feed their kids.
I’m going to tell you exactly what to do in order to make sure your kids develop some healthy eating habits. Ready?

1) Eat real food.
2) Do not eat food that isn’t real.
3) Eat more often
4) Eat less

Real food. Food that isn’t made in a factory. It comes from the ground, grows on trees, etc. Food made in factories = not real food. Stay away from it. I don’t care what the wrapper says. Teach your kids to enjoy real food and you give them an incredible edge against obesity and general health.

By eating every few hours, rather than engorging ourselves on 2-3 meals per day, we spread out our caloric loading. This allows our metabolism to burn throughout the day, rather than loading it down. Also, when we eat more often, we eat less per meal. This helps to prevent binging, increases metabolic rate, and lessens the impact a nutritionally weak (pound cake) meal will have on our bodies.

Is this convenient? No. Can it be done? Yes. Health isn’t convenient, and it’s rarely fun. You know what else isn’t fun? Kids trudging along a lifetime of sugar and processed food induced heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and depression. That isn’t fun either. I’m not being apocalyptic, the numbers don’t lie.

In unrelated news :

Fink Chiropractic Center: We give away trophies.

Big Jack ain't happy.