Last Sunday the lesson for the kids was all about what we should put into our bodies. The teacher would hold up a picture of something (for example, carrots or a cigarette) and the kids had to decide whether it was good or bad for our bodies. Carrots and cigarettes were easy enough. But when she held up the pictures of chicken nuggets and macaroni & cheese, there was definitely some confusion among the kids and even the adults.
This Sunday lesson got me thinking how greatly opinions vary on what healthy food is. Some of the more common things I've heard people disagree over: artificial sweeteners, sugar vs HFCS, dairy, meat and preservatives.
My kids have a wonderful preschool teacher. She teaches a lesson on healthy eating. She gives the children a paper plate and some pictures of different foods cut from magazines. The kids get to paste the pictures on the front of the plate if they're "Healthy Foods" and on the back if they are "Sometimes Foods". They really enjoy this activity and talk about healthy food and sometimes food for weeks after. I only wish they'd remember it when they get to Jr. High!
I sat in on a similar lesson a few weeks back and was a little surprised when the instructor put meats on the healthy side of the board. I always thought it was a sometimes food. Lots of confusion out there. Think you could do a weekly column in the local paper to clear things up! :)
ReplyDeleteLove Ms Vicki BTW! She's great!
Thanks for the great post. I like the idea of making a wheel with sometimes and healthy foods. I agree that there are a lot of foods that "sometimes" are o.k. The problem is that when those "sometimes" foods make up the majority of kids diets instead of healthy food the norm with sometimes food, well sometimes. I am going to have to try this with my little boy. Great blog by the way, I want to try your black bean burger recipe. I like these for after school snacks, every kid loves them and they are easy to make: http://www.unconventionalkitchen.com/peanut-butter-no-bake-cookies.
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