Tag Archive for: children

Last Was First

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What was the roar I told you about in the last message? It was for the last runner of the Grand Rapids Kids Marathon. You can see him in the group picture: the kid on the far right with the walker in the cool shades. I don’t know exactly what his condition is; most likely a muscular disorder of some sort. But that didn’t stop him from participating.

His mom accompanied him the whole way. When he came through the aid station, he wanted a cup . . .

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Kids Marathon

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One of the requirements of a triathlon training group I belong to is to volunteer at a running or other event. This past weekend, the Grand Rapids Marathon held a Kids Marathon. I was in—not just to help, but experience what this type of event is like.

The idea is this: kids run or walk at least one mile, three times a week, with a friend or family member and track their progress on a training sheet that goes through mile 25. On race weekend, the children run or walk the last 1.2 miles of the marathon distance . . .

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School Daze

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Tuesday was the first day of school in Grand Rapids. I’m sure the kids were excited, at least the younger ones; I think the parents were a little excited as well. In fact, my observation was that they were a little dazed. It seems they have lost all sense of traffic and parking laws in their quest to get kids to school.

When I went out for my run, 200 yards on both sides of my street were filled with cars near the intersection with the main road. Parents were walking their children into the first day of school . . .

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Breastfeeding? Take Vitamin D

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To recap the week, breastfed infants do not appear to be getting enough vitamin D. Neither the moms nor the infants are exposed to enough sunlight to make their own vitamin D, especially in winter. Moms who breastfeed and don’t supplement their infants with vitamin D don’t have adequate amounts of vitamin D in their breast milk. That leaves a logical question: what happens if the moms supplement their diet with vitamin D? Two recent studies asked that very question.

In the first study, Australian researchers gave pregnant women either a placebo, 1,000 IU vitamin D3, or . . .

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Vitamin D for Babies

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The next logical question is this: if babies aren’t getting enough vitamin D from breast milk, will supplementing the babies’ diet with vitamin D3 increase vitamin D levels? Researchers examined data collected from the TARGet Kids! primary healthcare research network, a large cross-sectional study conducted in Canada, to answer the question.

The researchers examined data from over 2,500 breastfeeding mothers and infants who had vitamin D levels checked regularly. Those infants who were supplemented with vitamin D while breastfed had higher levels of vitamin D than those who were breastfed without taking a vitamin D supplement. The . . .

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Healthier Eating for Kids

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In the last message before Labor Day, I wanted to provide you with a few references to help your kids eat better. It’s something that I’ve never done before but frankly, I just don’t know everything and I’m not going to live long enough to learn it all. I hate that, but every man’s got to know his limitations. Yes, that’s one of my favorite movie quotes.

Two are books that I referenced in earlier webinars; the other two are books by long-time readers who are passionate about helping kids eat healthy. I . . .

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Kids’ Lunches

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Schools have either begun or are about to begin after Labor Day, so let’s stick to our topic from last week, kids and food.

School lunches have been in the headlines. In a recently published study, researchers compared the amounts of fruits and vegetables kids put on their trays and ate before and after the National School Lunch Program rules mandated every student should eat more fruits and vegetables. The headlines suggested that kids took more, ate less, and threw away more. Sounds bad? They took 0.20 cups more fruits and vegetables (about 24 blueberries), ate 0.06 . . .

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Teaching Kids to Cook

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When it comes to teaching kids to cook, the primary thing to consider is safety. I’m not giving a three-year-old sharp knives nor letting a five-year-old operate a stove. Common sense has to reign supreme. The best approach is to start with basics.

Before we get to that, you have to understand that it’s going to be messy and it’s going to take a lot longer. Those are givens. It may be better to pick one afternoon or evening to dedicate to cooking with your kids, creating soups, casseroles, and crockpot meals for . . .

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When I Was a Kid…

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I began cooking young, probably around 10 or so. My grandmother was a cook; not a chef by today’s standards, but a very, very good cook. She worked as the head cook in the cafeteria of a manufacturing company back in the day when they had such things. She also worked weekends at a private-park kitchen; think of it as a place where companies held summer picnics for their employees. In addition to that, she and my mother also catered weddings.

I had a single mom who worked second shift, and we lived with my grandparents who were . . .

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Kids and Cooking

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Many people are still finishing up their vacations so I thought I’d tackle something a little lighter than a complicated study this week. Sometimes I’m bombarded with so many events and observations, a message theme just appears; recent events are pointing me to kids and cooking.

First, it’s back-to-school time. What seemed to begin the day after school let out—the back-to-school sales—has kept kids in every ad and commercial.

Second, the NBC show Foodfighters featured a 12-year-old girl who was inspired to cook healthier meals when her . . .

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