Tag Archive for healthy eating

Jennier | March 25, 2012
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Oregon Museum of Science and Industry

I am a huge zoo lover and am super pleased to be living in a city with a good zoo.  I wanted my girls to grow up loving animals as much as I do and feel frequent zoo trips will help to ensure they learn compassion for animals, not just our family pets.  Our original plan for their birthday was a zoo trip, however, weather changed our plans.  I am all for going to the zoo in the snow, but probably not such a great idea with 2 year olds that are used to the desert.

After a short discussion, it was decided to go to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.  The museum is located near downtown Portland on the waterfront.

The museum was a lot nicer than I had hoped for.  There was an area for kids to play in which allowed for hands-on interaction with exhibits.  The biggest hit was the water area.  There were many water based exhibits the kids could play with (smocks provided to protect the little ones).

There were many other exhibits including nutrition/exercise health, biology, paleontology and space.  We were unable to see all the exhibits as my girls got tired and hungry.  There was also a submarine ride which we will have to go on sometime soon.

The final exhibit we saw was about Lego’s and building with them.  It was really an art exhibit showing Nathan Sawaya’s art with Lego’s.  It is amazing to see what someone can build with Lego’s as I have never built anything more impressive than a tower.

We will definitely return soon!!

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Category: Mommy Commentary, Twin Joy | Tags: , , , , , ,
Jennier | February 9, 2012
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Kids and Curry

I often have people ask how I get my kids to eat “adult food”.  They seem amazed that my kids eat spicy foods and love veggies.  I have no real trick to it besides just offering the food to them.  When we eat, our girls are fed the same thing we are eating.  No special food is prepared for them, no begging is involved.  We give the girls a plate of food and they try it.  We don’t ask them to try it or make a fuss over it.

Today we went out with friends and their two young daughters (age 5 and 10 months).  After a long play session at the park, we ended up at an Indian restaurant. Most people would never think of taking 4 young kids to an Indian restaurant, however, our kids LOVE Indian.

 

 

 

Nicole stuffed herself full of samosas and curried chickpeas.  Nadia ate off her Dad’s plate and tried almost everything the buffet had to offer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend’s 10 month old daughter also ate a lot.  She filled up on Naan with some mild curry sauce.  Nothing cuter than a little kid with curry face.

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Jennier | January 17, 2012
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Burger King’s slippery slope

My Brother has a magnet that has always made me smile.  It says “Try Organic Food…or as your grandparents called it, ‘Food’”.  This is such a simple message, however, it is words to live by.  I have not always eaten well and at one point lived on processed food and “food” that came out of a window.  After changing how and what I eat, I feel a lot better.  It seems such an easy thing to do but so many people find ways to make it hard.

Everyone has heard people saying it is too hard to diet, it costs too much to eat fresh foods, or takes too much time to prepare home cooked meals.  It seems that it all comes down to being lazy. Many people believe it is easier to open a box of Hamburger Helper than cook noodles and make your own sauce.  It is no more work to boil noodles than to simmer noodles.  When you make your own, you can make the same amount for at least the third of the price, plus it won’t contain dangerous chemicals.

Our country has become an obese nation.  The Center for Disease Control (CDC) states that in 2010, almost 1/3 (33.8%) of adult Americans are obese.  Even scarier, within a generation the rate of childhood obesity has tripled (now 17%).  The biggest change that is most likely causing these terrifying trends is how/what we eat and the amount of exercise we get.

Today, I read an article that Burger King is testing a delivery program.  It seems that we, as a nation, are ready to take that step where we no longer need to even walk to the car to get the greasy fast food.  This program is extremely worrisome.  It is bad enough that people eat this food, but now for a small fee ($2.00) they won’t even be getting the minimal amount of exercise it takes to waddle to the car.

As parents, it is our job to teach our children how to function in the adult world.  Part of this is teaching them to eat correctly.  As a nation we are failing our children and leading them down a path of heart disease, diabetes, and all the other issues associated with inactivity and obesity.

In the Disney movie Wall e, the humans were all morbidly obese and rode on scooters.  They spent their days watching TV, eating, and having their needs taken care of by robots.  So much science fiction writing seems to come true.  I am sad to see this bit of science fiction rapidly becoming reality.

 

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Category: Mommy Commentary | Tags: , , , , , , ,
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