Help fight child obesity with the First Lady…

The Four Pillars of the Let’s Move Campaign

1. Healthy Choices
2. Healthier Food in Schools
3. Access to Healthy Affordable Food
4. Increasing Physical Activity

Childhood obesity or excess weight threatens the healthy future of one third of American children. We spend $150 billion every year to treat obesity-related conditions, and that number is growing.

Obesity rates tripled in the past 30 years, a trend that means, for the first time in our history, American children may face a shorter expected lifespan than their parents.

We need to get moving. Join First Lady Michelle Obama, community leaders, teachers, doctors, nurses, moms and dads in a nationwide campaign to tackle the challenge of childhood obesity.

Let’s Move! has an ambitious but important goal: to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation.

Let’s Move will give parents the support they need, provide healthier food in schools, help our kids to be more physically active, and make healthy, affordable food available in every part of our country.

Find out more about Let’s Move at their website: http://www.letsmove.gov/

Breakfast

Nutrition for kids equals good energy levels. Breakfast is supposed to provide your child with enough nutrients to get him/her through the intense activities of the morning. A donut will never be enough. Instead, make some breakfast drinks with milk, vanilla and some teaspoonfuls of honey. Or you can try combination’s of apple juice, orange juice and some wheat germs. Other suggestions here include whole-grain muffins, hard-boiled eggs and finger food vegetables.

Lunch

This is where you have to be creative. Nutrition for kids is problematic because they can throw away, trade or give food away. This usually happens when the child is too bored with what you put in the lunch box. Parents need to be inventive in order to make the kid actually look forward to lunch. Tuna fish and salmon with some vegetables are a good combination. Or if the kid prefers sandwiches and peanut butter is a favorite, you can cut them into nice shapes and stuff them with other nutritive foods such as bacon bits, chopped dates, nuts or raisins.

Snacks

When children come back from school, they are certainly in need of an energy boost. And although sweets seem the closest at hand, you should avoid sugar as much as possible. Dried fruit are great for the occasion combined with sunflower seeds, dates, coconut shavings and pretzel sticks. Popcorn can also make a great snack. And the same can be said about whole wheat crackers with cheese.

Dinner

Dinner is the best time to make nutrition for kids complete, because it allows you to create a balanced diet. Let your children taste everything that is on the table because that’s the best way to make them actually eat what they like. If the food looks attractive and interesting, you will have better chances of making children eat.

There are many ways to manage nutrition for kids adequately. You just need to be well informed and ready to cook decent meals for the family. Home food has all the premises of providing all the nutrients necessary for body growth, unlike highly processed or junk food.

In the blog post Brian highlights the common errors that personal trainers and coaches are making in their young athlete training programs – many of which he claims leads to over training syndromes…

Read the full article on the IYCA Blog

Who is Brian Grasso?

Brian Grasso is the Founder and CEO of the International Youth Conditioning Association.

A well-known, respected and outspoken leader in the youth athletic development industry, Brian has written feature articles for sport training magazines throughout North America including, Men’s Fitness, Men’s Health, SportingKid, American Track & Field and Personal Fitness Professional. Brian also contributes to the monthly British sport training publication, Successful Coaching.

An accomplished presenter, Brian provides educational seminars covering youth athletic development and training topics to sporting organizations throughout the world. The list of governing bodies Brian has presented to includes, the National Coaching Education Program, the National Alliance for Youth Sports, the United States Figure Skating Association, the Illinois Olympic Development Program, Skate Canada, the Canadian Athletic Therapists Association and the Korean Aerobic Association among many others. Brian also serves as an educational consultant to the Children’s Memorial Hospital’s Institute for Sports Medicine.

Brian began his sport-training career as a Performance Coach to Olympic, professional and elite athletes. He has worked with several professional and Olympic athletes from a variety of sports, and has traveled extensively throughout North America and Europe as a Conditioning Consultant for both the Canadian and United States National Team athletes