How to Keep Your Kids Out of McDonald’s

Around 34% of children aged 2 to 19 eat junk food on a daily basis. Interestingly enough, the American Heart Association estimates that one in three kids in the United States is overweight. It’s not hard to see the correlation between obesity and junk food, isn’t it?

McDonald’s Role in the Obesity Epidemic

As we all know, there’s an obesity epidemic going on out there. Instead of eating at home, most children prefer to eat at fast food restaurants, most noticeably, at McDonald’s. 

While we can’t blame all of our nutritional and health problems on McDonald’s it’s fair to say that the company played a huge role in it. The biggest problem isn’t even the food quality – it’s fast food, so you can’t expect much – it’s actually McDonald’s marketing department. 

For decades at this point, McDonald’s has marketed their products to children. They are pretty sneaky about it too: the company dedicates more than 40% of their marketing budget to advertising in schools. That associates their brand with learning and education.

If you want your children to stop eating so much junk food, you need to invest some time and effort into it. Here are a few things you need to do…

Start Preparing Healthy Snacks 

Another option is to start preparing more healthy snacks back at home. By healthy snacks, we don’t mean to make your kids eat more fruit or veggies.  Despite what many people think, there are, in fact, healthy snacks that will keep your child healthy and satisfied.

Here are some healthy snack recommendations from the Food Network:

 

  • Crispy rice treats
  • Oatmeal snack cakes
  • Frozen fruit pops
  • Flavoured popcorn

 

If you want to go all out, you can also prepare healthy cookies and milkshakes. Preparing these is easier than you think. Modern milkshake makers only require you to put the ingredients in, push a couple buttons, and voila, you have a healthy milkshake. 

Stop Using Junk Food as Bribe

It’s not uncommon to see a parent offering a food reward to their child for good behaviour. Some people do the opposite. They prevent their children from eating junk food as a punishment. Mother or a father may refuse to serve their child with dessert, for example.

However, using food as a punishment or a reward is problematic to say the least. If you say that you won’t go to McDonald’s until your child finishes homework, you’re sending a horrible message to your offspring. 

By doing this, you’re basically telling your child that fast food is not only ok, it’s actually good. You wouldn’t use something bad as a reward, right? And this is not just us saying it, scientists say that this method is bad too

Now, using rewards is ok, but instead of a trip to McDonald’s, use the following as rewards: 

 

  • Trip to a park or the zoo
  • Art supplies or school supplies
  • Sleepovers and playdates
  • New toys or video games

 

Don’t Let Your Child’s Diet Become Monotonous

You can’t prevent your child from eating junk food completely. If you make your child eat veggies all the time, there’s a good chance they’ll become tired of your meals and start looking for alternatives outside of your home. 

That’s why you should introduce a “cheat day” in your home. For one day of the week, you should allow your children to loosen up and eat something sugary or something grilled. New research suggests that introducing a cheat day will not only help someone lose weight but that it can also boost your metabolism

Again, you shouldn’t mark this day in your calendar and make a big deal out of it. This shouldn’t be seen as a reward. Cheat day is there to prevent you from making your cooking monotonous and flavourless. Prepare something not-so-healthy from time to time. Trust us, your spouse and children will be thankful for it. 

Final Thoughts

The only way to prevent your child from craving McDonald’s is to show them that there are better alternatives. Talk to your child, teach them about the dangers of junk food, and most importantly have patience.

Let’s face it, your child won’t stop craving McDonald’s just after one talk or one healthy meal. You need to realize that the transition will last for a while. However, once you manage to convince your child to stay out of McDonald’s, you won’t have to worry about it again.

It may be a difficult process but if you ask us, it’s definitely worth it.

Emmy’s Organics Coconut Cookies – Vegan Friendly

Instead of battling the dreaded sugar rush, how about trying a healthier cookie?

Made with premium all-natural ingredients like fair trade cocoa powder, Emmy’s Organics coconut cookies are a delicious better-for-you bite that kids and parents will enjoy.  They are perfect for packing in lunchboxes as well.

Available in flavors like Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip, Vanilla Bean and more, Emmy’s are certified USDA organicgluten-freevegannon-GMOsoy-free and paleo-friendly. Plus, each serving contains 6g sugar or less- can’t shake a stick at that.

The cookies themselves are sightly bigger then a quarter, so they are pretty small, and they texture is very much…coconutty? Maybe not a word as such, but it’s descriptive. They are flaky and have the feel of semi-baked cookies, almost cookie-dough-ish.  They are not like “regular” cookies as such, there is definitely no crunch involved. That’s not to say you won’t enjoy them or they aren’t good- just different for the average cookie.

These cookies are USDA Certified Organic, Non-GMO Project Verified, Gluten-Free, Vegan, Soy-Free, Grain-Free- the facility processes tree nuts, seeds & peanuts. Some are also nut free, all but the peanut butter, I believe.

Check them out in a store near you or at https://emmysorganics.com .

21-Day Tummy: The Revolutionary Food Plan

As the holidays are winding down and resolutions or goals are made many people find themselves making a goal to lose weight. It’s no wonder considering we eat the most around the holidays. We’re stuffed like turkeys and well, who can help it? Good food is hard to pass up, which makes this 21-Day Tummy diet brought to you by Liz Vaccariello a solid win for anyone needing to jump start their year and make some healthy choices.

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Diving into the book right away you are thrown a lot of helpful facts and tips. There’s practical tips everyone would need not just those trying to lose just holiday pounds or more.

Many of the recipes in this book are focused on getting the system working well. If our gut isn’t working the rest of us isn’t doing too good either. So many other plans target just dropping the pounds not the fact that some foods can trigger reacts deep within and cause us even more troubles. I found this to be a major plus in the book.

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The recipes were easy to follow as well as easy to make. There’s simplicity in here and true focus which can really help those who suffer from a slow digestive system. This should jump start the gut and get you ready to start feeling better inside and out. I made a lot of sides from the books, salads and some of the dressings which are fresh and tasty.
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Lettuce Chicken Tacos

This is a great recipe to use with any left overs really. Easy during the holidays as well. You’ve been cooking non stop, have all these left overs, don’t want to cook dinner anymore- so why not use up anything you’ve got on hand to make a healthy meal?

lettuce

Lettuce  takes place of a tortilla or hard shell taco, making it healthier. You pick your meat , anything from pork, chicken to turkey and they your vegetables. This is really a make it your own, mix and match kind of deal .

 

Ingredients

2 cups cubed cooked chicken ( or your choice of meat)
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5 Tips for Keeping Your Toddler Healthy and Active

Parenting is a vast and varied subject, and many experts have difficulty coming to agreements about what is best for toddlers. One thing, however, is universally accepted; toddlers need to stay healthy and active in order to develop positive habits later in life. Health is a major concern for everyone in our world today. Follow these tips to kick the couch potato lifestyle and keep your toddler active to encourage a healthy lifestyle.

keep kids moving

  1. Limit TV Time
    While the TV is a great parenting tool for entertaining and educating children, it is a double-edged sword. Toddlers can learn many great things from TV, but an overload of this kind of stimulation leads to lazy habits, low attention span and a sedentary lifestyle. Help your toddler get off to a good start in life by limiting their amount of TV time every day. Push educational programming and restrict the amount of mindless entertainment they get from the TV screen.
  2. Join in the Fun
    As a parent, it is important that you take an active role in your toddler’s healthy physical activities. Become more than just a spectator, and join in the fun whenever possible. Help your toddler develop a strong body and acute coordination skills by engaging in fun, age-appropriate [Read more…]