It doesn't taste good

If you have any small children, you know that trying to get them to eat their vegetables can be like pulling teeth. My sister has two young children: one will eat meat and cheese while the other prefers solely a candy diet, but will sometimes break down and eat a few items on her dinner plate.

So how do you get kids, or even yourself, to eat healthy?

Snacks! Children get about 1/4 of their nutrition a day from snacks and instead of giving them sugar and fat filled treats, try making some delicious, yet nutritious fun snacks. Family Fun.com has a lot of great treat ideas, a couple of my favorites are:


ARCTIC ORANGES

4 oranges
4 cups orange juice
4 cherries

Cut the tops off the oranges in a zigzag pattern. Hollow out the insides, remove the seeds and combine in a blender with the juice. Set the rinds in a muffin tin and fill with the mixture. Drop a cherry inside each orange. Freeze for 2 to 3 hours. Soften the treats for 5 minutes, then serve. Makes 4.

BAGGY BUGS

Place a graham cracker in a plastic baggy, seal it shut and crush the crackers into a fine sand using a large spoon.

Add a few raisins to the bag and have the kids dig for bugs in the sand. Experiment with other tasty critters--dried cranberry "ladybugs," carob chip "ants" and fruit snack "worms."

It's Too Expensive

Everyone knows health food = expensive

"University of Washington researchers found when they compared the prices of 370 foods sold at supermarkets in the Seattle area. Calorie for calorie, junk foods not only cost less than fruits and vegetables, but junk food prices also are less likely to rise as a result of inflation."

When you can eat more calories for less money, especially when you are strapped for cash, why would you buy healthier foods? Possibly because of the way that a healthy lifestyle saves you in the long run, as your risk for obesity decreases and along with that your risk for chronic diseases drop as well.

This is a comforting fact considering chronic disease facts such as:

• The medical care costs of people with chronic diseases account for more than 75% of the nation’s $2 trillion medical care costs.
• The direct and indirect costs of diabetes is $174 billion a year.
• Each year, arthritis results in estimated medical care costs of nearly $81 billion, and estimated total costs (medical care and lost productivity) of $128 billion.
• The estimated direct and indirect costs associated with smoking exceed $193 billion annually.
• In 2008, the cost of heart disease and stroke in the U.S. is projected to be $448 billion.
• The estimated total costs of obesity was nearly $117 billion in 2000.
• Cancer costs the nation an estimated $89 billion annually in direct medical costs.
• Nearly $98.6 billion is spent on dental services each year.

So how is it done?

There are lots of great ideas to help you reduce food costs without losing nutrition. Divine Caroline provides her list of 20 healthy food items for under $1, a deal you can't beat and with some items that aren't typical of the American diet, you can get creative with your cooking.

Rebecca Pratt also details some ways you can eat healthy on a budget, such as:

• Drink lots of water (at least 8 cups a day)
• Limit salty and sugary foods
• Avoid eating many foods that are high in saturated fats
• Make “variety” the watchword of your eating
• Set aside a regular block of time to plan your meals (include snacks)
• Stock up on healthy, but cheaper items-- such as beans, lentils, pastas, rice
• You can cook large quantities and then freeze extras
  
• Buy in bulk, but only things that make sense, vegetables or fruits that will go bad quickly are not the best bulk item
  

Now it's your turn, what are ways that you find to decrease the cost of your groceries without decreasing your health?

Frequently Asked Questions about Nutrition

I've thought of a few nutrition questions that I sometimes get from people and some that I was interested in myself and listed them below. I will be working on answering these in this post.

What is a healthy amount of calories? How do I know if I am receiving this?

One of my favorite websites for finding information on finding out how to balance out your meals is actually mypyramid.gov. It's wonderfully interactive and you can even use the "My Pyramid Plan" in order to customize it for your height, weight, age, gender, and physical activity levels.

For example, for me I need 2200 calories and it even tells me how much of each food category I need.



Do I really lose that many nutrients if I eat canned fruits and vegetables?

According to medline plus:

"Many people wonder if frozen and canned vegetables are as nutritious as fresh vegetables. The answer to this question depends on both the time between the harvesting of the vegetable and the canning and freezing process. Generally, vegetables are canned or frozen immediately upon harvest when their nutrient content is at its peak.

The way vegetables are prepared at home can also affect the nutrient content. Vegetables of any type (fresh, frozen, or canned) that are boiled in large amounts of water for long periods of time lose much of their nutritional content compared with vegetables that are lightly steamed.

Vegetables fresh from the farm or just picked are more nutritious than their frozen or canned counterparts, but frozen and canned vegetables are an acceptable nutritional alternative. Just be mindful of the amount of salt added to canned vegetables; try to buy those without added salt. And, don't overcook any vegetables.

Is microwaving bad for you?

I found the most informative/comprehensive website concerning the benefits/cautions for microwaves is actually the FDA. Here they address a few concerns, namely the facts:

"they do not have the same risks as x-rays or other types of ionizing radiation.... To ensure that microwave ovens are safe, manufacturers are required to certify that their microwave oven products meet the strict radiation safety standard created and enforced by the FDA. Microwave energy will not leak from a microwave in good condition."

It also gives tips for good microwaving results and links of other research/perspectives.