While our kids have plenty of opportunity to literally enjoy the lazy days of summer, it’s important to encourage them to stay active and eat as nutritiously as possible. Whether you’re a mom (or dad) whose busy work schedule doesn’t slow just because school’s out, or one who is fresh out of ideas, you’ll appreciate the simplicity, convenience and enthusiasm these healthy moms offer.

Getting and Keeping Kids Healthy in the Summer

We’ve all read the statistics on childhood obesity- according to the CDC over 16% of children age 6-19 years old are overweight, that number having tripled since 1980. Summer is the perfect time to change our children’s eating and exercise habits for the better. We have 3 months to do it. – Kendra from The Adventures of the Headless Family

Healthy Summer Snacks for Kids

One of our biggest challenges as moms is to feed our kids a healthy diet that they will actually eat. The busy, hot summer days add the extra problem of having the school agers at home all day long. They want snacks and they want them now!  They don’t care if the food is wholesome or junk, in fact they’d often prefer the latter. So begins the battle of what mom wants versus what they want. Here are a few ideas that have helped us reach a compromise. - Rebecca from Life With Boys

Frozen Fruit Popsicles Make Snacking Healthy Fun

Summer’s the perfect time to inspire your family to eat more healthfully since seasonal produce is on sale and plentiful. It’s also an opportunity to get the kids involved in purchasing nutritious food. As a family, visit a farmer’s market or pick fruits and vegetables at a local farm. After you’ve shopped, get the kids into the kitchen to make frozen fruit popsicle treats. – Anne-Marie Nichols from A Mama’s Rant

Kids’ Food Tasting Party Encourages Healthy Eating

Summer brings with it all sorts of great fresh produce. But what do you do when you have a hard time getting your children to eat their summer veggies?  Here’s a fun idea that worked like a charm on my children, who range in age from four to ten years old. We threw a “food tasting party.” – Melanie from Girl Get Strong

Summer is Ideal for Family Fitness

I’m dedicated to setting a healthy example for my kids.  We don’t talk about weight or size or wearing a bikini (because heaven knows that’s never happening again no matter how many triathlons I finish).  Instead, we talk about getting some fresh air and having fun. – Julie from Cool Mom Picks

5 Ways to Keep Your Kids Active This Summer

The good news is summertime provides a wonderful opportunity for you to turn your exercise sessions into play time sessions with your kids. It really is the best of both worlds… because not only do you get in some great physical activities for your own benefit, but you also get to spend some good, quality time with your kids… all while being a good example to them about how to live a healthy life. – Liz Rosenbaum from Liz Rosenbaum Fitness

Creating Lasting Healthy Habits for Kids This Summer

Summertime can be summed up into one word, “fun.” Kids look forward to this time of year every year and welcome the outdoor activities, picnics, and gatherings. Why not take advantage of this summertime enthusiasm and integrate a few good habits to promote health and fitness in your children’s lives? – Valerie from Moms Living Fit

10 Healthy Summer Recipes for Kids

We’ve shared a collection of some of our favorite recipes from DietsInReview.com that put you or the kids in the kitchen. Everything from making your own sugar free gummy worms to frozen bananas and fruit kabobs are perfect examples of how food for kids can be fun, hands-on and still nutritious!

We hope you’ve enjoyed our Healthy Summer Kids series, and welcome your feedback below if you have any insight for keeping your own kids healthy.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Healthy Summer Kids Series

Valerie is a guest blogger for the DietsInReview.com special series on Healthy Summer Kids. Valerie is an outdoor loving, flip flop wearing, fit mama with three young children. She is an ACE certified personal trainer and owns her own Stroller Strides franchise in Houston, TX. She feels every day is a chance to have fun and be inspired. You can find great fitness tips, ideas for healthy living, and plenty of mindless mommy banter at her blog Moms Living Fit.

Summertime can be summed up into one word, “fun.” Kids look forward to this time of year every year and welcome the outdoor activities, picnics, and gatherings. Why not take advantage of this summertime enthusiasm and integrate a few good habits to promote health and fitness in your children’s lives?

Get Moving

There is a lot competing for your child’s attention these days, especially on TV. Reduce the “screen time” for your kids and increase their physical activity with daily outdoor playtime. Invite some friends over, get out the soccer balls, and let them run a few laps in the backyard.

You can also do a summer challenge such as a 5k for mom and dad and a children’s fun run for the kids. These events usually benefit a worthy cause and you can increase your fitness health and give back to the community by participating. Way better than TV!

Veg Out

Summertime is a great time to enjoy sweet and refreshing fruits. Let your kids create the ultimate fruit salad with their favorite fruits and add some walnuts, oat clusters, and dried cherries. It tastes great and is full of vitamins and essential nutrients!

Also, get them to eat a few veggies on a homemade pizza! Grab a roll of pizza dough at your local grocery store, grab a few fun shaped cookie cutters, and stamp out the dough as you would a sugar cookie. Add some fresh veggies along with some reduced fat shredded mozzarella cheese and dig in! Kids love to create and if you let them use their creativity to create new healthy dishes, they will be more willing to eat them! Let them amaze you!

Get Dirty

A great way to mix outdoor activities with healthy eating is to start a garden. For added fun, use the seeds from the fruits and veggies you’ve eaten to grow your garden! Going from “eat your veggies” to “can I eat them now” is easier than you think and the summer is a great time to start!

Get Involved

The most important element to creating lasting habits of health and fitness in your kids is you! Play with your kids outside, take them to the grocery store, let them create a meal, and let them help you in the kitchen. You will not only help them create good health habits that last, you might even create some for you!

Guest Blog Series: Look for the following badge on your favorite health sites to see if they have been a featured guest blogger on DietsInReview.com. See other posts in the Guest Blog series.

If you would like to apply to be featured as a guest blogger, please contact us.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Create Lasting Healthy Habits for Kids This Summer

Instead, follow these moms’ healthy summer tips to keep your kids playing throughout the summer. And when it comes time to feed all those hungry mouths, get them involved! Kids love helping and being a part of what ever is going on, no matter their age. These recipes are kid-friendly, both in that they can lend a hand in the preparation and they’re nutritious eats for their growing bodies.

Frozen Fruit Bars – Nevermind those bulk cases of sugar-filled icy pops you’ll find at the grocery store. Have your kids choose their favorite fresh fruits and soon they’ll have an ice cold treat they made themselves, and you’ll feel good about serving.

Frozen Banana - Give summer breakfasts a cool twist or make a filling afternoon snack. Either way, these frozen bananas make a simple and scrumptious treat.

Watermelon Honeydew Kabobs - Kids will have too much fun balling fresh melons and threading onto kabob skewers. The sweet dressing with lime, honey and poppy seeds will satisfy their need to dip!

Cottage Cheese Dip for Vegetables – Bypass the ranch dressing and give your kids a healthier dip for dunking all those fresh summer veggies!

Summer Fruit Salad - This fruit salad combines all the fresh, sweet flavors of your favorite summer fruits. It’s super easy to prepare, as is the scrumptious honey orange sauce.

Sugar Free Gummy Worms – Yes, you can make your own gummy worms. More importantly, your kids can make their own gummy worms with any color combination they choose.

Italian Cream Soda – The older kids can make this for themselves and their friends and enjoy a creamy summertime favorite, without any sugar.

Homemade Granola – This is a perfect snack to keep on-hand in the kitchen or to pack whether traveling by foot, car, plane or boat. Use the recipe as a base and let your kids add their favorite dried fruits or nuts.

Turkey and Cream Cheese – This finger-food will make a nutritious lunch for the kids.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal – The little ones will need help preparing the oatmeal, then let them grate the apples and add the raisins to make this healthy power breakfast all their own.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

10 Healthy Summer Recipes for Kids

Liz

Now that school is out and the kids are home all day long, it may seem a little more difficult to fit exercise into your daily routine. The good news is summertime provides a wonderful opportunity for you to turn your exercise sessions into play time sessions with your kids. It really is the best of both worlds… because not only do you get in some great physical activities for your own benefit, but you also get to spend some good, quality time with your kids… all while being a good example to them about how to live a healthy life.

Here are some suggestions for combining your workout time into your kids’ playtime.

1. Take the kids to the park. But instead of sitting off to the side to watch while they play, get out on the equipment and play with them!

2. Ditch the car and ride bikes instead. Whether you’re headed to the ballpark for a baseball game or to drop your kids off at the neighbor’s house… use your bikes for transportation instead of your car.

3. Be a team player. If your son loves to play golf, or if your daughter is into soccer, plan an afternoon when you can get outside and play their favorite sport with them!

4. Form a relay team. Kids love to imitate the exercises that grown-ups do. If you’re in need of some squats, push-ups or lunges, create a relay race where you are required to do 10 reps of each exercise.

5.  Let them tag along. If you enjoy brisk walking, jogging or running outside to get your daily dose of cardiovascular exercise, let your kids tag along with you. Depending on their age, you can strap them in a jogging stroller, have them ride their bike or let them roll along side you in their roller blades.

The sky is the limit when it comes to physical fitness activities you can do along side your children during the summer months. All it takes is a little imagination, a desire to do something good for your body and a youthful, energetic attitude and you’ve got a recipe for a fun, healthy day.

For more fun ideas and healthy recipes, checkout Liz’s fitness blog.

Guest Blog Series: Look for the following badge on your favorite health sites to see if they have been a featured guest blogger on DietsInReview.com. See other posts in the Guest Blog series.

If you would like to apply to be featured as a guest blogger, please contact us.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

5 Ways to Keep You and Your Kids Active This Summer

Julie Marsh is a guest blogger for the DietsInReview.com special series on Healthy Summer Kids. Julie is a mom of three in suburban Denver who combines her love of swimming, biking, and running by competing in sprint triathlons.You can see more of Julie at CoolMomPicks.com.

I’m dedicated to setting a healthy example for my kids.  We don’t talk about weight or size or wearing a bikini (because heaven knows that’s never happening again no matter how many triathlons I finish).  Instead, we talk about getting some fresh air and having fun.

When my husband and I pay for a babysitter so that we can wake up at the crack of dawn on a holiday and run a 10K, we’re doing it not just because it feeds our own love of competition and our own goals for health and wellness; we’re doing it because we want our kids to see that we genuinely enjoy challenging ourselves. Summer is an ideal time to get into this sort of family routine.  The weather is perfect for outside activity.

Getting some exercise as a family is easy at local state parks.  Hiking trails abound, and many of them are stroller-friendly.  As an avid babywearer myself, we started hiking last year when my son was still a newborn.  Be prepared to go slowly yourself to accommodate little ones’ short legs and constant distraction by scenery.

Biking is another great way to get the family moving.  Put one adult in front of the pack, another at the rear, and any kiddos who can pedal themselves in the middle.  Some people prefer bike seats, others prefer bike trailers.  Head to a neighborhood playground or just take a spin around the block.

If all else fails, hit the pool!  Kids never get tired of going to the pool, and it’s a sure-fire way to wear them out.  Take turns watching them when it’s adult swim; the adult who’s not in charge can swim laps.  We’ve done that ourselves, and the kids have a great time trotting up and down the length of the pool, cheering us on.  Just remember to bring snacks from home so that no one is tempted by the vending machines.

Guest Blog Series: Look for the following badge on your favorite health sites to see if they have been a featured guest blogger on DietsInReview.com. See other posts in the Guest Blog series.

If you would like to apply to be featured as a guest blogger, please contact us.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Summer is Ideal for Family Fitness

Summer brings with it all sorts of great fresh produce. But what do you do when you have a hard time getting your children to eat their summer veggies?  Here’s a fun idea that worked like a charm on my children, who range in age from four to ten years old. We threw a “food tasting party”.

A food tasting party works like this:

1. Announce with great fanfare that you are throwing a super-cool party and you need the kids’ help planning it;

2. Tell them that it’s going to be a special “taste test party”, with some great new foods (insert veggie names here); make sure you are honest about the foods you will be serving, but make it sound like the fun adventure it is going to be;

3. If (or when!) the kids express suspicion or dismay, encourage them by telling them that you will be cleansing their palate in between tastings with… (pick your not-too-sweet treat and insert it here) and explain that a “tasting” means only one bite.

4. The keys are: the festive atmosphere, getting the kids involved with the planning, and the presentation of foods in a party style.

Gather four new foods you’d like your children to try. Think about how to present them in a fun way; can you use cookie cutters to make fun shapes? Or can you arrange them in a funny face on the plate?  Do your children love sauces? Ketchup?  Even if a vegetable (or fruit!) would not normally be served with a condiment, does it really matter? The point is to get the kids to try it… if that means lettuce dipped in a bit of ketchup do we really care?  All we really want from the tasting party is for the kids to have fun and to learn to be open to trying new food.

Getting the children to buy into the process early is important. Ask the kids to help prepare the foods and set out the palate-cleansing treats (tip: don’t pick a treat that is too sweet – it just makes vegetables seem more sour. Instead, try something neutral, like a favorite cracker, animal cookies or another plain food).

Make sure you participate in the tasting, too.  Tell them that after they each have a taste, they can put a blindfold on you and feed you a surprise bite.  If your children decide to dip your lettuce in ketchup, make a big deal of what a unique flavor it is – and how wonderful it is to try new things, even if we decide after that we don’t like them.

We’ve thrown tasting parties several times. Do our kids now love all vegetables? Not at all, but they are remarkably willing to try new foods – both at home and out.  And that’s a great step!

Guest Blog Series: Look for the following badge on your favorite health sites to see if they have been a featured guest blogger on DietsInReview.com. See other posts in the Guest Blog series.

If you would like to apply to be featured as a guest blogger, please contact us.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Kid’s Food Tasting Party Encourages Healthy Eating

Anne-Marie Nichols is a guest blogger for the DietsInReview.com special series on Healthy Summer Kids. Anne-Marie is a work-at-home professional blog wrangler and social media consultant. In real life she lives on Colorado’s Front Range with her husband and two children. Virtually you can find her at A Mama’s Rant, This Mama Cooks! On a Diet, and This Mama Cooks! Reviews, at several of the Mom Central blogs including Mom Central Food and Mom Central Goes Green, and on Twitter.

Summer’s the perfect time to inspire your family to eat more healthfully since seasonal produce is on sale and plentiful. It’s also an opportunity to get the kids involved in purchasing nutritious food. As a family, visit a farmer’s market or pick fruits and vegetables at a local farm. (LocalHarvest.org lists farmer’s markets and family farms by state or ZIP code.)

After you’ve shopped, get the kids into the kitchen to make frozen fruit popsicle treats.

Striped fruit popsicles

Makes 12

Ingredients:
3/4 cup honey, divided
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
12 plastic cups or popsicle molds (3 ounces each)
6 kiwifruit, peeled and sliced
12 popsicle sticks
1-1/3 cups sliced fresh cantaloupe chunks

Directions:

1. In a blender, combine 1/4 cup honey and strawberries. Cover and puree.
2. Pour into cups or molds. Freeze for 30 minutes.
3. In a blender, combine 1/4 cup honey and kiwi, Cover and puree.
4. Pour over frozen strawberry layer and insert popsicle sticks. Freeze until firm.
5. Repeat with cantaloupe and remaining honey. Pour over kiwi layer. Freeze until firm.

Nutritional info for one popsicle:

Calories: 106, Fat: 0 g, Sodium: 1 mg, Carbohydrate: 27 g, Fiber: 2 g, Protein: 1 g

Variations:

For Fourth of July make red, white and blue popsicles using strawberries, low-fat vanilla yogurt, and blueberries.

Use other fruits like grapes, crushed pineapple, bananas, mangoes, papaya, raspberries, cherries and blackberries. Try combining the pureed fruit with low or no-fat yogurt or milk for a creamy popsicle. And if you’re really adventurous, add some pureed carrots, beets or zucchini to the fruit – anything to get those veggies in!

Instead of honey, use different types of sweeteners like agave nectar, barley malt, sorghum syrup, molasses, maple syrup – or no sweeteners at all. You can also add shredded coconut, pine nuts, granola, dried fruit bits, or sesame seeds for some crunch.

Experiment with healthy foods and have fun in the kitchen this summer with the kids.

Guest Blog Series: Look for the following badge on your favorite health sites to see if they have been a featured guest blogger on DietsInReview.com. See other posts in the Guest Blog series.

If you would like to apply to be featured as a guest blogger, please contact us.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Frozen Fruit Popsicles Make Snacking Healthy Fun

Rebecca is a guest blogger for the DietsInReview.com special series on Healthy Summer Kids. Rebecca is a stay-at-home mom to four little boys and is committed to fitness and health. She blogs at Life With Boys where she shares her experiences as a mom, and her journey toward weight loss and fitness.

One of our biggest challenges as moms is to feed our kids a healthy diet that they will actually eat. The busy, hot summer days add the extra problem of having the school agers at home all day long. They want snacks and they want them now!  They don’t care if the food is wholesome or junk, in fact they’d often prefer the latter. So begins the battle of what mom wants versus what they want. Here are a few ideas that have helped us reach a compromise.

Presentation is key. If it’s fun it’s a winner. If I put some pineapple chunks, grapes, and banana slices on a skewer and call it a fruit kabob they are on cloud nine.

Strawberry smoothies are another favorite around here. You can even make your own yogurt for the smoothies in your crock pot if you have a little time. The smoothie is simple and your kids can do most of the work. Just throw 1 cup plain yogurt, 2 bananas peeled and sliced, 2 cups strawberries (fresh or frozen), and one cup of milk into your blender and mix. If your child has a dairy allergy, another option is to swap the milk and yogurt for ½ cup apple juice, 1 cup crushed ice and 1 tablespoon honey. (1) Either way, you have a refreshing smoothie for snack time in just a few minutes.

My guys love bagels, but not cream cheese. A good, healthy option is to take half of a whole grain bagel, a slice of cheddar cheese and a slice of green apple and eat it as an open face sandwich (2). This provides a balanced snack of dairy, protein, fruit and whole grains. If you or the kids don’t like the idea of cheese and apples together, try substituting peanut butter.

Here’s to healthy summer snacking!

1. “A Berry Good Banana Smoothie.” Recipe. Kids Cooking a Very Slightly Messy Manual. California: Klutz, a subsidiary of Scholastic Inc., 1987. 69.
2. “Happle Sandwich.” Recipe. Kids Cooking A Very Slightly Messy Manual. California: Klutz, a subsidiary of Scholastic Inc., 1987. 21.

Guest Blog Series: Look for the following badge on your favorite health sites to see if they have been a featured guest blogger on DietsInReview.com. See other posts in the Guest Blog series.

If you would like to apply to be featured as a guest blogger, please contact us.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Healthy Summer Snacks for Kids

Kendra is a guest blogger for the DietsInReview.com special series on Healthy Summer Kids. Kendra is Headless Mom and writes about her life with her husband and three kids at The Adventures of The Headless Family. She is glad her head is attached because otherwise she might lose it!

We’ve all read the statistics on childhood obesity- according to the CDC over 16% of children age 6-19 years old are overweight, that number having tripled since 1980. Summer is the perfect time to change our children’s eating and exercise habits for the better. We have 3 months to do it.

Moving

Summer is the perfect time to get moving. Kids should get at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day. Swimming is a great way to beat the heat. Running and walking on the beach and through the surf burns more calories than just walking down your block. Most cities have great bicycle trails and you’d be surprised at how far your kids can go on a bike. I also like to try new things in the summer when there is no pressure of school or other sports. Look into your local recreation center for classes on rock climbing, dance; the sky is the limit! Many private studios for martial arts or gymnastics will let your kids attend a free class to see if they are interested. Take advantage of the extra free hours this summer and get out there!

Eating

Summer just asks for healthy food, doesn’t it? Summer fruits are a Headless household favorite- melons, berries, and fleshy fruits rule. Keep a cut fruit salad in the fridge for all day snacking and the kids will come back often. Get your kids to rely on these healthy snacks and then when school resumes in the fall they will ask for them again and again. Salads are great for getting more veggies into their diet and there are a thousand different varieties out there for every set of taste buds. Try Mexican, Thai, anything that your child already likes can work. In the heat of the summer lighter meals are all you need to feel full after after a full day.

Other Safety Tips

Don’t forget the sunscreen, wear protective equipment when required, drink plenty of water, and have the greatest, healthiest summer ever!

Guest Blog Series: Look for the following badge on your favorite health sites to see if they have been a featured guest blogger on DietsInReview.com. See other posts in the Guest Blog series.

If you would like to apply to be featured as a guest blogger, please contact us.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Getting and Keeping Kids Healthy in the Summer