For parents
Helping Your overweight child
Healthy eating and physical activity habits are key to your child’s well-being. Eating too much and exercising too little may lead to overweight and related health problems that may follow children into their adult years. You can take an active role to help your child—and your whole family—learn healthy eating and physical activity habits that last a lifetime. Click here to learn how you can help your overweight child grow into a health weight.
AAP report finds kids need water, milk, juice – not sports drinks
A recent American Academy of Pediatrics report finds that kids don't need energy and sports drinks — and that some of these products contain substances that could be harmful to children. The AAP recommends that youth consume water, low-fat and fat-free milk and juice.
Obesity in children
Today's children are at high risk for developing many chronic diseases later in life due to obesity and lack of physical activity. These conditions include heart disease, high cholesterol and diabetes. Unfortunately, childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions. Over the last three decades, the number of children that are classified as overweight has almost tripled. Children, ages 2 to 18, spend an average of four hours a day watching television, playing video games or using a computer. Seventeen percent of American children are watching television more than five hours each day. These youth are 8.3 times more likely to be overweight than children who watch television for two hours or less.
Helping the picky eater
It is normal for children to be picky. After your child's first birthday, his or her growth will slow down and your child will eat less food. As your child's eating habits change don't worry that he or she is not eating enough food. When offered healthy foods, most children do a good job of eating a balanced diet all by themselves. Keep in mind that:
- Children naturally have wide swings in appetite. It is common for children to eat good one day and then eat almost nothing the next.
- Younger children have small stomachs and can eat as often as 5 or 6 times a day. Plan healthy snacks as part of the daily meal schedule.
- Your responsibility as a parent is to provide healthy food for your child. It is your child's job to decide how much he or she needs to eat. If your child is not hungry for a meal, they will have another chance to eat at the next meal or snack.
- Children often have food jags where they eat only one or two favorite foods. Don't worry, just continue offering your child's favorite foods along with new ones.
- Don't force your child to eat. Children only eat enough to satisfy their hunger. They will usually stop eating when they are full.
- Children can be very persistent. Don't give in to preparing special foods just so they will eat. Offer what the family is eating and if they refuse they will have a chance to eat again at the next meal or snack
Providing healthy school lunches
School days are here and kids have an easier time with learning when they eat breakfast and a healthy lunch. Good nutrition is essential for your child to have a great day of learning. School foods aren't always that healthy, but if you send a lunch with your kids, you know they are eating healthy foods. Click here to get some tips for packing healthy school lunches.
Juice use in children
Children today are drinking more juice, pop, and other sweetened beverages than necessary. These products taste good, but kids often fill up on them and this decreases their appetite for other healthy foods and drinks. Children then miss out on important vitamins and minerals. Too many liquids can also dull a child's appetite, causing them to eat less at meal time. Increased pop consumption among children is one of the single biggest changes in drinking habits leading to childhood obesity.
- Younger children aged one to six should only have 4-6 ounces of juice per day.
- Older children should be limited to eight-12 ounces of juice per day.
- Avoid fruit drinks or fruit sodas, since they often have very little fruit in them.
- When you give your child juice make sure it is 100% pasteurized fruit juice, NOT drinks.
- Remember the recommended servings of fruit juice are actually limits. Your child doesn't have to drink any fruit juice especially if he is eating two-three servings of whole fruit daily. Whole fruit has less sugar, more fiber and trace nutrients not found in fruit juice.
- If your child is a picky eater, has a poorly balanced diet, cavities, diarrhea chronic abdominal pain or is overweight, then you should take steps to limit his intake of juice and other sweetened beverages.
- In general, if your child is eating a well balanced diet, including some fresh fruits and vegetables, is drinking 12-24 ounces of milk everyday, and doesn't have a problem with cavities or being overweight, then he likely isn't drinking too many sweetened beverages.
Facts about secondhand smoke
Secondhand smoke “SHS” comes from the burning end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar and from the smoke that is blown into the air by the smoker.
Secondhand smoke harms your child
- Does your child suffer from frequent ear infections, colds, wheezing, and asthma attacks? Children that live in homes where adults smoke are often suffering from illnesses caused by secondhand smoke. Chronic cough, wheezing, and phlegm are more frequent in children whose parents smoke.
- Each year, exposure to secondhand smoke causes 150,000 to 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections (such as pneumonia and bronchitis) in infants and children younger than 18 months of age.
- Secondhand smoke increases the risk of sudden infant death (SIDS). A recent study found that infants are three times more likely to die from SIDS if their mothers smoke during and after pregnancy. They are twice as likely to die from SIDS if their mothers stop smoking during pregnancy and then resume smoking following birth.
Unlike adults, children cannot ask adults not to smoke or refuse to ride in the car.
What can you do?
- Make your home and car smoke-free.
- Ask people not to smoke around you and your children.
- If you are a smoker…the single best way to protect your family from secondhand smoke is to quit smoking. In the meantime, you can protect your family by making your home and vehicles smoke-free and only smoking outside. A smoke-free home rule can also help you quit smoking.
- Visit our Tobacco Prevention Coalition page to find resources to help you quit.
- To access the Michigan telephone quit line, call 1-800-480QUIT (1-800-480-7848)
Healthy Habits for Happy Kids is a booklet that was developed as a guide to build good eating and physical activity habits in your child at an early age. The earlier you start, the more likely those habits will follow your child throughout their lifetime. A nutritious diet and active lifestyle will help your child stay healthy and prevent many chronic diseases as they age such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. This booklet contains information about:
- Childhood obesity
- How to be a good role model
- Bye bye bottles
- Juice and pop use
- 10 steps to a healthy weight
- Helping the picky eater
- Suggested serving sizes for children
- Children and calcium intake,
- Healthier eating out, healthy snacking
- Reading a food label
- Healthy shopping checklist
- Stay together, play more
- Exercise calendar.
Out and About in Macomb is a guide to fun physical activities for you and your family in Macomb County.
For kids
- Nutrition activities for kids
- Kids coloring pages
- Healthy food maze
- Food puzzle
- Eating in space
- Exercising in space
- How to make healthy snack choices: Whyville Snack Shack Games
- Food fun from apples to zucchini
- Outbreak squad game
- Color me healthy
- Captain Create
- Find more resources at Nutrition.org's Kids' Corner!
Kidnetic.com
Exciting, fun and informative site aimed at helping kids eat healthy and stay active.
Brain POP
Innovative and fun health education and general science activities targeted to middle school children. Sponsored by Health and Science.com
BAM! Body & Mind
Kid-friendly topics and an interactive aid for teachers from the CDC.
Dairy Council of California
Includes professional updates, lesson plans and a pyramid game for kids.
Dole 5 A Day: Just For Kids
An award-winning site for kids, parents, and teachers.
KidsHealth.org/Hey Teens
Has games, Q & A's, and body image help for teens.
Other resources
Step Up for Healthier Schools
Today's children are at high risk for developing many chronic diseases later in life due to obesity and lack of physical activity. These conditions include heart disease, high cholesterol and diabetes. Unfortunately, childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions. Over the last three decades, the number of children that are classified as overweight has almost tripled. Children, ages 2 to 18, spend an average of four hours a day watching television, playing video games or using a computer. Seventeen percent of American children are watching television more than five hours each day. These youth are 8.3 times more likely to be overweight than children who watch television for two hours or less. In efforts to combat this trend, the Macomb County Health Department has developed several age appropriate, school-based programs.
Healthy Kids - Healthy Hearts
The Healthy Kids-Healthy Hearts Program is a NACo award winning, four-part program designed to teach 4th grade students in Macomb County healthy habits that will help prevent cardiovascular disease. The program targets key lifestyle elements including physical activity, nutrition and tobacco use. For four consecutive weeks, the staff meets with the students for one hour. During this time, the students are involved with interactive group activities addressing CVD risk factors. In addition, students participate in the "Healthy Hearts Challenge" and earn points by engaging in healthy behaviors outside of the classroom. Incentive prizes are awarded to supplement the lessons. For more information or to schedule this program for the 4th graders in your school, please call 586-412-3387.
Macomb in Motion
In an effort to teach children that healthy habits begin at an early age, this one time interactive presentation is designed to teach kids the importance of getting at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day. In addition, the concept of limiting screen time (television, computer and video games) is addressed. This presentation is available for kindergarten through fifth grade. For more information, or to schedule a presentation for your school please call 586-412-3387.
Be Smart, Eat Smart
To stress the importance of making healthy food and beverage choices, this interactive presentation involves fun activities and demonstration that engage the students. This one time presentation is available for kindergarten through fifth grade. For more information, or to schedule a presentation for your school, please call 586-412-3387.
For more information on any of the Cardiovascular Disease Risk Reduction Programs please contact 586-412-3390 or email us now.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition Detectives is a nutrition education program for elementary school children that teaches children to make healthy choices. They learn how to read labels, detect marketing deceptions while simultaneously learning to identify and subsequently choose healthy foods. The program is creative, engaging, and efficient. The Nutrition Detective DVD, "Teaching Kids to Make Healthy Choices" is free with a $5.95 shipping and handling fee and an additional $1.00 fee for each additional DVD. A teacher's manual/curriculum guide, pre- and post- quiz and other teaching tools can be found at http://www.yalegriffinprc.org/Programs-Resources/PRC-Programs-Resources/Nutrition-Detectives.
Things to do on a Spring Day
Children need to be engaged in active play at least 1 hour per day and there are plenty of wonderful resources in Macomb County to stay active. Local parks and recreation departments have many programs and services developed to keep your children out and about. Nature activities, fitness classes, kid’s karate and many other options to keep moving are waiting to keep your family healthier. Get a recreation guide from your community parks and recreation department to discover what fun is available for your family.
Click here for a list of Community Centers and Parks and Parks and Recreation Departments.
Additional links of interest:
County Trailways Master Plan Maps
The Macomb County Healthy Kids Healthy Futures Coalition is a community based coalition with active participation from local community groups that share a common mission to promote healthy nutrition choices and physical activity behaviors among children. The long-range goal of Healthy Kids Healthy Futures Coalition is to reduce the incidence of childhood obesity and chronic diseases, such as Type II diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.
The Coalition would like to invite you to attend one of our meetings and discover what we are all about and the good work that we do. To get more information and our next meeting locations and times contact us.
Shopping, Cooking and Meal Planning
Nutrition.gov's searchable Recipes page and Recipes Collection
American College of Sports Medicine
https://www.acsm.org
American Council on Exercise
https://www.acefitness.org
Let's Move
https://letsmove.obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/
The Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness, Health and Sports
https://ww.michiganfitness.org
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
https://www.cdc.gov
The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44206/
National Institute for Fitness and Sport
https://www.nifs.org/
American Heart Association
https://www.heart.org/
The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports
https://health.gov/pcsfn
United States Department of Health and Human Services
https://www.hhs.gov/
Healthy People 2020
https://health.gov/healthypeople
United States Department of Agriculture
https://www.usda.gov/
Choose My Plate
https://www.choosemyplate.gov
American Dietetic Association
https://www.eatright.org
American Heart Association
https://www.heart.org
American Academy of Pediatrics
https://www.aap.org
Consumer Watch
https://www.consumerwatch.com
National Institute of Health
https://ww.nih.gov
Kids Health
https://www.kidshealth.org
Kids Eat Right
https://www.eatright.org/for-kids
National Dairy Council
https://www.usdairy.com/
The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44206/
American Lung Association
https://www.lung.org
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov
Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco
https://www.srnt.org
Tobacco News and Headlines
https://www.tobacco.org
American Cancer Society
https://www.cancer.org
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
https://www.tobaccofreekids.org
Centers for Disease Control (Tobacco Information and Prevention Source)
https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco
Educational Material Center
https://www.cmich.edu/