A version of this post appears on our blog on The Huffington Post. --By Suzanne ("Nana"), Certified Holistic Health Coach Many of my health coaching clients are moms, and they often ask me about encouraging their kids to eat more healthfully—and in particular about the challenge of getting little ones to eat vegetables! As a mother and a grandmother, I have lived this challenge myself.
snacks
Healthy Nutrition Bar Guide
When I was a young mother there was no such thing as healthful bars of any kind, let alone nutrition bars! These days, there are a million different ones available at health food stores, drug stores, and even gas stations. Different bars fit different diet trends: Paleo; high protein/low sugar; athletic fuel (high carb); gluten free; whole foods; raw foods; macrobiotic; etc. It’s amazing how much
Healthy Store-Bought Cookie Guide
1. Rickaroons / 2. Simple Mills / 3. Jovial / 4. Cappello's / 5. Butterfly Bakery of Vermont I like to bake cookies with high-quality, natural ingredients, so writing this guide was a challenge! I know that Maia and many of you are busy moms who don’t have time to bake, but still like to offer your kids cookies from time to time. Who doesn’t love a cookie-and-milk or cookie-and-tea
Back-to-School Energy Bars
If you’re a regular reader, you know how much I try to avoid processed sugar. I am very busy, and I like to keep my energy level consistent and high throughout the day, without resorting to caffeine. In the summer, I will sometimes have an ice cream cone, and even less often I will order a dessert in a restaurant. As a health coach, I advise my clients to limit their sweets, and to focus on
Are Cheddar Bunnies Healthier Than Goldfish?
Ironically, the proliferation of "healthy" baby and kid snacks seems to have made it more difficult to keep my children on a clean diet. Perhaps without the convenience of all the organic, natural, trans-fat free packaged foods, I would be more likely to offer my kids homemade snacks that are actually nutritious (such as this or this). Instead, I often find myself smugly selecting organic gummy
Sprouted Wheat Thin Crackers Recipe
I'm in the middle of working on a post on Goldfish Vs. Cheddar Bunnies (for all the smug moms like me who think the latter is WAY superior to the former). As I am reminded of the fact that neither is a health food, I wanted to share this wonderful cracker recipe that my health coach momma sent along after she made them with Felix when he last visited her. Here's hoping that at some point this
5 Ways to Get More Energy Without Coffee Or Sleep (And You’ll Lose Weight, Too)
As a health coach, I work with lots of busy moms--and most of them complain of feeling exhausted. While getting more and higher quality sleep is vital to feeling good during the day, there is a lot you can do with what and how you eat to give yourself more energy. Here are the tips that my clients tell me have been most helpful. 1. Eliminate packages and containers (read: processed foods). Many
Sneaky Stuff: Mott’s Applesauce Has High Fructose Corn Syrup
Hungry for some arsenic-laced apples from China, mixed with high fructose corn syrup and artificial colors? Look no further than Mott's! At a recent birthday party for a 5-year-old, my own 4-year-old ate three slices of the pizza being served, and turned up his nose at the cup of Mott's applesauce at his place setting. I grabbed a spoon and started to peel off the tinfoil lid so I could feed it
Kale Chips: Greens for Picky Kids!
By Suzanne ("Nana") Convincing my grandson Felix to eat green vegetables can be tricky, although my other grandson, Theo, eats just about anything we offer him. A few months back I blogged about the importance of greens and posted a recipe for a yummy kale salad. Obviously, Felix wanted no part of the salad when Maia made it, so I was challenged to find a way to get kale into him. I