Farro with Confetti Vegetables - Video

Source: Harvard Public Health

Needing some inspiration for your kids' school lunches? Well this colorful combination of vegetables with whole-grain farro should fit the bill! It's adaptable for all seasons and substituting olive oil for canola oil is the only edit I suggest. 

The instructions and nutritional information follow, or click on the link to watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=38&v=m5bIPn8H1nY

Serves 8, as a side

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup farro, uncooked
• Seasonal vegetables, diced (4 vegetables make about 8-10 cups)
  • (Summer: zucchini, summer squash, bell pepper, eggplant)
  • (Winter: root vegetables: carrots, parsnips, beets; and winter squashes: butternut, acorn)
• ¼ cup canola, olive, or other healthy oil
• ¾ tablespoon pepper
• 2 cups low-sodium vegetable stock
• A pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Fresh herbs as available, chopped

Preparation: 

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Dice all vegetables into even pieces and set aside.
3. Bring vegetable stock to a boil in a medium saucepan, then stir in the farro. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until the farro is tender (Approximately 40 minutes. Check package for cooking instructions).
4. Meanwhile, toss the diced vegetables in canola oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place on a baking pan, and roast until browned in the preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes. Check every 10 minutes, and toss the vegetables so that they brown evenly.
5. Once the vegetables are fully roasted, fold them into the farro. Add the lemon juice and taste to adjust for seasoning. Add additional salt, pepper, and fresh herbs, to taste.

Nutrition information per serving (1/8 of recipe):

Using summer vegetables and canola oil:

181 calories, 8 g protein, 25 g carbohydrate, 5 g fiber, 4 g sugar**, 0 g added sugar, 52 mg sodium, 365 mg potassium, 8 g fat (1 g sat, 4 g mono, 3 g poly, 0 g trans), 0 g cholesterol

Using winter vegetables and canola oil:

225 calories, 6 g protein, 36 g carbohydrate, 6 g fiber, 7 g sugar**, 0 g added sugar, 128 mg sodium, 298 mg potassium, 7 g fat (0 g sat, 4 g mono, 3 g poly, 0 g trans), 0 mg cholesterol

** Naturally occurring sugar

Sugary Drinks

Our kids drink too much sugar, with the school year starting, let's rethink their drinks! 

Are you aware that fruit drinks, sport drinks, sweetened waters and teas, energy drinks, and sodas are the primary source of added sugars in Canadian diets. In fact, sugary drinks are a huge contributing factor to the rise of childhood obesity in Canada. 

Fortunately, health groups and physicians across North America are working with policy makers to encourage educational campaigns and other initiatives to help parents make informed decisions about their kids' diets. 

The World Health Organization is urging all nations to implement a sugar tax. Many countries and US states have already begun to do so. The result has been very impressive with sugar consumption precipitously decline. 

Additionally, there's been a concerted effort to use money generated from the sugar tax to fund public health campaigns encouraging children and adults to choose healthier drink alternatives, like water, milk, plant and nut milks, and 100% juice with no added sugars or artificial sweeteners. 

Through sugar taxes, cities and states across North America and other parts of the world are working to decrease diet-related diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. The revenue used from the sugar tax can also be used to support clean drinking water programs in schools, walking trails and bike paths, and many other health-promoting initiatives. 

Access to healthy drinks is crucial to helping kids grow up at a healthy weight and avoid diabetes and heart disease. Who doesn’t want that? 

The staff at Gingerbread House Daycare are committed to supporting parents and the government with initiatives that improve the health and welfare of children everywhere!

"Let Them Eat Dirt" - Book suggestion

"Let Them Eat Dirt" by Drs Marie-Clair Arrieta and Brett Finlay is a must read for parents, educators and health professionals. It's about the importance of gut bugs to a child's developing immune system and the authors explain how to give kids the best immune boost starting early in life.

Microbiome refers to all the microbes that cover our skin and inhabit our intestines. We now realize these trillions of microbes are really important for our kids' health,  for their brain, gut, and immune development. 

The authors of "Let Them Eat Dirt" explain in their book that the microbes that colonize the gut in the first 100 days help determine whether children will become obese, suffer from allergies or asthma, and essentially how well they will be able to fight off infections and disease. 

It's a compelling read with practical suggestions and answers to important questions about what influences childhood development and how microbes influence a child's susceptibility to obesity, diabetes, asthma, allergies, eczema, and other chronic conditions. The authors extrapolate the latest scientific literature to help empower parents to give their kids the healthiest start in life possible. 

Here are some of the best ways to raise your kids with a healthy dose of microbes: 

There are many things families can do to help ensure their children have a healthy microbiome, ultimately, feeding kids a diverse whole food diet that is low in sugar and high in fiber is key. Avoiding antibiotics and antiseptics unless absolutely necessary and letting your children play in dirt and go barefoot in grass are other helpful tips.

A columnist for one of the online papers made a great suggestion for picky eaters that don't love vegetables. She suggests telling kids that they have little critters living inside them and their survival is dependent on them eating vegetables. When faced with the knowledge that their little pets will die without vegetables, kids most often will opt for broccoli over fries. Might be worth a try?! 

To our kids' health! 

Drinking Water Improves Your Child's Brain Function

Children need to drink more water than adults. The effects of dehydration on a child's ability to think has been well studied and researched.

Research shows that dehydration is a common occurrence and even mild dehydration can impact a child's mental functioning. The good news is when given just a cup of water (300ml), a child's memory recall is significantly improved. 

Another study showed that children who drank additional water performed better on attention tests compared to those who didn't. 

So drinking water can have a positive impact on your child's mental performance and wile we can't make any definitive claims on increasing IQ it seems that like a good health measure to ensure your child is adequately hydrated as developing healthy hydration habits while children are young is a smart thing to do!

How Much Water Should Your Kids Be Drinking?

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academics has the following recommendation for kids:

• Infants:  breast milk is enough
• Children  1-3 yrs: 4 cups per day
• Boys and girls 4-8 yrs: 5 cups per day
• Girls 9-13 yrs: 7 cups per day
• Boys 9-13 yrs: 8 cups per day
• Girls 14-18 yrs: 8 cups per day
• Boys 14-18 yrs: 11 cups per day

(I cup = 250ml = 8 fluid ounces)

Tips to Encourage Kids to Drink More Water:

• Total water intake comes from all sources: drinking water, beverages, food with lots of water content. Offer fruits and veggies with a high water content such as apples, cabbage, cantaloupe, cherry tomatoes, celery, cucumbers, grapes, pears, sweet peppers, watermelon, zucchini. A side of soup with meals can be an easy way to increase water count.
• Encourage your children to drink water regularly throughout the day and be a good example by drinking regularly yourself!
• Use fun drinking straws, special drinking cups and colorful water bottles. Stainless steel or BPA free are the best containers. 
• During physical activity, kids need more water, especially in hot weather. Encourage another 1/2 cup for every 20mins of activity.
• It's helpful for kids to make drinking water a part of their daily routine. Encourage 1/2 to a full glass on waking, offer water with meals, snacks, and when they arrive from school, and again before they brush their teeth.
• If your child says they aren't thirsty, encourage them to have a few sips of water. Generally this will encourage them to drink more on their own. Younger kids may need to try water about a dozen times over a two week period before they start to develop a taste for it. You can infuse water with sliced lemons, limes, berries, cucumbers or sprigs of fresh mint. For older kids, you can freeze berries or sliced fruit in ice-cubes, and add these to water for a hint of flavor.
• Consider a reward system to motivate younger kids to drink such as posting stickers on a daily water log which can help (and you) track their consumption amounts. Even consider doing something special to celebrate their new healthy habit, like a trip to the water park or lake perhaps?

Turmeric and Sweet Potato Soup

Turmeric and Sweet Potato Soup

This is a delicious soup chalk full of healthy nutrients to keep the kids at their best vitality this winter season. It's easy and our go-to for a hearty, warm meal. Let us know how it turns out and if you have any recipes to share, please pass them on! By the way, turmeric is an excellent anti-oxidant and has strong anti-viral properties, a sure immune booster if you're feeling a cold coming on. 

INGREDIENTS:

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 yellow onion (chopped)

1 sweet potato, skin on, diced into pieces the size of a penny

1 red bell pepper

2 tsp ground turmeric

1 1/2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp paprika (optional version for adults)

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 can (15oz) no or low sodium diced tomatoes with their juices

5 cups vegetable broth

1 cup macaroni, stars, letters, orzo, or other small pasta

1 can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)

2 cups chopped kale

2 Tbsp lemon juice

Salt and Pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a large soup pot, warm up the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute it around until it starts to look translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the sweet potato and bell pepper and cook them all around for another 4 minutes. Add the turmeric, basil, paprika (if using it), ginger, cinnamon, and soy sauce and keep stirring so that everything gets coasted and the spices get a chance to warm up, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and broth, cover, and let simmer until the sweet potatoes are almost tender, about 8 minutes. 

2. Add the pasta, uncovered, for about another 8 minutes, until cooked. Fold in the chickpeas, kale, and lemon juice, and simmer away until the kale wilts and the chickpeas are warm, about 4 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve and enjoy!

Which Milk is Best for Kids' Health

Recently a New York Times article weighed in on the different milk options available to us. So what is the best nutritional option for your children?

Dairy milk seems to come out in front as far as protein content and absorbable form of calcium. However, all the milk substitutes - Rice, Almond, Soy, Coconut, etc - contain 30% of the recommended daily intake (RDI) for calcium. However, this type of supplemental calcium may not be as absorbable as the calcium naturally occurring in dairy milk.

An important factor to consider if your family drinks dairy milk is to purchase milk that is organic or at the very least, derived from grass-fed cows. In the U.S. cows are given hormones and these hormones are present in the milk supplied. A number of studies have reported hormonal changes in girls and boys due to the hormones in the dairy cattle.

The dairy industry in Canada prohibits hormones from being given to cattle, however, their feed may contain many undesirable chemicals and be of poorer nutrition. What's more, cattle can be given antibiotics and all these substances will be passed on to the milk supply. 

Dairy milk may also not be suitable for your child if s/he has an allergy to lactose or casein, both of which are found in milk. Also, pediatricians tend to advise against dairy milk form cattle if the child has any of the atopic triad conditions: asthma, eczema, allergies. Goat's milk or one of the milk substitutes (rice, almond, cashew etc) may be a more appropriate substitute. Best to speak with your child's physician regarding this.

Another note about the dairy industry is the climate impact from the methane gas released. Climate change has a big impact on global health and every consumer choice has a powerful impact. So try and support your local farmer and sustainable farming practices.

To our global health!

Here's the link to the NYTimes article for your reference: Which Milk is Most Nutritious: Soy, Cashew, Almond or Coconut? 

Our Kids Need to Get Dirty!

Microbes are important for health and prevention of diseases. Researchers suggest it's time for kids (and adults) to get dirty, eat nutritious foods and stop overusing antibiotics.

Diabetes, allergies, asthma, IBS, autism,obesity and autoimmune diseases are at an all time high. The prevalence of these conditions are now being linked to the quality of microbes that are an inherent part of our physiological makeup. 

These diseases are largely a consequence of a our lifestyle - modern diet, oversanitisation, excessive use of antibiotics...and they are being diagnosed in more children. We urgently need to find ways to modify our behavior so that our microbes can function properly. Our kids are growing up so cleanly and our diets have lost many of the nutrients due to processing and packaging. 

Here's some positive changes we can make as parents: 

1. Expose children to a diverse array of microbes by encouraging them to play outdoors.

2. Allow your children to follow their innate impulse to get dirty (microbes help us build our immune system)

3. Encourage healthy eating. The Western diet's highly processed diet is very high in preservatives, artificial colours, artificial flavours and sugars. There is a very strong association between this diet and many diseases, including obesity and type 2 diabetes. 

Focus on a variety of food to ensure a health gut and body. Good foods for children to snack on: vegetables, fruit and nuts. Include a variety of grains such as oats, rice, barley, quinoa. It's important that these are whole grains, not refined ones (such as bread and cereal). Whole grains are higher in fiber and have more nutrients for a growing child's demands. Try adding protein from lentils, beans and peas as well as non-starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes, parsnips and yams (nice alternative to potatoes). Older children can benefit from fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut and other pickled vegetables. 

For children, eating healthy foods becomes a habit in the same way as cleaning their room does: by doing it frequently.

4. Be restrictive with the use of antibiotics in your children.  Upper respiratory tract infections and colds are often caused by viruses, so antibacterials won’t cure them. Most sore throats, especially if the child also has a runny nose and cough, are caused by viruses and don’t need antibiotic therapy. Also, probiotic supplements (with live bacteria and yeasts) can be beneficial if a child is given antibiotics.

5. Avoid antibacterial soaps.

Reference: The Wall Street Journal