For advertising information visit www.samplerpublications.com or call 859.225.4466 | July 2014
YOUR FITNESS COACH
&
Our Kids Need Us
By Willie B. Ray, Personal Trainer,
Art of Strength Kettle Bell Gym
1301 Winchester Road #129
Lexington, KY 40505
Every parent wants good things for their
children: a positive outlook on life, a healthy
respect for authority, a strong sense of self,
a disease-free body…a healthy body weight.
Despite our best intentions, recent reports
suggest that for the first time in two centuries, the current generation of children may
have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. With all the advances in medicine, how
could this possibly be true? The blame falls
squarely on today’s toxic food environment.
In short, your kids are eating too much junk.
Who can blame them? Junk food does
taste great. The good news is that healthy
food also tastes great. Here are some simple
tips to transform your child’s diet into one
that is packed with good health.
1. Add Color
Adding bright and colorful fruits and veggies to your child’s plate will get their diet on
the fast track to health. Fresh fruits and veggies are filled with fiber, vitamins and minerals that are essential to good health. If your
kids are resistant, then make it fun. Serve
veggies with salad dressing as a dip. Cut fresh
fruit in the colors of the rainbow and place
them on a skewer. Serve a color themed
meal – all green, all red or all orange. Use
your imagination and you’ll come up with an
endless number of ways to make fruits and
veggies fun to eat.
2. Think Whole Foods
Processed foods are the biggest problem
with our modern diet. Packaged and refined
food products are devitalized and filled
with empty calories that quickly lead to
weight gain. Unfortunately, processed foods
make up a large portion of the diet of many
children. Train your kids to opt for whole
foods, rather than packaged ones. Whole
foods are foods that are in their natural state.
Some examples include: an apple, a piece
of sprouted grain bread spread with natural peanut butter, a piece of hormone-free
chicken, a bowl of beans. You get the idea.
3. Use Wholesome
Sweeteners
Refined sugar and corn syrup are packed
into many of the foods that your kids
love. But wait, there are more wholesome
sweeteners available – sweeteners that add
vitamins and minerals rather than empty
calories. Use the following rather than white
sugar or corn syrup:
Sucanat: This pure, dried sugar can juice
retains its molasses content. Use it to replace
white sugar in baking.
Pure Maple Syrup: Forget the “fake”
syrups containing corn syrup. Pure maple
syrup contains potassium, calcium and some
amino acids.
Brown Rice Syrup: Use this dark syrupy
sweetener instead of corn syrup. It takes
longer to digest and won’t spike your blood
sugar like refined sugar.
Dates: Throw a few seeded dates into your
blender to sweeten your smoothie rather
than adding white sugar.
4. Make Smart
Substitutions
Kids love pizza and pasta and peanut butter
and jelly sandwiches, and that’s not going to
change any time soon. Rather than fight your
kids on their favorites, try making smart substitutions to make their favorites more nutritious.
Pizza: Up the nutritional content of your
pizza by opting for wheat crust over white, adding veggies to the toppings and sticking with
lean meat toppings.
Pasta: Use sprouted grain or whole grain
pasta rather than traditional white pasta. Add
veggies to your pasta sauce. Stick with red
sauce, sinc