Build Healthy Kids: The Elevator Pitch

I have been thinking a lot these days about what separates BuildHealthyKids.com from other sites and programs dedicated to kids and nutrition. If I was riding in an elevator and had a minute to explain it, what would I say?  I have had lots of practice, in trains, hotel lobbies, at parties and while picking up my eggs at a local farm, but not in an elevator, yet.

This site provides the tools and information that you need to help you change your families diet towards one that promotes health but it does this by separating out the National requirements into twelve easy to follow building blocks so that you only have to focus on one thing a month. Eating healthfully does not come naturally anymore and you don’t have months and years to wait until your kids will naturally seek out and eat vegetables. That day may never come. I have seen many children that given the choice never make the healthy one. Their health matters and the decisions you make for them daily does affect their health and ability to maximize their potential. 

Another factor that makes this site unique is that it also teaches you “how to” get your child to eat the healthy stuff. There are a lot of frustrated parents that cook healthy alternatives only to have their child refuse to eat it.  In order to educate and lead your children to become healthy eaters, you must bring back rules and consequences surrounding eating; just like you do with every other behavior that you are teaching your child.

Letting children know that they cannot eat their dessert until they eat their vegetables is a good rule to adopt.  I apply it all day long. When my two year old gets up from a nap he knows that until he eats his fruit, he can’t get a cookie.  Teaching children the difference between food that is essential for health (the stuff they need to eat first) and the junky stuff (a ‘sometimes’ treat they can eat after they eat the good stuff) is essential for success in ‘building’ your children into healthy eaters.

Teaching your child how to eat a healthy diet takes time and effort plus a daily commitment to slow down and teach them the basics surrounding food: where it comes from; what to buy (or plant); how to prepare it; and how to eat it. Feeding kids is hard at times, takes effort, and is a daily commitment. Some days we do well and on others not so well. Children need us to make the healthy choices for them. They also need us to teach them what those are so that they can do the same when we are not around.