Happy, healthy parents make happy, healthy children. Encouraging children to live healthy lifestyles is each parents’ responsibility. The best way to accomplish this is founded in each of our choices to be healthy. In other words, be that role model for a healthy lifestyle.  All children want to imitate parents from early childhood.

One of the most important decisions we make every day is what we eat and drink. It is everyone’s Choice to eat Healthy or not. There are good food choices and bad food choices and it is prudent to remember, we are what we eat.

Making healthy food choices is a challenge for many of us. Too often the deciding factor is convenience. I am not judging, just stating a fact. Often this leads to a deficit in needed nutrients for good health.

A major component of the Nikken Wellness Home is healthy nutrition. Eating a balanced diet is vital for good health and wellbeing. Food provides our bodies with the energy, protein, essential fats, vitamins, and minerals to live, grow, and function properly. We need a wide variety of different foods to provide the right amounts of nutrients for good health.

In the simplest terms, we all need three different food groups to provide the nutrition we require daily. These include proteins, fruits, and vegetables.

Let us look at what we all need daily for good health.

Protein

Our body does not store protein, and therefore has no reservoir to draw on when it needs a new supply. We use protein to build and repair tissues, to make enzymes, hormones, and other body chemicals. Protein is an important building block of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood. A healthy daily protein requirement is based on body weight. The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), which is the minimum amount you need to be healthy, is 0.8 grams per kilogram (0.36 grams per pound) of body weight per day. That would equal 54 grams of protein per day for a 150-pound person.

…most children in her practice are overweight or obese yet are undernourished and starving for nutrients.

Vegetables

I’m sure we all remember our mom telling us to eat our vegetables. I surely remember those same words coming out of my mouth at the dinner table when my children were young. 

Eating vegetables provides many health benefits. People who eat more vegetables as part of an overall healthy diet are likely to have a reduced risk of some chronic diseases. Vegetables provide nutrients vital for health and maintenance of your body. Most vegetables are naturally low in fat and calories and are important sources of potassium, dietary fiber, folate (folic acid), vitamin A, and vitamin C.

Fruit

Fruits provide nutrients vital for health and maintenance of your body. As part of an overall healthy diet, eating foods such as fruits that are lower in calories per cup instead of some other higher-calorie food may be useful in helping to lower calorie intake. Adding fruit can help increase the intake of fiber and potassium which are important nutrients that many of us do not get enough of in their diet.

Fruit are important sources of many nutrients, including fiber, vitamin C, and folate (folic acid), and phytochemicals for added health benefits. 

The American Cancer Society advises at least five servings of fruit and vegetables per day for good health. The Harvard School of Public Health recommends nine servings of vegetables and fruits each day. It is advised that two-thirds of your plate should include fruits and vegetables.

In a recent interview with Integrative Health Specialist, Kimball Sargent, she talked about how much of her psychotherapy sessions involve children with attention disorders. She stated that most children in her practice are overweight or obese yet are undernourished and starving for nutrients. She attributes many of her client’s problems to poor nutrition and is a firm believer in first treating the root cause of the problem.

Our next Healthy by Choice Master Class will be on Tuesday, July 21st at 6 pm PDT. Our special guest will be Kimball Sargent. Ms. Sargent has 38 years’ experience in nursing and has been a nurse psychotherapist for the last 25 years. Kimball and I will be discussing the need for a balanced diet and simple easy ways we can incorporate this into our daily routine. To join the broadcast click this link and follow the prompts The Self Care Awakening Classroom, see you on Tuesday.

Be Healthy by Choice