The Heart-Healthy Family

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By Densie Webb, Ph.D., R.D.

It's never too early (or too late) to embrace a heart-healthy lifestyle. Kids who make good choices now will have healthy hearts for a lifetime. Here's how you can help.

When Michele took her preteen daughter, Chloe, for a physical, she was shocked to hear that Chloe was borderline obese. “When you see someone every day, you just don’t notice small weight gains over time,” Michele says. “I knew right then and there we had to do something.”

Although Michele always made sure her children got regular checkups and were up-to-date on their vaccinations, she suddenly realized that exercise and nutritious meals weren’t always top priority in her family.

Chloe isn’t alone. About 16 percent of all children and teenagers are obese, which can lead to a host of health problems. Getting kids to eat healthfully is a lofty goal, but it can be done. The best approach, experts say, is to work as a team. The person who does most of the shopping and meal preparation becomes the coach—the one who sets the tone and makes it possible for the family to make healthy lifestyle choices.

“Families have to remember that they’re all in this together,” says registered dietitian Marilyn Tanner, child nutrition expert at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.

An important step is involving the whole family in a reality check, she says. Everyone should come together and decide that changes must be made for their health.

It helps to pull together a strategic plan to promote healthy choices in your family, she says, including some of the following tips.

Frolic in the Fresh Air
Replace computer games with outdoor activities. Experts recommend children spend no more than one to two hours a day with the TV, computer, or video games. Most kids get closer to four to six hours a day. That leaves little time for outdoor calorie-burning, heart-pumping physical activities.

Chase everyone outside on good-weather days. Provide suggestions to encourage movement. For example, have your children create their own area maps. First send them scattering through the neighborhood, a nearby park, or your backyard, and have them note local landmarks on their maps. When finished, the maps can be swapped with friends or siblings and used to create a scavenger or treasure hunt.

Hunt for Healthful Meals
Seek out healthful fast food. Instead of opting for a burger, fries, and a soft drink, it’s just as quick and easy to buy prepared healthy dishes from the supermarket or local health food market. Most large markets have delis or take-out sections that offer alternatives.

But if fast food is it for today, skip the value meals. Opt instead for a small burger or try one of the grilled chicken sandwiches without the fatty sauces; add a little mustard or ketchup instead. Some fast food outlets now have healthier kid-friendly choices, such as milk or juice instead of a soft drink, and fruit options instead of fries.

Ease into serving more healthful meals. The first time you introduce a nutrition-packed meal full of vegetables, whole grains, and other healthy fare, the reaction from your kids might be less than complimentary. Suddenly switching from white rice to brown rice, white rolls to whole grain rolls, butter to olive oil, and brownies to fresh fruit is an invitation to a full-blown rebellion. Don’t give up. Instead ease into it, only offering one new healthy food at a time.

Plan a Shopping Expedition
Take your kids to the grocery store and get them involved with food decisions. When you’re pressed for time, bringing the kids along may seem like a Herculean task, but just think of the aggravation you’ll save at mealtime. If they’re part of the shopping process, they have a stake in what’s being served. Teach them how to read food labels, and let them have a say in what’s for dinner—not whether you’re having a vegetable, but which vegetable they’d like to eat. If they help prepare it, even better.

Be a Role Model
If your kids see you eating and enjoying healthful foods, they’re more likely to pick up those same habits. You can’t expect them to love fruits and vegetables if you don’t eat them regularly and enjoy them.

Be sure to keep a selection of fruit, cut-up vegetables, and other healthful snacks in the fridge and pantry. If your kids are truly hungry, they’ll make good choices when they’re available.

Make Easy Apple Bites
You can put together Peanut Butter-Apple Bites in minutes. All you need is an apple, some peanut butter, and your favorite wheat or bran cereal flakes. (Total cereal works especially well because it’s loaded with vitamins and minerals, and Special K Plus has plenty of calcium. Most cereals are fortified. Read nutrition labels to be certain.)

Core the apple; cut it into 16 slices. Stir together 3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter and 3 tablespoons crushed cereal flakes. Make a “sandwich” by spreading some of the peanut butter mixture between two slices of apple. Lightly brush outsides of apple sandwich with lemon juice. Wrap in plastic wrap. Each finished sandwich has 2 grams of fat, a bit of protein and fiber, and just 54 calories. Chill for up to 6 hours.