Welcome to the Library!
“Below you can find some information on various topics. Happy reading!” – Mumu Mushroom
COVID-19 and Obesity
- The link between extra pounds and severe COVID-19 grows stronger
- When Pandemics Collide: The Impact of COVID-19 on Childhood Obesity
- Longitudinal Trends in Body Mass Index Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Covid-19 and Weight
Food and Mental Health
- Food and mood
- Healthy Foods High in Polyphenols
- Cognitive Function and Consumption of Fruit and Vegetable Polyphenols
- The Surprising Link Between These Foods and Depression, Anxiety and Other Mental Health Issues
- Eating fruit and veg associated with children’s mental well-being
Food and Physical Health
- Foods That You Should Eat Every Day
- Extraordinary Foods You Should Avoid
- Why You Should Avoid Artificial Sugars
- Best Foods For Controlling Inflammation
- Foods That Make You Appear Younger
- Top Foods For Blood Circulation
- 7 Herbs That Are PROVEN To Help Shed Pounds Fast
Featured Article
Food Fight!
I don’t know if you ever had the pleasure of participating in a good ‘ol fashion food fight, but I sure have! When we were in elementary school, we had a pie fight at our VBS, or vacation bible school playground one June. It was fantastic! I still remember how it felt getting a pile of whipped cream slammed on top of my head during the hot summer day in the West Texas sun. The whipped cream immediately melted and stuck to every inch of my hair, clothes and face. It even ran into my ears! It was an 11 year old’s dream of unabashed play. Adding food to the game just made it well, almost a perfect day.
Fast forward many years later, and I won’t tell you just how many, but let’s just say that it is enough years to know that the food fight is no longer a game, but a struggle in childhood obesity and nutritional failures as a society. To an extent, the food today doesn’t even resemble what we ate in those long ago school days. All the cafeteria food was made from scratch from our own moms and grandmothers. Most schools today have beautiful kitchens with stoves that remained unlit. Sadly giving into the concept of “heat and eat,” rather than prep, cook and serve, is where we have become comfortable in feeding our kids today. That my friends, kicks nutrition and healthy eating habits right out the back door of the kitchen into the trash.
One of the very first things we set as a parent is the child’s palate. This doesn’t just mean what foods they will eat. No. no…this also means who will control the foods that are offered to the little appetite crushers. What is set before the child is the parent’s/caregiver’s decision, not the 3 year old.
“But Chef Cathy, if my baby doesn’t get French fries from restaurant ABC with each meal, they won’t eat!”
And here in a nutshell is one of the biggest problems today. We allow the child to set the palate. So why are we surprised when little Johnny only wants a soda when thirsty and not water? Because pitching a fit when mom was exhausted won that battle years ago and when trying to counteract that weeks later with a glass of water rather than a powerhouse bottle of sugar, a fit is pitched and the battle is lost again. The battle of “I’m in a hurry and need it now” is today’s clock. Sadly, it has also put our children in a category of overweight, high on sugar and preservatives generation that we need to turn around and fast.
In 2016 according to World Health Organization, “340 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 were overweight or obese. In 2020, 39 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese.” Yes…this is the food fight of our lives because these horrific statistics are preventable! Yes…PREVENTABLE!
So what to do? Get rid of fast food? Get all foods out of a box? No, too much advancement and money involved for that to happen. Innovation is great! Look back for lessons and solutions but instead of giving in to easy and fast, why not start taking the time to educate and create?
All the information and technology is literally at our fingertips today. Learning what to feed the kids for dinner is a click away. Why not make that click one that feeds the palate in a healthy way and start setting up the skills that will defeat and counter punch the obesity in our kids? The food fight really should be left to fun days of pies in the face outside on a hot June day and not in destroying the waistlines of our kids. I encourage you to start thinking about all the colors your kids like and pick foods in that category. Hmm…Eat Like The Rainbow, now that’s an idea!
~Chef Cathy Zeis, CEO
Eat Like The Rainbow, Inc.