What's in your kids?

It’s not easy fuelling a family for even a day. But if you keep the big picture in mind and plan a little, it gets easier

story by Phoebe Dey

Tanya Lastovka didn’t expect it to be so hard. When she was single, it was easy to be a paragon of healthy eating, but throw in a discerning husband plus two children and it became an ordeal

to make a nutritious meal that everyone would eat. “To find something that all of us like is always a challenge,” says Lastovka. “And even worse, you start fresh everyday and have to do it all over again.”

Lastovka is hardly alone. Parents struggle daily to find creative ways to dish up healthy meals. Diets lag and we often look for a quick fix, even if it’s not the most nutritious choice. So what can we do to ensure that kids are taking as many healthy bites as possible? Lastovka, who raises the bar on healthy eating, has a number of tricks to ensure that, on balance, her family of four is eating well. But it’s not easy.

The former physiotherapist, who now stays home with her kids, advises that prep time is important. She chops fruits and vegetables for ready-to-eat snacks and meals for three-year-old Mattea, one-year-old Mia and her husband, Tomas. She also takes her own munchies wherever she goes so she doesn’t give into the temptations of fast food. On a trek to the playground, Lastovka’s stroller might be packed with yogurt and granola, a Ziploc mix of organic cereal, dried fruit and nuts, or muffins made with zucchini. She has even been known to pack sushi.

Lastovka has some rules she follows when she’s grocery shopping. She won’t buy anything with MSG, artificial sweeteners or hydrogenated oils. She stocks her cart with 70 per cent fruits and vegetables. When she is uber-organized, she’ll separate the fruits into snack-sized portions once she gets home, making snacks easy to pull out of the fridge and serve. Buying a variety of grains is also important: wheat, quinoa and spelt are favourites in her household. She uses quinoa in place of rice in some dishes or makes a household favourite: a quinoa stir-fry with onions, carrots, peas and spices that “even Tomas likes.” She often uses spelt and cornmeal in cookies and muffins and she’ll pack as many fruits and vegetables as she can into her popular baked goods.

Lastovka has also become an expert label reader. “You can’t just read the nutritional facts, you also have to read the ingredients,” she says. “For instance, companies often try to hide MSG by calling it “hydrolyzed soy protein.”

“Healthy eating is a priority for me, but I also know you have to find the right balance. For instance, I’ll give Mattie a fruit leather when I’m in a rush. I know she’s exposed to so many treats when she is away from me so I do my best to make sure she eats well at home.”

Finding that balance is important, says Kristi Jones, a dietitian and facilitator with the APPLE (Alberta Project Promoting Active Living & Healthy Eating) Schools program. As one of 10 full-time facilitators in schools across Alberta with the three-year pilot project launched by the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta, Jones and her colleagues are trying to promote a culture of lifelong healthy eating and active living among children.

Considering that one in four Canadian children is overweight and many Alberta schoolchildren don’t meet the daily requirements set out by Canada’s Food Guide, instituting change is daunting. But Jones says that a comprehensive school health approach aimed at staff, parents and the community will make it that much easier to sustain the model of healthy living.

“There is research about how eating well can lead to academic success,” says Jones. “And although this seems like a school project, everyone benefits – the staff, the family, the community.”

At St. Luke Catholic School in Sherwood Park, Jones has taught the staff about learning how to properly read a label (“calorie free” or “lite” food isn’t always best) and has run a number of physical activity challenges. It has been a wake-up call for students to learn, for example, that there are about 12 teaspoons of sugar in a 650-millitre Slurpee, says Jones. Other schools in the program have held a lunch check, unexpectedly announcing a prize for students with a fruit or vegetable in their lunches. Those who didn’t had the chance to redeem a “knowledge” cheque for a prize.

More than 250 Alberta schools run the Breakfast for Learning initiative, whose mission is to ensure that every Alberta child attends school nourished and ready to learn. And recently, the Edmonton Public School Board took it up a notch, voting to ban the sale of junk food from its almost 200 schools. Trustee Dave Colburn was delighted with the policy that will see foods low in nutritive value eliminated from schools over the next three years.

“When you consider that almost every child passes through a school door, you have a real opportunity to reflect the value of what healthy eating looks like,” says Colburn. “I understand that limiting the sale in schools is not going to eliminate the sale of junk food elsewhere, but it will send a message and create a meaningful deterrent.”

Colburn is also pleased to see the provincial government following suit with a recent nine-month action plan to offer nutritional guidelines for schools, daycare centres and recreational centres. Colburn says that the growing stresses on children’s health, such as increased screen time, the density of fast food outlets and the time crunch families face, are all factors that negatively influence child health.

“It seemed like a no-brainer to allow schools to ramp up nutritional prac-tices,” he says.

Industry is also involved. Alberta Milk, for example, runs programs in elementary, junior and senior high schools. Across the province, 537 elementary schools, involving more than 85,000 children are registered with Club Moo, and 87 high schools, involving 27,000 students, have signed up for the Scratch for Moo ‘n’ More program. The programs encourage students to drink milk at lunchtime through prize incentives and educational materials.

Children who drink milk at lunch are more likely to get their daily calcium requirement, says Lee Finell, nutrition educator with Alberta Milk. Canada’s Food Guide recommends that children between four and eight have two servings and children aged nine to 13 have three to four servings of milk and alternatives each day.

“We know that milk is the most common source of calcium; with its 15 essential nutrients, it’s a powerhouse,” says Finell. “We’re trying to get people to drink milk instead of water, for instance.”

Alberta Milk also supplies teachers with packages demonstrating the importance of nutrition and making good food choices. Educators are seeing the results, says Finell. “We’re hearing from teachers who are seeing changes in kids’ lunches and including more of the food groups. We also encourage power snacks. It could be yogurt, a piece of fruit with a cheese string, flavoured milk. These are things that kids love but that parents just might not have thought about before.”

Juggling a busy lifestyle and resisting temptations is difficult, but there are some things to keep in mind that might make healthy eating easier, says dietitian Kristi Jones. Having kids pack their own lunches can be empowering, so stock your house with healthy options, she says. And what if they add cookies to their lunch box?

 “It’s all about the general diet,” she says.

“As long as they are following the main part of Canada’s Food Guide and eating from the food groups, that’s fine.” She says that depriving kids of the treats they see on TV or in their friends’ lunches can backfire on parents. “Healthy eating includes a few treats,” she says, “as long as you are eating well most of the time.”

Creating a weekly meal plan also works, says Jones. During supper, the whole family can talk about what they would like to eat for the next week and then shop based on those items. And once at the grocery store, stick to the outside perimeter of the building. That’s where the most nutritiously dense foods are found.

Since it’s mandatory in Canada for food processors to include nutritional labelling information, it makes it easier to know what you’re eating, says Jones. But pay attention to the portion size on the label. If you’re eating double or half of the portion, adjust the figures. “That’s what gets a lot of people,” says Jones. “They don’t account for how much they are eating.”

And picky eaters need tricky cooks. Add blended vegetables to casseroles, muffins or soups, make smoothies loaded with fruits and continue good role modelling by being positive about different foods.

“We know healthy eating is an issue and people want to do better,” says Jones. “Sometimes they just need a reminder about how to get it done.” 

Culinary kids

While it’s great when kids show an interest in food preparation, it can be taxing on a busy parent’s patience. Now, kids can channel culinary creativity at a new hands-on cooking school while mom and dad can sit back and relax until it’s time to dig in.

The Young Chefs Academy in Sherwood Park is the first of its kind to open in Canada. Catering to kids between four and 15 years old, the school provides hands-on cooking experience and teaches kitchen safety, nutrition and even etiquette.

The Sherwood Park franchise is run by Dianne Young and Roseline Donaldson, who left their management positions with the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation to open the business. “Pediatric obesity is fast becoming the number one health issue and it’s tragic because it’s preventable,” says Young. “This concept was in the United States and I thought that Canadians deserve to have choices around healthy foods.”

The young chefs make everything from scratch and all recipes have been prepared by a dietitian. “This helps take the mystery out of cooking and broadens their palette while teaching them that healthy food tastes good,” says Young. “It also introduces them to a life skill that busy parents might not have as much time to devote to.”

Kids can become members and sign up for weekly classes, or can opt for birthday parties, field trips and open houses. Call 780-416-1231 for more information.