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A balanced and easy approach to healthy living.

Tag Archives: healthy kids


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How to Start a School Garden Program & Where to get Funding

school-garden-image-1Imagine an educational program that can improve students’ health, gets kids excited to learn science and math, and instills a love of nature? School garden programs can accomplish all of these feats and more.

In fact, school gardens are sprouting up across the country, as educators and school administrators begin to realize their many benefits.

For one, they are a hands-on and effective learning tool for teaching just about any subject, including social studies and language arts.

In addition, gardens have multiple beneficial health impacts. Studies on children and adults show that gardening can increase the consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables, alleviate stress, and improve cognitive function. Plus, gardening gets kids moving outdoors.

Finally, gardens teach responsibility, teamwork, and environmental stewardship. Children feel a sense of accomplishment and awe as they witness a tiny seed grow into a sprout, and eventually, a plant bearing fruit.

school-garden-image-2

Whether you’re looking to start or expand an existing school garden program, now is the best time. With the beginning of the schoolyear, many school garden grant opportunities are now live and accepting applications. Check the list below to see if any of the programs are a match for your school. (The list includes national programs and those specific to my own state of Florida.) You can also check out the USDA’s “People’s Garden” web site, that has a searchable list of funding opportunities for different types of community and school gardens.

In addition to getting funding for your garden, check out the many resources on the internet for how to create a program at your school, like this awesome guide published by the USDA. (Hint: the first step is constructing a Farm to School Team of interested parents and school staff).

Finally, contact your local Extension Office (a national educational network concerning agricultural matters) for specific information about which crops will do best with your state’s climate.

school-garden-image

National School Garden Grants:

Whole Kids Foundation School Garden Grant Program

The Whole Kids School Garden Grant program provides a $2,000 monetary grant to support an edible educational garden on the grounds of a K-12 school. Schools, or a non-profit organization working in partnership with a school, may apply. Since the grant program started in 2011, garden projects at more than 2,110 schools have received funding.

Apply at: https://www.wholekidsfoundation.org/schools/programs/school-garden-grant-program

Deadline: October 31, 2016

Walmart Community Grant

K-12 public, private, and charter schools are eligible to apply for a Community Grant ranging from $250 to $2,500 in four core areas of giving: Hunger Relief & Healthy Eating, Sustainability, Women’s Economic Empowerment, and Opportunity. Schools can apply under the “Healthy Eating” core area. Potential grantees should located within the service area of the Walmart store, Sam’s Club or Logistics facility from which they are requesting funds.

Apply at: http://giving.walmart.com/apply-for-grants/local-giving-guidelines

Deadline: December 31, 2016

KidsGardening.org Youth Garden Grant

This grant opportunity will be going live later this fall. Make sure to check the web site so you won’t miss it.

Apply at: http://www.kidsgardening.org/upcoming-grants-2/

Deadline: TBD

Annie’s Grants for Gardens

This grant opportunity will re-open in November, so be sure to check back then.

Apply at: http://www.annies.com/giving-back/school-gardens/grants-for-gardens

Deadline: TBD

Slow Food USA’s National School Garden program + Chipotle

This one is not a grant, but a great fundraising opportunity provided by a partnership between Slow Food USA and Chipotle. Chipotle will host an in-restaurant fundraiser where 50% of the sales are donated back to the school. Chipotle can also donate food for a school garden fundraiser taking place at the school. They can also provide free coupons and materials you can use.

Check it out here: http://gardens.slowfoodusa.org/chipotle-resources-for-school-garden-programs

 

Florida Specific School Garden Grants:

Florida “Agriculture in the Classroom” Teacher Grants

Florida Agriculture in the Classroom, Inc.’s Teacher Grant program strives to fund classroom projects that teach Florida school children about the importance of agriculture and introduce them to agricultural producers and representatives in their areas. The grant is open to general education and agri-science teachers in pre-K through 12th grade who want to use agricultural concepts to teach core subject areas.

Apply at: http://faitc.org/teacher-grant/

Deadline: September 30, 2016. Only the first 40 complete applications will be accepted.

Florida County Farm Bureau School Garden Grants

In addition to the Florida Farm Bureau, County Farm Bureaus may also disburse funds for school garden programs. Check the web site of your county’s farm bureau for more information. To find it, Google the name of your county plus the term “farm bureau” (example: “broward county farm bureau”) or call them directly.

Apply at: County Farm Bureau website

Deadline: Various

TERRA Mini-Grant

The Technology Education Research & Redesign Alliance’s (TERRA) Mini-Grants are intended to support school-based projects in grades pre-K through 12 that utilize technology in a new and innovative way or sustainability initiatives seeking to encourage and support creative, local environmental education and stewardship activities.

Apply at: http://www.terraonline.org/2016-2017%20TERRA%20Grant%20Application.pdf

Deadline: September 30, 2016


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For Passover: Healthy + Kid-friendly + Matzah-free Dishes

Those celebrating the holiday of Passover can rejoice: you’ve made it halfway through the holiday eating one food group–Matzah.

With a few days left, here are some snack and meal ideas to change it up.

Healthy 2-ingredient pancakes

Gosh I just love these pancakes, and I make them year-round. They are fluffy, sweet, yummy, and nutritious. Best of all, they’re made of two natural ingredients: bananas and eggs. There’s no reason to save these for breakfast: with protein, fiber, potassium, and other vitamins and minerals, these are great for lunch and dinner, too.

The recipe is simple: Mash 1 ripe banana and whisk two eggs. Mix eggs and banana together and fry away, just as you would any pancake. I sometimes add 1/4 tsp vanilla for flavor (and you can also add chocolate chips, or whatever you enjoy in your pancakes). Easy? Yes! By the way, they’re so sweet they don’t need a topping, but we enjoy adding honey and berries.

Fish (or eggs) in a boat

Again, a year-round favorite. This is basically a substitute for wraps and sandwiches. Wash a romaine leaf and fill it with tuna fish salad, egg salad, babaganoush, guacamole, or whatever your kids enjoy. That’s it. I usually cut off the leafier top part, because my kids enjoy the crunchiness from the bottom half of the leaf.

Cauliflower rice

These days, you can find riced cauliflower in a bag at Trader Joe’s or make it yourself using a food processor. Cauliflower rise is simply a cauliflower minced up into rice-sized morsels. A simple sauté in oil with onions, plus some salt and your favorite spices is all you need to make this yummy. Add herbs and a squeeze of lemon juice if you so choose. If you want a specific recipe, this one is simple and great.

Spaghetti squash

I totally convinced my kids that spaghetti squash was actually a form of spaghetti. This is yet another easy, healthy option. I cut a spaghetti squash in half, remove the seeds, drizzle on some oil, and roast at 425 degrees (flesh-side down) until tender (usually about 30-45 minutes). Remove from oven and scoop out the flesh, which will come out like spaghetti.

Then, all you gotta do is add tomato sauce like you would on pasta, spices to taste (I add garlic), and you can top with shredded mozzarella or Parmesan cheese (which you can melt for 30-60 seconds in the microwave. Done, nutritious, and yummy! If you want to get fancier and cheesier, here’s a riff on baked ziti using spaghetti squash!

Healthy chips

Healthy chips do exist. Don’t forget these year-round goodies. Kale chips (or try spinach chips–make them the same way you would kale chips) are awesome. Also, try to make chips with your favorite fruit, like these banana chips, which you can also do with strawberries or apples. The key with fruit chips is to keep the oven on a very low temperature, around 200 degrees, simulating a dehydrator. (Of course, if you have a dehydrator that is kosher for passover, use that instead!).


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Let your Kids have their Candy and Eat it, too

Cute dog Trick-or-treating

It’s hard to separate Halloween from the experience of trick or treating and collecting loads of candy. That’s why I say: let your kids eat their candy, with some minimal limits. Yes, in my ideal world, my kids would never be exposed to that junk, especially in those quantities, but this is the real world, so I adjust my expectations.

The healthy-living approach I’ve advocated on this blog, is one of balance. I keep my kids as healthy as possible in the house, so that when we indulge, we can go all out and enjoy! Halloween is one of the hardest days on the calendar to wage the good fight against food coloring, refined sugars, corn syrup, GMOs, and all those other lovely ingredients–if I don’t let my kids eat treats, they are going to feel deprived, and feeling deprived is exactly what my healthy-living philosophy is meant to avoid. So on holidays like Halloween–when highly processed and colored chemicals, I mean, food, are central to the celebration, I let my kids enjoy (almost) like everyone else.

But, I do set some boundaries and follow some sneaky strategies to ensuring that when they indulge, they won’t indulge too much:

  • Depending on the time you go trick or treating, make sure to feed your kids a healthy early dinner or filling snack beforehand. If they get full before trick or treating, they are bound to eat less. And, as the parent, you’ll feel better knowing they actually consumed some nutrients before shoving pretend food into their bodies. Be strict about this early dinner/snack: give your kids the healthiest thing they are willing to eat (veggies, anyone?) and tell them, “we’ll only head out once you’ve finished your meal/snack.”
  • Avoid grazing while trick or treating. If your kids are noshing on their goodies while walking from house to house, they’re bound to eat a lot of it, without even realizing or feeling satisfied. When we eat distractedly, our bodies don’t register satisfaction. So tell your kids, “Let’s hold off eating our candy until we get home…and then we will have a candy party!”
  • Once home, have your kids pick out X number of candies to eat that evening. Choose the number that works for you. If it’s 1 or 2, they’re bound to be upset. I’d allow between 3 and 5, which is plenty of candy to eat in one sitting. The point is to let them indulge, but set a limit. The truth is, that many kids will stop eating on their own after that amount, anyway.
  • What to do with the remaining piles of candy? Get it out of the house–out of sight, out of mind–and pander to your kids’ do-gooder instincts (they do have those, right?). Tell your child that it’s important to share their goodies with kids who are less fortunate, and that you will be taking the rest of the candy to kids in hospitals or shelters (or name your favorite kids’ charity). Seriously, if you don’t have time to drop the candy off at a local institution that helps kids, then just bring it to work and share around the office: by taking that crap out of the house, you’re donating to your own charity: mykidshealth.org.
  • If you face too much resistance, let them choose 5 to 10 candies that they are allowed to eat, one per day, over the following weeks as a reward for doing a chore or eating a healthy meal. Let your candy work for you! In my house, special treats are given out freely only on rare occasions. Usually, I use dessert to my advantage by giving it to my kids only after they’ve finished a healthy meal, cleaned up, or completed another task that I want done.

So, there you have it: done and done! Let your kids enjoy their candy within very reasonable limits, no one feels deprived, and you just helped your kids do a good deed. Does life get any better than a win-win for all?

Let me know how it goes!

P.S. By the way, this approach can be followed if your kids collect candy after birthday parties and other holidays, Purim and Easter!


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Make Your Home a Toxin-Free Sanctuary

Do you realize that you have the power to carve out a safe space for your family? A space that is free of toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and other hazardous substances? That space is your home. 

family at homeHere’s why it’s so important:

Wherever we go, we’re constantly being bombarded by toxins, pathogens, and electromagnetic radiation. As a society, we’re only beginning to understand what this means for our health. Studies of specific toxins have shown that repeated exposure can damage our immune, nervous, and endocrine systems, particularly those of children, who are especially vulnerable. We are regularly exposed to over 70,000 newly developed synthetic chemicals that have never been tested and whose potential dangers are unknown.The list of environmental toxins we encounter on a daily basis includes air pollution, lead, formaldehyde, BPA, pesticides, flame retardants, mercury, and much more.

Toxic overload– along with poor nutrition, sedentary lifestyles, the overuse of antibiotics, and other factors– may explain why children today have so many allergies, weight problems, neurological deficits, and behavioral challenges. It may explain why, as a generation, they are “compromised.”  Too much of a bad thing can’t be good.

Now, here is the great news:

I once heard Master Herbalist Andrea Candee say, “My home is my sanctuary.” She had been discussing her rationale for not having wi-fi devices in her home. Everywhere else, she explained, her family members are bombarded with electromagnetic radiation. But, at home, they get a break.

Though we can’t protect ourselves from every health threat, our homes are the only places in the world where we have some control over the environment. Just as we think of sanctuaries as a safe haven for endangered animals, so, too, should we think of our homes as our own special, safer, place. In our homes, our bodies can get a break from the deluge of toxins, pathogens, and radiation that strikes us when we are outside. We get the chance to rejuvenate.

This philosophy, “my home is my sanctuary,” guides the decisions I make about the foods we eat, the products we use, and the things we do in our home. It explains why I have a no-shoe policy. It explains why I make every effort to keep out pesticides, heavy metals, phthalates, BPA, formaldehyde, PVC, VOCs, corn syrup, food coloring, and other potentially hazardous foods and substances.

These limits at home enable us to enjoy all sorts of treats and activities that the great world has to offer us. Outside the house, my kids can eat almost anything, they get dirty, and my son crawls around grubby floors in play areas and waiting rooms. We even invoke the “3-second rule” when teething toys or snacks fall on the floor. We get to roam free without worrying too much about germs and other hazards, because having a “sanctuary” means that we’ll have a chance to repair and rest when we go home. And, we are healthy. While my kids get exposed to all sorts of germs and viruses when we go out (which, studies have shown is important in the development of a stronger immune system), they’ve never been hospitalized or taken antibiotics.

The empowering and protective effects of my “sanctuary” matter not only for my kids’ physiological health, but for their spiritual health, as well. It teaches them about balance and the importance of limits. It teaches them that if we are careful a lot of the time, then when we have fun, we can go ALL OUT. (And, by the way, we have a ton of fun at home, too!)

My home is my sanctuary. It’s a safe haven I carve out for myself, my spouse, and my little ones, based on the trade-offs I am most comfortable with. Think about what your trade-off’s are: What’s most important to you? What can you give up? 

Make your home your sanctuary.