Baam… too much cuteness in this post

Hello everyone!

Gueeess who’s back again….Me!! I’m back again to tell you about another amazing program that BSNY is a huge part of, Kingsbridge Heights Community Center Nutritional Education Program.  You may be asking, what is so cute about that?  Well, when you combine  a group of 3 yr olds, yoga, and fruit, the combination is bound to make you smile…..hence cuteness overload.

A little about the program.  Yael Gottlieb , one of my partners in health over at BSNY runs the healthy educational nutritional  program at Kingsbridge Heights  Community Center with the Head Start/Early education group.  Parents, if you are in need  of a good group of people that will care for your child as if he or she were their own or if you are looking to get assistance with childcare while receiving top notch educational service KHCC is the place.  Okay, I digress….I stopped by KHCC on 231st for one of these phenomenal nutritional classes.

On this particular day Yael was teaching the kids about foods and exercises that are good for the heart.  These kids were amazing, I mean I don’t know too many 3 year olds that do yoga and can give you at least two or three foods that are good for the heart. The word “Impressed”  doesn’t quite do justice for these kids.

Yael first had them recap the previous week’s lesson which were fruits and vegetables that were good for the brain.

She then had them do mini collages of the foods that are good for the brain.

This collage represents foods that are good for the brain.  These little cutie patooties  were definitely using their brain power when remembering the foods from last week and making this collage.

Once the collage was done it was time to move on to the body organ of this week, the heart.  Yael and the kids moved on to yoga by doing exercises that would get their hearts racing.  Imagine the cuteness overload that I experienced while watching Yael teach everyone some typical yoga moves.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen this adorable group of kids learned the downward dog and many other moves.

Once the kids finished with yoga it was time to learn about some fruits that are good for the heart, blackberries; strawberries; and blueberries to name a few.  Yael had the kids learn by a guessing game, the kids were blindfolded and used their taste buds to guess what type of fruit they were eating that  are  good for the heart.

Aaaaand if that wasn’t enough for a fun packed day Yael did one last activity with the kids.  This activity probably was the best of them all.  The kids got to build their confidence and work on their autonomy by becoming chefs for the day.  Yael taught each kid how to make fruit salads using the new fruit that they had just learned about, fruits that are good for the heart.

This simple recipe included:

• five blueberries
• two strawberries cut into pieces by their spoons
• three blackberries cut into pieces by their spoons
• and the juice from 1 Clementine

Once the items were mixed together the kids enjoyed their creations!

Ladies and Gentlemen this program at KHCC is phenomenal.  If you are ever in need of a good quality educational program for your kids KHCC should be your first stop.

Thank You Yael for making this program fabulous!

Until next time….Love, peace, and boogie down bodegas.

 

Read Full Post »

Tired of Elsa yet, if so what’s your pattern?

Happy New Year!!  I wish you a joyous, healthy, and prosperous New Year.  I also wish you safety and warmth during this Snowpocalypse!

We’re back and just in time for the new 2105- 2020 Dietary Guidelines.  As you may or may not know new dietary guidelines are regulated to come out every five years.  This is mandated by law, the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990 to be exact.  Why, because as we turn the infamous hands of time new information, science, and medical knowledge is being gained therefore releasing updated guidelines every five years is a straightforward attempt at keeping up with those hands of time.  For example back in the 80s you, me, your children heck even the dog could possibly go into a store to buy a lucy, smoke said lucy, all while drinking our juice (no gin).  Today, we know this is a definite no no for health and other obvious reasons.

These guidelines are the  “What’s Hot” of nutrition. With that being said we at BSNY are here for you.   This post will inform of you the outs and ins of nutrition, the main differences, and the new mindset of eating healthier that will hopefully last you a lifetime.  That’s right, we want to impact your life! (not too pushy at all, eh) So let’s get down to business.

The new themes of the 2015-2020 Dietary guidelines are:

• Focusing on Healthy Eating Patterns
• Food and Nutrient Characteristics
• Everyone plays a role- your school, your job, etc.
• Physical Activity
• Making Small shifts that will lead to bigger shifts (gradually)

In the best interest of time and …..well mostly to save your time I will cover the main theme of the new guidelines and provide you with a plethora of links to receive more information, FUNNESS!

So what is the main overarching theme of the 2015-2020 guidelines?  Healthy Eating Patterns is the answer.  These new sets of guidelines focus on helping you, us, and everyone in making healthier choices.  This is an effort to assist you in making your own healthy eating patterns.  What many of us sometimes forget is that your lifestyle, culture, environment, and habits to name a few all have a direct influence on our diets.  The new guidelines address these topics, not so much in a “this is what you should do” type of way but more so by providing information and giving you the tools to make these informed choices on your own, within your own culture, within your own environment,  and related to your own lifestyle and etc.

Differing from previous guideline suggestions the new guidelines of 2015-2020 do not say cut out oils, sugars, or fats.  These guidelines don’t target a specific food group which mimics the reality of what people really eat on a daily basis.  Instead the suggestion is to limit certain items to a certain percent, in other words choose healthier. You can very well have items from each food group that include certain types of foods, including fats/oils but it is the amount of these types that matters.   For example let us take sugar, the recommended guideline is to not have your daily intake of sugar exceed 10% of your overall daily caloric intake.  This is a huge difference from other guidelines because for the first time we see the guidelines acknowledging that everyone’s daily caloric intake is different for each person, depending on current weight, height, age, sex etc. Therefore, my 10% of sugar could be completely different from another person’s 10% intake of sugar.  Need to know what the new terms for sugar are, they are indeed tricky,just turn your food over to read the label.

In setting a healthier eating pattern of not necessarily cutting out one food group in particular but of picking items from within that group that are healthier this should set you up for much healthier eating patterns and more importantly a more realistic healthier future.

Let’s also not forget the importance of physical activity, which also plays a role in eating healthier….we can talk more about that later.  Feel free to leave a comment or question regarding the new guidelines.

Until then,

Love, peace, and boogie down bodegas.

 

Get more specific daily caloric intake information

The full 2015-2020 Guidelines, you know, “light” reading

What’s on your plate?

Read Full Post »