Fun After School Snacks For Kids

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Kelley Ward

Fun & Healthy After School Snacks

As soon as I pick my son up from school he is ravenous. The school he attends serves lunch around 11:15 am and by the time 3:30 pm rolls around he tells me he is so hungry he “could eat the car”.

The minute he climbs into our car he reaches for the closest and easiest snack he can inhale. In the past I made sure the car was packed with energy bars, fruit squeezers, or veggie chips but lately I’ve added a few fun & healthy snacks. Here are some of my son’s favorite after school snacks.

After School Tractor Treat

10-15 minutes preparation time

After School Tractor Treat Copyright Kelley Ward 2012

Ingredients
1 Graham Cracker
4 Mini-Waffles (frozen section of store)
Colored raisins, blueberries, or dried fruit.
1 Tablespoon peanut butter
 

Directions

Toast the frozen waffles

Take out one graham cracker for the base of the tractor

Take the toasted mini-waffles and separate

Spread peanut butter on two mini-waffles

Use the peanut butter, as a paste,to keep the tractor wheels

together on the front and back of the tractor.

Add colored raisins, blueberries, and dried fruit to decorate.

Place the snack in the bottom of plastic sandwich container.

Surprise your child with a fun and healthy after school snack.

After School Inch Worm Grub

10-15 minutes preparation time

After School Inch Worm Grub Copyright Kelley Ward 2012

Ingredients
1 Medium-large banana
1 Small lady finger cookie
5-7 Blueberries, raspberries, or other berry.
2 Pieces of Cheerios cereal
1 Colored raisin for face
1 Tablespoon peanut butter or nut butter.
Alternatives could be jelly. 1/2 cup whole grain
low in sugar cereal for dirt.
5 dollops of whipped cream (if peanut allergy
is a concern leave the banana whole).

 

Directions

Cut the banana into 5 slices

Add peanut butter to place banana pieces together to form a worm.

Place the lady finger under the worm’s face

Decorate the worm’s face with Cheerio eyes and a raisin mouth.

Add 5 dollops of whipped cream on the top of the worm and

place a berry on top of the cream.

Sprinkle the cereal around the base for the dirt.

Surprise your child with a fun and healthy after school snack.

After School Popcorn Pizzazz

10- minutes preparation time

After School Popcorn Pizzazz Copyright Kelley Ward 2012

Ingredients
1/4 Cup air popped popcorn
Rosemary or other herb to taste
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions

Air pop 1/4 cup (or more if needed) popcorn.

When popcorn is still warm drizzle olive oil over popcorn.

Toss the popcorn with rosemary (or other herb you child enjoys).

This popcorn tastes like Italian bread but is a healthy alternative.

Surprise your child with a fun and healthy after school snack.

After School Cheese Chomp

10- minutes preparation time

After School Cheese Chomp Copyright 2012 Kelley Ward

Ingredients
1-2 Mini Babybel Cheese Wheels
Raisins, shredded carrots, or tiny slices of
orange peels for decorating
Whole grain crackers.
Dried apricot to sit on cracker.
 

Directions

Unwrap the cheese wheels carefully.

Use the cheese wax to decorate the wheel into a boy, girl,

animal, or shape your child likes.

I made a wheel of a boy wearing a baseball cap on his way

to practice and another wheel for my toddler who loves to smile.

You can use whatever else you like to decorate you wheel.

Surprise your child with a fun cheese wheel today!

For More Fun Recipes visit Low Calorie Low Carb, Low Fat Jicama French Fries

HuggRead It LaterStumbleUponYahoo MailYahoo BookmarksSquidooPrintFriendlyLinkedInPrintRedditStumpediaHotmailDiggBlogger PostBlipFacebookEmailGoogle BookmarksWordPressTwitterShare
Posted in Family, Healthy Living | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Why I Respect Mayim Bialik

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Kelley Ward

You might be wondering, “Who is Mayim Bialik”? I first noticed her on the show Blossom where she wore those great hats and had a quirky style as a young teenage girl. Now, in my favorite of all her roles so far, she is the hilarious neurobiologist Amy Farrah Fowler on The Big Bang Theory. Not only is she a great comedic actor but she also has a Ph.D. in neuroscience. She has a new book called “Beyond the Sling“. She says “Beyond the Sling” is not a “parenting book” but instead a “memoir” of how she as a neurobiologist became a mother of two boys and found her “true passion” as a parent.

I am thoroughly anticipating the release of her new book and will post about it on my blog. If you want to read more from this interview click here.

For some funny clips from “The Big Bang Theory and other Sitcoms” click here.

HuggRead It LaterStumbleUponYahoo MailYahoo BookmarksSquidooPrintFriendlyLinkedInPrintRedditStumpediaHotmailDiggBlogger PostBlipFacebookEmailGoogle BookmarksWordPressTwitterShare
Posted in Stories, Lessons, and Laughter | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“Where Did Mommy’s Superpowers Go? Helping Kids Understand a Parent’s Serious Illness by Jenifer Gershman

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Kelley Ward

Copyright 2012 Jenifer Gershman

I feel blessed to have met Jenifer Gershman through Linked in a few weeks ago. She told me her heroic story of how at age 38 she was unexpectedly diagnosed with amyloidosis, a rare blood protein disorder, which without proper treatment has a prognosis of 12-15 months. At the time she was diagnosed she had a 4-year old son, Jason. She had to undergo two stem cell transplants and high dose chemotherapy treatments, one in 2007 and the other in 2008.  During the aggressive treatment she was required to be separated from her son for weeks at a time. Prior to her treatment she searched in vain to find a book to help her explain her absence and some of the changes she would experience in order to treat this serious condition. The only children’s books she could find discussed conditions different from her own.

I believe the art of success is using the personal gifts, strengths, and skills you have in order to face and overcome the challenges that occur in your daily life. That is exactly what Jenifer did. She wrote the heartwarming book called “Where Did Mommy’s Superpowers Go?, to support children who are coping with a seriously ill adult in their family, not specific to any diagnosis. Her book is a useful tool to help families prepare for this challenge together. I interviewed Jenifer about her book here if you are interesting in reading more about her story.

You can also purchase her book on Amazon below for yourself, a friend, a family member, your local library, or local hospital. As a type 1 diabetic and former nurse I believe her book is an effective tool to help children begin to communicate about the sensitive topic of having a parent or family member who is seriously ill.

To find out more about Amyloid Research and Treatment click here

To visit her blog click here

HuggRead It LaterStumbleUponYahoo MailYahoo BookmarksSquidooPrintFriendlyLinkedInPrintRedditStumpediaHotmailDiggBlogger PostBlipFacebookEmailGoogle BookmarksWordPressTwitterShare
Posted in Family, Stories, Lessons, and Laughter | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Early Experiences and Brain Development

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Kelley Ward

Boy on Bike

Research is now showing how early nurturing, emotional, intellectual, social, and nutritional experiences all have an important impact on how the infant and young child’s brain develops. Interactions with other people and objects in the young child’s environment are as important to the developing brain as food, nutrition, fat, and vitamins. When I studied child development at the doctorate level at Oklahoma State University the idea that the brain can change in response to the environment was just starting to gain momentum. This concept of brain development is referred to as “plasticity” or the ability to change or respond to the demands of the environment. Experiences affect the way certain genes within the brain are expressed. For example, if Tina a 2-year-old girl grows up in a family that offers her healthy nutrition, a balanced amount of appropriate toys, nurturing that meets her needs, and social and language stimulation that encourages her to explore her surroundings and interact with the people around her then she will have the foundation she needs to develop emotionally, physically, intellectually, and socially. If however Tina is abused, neglected, or her needs are severely unmet then her environmental influences can influence her brain to impaired development, leading to behavioral, cognitive, and/or social difficulties in the child.

I will be writing more about how the brain develops in infancy and young childhood focusing on certain “windows of opportunity” that scientists are now finding in order to provide parents with this important information. The interactions our young children from birth to 3 years of age have with us and objects in their environment guide the way their  brain develops. Check back for more information on how parents can take advantage of these “windows of opportunity” with their young children.

 

HuggRead It LaterStumbleUponYahoo MailYahoo BookmarksSquidooPrintFriendlyLinkedInPrintRedditStumpediaHotmailDiggBlogger PostBlipFacebookEmailGoogle BookmarksWordPressTwitterShare
Posted in Family | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Back to the Start!

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Kelley Ward

I’m sure many of you saw that exceptional new commercial by Chipotle featuring Willie Nelson singing Coldplay’s song “Back to the start” but if you haven’t I’ve placed it here because I think it represents where many of us are headed or at least wanting to return to simplicity. There are books now on returning children to nature, simplicity parenting, organic foods, and many other things where less is more. As for me and my family we are going back to the start.

 

HuggRead It LaterStumbleUponYahoo MailYahoo BookmarksSquidooPrintFriendlyLinkedInPrintRedditStumpediaHotmailDiggBlogger PostBlipFacebookEmailGoogle BookmarksWordPressTwitterShare
Posted in Healthy Living | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

American Parents Need More Support and Less Criticism

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Kelley Ward

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dctwinkie5500/

The book Bringing up Bebe may contain a fair amount of useless information but it has highlighted the fact that American parents need more support and less criticism from fellow American parents. No other generation of parents has experienced the barrage of mixed information in regard to healthy and unhealthy eating, helpful and then days later not so helpful parenting strategies, or how children can thrive or fail when mothers work outside the home. I think the root of the problem is not how out of control and disrespectful some children are but instead the root of the problem beings with the lack of support many American parents have in raising their children in our fast-paced supersized world. This generation of children reflects the current atmosphere which is overstimulated and undernourished, to say the least. Instead of looking for ways to criticize, judge, and compare American parents who are raising children today why not look for ways to offer us support?

We need grandparents, uncles, aunts, neighbors, and friends to be involved in helping us care for our children so we don’t have to leave our children with strangers or in low quality daycare. We also need to look at how social government can play a role in improving the quality of support offered to American parents through tax breaks that make a difference. If you are a parent raising a child today the last thing you need is to be criticized for doing the best you can. Maybe it’s time we all stopped and looked at ways we could offer support to American parents. For instance, instead of taking the closest parking space to the local grocery store why not invite the mother with 3 kids to have the closer spot? Instead of ignoring the fact that a father is standing in the doorway of the local library with his two girls waiting for a spot to open so he can participate in local family art day simply make space for him and his girls at your table.

So instead of looking for ways to judge and criticize the majority of American parents who are doing the best they can to bring up our next generation empower yourself to become part of the solution to the problem.

I’d love to hear your ideas on how we can take positive steps to support American parents in our every day life. Thanks!!

HuggRead It LaterStumbleUponYahoo MailYahoo BookmarksSquidooPrintFriendlyLinkedInPrintRedditStumpediaHotmailDiggBlogger PostBlipFacebookEmailGoogle BookmarksWordPressTwitterShare
Posted in Family | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Brown Fat, Weight Loss, and Diabetes

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Kelley Ward

 

pathguy.com

As a nursing student and young nurse working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) I remember learning about brown fat in babies. The theory then was that only babies had brown fat and that the brown fat they had was for temperature regulation. When Tim Ferris came out with his bestselling book “The 4-Hour Body” that was the first time I ran across the term “brown fat” in 14 years.

Is brown fat the latest trend in weight loss?

Aaron Cypress a fellow in endocrinology at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center was reported to be listening to a lecture in which a doctor referred to the area around the neck on a picture on an adult as brown fat. He approached the doctor after the lecture and asked him if he was mistaken because only infants and children have brown fat. The doctor reported that he sees brown fat in adults all the time.

White fat, is the fat most of us are familiar with that leads to weight gain. Brown fat is different because it is a heat generating fat that burns energy rather than simply storing it. Recent research findings suggest that brown fat is more similar to muscle cells than fat cells. Brown fat is found more in individuals who are younger, thinner, and have more normal blood sugar levels. Cypress has also found women have twice as much brown fat than men, due to a lower muscle mass. If we can find ways to activate brown fat it could hold promise for fighting pre-diabetes, diabetes, and the obesity epidemic.

Scientists use to think fat was just a storage center for excess material found throughout the body. Now many research studies have discovered that fat stored in certain places throughout the body, around the hips and thighs for example, may actually lower the risk of diabetes. Although we need fat to survive and thrive too much white fat has been found to increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, joint problems, cancer, and many other negative outcomes.

According to Cypress’s study women, thinner individuals, and young people have more amounts of active brown fat than others. A medical geneticist at University of Gothenburg in Sweden, Sven Enerbäck, discovered that subjects who spent 2 hours soaking their feet in ice water wearing thin clothing burned 15 times more calories than those who did the same thing at room temperature.

Animal research studies have found mice who could not make brown fat gained weight 50% quicker than those mice who could make brown fat. These researchers estimated that just 2 ounces of active brown fat could burn around 300 to 500 calories more per day. Right now to activate brown fat you might need to endure the ice baths or ice showers proposed by Tim Ferris in his book “The 4-hour Body“, which I have tried and found to be extremely uncomfortable. Another idea proposed by Ferris in the book was to put ice packs on the back of your neck and front of chest for 30 minutes a day. I found the ice packs to be easier to endure but also not sure if they contribute to burning many calories or activating brown fat.

Patrick Seale, in his work as a postdoctoral student at Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, discovered PRDM-16 a protein found in brown fat cells but absent from white fat cells. He found that when he turned off PRDM-16 activity in young brown fat cells, the cells changed from brown fat to muscle cells. Currently he is working to identify genes to turn on PRDM-16. Other scientists are working on a brown fat pill or a pill that will speed up the effects brown fat has in the body.

Ways To Speed Up Brown Fat Cells

Until a pill is created or gene therapy provides a way to turn on certain proteins that speed up the process of brown fat cells there are a few ways you can active brown fat cells today. These include…

  • Exercising outside.
  • Just getting outside every day in the cool air for at least 30-40 minutes.
  • Place an ice pack on your upper back, neck area and upper chest for 30 minutes per day (Ferris).
  • Drinking 500 ml of ice water each morning can activate brown fat (Ferris).
  • Cold showers several times a week (Ferris).
  • For the full activation of brown fat Ferris suggests immersing yourself in ice water up to your waist for 10 minutes, three times per week. This is for the hard-core people.

As stated earlier, scientists are looking at gene manipulation and/or creating a pill that works with brown fat to help fight the obesity epidemic. Until then diabetics, pre-diabetics, older women and men, or really any individual looking to burn an extra 300-500 calories per day research might benefit from exercising in cold temperature environments, downing ice-cold water, or ice-cold immersion to activate the brown fat stores already present in your body.

Links to More Stories on This Can Be Found Here:

Popular Mechanics Brown Fat Revelations May Lead to Weight Loss Drugs

Mercola This Trick May Help Your Body Burn 400-500 Extra Calories Per Day

Tim Ferris The 4 Hour Body Website

 

HuggRead It LaterStumbleUponYahoo MailYahoo BookmarksSquidooPrintFriendlyLinkedInPrintRedditStumpediaHotmailDiggBlogger PostBlipFacebookEmailGoogle BookmarksWordPressTwitterShare
Posted in Healthy Living | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Interval Training and Diabetes

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Kelley Ward

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27065099@N05/

Interval Training and Diabetes: Beneficial or Potentially Harmful?

I love to exercise. Last year I did both the insanity and P90X routines for several months. My issue with exercising at a high intensity and for a long duration is my diabetes. As a type 1 diabetic it is difficult to exercise in a way that equals results, without incidents of hypoglycemia. I have found that if I let my blood sugar go a little high after breakfast and then hit the gym that I have much more energy to complete my exercise routine and can keep my levels pretty normal. The problem comes when I get side tracked or something unexpected comes up and I don’t get to gym for an hour or so and find myself with high blood sugar.

What is Interval Training or HIIT?

The newest fad in the training and exercise community is referred to as “interval” training or HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). It includes bursts of high intensity training alternated with low intensity training. For example, you start out at a low intensity on the treadmill, elliptical, or stationary bike and then for  8-10 times you increase the intensity of your exercise to maximum exertion. There are many options for training you can perform high intensity interval training on a treadmill or elliptical. I usually start high intensity interval training on a treadmill at 6.0 pace at an incline of 4-6 %. Then after 2 minutes I increase to 7.0 pace, same incline. Then after 2 minutes of this I increase to 8.0 pace, with the same incline for 1 minute. After this I’m at maximum exertion with a pulse rate around 160-166 bpm. I slow down to a fast walk at 4.5 pace and the same incline. I do this for 8-10 sets or a total of 20 minutes.

If I start my interval training with a higher blood sugar around 130-150 mg/dL then I can handle the workout without a drop in blood sugar. However if it’s less than 130 mg/dL then I usually need some fast acting carbohydrate to increase and normalize blood sugar.

Is Interval Training Beneficial for Diabetics Despite the Risk of Hypoglycemia?

Online I visited several diabetic communities and found many exercising type 1 diabetics experience this same problem. Overall most said to just decrease the basal rate if on a pump, which I am not. That is basically what I do which is decrease the amount I give myself with breakfast knowing I plan to exercise after eating. However it is important to note that the effects interval training has on metabolism and muscle mass don’t just occur during the exercise but have long lasting effects. Because of this an insulin dependent diabetic might need to lower both short and long acting insulin doses to prevent both hypo and hyperglycemia.

The effects of interval training on muscle mass, metabolism, and overall cardiovascular health are too significant to be eliminated by low blood sugar events. I just try, as many other diabetics to just see the possibility of hyper or hypoglycemia as a normal part of my exercise routine. Happy exercising to you!


 

HuggRead It LaterStumbleUponYahoo MailYahoo BookmarksSquidooPrintFriendlyLinkedInPrintRedditStumpediaHotmailDiggBlogger PostBlipFacebookEmailGoogle BookmarksWordPressTwitterShare
Posted in Healthy Living | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What American Parents Are Doing Right

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Kelley Ward

blog.americanfeast.com

I don’t know about you but I am growing tired of hearing how bad American parents are by people living in or originating from different countries. It feels like we just got over the impact of the Battle Hymn of The Tiger Mom by Amy Chou and now Pamela Druckerman’s new book, Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting, is once again an attempt to attack and belittle American parenting styles.

I think it’s just another attempt to sell another parenting book or an attempt to try and confuse American parents that what we are doing just isn’t “good enough.” Parenting is much more of an art than a science. Much of parenting depends not only on the parent but also on the child. I am a mother of 3 boys and I interact with my boys differently in some ways and similarly in other ways. I would hope that a parent of a toddler who is also a parent of a 2nd grader would parent each child differently. All of the seeming attacks on American parenting left me wondering how we could all be lumped together in the first place. Every child is a unique individual and requires parents to alter their parenting styles in one way or another. Although this apparent fad to lump all American parents together seems a little preposterous to me, I thought I’d give it a shot and lump all American parents together to find out what “we” are doing right.

For instance on the whole…

  • American parents value the unique qualities of each child.
  • American parents care not only about their children’s physical needs but also about their spiritual and emotional needs.
  • American parents value being a part of their children’s life. In other words, they look for opportunities to enter into their child’s world instead of expecting the children to be little adults.
  • American parents enjoy being with their children, interacting with them, and supporting them in their extracurricular activities.
  • American parents give their children lots of hugs and positive affirmations.
  • American parents adapt their ways of parenting based on research studies. When the self-esteem studies of the 80′s came out American parents jumped on the bandwagon to develop self-esteem in their children.
  • American parents protect their children more than ever before (car seats, helmets, accidental poisonings etc.).

I hope all American parents will not buy into this notion that we need to look to other countries to learn how to be a better parent.

HuggRead It LaterStumbleUponYahoo MailYahoo BookmarksSquidooPrintFriendlyLinkedInPrintRedditStumpediaHotmailDiggBlogger PostBlipFacebookEmailGoogle BookmarksWordPressTwitterShare
Posted in Family | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pants On The Ground, Literally

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Kelley Ward

easyquestion.net

This Sunday we were getting our crew of boys out of the family vehicle to go to church. As our 4-year-old stepped onto the sidewalk his jeans fell completely down to his ankles. He stood there with his blonde hair, blue eyes, and a Dennis the Menace grin on his face. Of course we were running late so there were only a handful of people around but he just stood there as if to say, “Okay mom how are you gonna handle this one?” While standing in the middle of the road, I quickly pulled his pants up and snapped them. When I looked up I saw a young couple laughing at what they had seen. I said the first thing that came to my mind, “Boys”. Our 4-year-old just continued on with business as usual. Life with boys is one priceless moment after another.

HuggRead It LaterStumbleUponYahoo MailYahoo BookmarksSquidooPrintFriendlyLinkedInPrintRedditStumpediaHotmailDiggBlogger PostBlipFacebookEmailGoogle BookmarksWordPressTwitterShare
Posted in Family | Tagged , , | Leave a comment