Part Three: The way it should be

OK, part three. Put your seat-belts on.

So in Part One I talked a little bit about the crap that I ate at lunch when I was a school boy. Part Two featured the crap that my son eats for lunch in 2010. Fantastic stuff. Neither one of us enjoyed simple nutrition at lunch time. No kidding.

Today I want to tell you how our kids CAN eat a healthy supportive meal at lunch time. It’s really pretty simple. Does it really matter… uhhhhh YEAH!!

Kida are fatter today than 5 – 10 – 20 – whatever, years ago. Is this fact open for argument?

Is it because of school lunches? Even I am not naïve enough to believe that is the sole or even the main cause. I do, however, think that it matters and that it is a factor.

Let’s look at two ways that can help our kids to eat a lunch that enriches and nourishes their bodies.

Brown bag it. OK, you don’t send your kid with a brown bad anymore. Technology allows for more efficient lunch packing. They sell lunch boxes at Wal-mart and Target. You can get a simple ice pack there as well.

OK, so what do you put in their new shiny lunch box?

Drink: Water. NO THEY DO NOT NEED JUICE OR SODA OR MILK. Please. They need water to live. End of story.

Snacks: Fruit is AWESOME! Lots of energy and nutrients! An apple perhaps; or a banana. (If you send a banana make sure it is protected. Banana and ice packs do not go well together!!) Also you should include some veggies. What kid would not like a sliced up cucumber or green pepper in his lunch box? Fantastic! A few handfuls of nuts it GREAT as well! Good protein and fats to keep the energy up!

Lunch: Tupperware rules. Leftovers with brown rice, veggies and some meat will help them to have energy for the rest of the day! How about a salad with some beans? Mmmm. A sandwich is acceptable at long as it doesn’t involve mayo or white bread. A turkey sandwich with mustard, tomatoes and lettuce is a good option. Tasty and nutritious!

Dessert: NO DESSERT NEEDED! HA! We want to be nutritious not destructive!

Notices there are no pretzels or potato chips or pasties or candy? No soda! No juice! No white bread! No micro wave! Support their bodies with healthy food!

Now you know how to pack your kids lunch. It’s easy and it’s simple. Pack it the night before and send it off in the morning. You could add so much quality you your kid’s lives by doing this. Now do it!

So that can the school do? Does it really matter?

The school systems for the most part of so indoctrinated into the governments corrupt food system that it doesn’t matter what I say.

In a perfect world here is what the school do:

1. Eliminate milk and chocolate milk. REALLY?? Do baby cows go to your kid’s school??

2. As a matter of fact the only fluid the schools should serve is WATER!

3. Home make all the food! Crazy I know that cafeterias COOK food. This may cost a fraction more but why not? How about a salad bar? That’s craziness. Pure craziness.

4. A piece of grilled chicken, brown rice, veggies and a piece of fruit. Uhh… doesn’t this just make sense?

5. Eliminate all food items that suck. Tater tots? Pizza? Get real people. This garbage they serve in the school systems isn’t food. Its profits for the food industrial complex. Would it be so bad to support local farmers and not Phillip Morris and Nabisco?

Is it really the truth that the ones in charge of our kids nutrition are the food companies and the kids?

The kids? Yes, the kids.

I know what people will say. “My Jonny won’t eat whole wheat bread” , “My Jennifer likes her milk”, ”Brown rice is so bland”….. blah, blah, blah. Whatever.

The kids “needs” are nutrition and nourishment. Their wants are candy and beige foods. Who’s in charge anyway; you or your kids?

The argument that the kids have a choice to eat well is ridiculous. You put an apple or a piece of candy in the face of a kid it’s candy all the way. They don’t think like little adults; they think like kids. We need to be the adults and make that choice for them.

Would you specifically like help with your diet or the diet or your children? I can help you. I can come to you and design a custom menu for you and the kids that will support and enrich. Please simply send me an email or visit my website and we can set up a custom consult: rick@yourbestfitnesscoach.com .

Set a goal this week to do something to empower you and the kids to do better. Even if it’s just one meal. A set in the right direction is a step in the right direction!

Do your best. This is the one thing that you can always do.

School Lunch: Part 2, Colby does lunch

My kid. Your kid. Our kids. We send them off to school with money for lunch. The theory in my mind is that since, well, it’s SCHOOL, they will be informed and have some good choices to make at lunch time. In my mind the choice they get is carrots or broccoli, brown rice or baked potatoes, chicken or turkey…

Yeah, no, this isn’t the choice they get.

In Lake County it’s a choice between crap and healthy food.

Food laced with sugar and addictive chemicals or healthy food.

Food that makes them feel GOOD (at least for a while) and healthy food.

What choice is your kid making? I’m not even going to pretend my kid makes the right choice. He surely does not. What the heck??

In my sons school system there ARE HEALTHY OPTIONS! Salad and fruit is available. Do you really think a 10 year old going to choose salad over pizza? I… don’t….think….so.

What kid is choosing steamed corn over tacos? How about celery over pizza? That’s the choose Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Friday it’s Hot Dog or Hamburger. Mmmmm.. nutritious. No choice needed there apparently. By the way, this is all online:

http://lake.k12.fl.us/16511031095838583/lib/16511031095838583/October_Elementary_2010.pdf

What do we put our kids on the bus to do?

Really. Think about this. Do we put them on the bus to go sit for 6 hours and be bored and hate school? Do we send them off to learn or not?

At the end of the day what is the most important thing?

I mean THE most important thing. How about our health! Learning math and social studies is vital I do know. What good are they when you are dead at 50 from a heart attack?

I would argue that our health is the most important thing in the world. School is such a fantastic platform to teach our kids how to eat.

Instead we feed them pizza and get them addicted to crap.

So sad.

The overly processed and artificially flavored foods are good for several things. First off, and most important, of course, is that there foods are cheap and SOMEONE is making a wicked profit.

OHHH – KAY.

Maybe that really isn’t THE most important thing but doesn’t it seem like it?

What else? Yeah, the kids love the food! You wouldn’t want the kids unhappy, right? You wouldn’t want them complaining about all this healthy food! (You know they would!)

So the food fills them up because they like it. It gives them energy for a while so they can finish the day. Wahoo!

Of course it’s devoid of any and all nutrients and it puts them on the road to obesity, diabetes and heart disease…

So to sum up today’s article I will make three points.

1) The kids do have a choice but my guess is that they aren’t making the right choices because they are kids and not mini adults. The will take taste over healthy 10 out of 10 times.

2) The school and the governments are lap dogs to the food industry. Watch “Supersize Me”. There are school systems out there that make all their food from scratch and it doesn’t cost any more. It is a sad sham!

3) You should send your kid to school with a brown bag lunch. I’ll talk about that in Part 3.

The same people that supply our kids with lunch everyday also supply the prisons with food. That’s fantastic. Or not….

School Lunch: Part 1

School Lunches: Part 1, Rick does lunch

I remember school lunch was as a time to be social and stuff my face with as much food as time would allow. I honestly have no idea what I ate for lunch was I was in elementary and middle school. I remember liking it though so it must have been bad for me. I do remember a teacher once telling me that pizza was the healthiest food in the world because it had the all the food groups. Oh boy…

I remember exactly what I ate in high school.

Of course I drank milk. Why in the world would they serve pasteurized cow milk to kids in school? Are we insane? Are out kids calfs? Do we really NEED to fatten them up?

The low grade milk that we serve our kids at lunch is ridiculously unhealthy.

OK, milk to drink. Then it was some sort of steakum type, thin mystery meat dealio with 2 packets of mayonnaise. I’m pretty sure I had two of those. Awesome. I believe I put pepper on it as well. Oh that is so gross. Yep. That is that I ate five days per week for 4 years.

But wait there is more.

That cost a buck twenty five. Oh what to do with my 3 quarters left over?

You know it. I bought three nutty bars.

Really? Are there nuts in those things?

OK, look at what I had for lunch. Any nutrition there? Nope. I was an athlete. You’d think I would have had a clue. Apparently not.

Lots of calories. Good for me as an athlete but what about people that weren’t athletes. I was in high school in the late 80’s and early 90’s. This is about the time that the obesity levels started to sky rocket.

Nutty bars or an apple. Hmmmm…

I wanted taste and quantity. I made horrific choices because I could. Do you think your kids are making better choices? You tell me.

I can remember enjoying lunch. I can also remember crashing big time towards the end of the day. By the time 2pm came around I was snoozing! Somehow I managed to run everyday. I’m sure I was surviving on the undigested bread and mayonnaise that was festering in my belly. Yuck!

I have no idea what the choices were for lunch at my school. I found what I liked and that is what I ate everyday. That’s what your kids are doing I’m sure. What does your $2 buy our kids. Part two will look at what kids in Lake County are eating. Yum!

Ben does life

On January 1^st 2009 Ben was 358 pounds.

He was sad and depressed.

His girlfriend left him.

He was lonely and his life was not what he wanted it to be.

One day he went for a run. 358 pounds and he went for a run. It wasn’t a long run. It wasn’t a fast run. It was what a 358 pound man could do for a run. It was slow and painful.

The next day he did it again.

Ben became inspired.

By February 1^st he had lost 24 pounds. Whatever his inspiration and motivation was didn’t matter. Ben had the fire. He had the desire.

He ran a 5k and was so happy and proud that he did more races and eventually completed a triathlon.

Ben was not done. In 6 months he had lost 100 pounds. He had lost the weight but found himself. Now he wasn’t satisfied and wanted more so he became a marathoner. Yeah, the 358 pound guy lost weight and did the Boston Marathon. That’s just awe inspiring.

Then something happened.

In 11 months he lost 140 pounds. Then came the setbacks. He gained almost 30 pound by the first of the year. In one year he had lost 140 pounds but gained back 30. He was going in the wrong direction.

Ben became inspired again.

So inspired in fact that he signed up for an Ironman.

On August 29^th, 2010 Ben, as a 245 pound man who was 113 pounds lighter then he used to be, stood on the starting line of Ironman Louisville with 3000 other people. Of course one of them was me. For the next 17 hours one by one 500 of those 3000 people would quit. For whatever reason all these people didn’t make it to the finish line in 17 hours.

I made it.

About 6 hours after I finished…. Ben made it.

On this proud day I heard the words “…you are an Ironman”. The words were sweet. I cannot fathom how sweet they were for Ben.

A man who overcame the odds to finish the hardest race in the world. Ben went from a depressed 358 pound man to an Ironman in 22 months.

What a fantastic story.

Wow.

Click here to watch the video. Be inspired.