I was dismayed to see a headline today stating that U.S. children are showing hardening of the arteries!  Can you believe that!  What is this world coming to?!     In a related story, another study has shown a link between belly fat on children and heart disease later in life.  Belly fat!  Yikes!

So much has changed since I was a kid.  A trip to McDonalds was a BIG deal, not a weekly event.  We NEVER got to drink pop when we were little.  Candy in our house?   Nope.  Television time was minimal since cartoons were only on early in the morning and on Saturdays.   There were no pop machines in school.  Hot lunches were healthy, i.e., meat, vegetable, fruit, etc.  There were no chicken nuggets or fries.  Mealtime always included a vegetable (lima beans were a regular -- blech!). 

With more working parents, hectic schedules and the like, all those quick, easy, calorie laden snacks can be tempting.  I mean, they do save a lot of time with their convenient packaging.  So what is a parent to do?!

As a home visitor for many years, I have had the opportunity to get a birds eye view of the nutritional choices (or the lack thereof) that parents are making for their children.  Toddlers drinking Kool-Aid and pop out of sippy cups, popsicles before breakfast, continuous snacking between meals...

We made major changes in our nutritional priorities for our kids early on (although we, as parents, should practice what we preach!).  We drastically limited fruit juice as it was interfering with our son's appetite before lunch and dinner.  Most meals are accompanied by veggies and if we do get a Happy Meal, we choose the apple dippers instead of the fries.  Thank heavens many fast food chains are offering healthier alternatives.

Add to this the number of children spending hours in front of the television and video games and you have a recipe for disaster or in this case, heart disease.  What nutritional choices are you making for your kids?