tracking nutrients has never been easier

For the last year or so I've been tracking the nutrition and foods my kids eat through food journals.  Sounds a bit overwhelming.  But not when there are easy-to-use programs available.

Go to http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/

It's easy to use.  First you register to use the site.  You'll have to enter you and your children separately to get accurate amounts for each child or you can estimate if your children are close together.  That's what I've done.  You enter your age and gender. 

Then you add the food that you eat all day into the DAILY FOOD INTAKE.  You can add food that you eat often to make it easier the next time you fill out your DAILY FOOD INTAKE.

Next click on Analyze your Food Intake.

The program will do the work for you by showing you how many nutrients you've consumed compared to the USDA guideline recommendations for your age and gender.  You can see what nutrients are lacking in your diet and then adjust or add foods to compensate.  Great tool to help ensure your family is getting the NUTRIENTS NEEDED.

It will also help you track your calories.  You can add your exercise into the program as well.  THIS SITE IS SO AWESOME!!!!! I didn't know about it for a long time and did everything by hand.  

fun sites for kids

http://kidshealth.org/

http://www.mypyramid.gov/

Get your kids excited about nutrition.  There's lots of fun games they can play while learning.  Here's a few sites we use.

my theory (part 4)

I spent the next 4 months really working at getting my children the daily nutrient requirements based on the Center for Nutrition. I filled out charts and tracked the vitamins and minerals and the food they ate.   If they wouldn't eat the nutrition, then they drank it.  I was disguising every vegetable possible in their drinks and other food.  I did have a more powerful blender back then because I was able to blend beets and carrots, celery and tomatoes, etc.  They had no idea what they were drinking most of the time but the thing is THEY LIKED IT.  Some smoothies were just bad but you can mask anything with frozen fruit and juice.  Anyways, I'll share my recipes in upcoming posts.   I didn't realize it but my theory about nutrition had been evolving and I was in the middle of testing it.  Slowly my extremely picky eaters, Spanky and Bubbles, began eating real food.  I didn't believe it myself when one night for dinner they started eating beets and asked for more.  UH...double take.  These were the same kids that gagged on every vegetable that came close to touching their mouths.  It's interesting when we give our bodies what it needs AND get rid of sugar (see post about sugar) our body's natural instincts are allowed to make choices based on what our bodies need.  The garbage food and sugar and deficiencies takes away this natural instinct.  For all of you with picky eaters, find a way to sneak in those daily vitamins and minerals.  This might be the only way to get rid of the picky eating habits.  More info on this theory and how to be sneaky with it in my book (coming really soon).