“Yummy, yummy, yummy I got _______ in my tummy.” Everyone loves M&M’s – are you a plain or peanut kinda person? You guessed it, I’m a nut! Food is a huge aspect in our lives, especially socially. How do we build the discipline to eat right when the majority of society is eating wrong? Adults have learned to adjust our diets from the chicken fried steak, tators and thick gravy to a healthier menu, but our youth experience a collision of mixed messages.
Everything starts at home, actually in the fridge and pantry. How’s the selection? Nutritious and delicious… (there’s an oxymoron). Seriously, if we want our family to eat properly we must help out by providing healthy, realistic choices that our kids (and we) will automatically reach for.
Eating out also is a big part of our social dynamic, so train them when you eat out as a family so they can make good choices when on their own. Talk through the menu and allow them to order. Support their decisions. Stretch the meal by taking home left-overs or by setting aside a portion at the beginning of the meal. Better yet, share a meal.
We can help each other by NOT making it such an issue that they become self conscious about their bodies. Kids (and adults for that matter) already feel a tremendous amount of pressure from peers and the media about this issue. Encouragement about taking care of their bodies will win them over rather than discouraging them. Our own example speaks louder than words, so let’s be intentional with our eating habits.
Remember our bodies are the temple of God – yes, as strange as that sounds… I Cor. 6:19, 20 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
This summer at Camp you’ll find our menus and staff reinforcing healthy eating choices. Hurry up Camp and get here, I’m hungry to get Camp started with our amazing campers and staff – yum, yum.
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