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Sneak Peek – Debut Novel

October 20, 2017 / by tina-author / Leave a Comment

Tina is working on her debut novel for adults: The Choices They Left Behind

Tina is currently writing the second draft of her first novel for adult readers. The Choices They Left Behind spans across three generations of one family and reveals how the large and small choices made by one generation can have a dramatic impact on the next. Betrayal, secrecy, revenge and redemption are just some of the themes explored in this full-length novel that showcases the personal growth of three women and the difficult choices they make.

Intrigued? Click here for a sneak peek.

Confessions of a School Lunch Maker

August 21, 2017 / by roy / Leave a Comment

Forgive me Canada’s Food Guide for I have sinned. I’ve packed my children’s lunchboxes with fruit flavoured drinks instead of pure juices; fruit chews instead of real apples, oranges or bananas. I have turned a blind eye to sugary cookies, greasy potato chips and decadent pudding cups. I’ve financially supported a high-fat, high-sugar diet through school-sponsored pizza, fast food and birthday treat days.

Like so many Canadian parents, I have succumbed to the evils of convenience, taste, mass advertising and peer pressure over nutrition. What’s wrong with that you ask? The experts tell all.

Do As I Say, Not As I Eat

Kids naturally prefer the taste of Oreo cookies to carrots. Right? According to The Hospital for Sick Children’s book Better Food for Kids there is no evidence to suggest this. “Children can learn to like healthy, nutritious foods just as easily as sweets and other junk foods,” they encourage.

Who taught them to like high sugar, high fat foods?

Dr. Rallie McAllister, author of Healthy Lunchbox, says children do as parents do. “Children naturally include many of their parents’ favourite foods in their own diets.”

An effective way to change your family’s diet is through the art of substitution. “If your ravenous kids go rooting around the kitchen like truffle pigs and find dried fruit in the cookie jar, bottled water in the fridge, and frozen yogurt in the freezer, they’ll improvise,” she suggests.

Are We Thinking?

We all know eating healthy is good for our bodies, but we may not fully appreciate the damage we’re doing when we eat poorly. Dr. Michael Lyon, the Vancouver-based co-author of Is Your Child’s Brain Starving says North Americans consume too much sugar, starch, and fat, as well as too many synthetic chemicals. The results are epidemics of obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

According to the Canadian Diabetes Association, children are getting Type 2 diabetes at an alarming rate – shortening lifespans by an average of 13 years. Scientists have linked Type 2 diabetes to diet, weight and physical activity, as well as high cholesterol and blood pressure.

What’s equally alarming is the impact poor dietary choices have on the brain. “Packaged, so-called convenient, fast foods are damaging to our brain chemistry,” stresses Dr. Lyon. “Behavioural symptoms of too much fat, sodium or sugar are irritability, restlessness, and lethargy.” If we want our children (and ourselves) to have healthy brains, we must stop eating junk food, pesticides, food additives and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

A Health Canada study states, “Psychosocial correlates to a low intake of fruit and vegetables among adolescents include low family connectedness, dissatisfaction with weight, poor academic achievement and health compromising behaviours such as binge eating, substance abuse and suicide attempts (Neumark-Sztainer et al., 1998).”

Much of Dr. Lyon’s research has been on the impact of dietary change in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). “I have seen children’s lives completely turn around through optimal nutrition, again and again,” he writes in Is Your Child’s Brain Starving. For additional information on the effects of nutrition on behaviour and ADHD also go to cspinet.org

Toxic Vegetables?

French fries and ketchup are the primary ‘vegetables’ in most North American teenage diets states a recent study. The problem is that, “When oil or fat is heated to high temperatures its chemical structure is altered causing brain-toxic byproducts that can limit, reduce or alter brain function.”

“It seems some parents are afraid to make their kids try a piece of broccoli,” laments Dr. Lyon as he challenges parents to wean their children off junk food. “As a parent whose children now enjoy broccoli and most other healthy vegetables I can tell you that persistence and firmness still work.”

You Snooze, Your Children Lose

No big deal if your child skips breakfast? The physical fallout is devastating explains Dr. McAllister: The liver spits out the last of its stored glycogen. Blood Glucose levels are extremely low. Deprived of fuel, the brain sputters causing headaches and dizziness. Concentration and coordination are shot. IQ drops about 50 points and short-term memory is seriously impaired. Adrenaline triggers tremors, sweating and nervousness. Is this how you want your child to start their day?

The solution is simple. Dr. McAllister suggests making breakfast the main family meal of the day. It’s the perfect opportunity for parents to nurture their children’s development, physically and emotionally. “Time invested in breakfast is much more valuable than the few extra minutes of sleep you (or your child) might get by skipping the morning meal.”

Beware! Feeding your children packaged breakfast cereals – or what Dr. Lyon calls “sugar coated, artificially flavored, chemical laced starch, ‘fortified’ with a sprinkling of a few of the hundreds of nutrients that were stripped out during processing” – is not the answer. To prevent roller coaster blood sugar levels, a high fibre, high protein breakfast is recommended.

A Kit Kat for Lunch? Give Me a Break!

Some parents send teens to school with spending money rather than a home-packed lunch – believing their children will make healthy choices in the school cafeteria. Let’s look at the young girl I saw purchase a Kit Kat chocolate bar from a school vending machine. Was it a quick sugar hit between classes? Dessert after a nutritious lunch? Neither – it was lunch! Ready to dust off the old lunchbox yet?

Better Food For Kids suggests the following healthy lunches:

Thermoses filled with hot soups, leftover stews or pastas.
“Sandwiches” made with pita pockets, raisin bread, whole grain bread or rice cakes.
Fillings such as tuna, salmon, egg salad, hummus, soy alternatives, cheese, leftover chicken or meatloaf.
Fruits and vegetables with light salad dressing or flavoured yogurt dips.

Involve your children in the lunch making process but leave out the junk food. Dr. McAllister encourages parents to practice what we preach and take our own healthy packed lunch to work.

Getting Priorities Straight

When it comes right down to it, nothing is more important than the health and well being of our families. Consider the time and commitment you’d make for a seriously ill child. Changing old, unhealthy habits would take considerably less time and commitment.

“The school age years are ones of rapid growth and development,” the Dieticians of Canada and Dairy Farmers echo. “Healthy eating and active living are key elements allowing children and youth to reach their full potential, while laying the foundation for a lifetime of healthy living.”

Think about it. What better back-to-school gift could a parent give a child?

[ Illustrations from Samantha’s Silly-icious Sandwiches by Tina Powell.
Republished here with the permission of Canadian Health & Lifestyle Magazine.]

Samantha is sick of eating the same old, boring sandwiches for lunch. All the other kids have lunches that are fun. All the other kids have lunches that are exciting. Samantha takes matters into her own hands—and the results are silly-icious. This story encourages sharing, self-reliance, and a fun approach to nutrition.

To learn more about or to purchase Samantha’s Silly-icious Sandwiches, visit Tina Powell’s Book Boutique.

Thumbs Up For Family Fitness!

October 23, 2015 / by roy / Leave a Comment

Our thumbs have taken over. How did it happen? Perhaps it was when we got TV remote controls and stopped getting up off the couch to change channels. Or maybe it was when we let our thumbs do the walking while we did the talking on wireless telephones and handy cell phones.
Our kids have hyper-thumb-mania, too. Ever notice how their little thumbs dance across video game controllers while they play virtual football or basketball? It must be exhausting – for their thumbs!

The fact is our thumbs are getting a great workout! But what about the rest of our bodies?

Family

What’s the score?

“Over half of Canadians aged five to 17 are not active enough for optimal growth,” says the Public Health Agency of Canada. Since the 1980’s, the prevalence of overweight children has doubled and obesity has tripled.Pediatricians and family physicians are already seeing weight-related health problems in children, such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol.

“We’re squandering our children’s mid-life health,” asserts Dr. John Frank, Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Population and Public Health. “Based on current rates, one-third of all children born today will become type 2 diabetic.”

“Kids younger than eight spend two and a half hours a day watching TV or playing video games, while kids older than eight spend four and a half hours doing the same,” reports the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada in their book Fit Kids – A practical guide to raising healthy and active children from birth to teens (Dorling Kindersley Ltd., 2004).

Computer and video games are addictive insists Dr. Frank, “They’re designed to engage you psychologically to such an extent you find it impossible to turn off the machine and go to supper.

”The experts agree that limiting “screen time” is critical to families getting more active. What’s a good limit? Fit Kids recommends no more than one to two hours a day watching TV or playing computer games. And never place a TV screen or computer monitor in a child’s bedroom – no matter how many tears it causes.

Canada’s Physical Activity Guides (www.paguide.com) state that children should work toward at least 90 minutes of physical activity each day! We know our families should be more active. But how? Busy schedules, long commutes, expensive sports equipment or fees, and concerns over neighbourhood safety often get in the way.We’re stuck contends Dr. Frank.

“We’re stuck because we’re not willing to stand up, speak out and say, ‘Hey, this is a disaster!’”It’s not going to be easy, but you can make family fitness safe, accessible and fun. It’s time to stand up and get your family moving!

10 ways to turn your techno-family on to fitness

1) Do it yourself

Parents must lead by example. “A child who has active parents is six times more likely to be physically active,” reports Fit Kids. If that means actually going to the gym three times a week, joining a softball league or dusting off your bicycle, get moving. And stop your complaining! If you grumble about exercise, so will your kids.

2) Have fun

Families will exercise more if they’re having fun. Inline skating, tag, scavenger hunts, swimming and bike rides are all fun ways for families to get physical.

Researchers in Fit Kids say certain factors help make physical fitness fun for a child. When evaluating a physical activity, parents should ask:

Is my child enjoying positive interaction with peers and coaches?
Are they receiving praise and support?
Have they mastered a new skill and are proud of it?
Does my child enjoy the way this activity feels?

Brooke (10) likes to play soccer and volleyball… but she loves to play hide-and-go-seek with her friends! She says she’d be more active if she could go to the park more.

3) Listen to your kids

Have family members take turns picking group activities. As much as you may like a Sunday morning bike ride, the kids may really want a game of basketball. By taking turns, everyone gets to do something they love and variety is essential to an active lifestyle.

Stephanie (11) enjoys dance more than TV or computer games. She says if her parents want her to be more active, they should suggest some camps that have lots of activities and let her pick the one she likes best.

4) Be creative

Bored with family walks and bike rides? Think beyond the traditional. Try bowling, golf, kayaking, curling, horseshoes, badminton, hip hop, or karate. Or better yet, create your own family games. On rainy days, plan fun indoor games. In their book, 365 Unplugged Family Fun Activities, (Da Capo Lifelong Publishing, 2004) Steve and Ruth Bennett suggest Bocce Socks, Balloon Decathlon and Shooting Hoops in the living room.Trevor (12) has a conditional junior black belt in karate. His favourite physical activity is playing a game he invented called Blitz Ball. He says that it’s kind of like soccer, but you get to pick up the ball.

5) Take out the competition

It isn’t for everyone. Team sports can be stressful for participants and demanding on a family’s time. The Bennetts state, “Competition can add a nasty edge to otherwise enjoyable games. Encourage kids to try to top their own previous scores rather than yours, a sibling’s or a friend’s.”

6) Get the right stuff

If your house is filled with electronic equipment, your family will play electronics. If it’s filled with games and sports equipment, they’ll play games and sports. Fit Kids suggests stocking the garage with a basketball, baseball and glove, football, soccer ball, volleyball and net, tetherball set, badminton set, flying discs, sidewalk chalk, jump rope, croquet set and inline skates. At garage sales you can pick up used sports equipment affordably.

7) Be sneaky

Children love to help around the house. It makes them feel grown-up and important. Fit Kids suggests household chores are the ideal way to sneak physical activity into your kids’ schedules and keep your house running smoothly. Sweeping, vacuuming, washing the car, raking leaves, walking the dog and cleaning their rooms are just some chores to try. (My son got an amazing workout moving the family video collection upstairs three movies at a time).

8) Use your head to set an example

Before you automatically jump in the car to run a family errand, determine if you can walk or ride bikes instead. If you must drive, park a few blocks away. Bypass the elevator or escalator and take the stairs. Sure it may take a few moments longer, but think of what you’ll gain in the long run. Your kids may even start walking to school.

Dr. Frank laments, “If you’re driving your kids to an activity that also involves no physical exercise, you need to think about how to make that different.” It may mean walking the kids to computer camp or switching them to basketball camp. Or, add physical activity before or after a sedentary activity.

9) Put it in writing

Support your family’s commitment to physical activity with activity menus, activity logs, fitness contracts and goal setting suggests Fit Kids. Display them on the refrigerator to keep physical fitness at top of mind for everyone.

10) Create a fit community

Being active in the community makes for a more active family. Health Canada’s Family Guide to Physical Activity for Children suggests parents:

Create neighbourhood outdoor games – pickup hockey or hide-and-seek
Coach local sports teams or organize community activities eg: charity walk-a-thons
Be an advocate for more physical activities and facilities in schools and communities
Campaign for increased child safety at playgrounds, parks and on roads. Designated crosswalks, neighbourhood watch programs and well-constructed playground equipment improves outdoor safety.

Families, give your thumbs a break! Put down the remote control, cell phone and game controller. Pick up a new, active lifestyle! Your exhausted little thumbs will thank you.

[This article was originally published in the Canadian Health & Lifestyle magazine.]

To learn more about or to purchase Fernanando’s Funtastic Friends visit Tina Powell Book Boutique>>