I Spy Pizza and French Fries for Lunch?!!

Divabetic

While I was traveling through LaGuardia airport in New York I spotted two boys digging into a lunch of pizza and french fries. It really bothered me to see what they were eating. In my opinion if you wanted to make your kids tired and lethargic, overweight and at a greater risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, you’d be hard-pressed to come up with a better meal option than french fries and pizza.

Yes, I know that traveling isn’t easy for families and when you’re pressed for time you reach for the closest thing. I also agree that pizza and french fries are featured on menus at airport food courts everywhere.  So pizza and french fries are fast and easy and yes, kids love them!

But guess what? These ‘fast and easy’ food choices are not good for your children’s health.

Let’s start with the fast food pizza that the kids in the picture are eating. Their pizza is made on a white crust that is filled with refined carbs and very little in the way of any nutrients such as vitamins, minerals or fiber. It’s also loaded with cheese, fatty meats and salt, all of which can increase your risk for cardiovascular disease. (Why not make pizza at home your kids using  whole wheat flour?)

A small serving of french fries from one of the airport snack bars contains between 200 and 340 calories on average. Of those calories, there is usually between 8 and 17 grams of fat, with around 1.5 to 3.5 grams of saturated fat for a small fries serving. Large fries have between 11 and a massive 37 grams of fat, with 4.5 to 8 grams of saturated fat.(Why not bring along a ziploc bag filled with fresh veggies and dip to snack on instead?)

In case you didn’t know … when Michelle Obama started Let’s Move!, her campaign against child obesity, in 2010, the average weight of the American child had been climbing at an alarming rate since the 1980s, and now one in three American kids was obese or overweight.

One recent study found that by 2030 more than half the adult population would be dangerously overweight, leading to millions of cases of diabetes, stroke and heart disease.

Divabetic

Like a lot of other kids, these boys seemed like they’re happy eating these greasy, high caloric foods together that’s a no brainer. But when you serve these foods everyday to your child you’re really setting them up for long-term health problems. I don’t want to preach. I’d rather work with experts to help teach parents, children and everyone in between on how to be a better eaters not a perfect eaters.  This year, I plan to focus on ‘food’ on several of Divabetic’s free monthly podcast, Diabetes Late Nite. I hope you will tune in!

TUNE IN: January’s Diabetes Late Nite with musical inspiration from Adele on Tuesday, January 12, 2016, 6-7 PM, EST.

The Hefty Cost Of A Healthy Diet

Diva TalkRadio - Food Aisle Face-Off

MSNBC reports that making healthy choices as per the government’s new My Plate guidelines is “going to cost you at least $7.28 a week extra.” The University of Washington study concluded that healthy heating should be accessible to all income brackets. While spending an extra $400 a month on groceries may sound unreasonable, there is a possibility that you could save on health care down the line.

Get free health and wellness advice on dining out and grocery shopping with the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach on Diva TalkRadio – Diabetes Roundtable. We’re podcasting with attitude!  LISTEN NOW:   http://t.co/57bxXb2