Parent Fat Traps
Jun 1st, 2011
The fat doesn’t stop with the pregnancy weight. These kids keep bringing it – just in sneakier ways. Usually, I can keep the extra pounds at bay through my daily cardio regimin. But with summer break looming typical routines will likely change potentially leading to a few fattening habits. Children’s Health Magazine brought to light several parent fat traps many of us fall into without realizing it’s sabotaging our dieting efforts.
Fat Trap No. 1
You polish off your kid’s fries/scrape the last spoonful of chocolate pudding/lick the peanut butter off the knife. I do all of these!
Skinny Fix
Don’t overload your child. In one sitting a typical toddler will eat just one-quarter to one-half the amount of food a grown-up will. If you keep servings age appropriate, that means fewer leftovers for you to pig out on. Your kid can always ask for seconds.
Graze on grown-up goodies. If you feed the kids separately (because who wants dinner at 5 p.m.?), have something healthy and filling to munch on while they eat, like a handful of almonds, hummus and baked pita chips, or edamame (in the pods, so you have to take time to pop ‘em out). Bonus: All of these snacks are high in the monounsatured fats that help melt belly flab.
Waste not. A triangle of PB&J, a couple of untouched chicken nuggets, even a handful of veggie chips can be saved for your kid’s snack the next day. Serve with fruit and some milk or greek yogurt.
Fat Trap No. 2
You cook to please your tot’s picky palate–which means a regular diet of starch plus dairy (mac ‘n’ cheese, grilled cheese, cheese pizza…).
Skinny Fix
Get rough(age): Use whole-wheat pasta, whole-grain breads, brown rice: They have more fiber, which speeds weight loss by binding with other foods and escorting them out of the body. It also helps you feel full longer.
Know your cheeses. Opt for low-fat in sandwiches, on grass-fed beef burgers and in mac ‘n’ cheese. White cheeses are typically lower in fat, calories and sodium. We are big fans of Baby Swiss in my house.
Go halfsies. Make two versions of a dish–one they’ll eat, and one you’ll like. Serve your grilled chicken on a bed of steamed spinach; the kids can have theirs sliced with baby carrots and honey mustard for dipping. Or pimp your pasta with lots of veggies.
Fat Trap No. 3
You’re on the soccer/gymnastics/ballet/baseball mom diet: constantly caught empty-bellied and forced to succumb to the snack stand. A recent study in the journal Obesity found that dieters consumed an average of 36 percent of their weekly calories on Saturdays.
Skinny Fix
Be prepared! Keep a stash of snacks on hand: a mix of almonds and dried apricots in a mini plastic bag, or an energy bar or protein drink with less than 200 calories.
Stay active. Get out of the chair or bleachers and walk around. Fast.
Fat Trap No. 4
You barely have time to take a shower in the morning, much less shovel down breakfast.
If you regularly skip your a.m. meal, you might as well send excess pounds an engraved invitation to take up residence on your butt. Researchers know that morning fasters are more likely to be fat than morning eaters.
Skinny Fix
Always Eat Breakfast. Prep in the p.m. Make yourself a peanut butter sandwich with sliced banana while you make school lunches at night.
Additionally, have some egg with that toast. An all-carb (or very low-carb) diet will increase your carb craving and slow your metabolism, research has found, so be sure your morning meal includes a lean protein.
Fat Trap No. 5
Your pantry is stocked with kid-pleasers like cookies, chips, and soda.
Skinny Fix
Dump the junk. Yes, I realize you have to have some treats around but severely limit the stock.
If I have potato chips hanging around I will eat them. Not one, all. Limit decadent calories to around 150 a day.
WATCH OUT FOR THESE:
1 bite of a PB & J: 47 calories
1 chicken nugget: 46 calories
1/2 small order of fast-food fries: 115 calories
2 spoonfuls of chocolate pudding: 46 calories
3 spoonfuls of Kraft macaroni and cheese: 82 calories
1/2 hot dog in a bun: 134 calories
2 big swigs of 2% chocolate milk: 47 calories
*Remember, all it takes is 50 extra calories a day to put on five pounds in a year.
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Written by Lea Barlow • Leave a comment
