Like adults, it's crucial for kids to get the right nutrients!

From the minute they wake up they are extremely active, so we need to feed them with the right fiber, fats, and nutrients. A rule of thumb is: Offer your kids at least 1 - 2 serving of berries/fruit each day, 2 - 4 servings of vegetables, a good quality whole grain bread, try to avoid wheat though. Use a good quality meat mostly from free-range or grass-fed animals, and eliminate or at least limit soft drinks, all kinds! Remember if you don't introduce it to your kids, they don't get the craving!  Most importantly, eat most meals together as a family.  I usually don't recommend milk, but if you have to, use grass-fed full fat. Basically, dairy milk is for calves only! Best thing is to use plant-based milk instead.

Did you know that more than 12 million children in the US are obese? That’s one out of 6! Read the article here. Junk food and lack of exercise is the typical cause. These children have an increased risk of developing all the known lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. The last two are also known risk factors for heart disease.
Furthermore, obese children are more likely to be bullied, which increases the risk of depression!

Is this really what we want for our kids just because we don’t have time to buy or prepare whole food for them?

I teach something I call #SevenHealthHacks. These hacks are meant to incorporate into your daily routine, to make the road to optimal health for you and your family a lot easier. The hacks are: FOOD,  SLEEP,  WATER,  EXERCISE,  FRESH AIR,  SILENCE, and GRATITUDE

FOOD

By eating whole food, and making better choices when you eat out, you’ll get so many benefits.  Not only weight wise, but also for the whole family.  Your kids will be able to sit still in school and actually learn much more. They will be happier and more active.

SLEEP

Let your kids sleep in a dark room, no light at all. Not even from an alarm clock or TV.
If they have electrical devices, have them turn it off at least 2 hours before bedtime.

WATER

Make a check-off chart on the fridge for every family member and have them check off every time they fill their water bottle. Set a goal with everyone on how much they should drink every day.

EXERCISE

Figure out what type of exercise your kids would love to do, and support them in getting it done every day! When possible, let them bike to school or when they visit a friend.
You don’t really do them a favor by driving them all the time! But make sure you teach them traffic safety.

In Denmark, we have a day at school every year where everybody brings their bikes. The police are there all day teaching us how to behave in traffic, what hand signals to use, along with checking if our bikes are safely equipped with lights, brakes etc. It’s a fun activity! Most kids ride their bike to school in Denmark if its less than 5 miles.

FRESH AIR

Make sure your kids are outside playing at least 30 minutes every day. If it rains, put on rain gear. If it snows, snow pants, warm jacket, hat, gloves and boots, and in summer, well then you really don’t need much!

American children (as well as adults for that matter) are so used to being at 68 to 70 degrees year round, that their bodies cannot adjust to different temperatures. Furthermore, all the air-conditioning weakens your immune system too! So, turn it off, and let your body work the way it is perfectly designed to.

SILENCE

Teach them to sit down and relax for 15-20 minutes every day. Either to some soft music or just in total silence.

GRATITUDE

This one I love! Have everyone sit down before bedtime and write down at least 5 things you are grateful for today.

Prepare the week, by making batches of fruit and veggies for lunch and snack, so it's easy to grab on the go. Find a great place like LeJuicery where you can get healthy foods and drinks for takeout. That way you provide your kids with whole food instead of junk. Processed and packaged kids' meals are often high in the wrong fat, calories, sugar, and salt. Chicken kabobs are always a hit among kids, fruit kabobs are also a fun way to help them choose healthy snacks.

For breakfast, you can prepare smoothie bags for the whole week. Grab a bag, add a plant milk and blend for 1- 2 minutes, and a healthy colorful breakfast is ready. Or, you can do Oatmeal in a jar if they like that. Get more inspiration here

If you just want it easy, just call us in advance (262) 842-5337 and place your order for a healthy breakfast, we've got you. Check out the menu here.

Having a healthy eating plan will help move your kids away from wanting to eat chicken nuggets and french fries at every meal. For water intake, let the kids help flavor their own bottles with the fruit or herbs they like.

As you and your kids learn to make healthy choices and begin eating better, you will experience fewer outbursts from the kids, or yourself for that matter! The result is, everything gets a lot easier, and before you know it, making healthy choices will become your new normal.

Ginger is another one of the extremely powerful roots we have and is mostly considered as a spice. It has been used for thousands of years both for culinary and medicinal purpose.

These days, Ginger is extremely popular in all types of dishes, juices, smoothies, and single shots. You can use ginger fresh, dried or as an extract. I use a lot of fresh ginger, both for cooking but also in my smoothies. It adds a great flavor to any meat, casserole or dressing.

HERE IS A RECIPE FOR THE BASE MIX I USE IN MY OWN CHICKEN AND FISH CASSEROLES: 

Ginger Root Casserole Base

• 1-2 inch grated fresh ginger
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 diced red onion
• a pinch of chili flakes
• 1 tbsp of coconut oil

Heat up the coconut oil in a skillet. Add all ingredients and stir until golden. Add the meat to the skillet and cook till it’s done, or add the mix on top of the fish. Click here for the full recipe. 

HOW CAN GINGER BENEFIT MY HEALTH?

For medicinal use, you can get Ginger as tea, dried powder in capsules, or as an extract in small bottles. 

Ginger contains hundreds of compounds and metabolites, which all benefits your overall health Some of the known health benefits of Ginger is inflammation, digestion, pain, and nausea.

Talking about nausea, I usually recommend Ginger for pregnant women with morning sickness, or if have a tendency for motion sickness, where it seems to have an excellent effect. Because of the phenolic compounds in Ginger, it’s known to stimulate your saliva and bile production, suppress gastric contractions and help relieve gastrointestinal irritation (GI) Ginger also supports some of the important enzymes in your digestive system, which suggests it could help prevent constipation and Colon Cancer.

During the winter time, Ginger tea is a good way to keep the body temperature up, as it is working to warm your body from within, which also helps keep the colds away. Because it is such a powerful anti-inflammatory root, it is used by many with arthritis for pain relief.  

However, Ginger doesn’t do it all alone. You need to change other areas of your lifestyle too. By adding more and more of these very health beneficial foods to your diet, along with incorporating more water, better sleep, fresh air, exercise, silence, and gratitude to your daily routine, you’ll be able to reverse most of the lifestyle diseases we know today.

At Le Juicery you can either get the single shot or enjoy one of the many foods or drinks which includes Ginger. Making better choices while eating out is crucial in order to maintain the healthier path while you are at home.

I'm so honored and excited to be working with LeJuicery, Kenosha Wi, as their Health & Wellness expert.

On Mondays, I'll be sharing the benefits of making healthier choices, and highlight one item from the menu every week.

We all live busy and sometimes stressful lives, with so many things to do once we get out of work. Often times making healthy choices is NOT one of them. Thats why it's so important to me, to spread the word and share with you, that there is in fact places like Le Juicery, with Healthy clean eats and drinks on the menu.

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H2O melon juice

Featured this week is H2O melon juice

The main ingredient in this juice is Watermelon, and it might come as a surprise, that besides being a really good source of hydration in the summer heat, it's actually a bomb of amazing nutrients.

Lycopene is a phytonutrient and definitely on the top of the list. Besides providing the red color, Lycopene is one of the most powerful antioxidants in the world. It helps neutralize oxidative stress, and reduce the risk of some cancer types, especially prostate cancer. It is also a really good phytonutrient to help improve your heart health, eye health, bone health, and your brain. Vitamin C is another huge antioxidant you find in watermelon. Most people knows, that Vitamin C is known to strengthen our immune system, but what you probably don't know is, that it is an essential component of our connective tissue, which is vital for our wound healing. Together with Lycopene, it also fights oxidative stress, and in some countries it is used to fight cancer.

Other than these to powerful antioxidants, you also find Vitamin A, Magnesium, Vitamin B6, and Iron.
Last but not least, it a great source of fibers, which we need to keep our digestive system healthy.

Besides the powerful watermelon you'll find apple, strawberry, lime and sea salt in the H2O melon juice.