Help children slim down with snacks

My heart broke two weeks ago when I read the articles and saw the photos in The Washington Post about overweight children.

Recently, I have also heard the prediction that this is the first generation where the parents will outlive the children! How tragic. It saddened me as well to think of the ridicule those children must endure among their peers.

I couldn't help but notice the soft drinks prevalent in several of the photos featuring family dinner tables.

I thought about myriad soda machines readily available in our culture today.

Sugar, high fructose corn syrup, lack of exercise and negligible consumption of fiber-rich foods ... all contributing factors to this childhood epidemic of obesity! I wanted to reach out, I wanted to affect change. What could I do?

This column is my forum. As I packed my lunch for work that evening, I became pensive.

Help your child get on track. Pack healthy snacks. Have them readily available at all times in con-venient snack-size Ziploc ™ bags.

Focus on fiber! Juicy red cherries are in season and high in fiber. I enjoy sticks of sweet, crunchy turnips and carrots. For me, snacks are all about crunch! Pickling cucumbers are readily available in the produce department of your supermarket. They are sweeter and crunchier than regular cukes.

Fruits and vegetables are rich in water, but do not make up for our daily water requirement. Roughly, adults require eight 10-ounce glasses per day.

Encourage your child to be active outdoors with warmer weather approaching and have individual bottles of water chilled and ready to grab. (When bottled water arrived on the scene, I trained our boys early on. Although my husband thought I was being extravagant, I was a big proponent of individually bottled water. If the boys were thirsty, water was the beverage of choice, not sweet sodas.

To this day, now ages 22 and 25, they prefer water or "beer" over soft drinks. Ha!) Have you seen those cute pod-shaped bottles they sell at the box stores? They look like little space ships and are perfect for school lunches. When my younger son was in preschool, he ac-quired a taste for tossed green salads. To simplify the eating process, I would serve a small bowl of fresh greens and allow him to use his fingers to dip bite-size pieces into a dollop of salad dress-ing. On many occasions, this technique pacified him at great length when we would dine out.

Train them early and healthy eating habits will stay with them throughout their lifetime! In the meantime, maybe even Mom and Dad will shed a few unwanted pounds as well.

Mary Ann lives in Lake Ridge. Her third cookbook, "SHORTCUTS, TOO," is now available at Ye Olde Dominion Wine Shoppe in Occoquan. Send questions or comments in care of this paper at P.O.Box 2470, Woodbridge, VA. 22195.