Phil Parham (23 page)

Something to Think About

Have you ever looked at a special image where there's a picture hidden inside a picture? You have to stare at it long and hard until you see something that pops out. You are surprised when you see it, but it was there all along. Then when you look at that secret image any time afterward, it is as clear as day.

I want to show you something you may have looked at hundreds of times before, but may have missed. When you cut open a tomato, the inside is red and has four chambers. Our heart also is red and has four chambers. Tomatoes have this thing called
lycopene
in them. Lycopene is a great tool to help maintain good heart health. As a matter of fact, all fruits, vegetables, and beans have nutrients in them that help your body, and many of them resemble a part of your body.

Celery, bok choy, and rhubarb look like and are helpful to your bones. Kidney beans help maintain kidney function, and yes, they are shaped like a kidney. When cracked open, walnuts, which help our brain function, look like the human brain. Grapes hang in a cluster that has a shape similar to that of the heart; each grape looks like a blood cell. Research shows that grapes are a heart and blood-vitalizing food. Onions, which look like your blood cells, have been shown to help clear waste materials from blood cells.

The next time you eat your fruits and veggies, think about how God designed each of these foods to help your body.

1. What vegetables help the blood cells?

2. What organ do kidney beans help?

3. What do celery, bok choy, and rhubarb help?

What kind of fruit do you like? When you're tempted to eat junk food, pick up a piece of your favorite fruit instead.

A Word from Amy

Does an apple a day really keep the doctor away? Maybe. Did you know an apple provides nine of the sixteen chemical elements and four of the six most crucial vitamins required by our body to function and protect itself against disease? But an apple is just one of the many fruits God made to keep us healthy.

Fruit is a carbohydrate and carbohydrates give us energy for our day. We always try to mix a carb with a protein to keep our blood sugar stable. For example, when you're eating an apple or orange, have some nuts or cheese with it. If you're having Greek yogurt, put some peaches or berries in it. One of my favorite snacks is a banana with a little peanut butter.

How much fruit should we eat? Nutritionists suggest two to four servings a day. There are so many delicious ways to get your daily amount of fruit. I usually eat fruit for my snacks, or I put it in my cereal or oatmeal for breakfast. You can have your mom or dad pack a piece in your lunch box or you can eat one after school for a snack. I like to freeze grapes and pop them in my mouth like candy. You can also blend frozen fruit (such as strawberries) and a bit of milk to make a sorbet or a smoothie.

Fruit is a wonderful source of vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants. It is nature's dessert and it is yummy.

1. What are some things that fruit does for our bodies?

2. What should you eat with fruit?

3. What are some ways to put more fruit into your diet?

Put snacks in little plastic bags. Measure them out in single-serving portions so you eat only as much as you are supposed to.

A Word from Amy

Have you ever noticed that when you stub your toe, you immediately feel pain? The same is true when you skin your knee. Your brain will quickly send a message to your nerves to tell your body that you've injured yourself.

This isn't true when it comes to eating and feeling full. We can eat a giant meal and not feel full immediately. It takes the brain longer to send the message to our stomach that it needs to stop eating. We need to know the right portions. We can't count on our stomachs to tell us.

Here are some helpful hints:

• one serving of fruit/vegetables = a balled-up fist

• one serving of meats/protein (and take the fatty skin off) = a deck of cards

• one serving of bread/grains/pasta = a tennis ball

• one serving of dairy such as cheese (choose the low-fat kind) = the size of four small dice

• one serving of oil/fats/sweets = one teaspoon or the size of a small die

Cup your hands together and hold them out. That's roughly the size of your stomach. Can you imagine how much we stretch our stomachs when we eat a hamburger, fries, and a chocolate milk shake?

Here's a key to remember. If you are super tired after eating, you probably ate too much. Food should energize you, not make you want to take a nap. Stick with eating small portions more often (instead of three huge meals a day), and you'll be headed on the right track to good health.

1. What is the right portion for a single serving of protein? How about oils, fats, and sweets?

2. What does it mean if you are tired after a meal?

3. How big is your stomach?

Have a deck of cards, a tennis ball, and some dice handy in your kitchen so you can compare them to the amount of food you put on your plate. You will soon notice that you are eating much less.

A Word from Amy

Something to Think About

Imagine you are friends with two brothers. They live in the same house and have the same last name, but one is bad news while the other is a really great guy. This is the case with the “fat brothers,” saturated and unsaturated fat.

Saturated fat is the bad news brother. He can be found hiding in candy, cookies, cakes, pies, chocolate, french fries, and other things that are bad for you. What happens when you have too much saturated fat in your diet? It forces your body to create more cholesterol. When the levels of cholesterol in your blood are too high, you put yourself at risk for all kinds of diseases.

The good brother is unsaturated fat. He's a great friend of your body because he helps burn extra body fat. Eating good unsaturated fats in foods such as olive oil, nuts, and nut butters keeps your hunger under control, and these fats also produce hormones that help your muscles grow. Good fat also does something else. It helps deliver vitamins A, D, E, and K to your fatty tissue to be used when your liver needs them.

Fat has a bad reputation, but it's only saturated fat that you need to quit hanging out with. Become friends with unsaturated fat, and he will help you be healthier.

1. What is the difference between saturated and unsaturated fat?

2. What foods have saturated fat in them? What foods have unsaturated fat in them?

3. What good things can unsaturated fat do for your body?

Look in your pantry and fridge and read the labels on some of your foods. Do you see any with a lot of the “bad brother” in them? Stay away from these foods.

A Word from Amy