So here is what I have eaten today. I am 3 points down for the day! My goal to get pack on track is to NOT use the weekly points.

So here you find: orange “chick’n” and sticky rice. Served with a fruit wrap bear, nuts, and a small salad. I have a Mojo bar doe aftersnoon snack. A banana for my sicence club meeting snack after school.

Let me know what you guys eat for a snack.

I watched a commercial that showed kids with a bowl that “never spills”. Driving in the car, riding in a wagon, playing on the floor. Do kids really need that many snacks? Do we drive that far from home on a daily basis that warrant a snack. Kids don’t need to eat every 30 minutes. Why are we so shallow that we can’t even talk to our kids in the car while driving to the store? I am a person with no kids, many people know that… but even I know that kids don’t need that much of a snack!

Then not but 10 minutes later there was a commercial that showed a sack that connects to the side of a seat in the car. “Now your kids will have ALWAYS have toys, books, sippycups, or snacks right at hand!” Really, where the hell are people driving to that their kids need constant stimulation? This is probably why my classes are filled with kids that can’t be still and need something to do ALL the time.

So I took my question about the snack food and our waistlines and began to do research. I wanted to know when did childhood obesity start to spike and when did all of this in car eating start?

I know when I was a child, in the late 70′s early 80′s, we did not have snacks in the car unless we were on a road trip. I can remember being in high school and having food in the car then.

According to the VancouverSun newspaper, 27% of a kids calories come from SNACKS!! Not actual meals, but snacks. So I kept digging and found these charts. They each show that in the mid80′s our obesity rate started to increase.

So my question, if we want healthy kids, why do we give them food ALL the time?

Please let me know what you think.

These little guys will come with a message that the kids will get to personalize.

On the menu for Monday: we have steamed asparagus, potatoes with Italian seasoning, and Caesar “Chick’n”

Additions: Grapes, apples, and strawberries.

Snack (not pictured): carrots with red pepper hummus.

Last week, I packed carrots and hummus 3 days in a row. My fourth period class was begging for a carrot with hummus by day 2. I saw kids who claim that my food is weird, mainly because I don’t eat meat. My Spanish kids think it is REALLY weird – “No meat? Why?” I tell them why (the way the animal “lives” before it dies to get to your plate) and then I see them eating salads and cheese pizza at lunch. I like that I can teach them science and open their minds to new foods.

They fought for grapes and apples too. “These apples are the best I have ever had” I ask when they eat apples and they said at school. So, I went to the cafeteria that day during lunch and asked one of them for their apple. It was SOGGY! How can an apple be soggy? I asked and it turns out if you freeze an apple, it will sound crunchy but when you bite it it’s soggy. No wonder the kids thought my Gala apples were the “best thing ever”.

I guess I’m lucky to have a quiet house on a Saturday night. Is it sad then that I feel like I’m in a rut? Physically!!

I want to work out, but Rob is home. And I’m afraid he will  laugh and giggle while I work out with a tape. You see he is blessed with being small framed and he never works out or even watches what he eats. I, however, think about what I eat constantly!! I love doing old Richard Simmons workouts. When I see the chubby people working it- I think “I can do this if THEY can!!”

So here I sit, wanting to walk around the block, it’s too cold. I want to ride my bike, it’s too cold. I want to work out,  but I’m afraid Rob will laugh. Now before you think “she is just making excuses”. When my DVD of R Simmons showed up, Rob laughed and started joking about how “dumb that guy looks” and “look at the fatties on the front”.

I know that I am not fat, but I am by no means what I would like to be. I’m not that girl who want to drop 50 pounds. Just 2 dress sizes. I want to feel good about the person beneath the clothes. I know that I am not the only girl who feels this way.

So today I made a simple lunch: 2 “not-dogs” and some oranges.

I packed my breakfast for tomorrow in one of my new boxes: eggs, “soysage”, strawberries (look for picks) and grapes.

For my lunch tomorrow I made veggie dumplings, carrots, chick’n cubes. I will also have some tasty cottage cheese and a rice cracker for my afternoon snack.

I eat an afternoon snack that is protein and fruit… keeps the energy up and keeps me from stopping to get a fast-food snack on the way home.

Day one: I made rice and beens, chick’n, sour cream, cheese, and lettuce. Basically a simple vegetarian wrap.

With it: carrots, grapes, and orange slices. Oh, and a soda!

Day two: Simple pasta, salad, and “not dog” wrapped in croissant. More grapes and carrots. Some nuts and raisins.

Day three and four were kinda the same:   sandwich on both days, popcorn on both days, and apple both days.

day 3 differ: chips and soda

day four differ: strawberries and pretzels.

More to come this weekend! Going shopping for cute bento boxes. Will post pics!