• All living beings need air, food, water and shelter to survive
• Living plants need air, food (nutrients), water, and light to survive
• Living beings need a period of rest
• When we sleep, our bodies heal
• If we don’t get enough sleep, we get sick
• If we eat good foods, our bodies will grow strong
• If we drink plenty of water, our bodies work better
• We need to get plenty of physical exercise every day
• A doctor can help us get better when we are sick, and to stay healthy

The lesson plans are going to start adding an extra component – letter, number, shape, and color recognition. So this week, your child will also learn about the letter W, the number 2, the color green, and the circle shape. For younger children, it may be a beginning level activity, for others it will be easy review. The links to free worksheets you can print off are located at the bottom of this article. No matter where your child fits in the scheme of things, consider this: If you teach him to read, he may do well in school. If you teach him about good health, you may improve the quality of his life forever.

The Rules for Good Health

On Monday, your child may go on a camp out in the backyard, as he learns the importance of sleep for good health. If you can, set up a tent and let him take his nap in it. Children learn as much or more from our actions as from our words. If you want your child to understand the importance of sleep, then you shouldn’t be staying up late, either. Set yourself a reasonable bedtime that allows you eight hours of uninterrupted sleep every night. If you aren’t waking up refreshed and rested every morning before your alarm goes off, then you may be suffering from chronic fatigue.

Most of Us Do Not Drink Enough Water

Wednesday is all about exercise. You can visit a fitness trail, or make one in your backyard. You’ll play ball, and learn a little Yoga.

Thursday, we learn about the importance of water. Your child will water-color, and pour water in the sandbox. He can help you water the plants, or plant his own seedling to water.

Friday, the week wraps up with a lesson on cleanliness. It is okay to get dirty – but then we must get clean again. Your child will learn the right way to wash his hands. He will learn to sing the ABC song through twice while washing, so he washes long enough. He will learn that warm water and plain soap work best for washing hands.

Five Star Books for Health Week

• Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book by Dr. Seuss
• My Amazing Body: A First Look at Health by Pat Thomas
• Little Yoga: A Toddler’s First Book of Yoga by Rebecca Whitford
• All About Scabs (My Body Science Series) by Amanda Mayer Stinchecum
• Pooh Plays Doctor by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
• Oh the Things You Can Do That Are Good for You by Tish Rabe
• The No-Cry Sleep Solutions for Toddlers and Preschoolers by Elizabeth Pantley

Quality Products for Health Week (optional)

• Yoga Kids, Vol. 2: ABC’s for Ages 3-6 DVD
• Baby Songs – ABC, 123, Colors and Shapes
• Bazoongi 48″ Bouncer
• Ball, Bounce and Sport Mickey Hopper
• Platinum All-Time Sesame Street Favorite Songs CD
• Alex Toys 18 Piece Picnic Basket set
• Educo Gourmet Chef Cookware
• Playmobile’s Dentist’s Office
• Preschool Games

Preschool Lesson Plan: Health Week

Free Worksheets for your Preschooler
W is for Watermelon coloring page
W is for Water printing practice
What Begins with W? matching practice
What Begins with W? coloring worksheet
The Letter W worksheet

Related Articles:
Teach Your Child How To Wash Hands
Mastering the Nap
Vitamin D Deficiencies in Children

Photo Credits:
Top: photo by Linda Aslund
Bottom: photo by Just Taken Pics

Using the Menus

I tried something different this time, too. I wrote out recipes, not just the menu suggestions, and I tried to put things in chronological order – because some recipes require advance preparation. For instance, to make almond milk, you need to soak the almonds for 12 hours before you puree them in the blender. So if you want almond milk on your cereal for breakfast, you need to set the almonds to soak the night before.

Finally, at the end I typed up a list of ingredients, but not quantities. It’s hard to figure how much you’ll need, because I don’t know how many people are in your family, or how hungry they are. If I suggest mangoes for breakfast, a child might eat only half of one, but a husband might eat two or three whole ones. Either is fine! With the raw foods diet, it is important to eat enough raw foods to fill you. Most of us think of a 10-oz cereal bowl full of lettuce for a serving of salad. But when you’re eating raw, and the salad is your whole meal not just a side-dish, you should think more of eating the entire head of lettuce yourself!

What to Eat on a Raw Food Diet

There is, of course, a lot of variety on the web of “how” to eat a raw food diet. Some sources say as long as it’s raw, it’s okay. Some say you shouldn’t eat potatoes, carrots, or beets which are “hybrid” vegetables. I wonder why they didn’t put corn on the list – isn’t that the most genetically altered vegetable on the planet? Other sources say to avoid spices, which are all slightly toxic and harmful for the digestive system. Other sources say to be sure to add avocados and olive oil to your diet, so you do have some source of fat, yet of course, other sources claim that most of us who transition to raw eat too much fats even in our raw diet. So, unless you want to get several degrees in nutrition and fitness, you just have to make a few decisions for yourself based on the best information you have available.

I suggest using your body as a guideline. I love garlic. I’ve always cooked with garlic, and I’ve read a lot about the health benefits of garlic. But when I put two cloves of raw garlic in one of this week’s recipes, I had a bellyache for 24 hours. I may try cutting the raw garlic down to a single clove, but if it happens again, I think I’ll cut raw garlic from my diet.

Raw Foods are Child Friendly

Women should consume 6 pounds of fruit, 2.5 pounds of vegetables, and 1/4 pound of nuts and seeds daily.
Men should consume a bit more – 7.5 pounds of fruit, 3 pounds of vegetables, and 1/3 pound of nuts or seeds daily.

A “fruit” is any food that has seeds. So while apples, pears and peaches are fruits, so are tomatoes, cucumbers and avocados. Avoid eating hybrid fruits that do not have seeds, like seedless watermelon. I’m not sure why folks recommend that, but if you are trying to eat a raw “living” foods diet, it would stand to reason that seedless watermelon cannot be a living food.

I’m learning that in the raw foods diet, all vegetables are great, but concentrate mostly on dark green leafy vegetables as they have the highest nutrient count. There is a wide variety – chard, collards, spinach, kale, and more. Lettuce should be leaf lettuce, not iceberg, which doesn’t have much for nutrients at all.

Chew Your Food Thoroughly

Chopsticks May Help Keep Meal Times Fun

Many weight-loss programs also advise careful and thorough chewing of food, but for a different reason. If we eat too fast, our bellies are full before our brains realize it. Eat slower, and your brain can tell you when you’ve had enough, so you don’t overeat. Then I read that if you want to train yourself to eat slower, switch to chopsticks for now! Before you master the trick of chopsticks (unless you already know how to use them) you’ll have established the habit of slower eating and careful chewing.

I hope you enjoy this week’s menus! As an added bonus, I simply LOVE how much quicker most of these meals are to prepare. There are NO cooking dishes to scrub. No messy, greasy clean-up, no long-lasting food odors that hang in the air for days. And I feel so much better! Happy eating!

For more information on Raw Foods, read:
Going Raw
Raw for Life
Creative Health Institute

Photo Credits:
Top:photo by Nadia Progoda-Lee
Middle: photo by Summer
Bottom: photo by Terren in Virginia

Cook bacon until crisp and drain, then break into 1/2-inch pieces. Set aside. Beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg. Combine flour and soda and stir into butter mixture. Stir in bacon, rolled oats and raisins. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto an ungreased baking sheet. Place them 2 inches apart. Bake 350° for 15-18 minutes. Cool 1 minute and remove from sheets.

Preschoolers Love Finger Foods

Raw Finger Foods Are Very Popular with Young Children

Muesli – or Raw Oatmeal – Can Be Delicious

I learned how to make muesli – another food item my granddaughter loves. It’s raw oatmeal -which sounds faintly disgusting – but you soak it for a while to soften it, then serve it with fruits and nuts. We like it with banana or blueberries and a dollop of pure maple syrup. Yum-yum! Best of all, besides all that wonderful natural oatbran for its cholesterol-lowering ability, it’s quick and easy to prepare, and no yucky pot to wash. I think I like that part about the best. When you serve raw foods, there are no cooking dishes!

I haven’t learned to like “energy soup” yet. That’s simply a garden salad pureed smooth and you drink it. Lots of good reasons why energy soup is good for you. I just wish it tasted better! I like salad. I guess I’m just not a “soup” person.

Raw Foods Menus Are Posted

Raw Tacos - Food From Heaven

What Could Be Better than a Georgia Peach

For further reading, check out:
Raw for Life
Feeding the Finicky Eater
We Like it Raw
Transition Kids to Raw

Photo Credits:
Top: Photo by Tiffany Washko
Middle: photo by Geoff Peters
Bottom:photo by Bruce Tuten

I remember how it felt to use food stamps. Back then we got colored bits of paper that looked like Monopoly money, and everyone who stood in line in the grocery store knew that we were buying our groceries with their tax dollars. I felt like they were checking out the items I had chosen, wondering if I were spending their money on pop and candy. I felt like I had no business driving a decent car – that we should sell the Firebird and buy a wreck, even though my husband’s car was paid for in full, ran well, and cost us no repair bills. Accepting Federal Aid made me feel stupid. All except for WIC.

WIC is Not a Welfare Program

W.I.C. stands for Women, Infants, and Children. It is NOT a welfare program. It receives its funds from the Department of Agriculture, not the Department of Human Services! I don’t know why that makes a difference, but it does. I was always treated with respect as I went to the required monthly meetings to get my dose of nutritional education along with the coupons that would supply me with free milk, eggs, juice, and iron-fortified cereals.

Just last week I dragged my daughter in to the W.I.C. office to get her signed up. She dreaded the trip, perhaps because she’s had such dreadful experiences with the Department of Human Services. We waited less than five minutes in a cheery waiting room filled with other young moms and their babies. We met with a social worker who took her information, checked my granddaughter’s weight, height, and blood iron-level with calm patience, even when the 2 yr old was acting particularly two-ish. Then we met with a nutritionist who gave her some advice on meals and menu-planning. We left less than an hour after we arrived, and walked out with a cute, generic looking “credit card” that will make all her purchases discretely.

We Can All Benefit From Nutritional Education

Offering a Toddler Healthy Foods is Easy. Getting Her to Eat them is Not.

Studies Show That WIC Works

W.I.C. works. It provides supplemental nutritious foods for women who are pregnant, nursing, or postpartum and not nursing. It also provides such foods for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers up to age five, who may be at nutritional risk. Studies have shown that spending the money on nutritional programs like W.I.C. is cheaper in the long run, as medical care expenses drop. Women on W.I.C. have healthier babies. Children on W.I.C. have larger vocabularies and better memories. Infants on W.I.C. have higher birth weights, lower mortality rates, and are more likely to get all their vaccinations and receive routine medical care.

Sometimes a Cute Bowl or Drinking Straw Can Tempt a Child to Eat

In some states, W.I.C. also provides vouchers to take to the farmer’s markets in the summer! Fresh, locally grown, organic vegetables! I feel kind of proud. My tax dollars are doing something good, after all.

For further reading, check out:
Feeding the Finicky Eater
Raw for Life
Going Raw

Photo credits:
Top photo: Leonid Mamchenkov
Middle photo: Andrew Eick
Bottom photo: ultrakickgirl