Thursday, October 1, 2009

filed under:eating right kids

What’s the most effective way to get a VERY picky toddler to try a new food? — Amy

Haylie Pomroy: There are three little tricks that I like to have my clients use:

1. I have a lot of my clients try new fruits and veggies in a frozen form. 
I know this sounds kind of funny, but organic fruits and veggies don’t have as much instant impact on the taste buds. Things like organic peas or blueberries can make their way down to the belly before their flavor comes through in the mouth. Frozen string beans, carrots, strawberries can be interesting to a toddler. I would get my little ones to eat frozen sweet potato spears long before I could ever get them to stomach sweet potato baby food in a jar. A little trick, but it can work very well.

2. Do a one week sugar sweep. 
Although we try to eat really great foods at home, there are times when our busy hectic schedules allow for more processed and packaged foods to sneak in. In my household, we regularly do one week sugar sweeps. This is where we only eat real foods for one week.  Things like fruits and veggies, organic meats and dairy, whole and sprouted grains, etc. My kids are old enough to look at packaging of things like peanut butter and apple sauce and see what brands do not have any sugar added. This seems to cleanse the palate and open the kids up to more variety and healthier foods. It is a great one for Mom as well. Really watch those baby foods. Many of our toddlers become picky eaters because they are being fed a ton of added refined sugar per day in some of their foods. This can make for a very picky palate.

3. Consider a children’s-based probiotic. 
These are the good gut bugs that are taken in supplement form. These can enhance digestion, can reduce inflammation in the gut, and encourage the appetite for healthy foods. This trick has brought many clients with picky toddlers huge success.

I do have a motto in my house: I tell my kids that I am perfectly okay with them not liking something. They have to try as many bites as they are old before they can decide that, though.

One note — very picky eaters might be suffering from food allergies. If you suspect this is the case, see your doctor. 

Haylie Pomroy provides nutritional counseling and wellness consulting for clients who wish to actively enhance their health. She is an accomplished practitioner, speaker, writer, consultant, product developer, and researcher who has been featured several times on national television. Haylie practices in CA and CO and resides in Los Angeles with her two beautiful children. Haylie proudly works with the East West Essentials line of doctor’s wellness products. For additional nutrition tips and recipes, become a fan of Haylie on Facebook. HayliePomroy.com

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

filed under:grocery logic

You can make grocery shopping easier, more fun — and teach your kids about nutrition while you’re at it!

Haylie Pomroy: I don’t have many friends that like to grocery shop — though I do have one that makes her lists and delegates each kid to find or hunt down items to return to the cart. When I heard about this idea, I decided to take it and turn our grocery adventures into a hunt for healthy foods.

On the drive to the store, I will ask my kids questions like: Did you know the higher up the ingredient list an item is, the more of it there is in a product? So for example, if you are comparing two loaves of bread and both contain the word “sugar” in the ingredient list, the one that has “sugar” lower down the list would be the better choice.

Or I will do things like ask: Who wants to pick what veggie we are having for dinner or what fruit we are having for dessert?

Now my oldest is 11, and I actually give him a mini grocery list and have him venture out into the store to find items to return to our basket. My little one stays in the same aisle for her safety and the sanity of others. Both, however, since a very young age have been on the “hunt” for very healthy foods.

Four healthy things to have an older child hunt for:

1) Ask them to find a loaf of bread that does NOT have the word “enriched flour” in the ingredient list.
2) Ask them to get 1 dozen eggs that are not cracked and are grade A, large brown, and organic.
3) Ask them to find an apple sauce that does NOT have the word “sugar” in the ingredient list.
4) Ask them to find a peanut butter that only has peanuts, oil, and salt in the ingredient list.

Five healthy things to have a younger child hunt for:

1) Ask them to find their most favorite fruit in the whole world.
2) Ask them to now find that favorite fruit that is ripe and ready to eat today.
3) Ask them to now find that favorite fruit that is not quite ripe so they can eat it in a few days.
4) Ask them to find their most favorite vegetable in the whole world.
5) Ask them to find a vegetable that their most favorite animal in the whole world might like to eat. Ask them if they might like to pretend to be that animal and eat it too.

I know that grocery shopping can be a chore, and with kids in tow, it can even be very stressful. Getting kids fired up about eating healthy foods and making good food choices is a gift that you can give them that will carry through their whole lives. In my family, we don’t shop, we “hunt” down healthy food!

Haylie Pomroy provides nutritional counseling and wellness consulting for clients who wish to actively enhance their health. She is an accomplished practitioner, speaker, writer, consultant, product developer, and researcher who has been featured several times on national television. Haylie practices in CA and CO and resides in Los Angeles with her two beautiful children. Haylie proudly works with the East West Essentials line of doctor’s wellness products. For additional nutrition tips and recipes, become a fan of Haylie on Facebook. HayliePomroy.com

Monday, September 7, 2009

filed under:eating right kids

Haylie Pomroy: Our kids are bombarded with junk food options every day. They see it in commercials, at some schools, maybe even in their lunches. I get a lot of referrals in my practice for childhood obesity, diabetes, or just picky eaters. With my own kids as well as with my clients’ kids, I like to try to empower them with knowledge about foods that are healthy to choose.

Even when my kids were teeny tiny, I would talk to them about the impact food has on the body. I would say, “Gosh, they can run so fast or jump so high because they have eaten something healthy.” Kids of all ages can begin to see the relationship between healthy choices and healthy bodies. My niece and nephew, pretty grown-up kids, were over the other day, getting ready to jump on the trampoline, and my nephew said to me, “Aunt Haylie, what foods can I eat to jump higher?” Here are a few great and healthy things to teach kids to look for in their food choices.

Proteins
Proteins form the building blocks that build the house we call our bodies. I talk a lot to kids about strong muscles, bones, hair, and teeth. When mine were little, sometimes we would take bites of healthy proteins at the dinner table and then I would have them see if it would make them jump higher or run faster or challenge them to arm wrestling. To this day, my son is very aware of how his protein intake plays a roll in his sports performance. Great foods that have tons of protein are organic chicken, turkey, dairy products, nuts and seeds, beans and legumes. I have a great list of protein-rich foods on my website, hayliepomroy.com.

Healthy Fats
With the fats, I always talk about brain power and good moods. The healthy fats are so important while kids are laying down so many new tracks neurologically in those ever-growing brains. We talk about smart lunches and study snacks in our house.

Pistachios, almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, avocados, and nut butters are some great healthy fat-based snacks. I had a diabetic client of mine e-mail me the other day. I began seeing him when he was eight, and he is now away at college. He was all fired up because he was taking a science class and he told his professor that he had already learned about how fats work on the brain way back when he was eight (insert proud tear here).

Natural Sugars
I like to talk to my kids about times when sugar can actually be good for you: when you get it in the form of “natural” sugars. For my kiddos, this is kind of a fun one because in many schools, teachers and staff are beginning to talk to kids about sugar being bad for them — our schools don’t even allow cupcakes or cookies at birthday parties anymore. My kids feel awfully smart when they say, “Well, my mom is bringing a ton of sugar to my party: fruit.” Whole fruits contain lots and lots of this wonderful natural sugar! Whole fruits provide vital nutrients to keep up with kids’ rapid rates of growth and development. I don’t advocate a lot of fruit juices for kids, though, because in this form, the sugars become too concentrated. If you must do juice, I suggest you half it with water.

The other day, my daughter crawled up into my lap and said, “Mama, I want to stay little forever — can I have some caffeine?” I just cracked up, it was so cute. I am sure somewhere along the way I had told her that drinking coffee would stunt her growth, and obviously she was listening!

Haylie Pomroy provides nutritional counseling and wellness consulting for clients who wish to actively enhance their health. She is an accomplished practitioner, speaker, writer, consultant, product developer, and researcher who has been featured several times on national television. Haylie practices in CA and CO and resides in Los Angeles with her two beautiful children. Haylie proudly works with the East West Essentials line of doctor’s wellness products. For additional nutrition tips and recipes, become a fan of Haylie on Facebook. HayliePomroy.com

Sunday, August 16, 2009

filed under:kid-friendly food logic

Haylie Pomroy: I can’t believe that summer is so rapidly coming to an end! We’ve had such a great time this year: sleeping in, hitting the road, visiting family, and just goofing around.
As the school year approaches, I like to think of easy and healthy foods to add to my kids’ lunches. Here are a few must-haves on my back-to-school grocery list.

Be sure to check out my website for healthy lunch ideas, snacks, breakfasts, and more.

Haylie Pomroy provides nutritional counseling and wellness consulting for clients who wish to actively enhance their health. She is an accomplished practitioner, speaker, writer, consultant, product developer, and researcher who has been featured several times on national television. Haylie practices in CA and CO and resides in Los Angeles with her two beautiful children.HayliePomroy.com

Free Seminar – “Ask the Experts” Presented by: Dr. Wilson LAC, Haylie Pomroy WC, Dr. Boostanfar MD and Dr. Feinman MD…
more information

Below are five easy ways to supercharge  your fertility. (As seen on the EXTRA TV show with Haylie Pomroy)

1. Take East West Essentials female fertility kit. The ingredients in this complete comprehensive supplement program are clinically proven to produce results.

2. Take East West Essentials male fertility kit. In the United States, male factor accounts for 50% of couples’ infertility. Enriching the male component, in any case, enhances a couples success. Even though the men take this product, the thank you notes come from the women on the receiving end!

3. For women, lower your exercise program to three to four times per week. Eat 60-90 grams of non-soy based protein per day. Be good to yourself, get rest and relax.

4. Men, hydrate! Drink one half of your body weight in ounces of water per day and an additional eight ounces for every alcoholic beverage consumed.

5. Take the Fertility Fast Track. When you are ready to get pregnant Haylie recommends a 10-14 day intensive nutrition based fertility cleanse to rid the body of toxins, balance the hormones, and create an environment to conceive. Both partners should participate in this protein, vitamin, and mineral packed program to “kick start” their fertility.

This is a practical guide to nutrition for fertility. If you are looking for facts and stats on fertility or citations from peer-reviewed journals, you won’t find them here. This book is written as if you were my client, and I keep the jargon and the fancy talk to a minimum. I answer common questions, give you shopping lists, and include supplementary information where necessary. Ultimately the purpose of this book is to help you take concrete, positive action that will enhance your chances of conceiving.

In short this book will teach you how to unlock the power of nutrition for fertility when you are craving conception.

Haylie Pomroy BS, WC

Written By: Dr. Jeanne Wilson 

Chinese Medicine is based on Daoist thought.  And Daoist thought is based on basic observations of nature.  In nature we find two major energy forms – that of Yin and Yang.  We see these forms expressed in electricity (positive and negative charges) in physiology and chemistry (male and female, acid and alkaline, electrons and protons) every facet of our universe is ruled by observable Yin and Yang energetic forces. 

In Chinese Medicine our bodies are a manifestation of the relationship of these two energies. The male energy, (Yang) and the female energy, (Yin) meet when the female egg is fertilized by the male sperm and the female body acts as a transformer to produce a new relationship of yin and yang energy – a “baby” yin/yang relationship!

When we talk about this Yin and Yang of reproductive health, we can say the Yin represents the substantive – blood, tissue and bone and is of the “Earth”. It is first derived genetically from our parents and then maintained and enhance by partaking of the earth through foods.  The yang is the male aspect, and is the functional, active part of the energy and can be describe as the hormonal part of the process and is of “Heaven” and taken in by the breath.  Our role in this reproductive process is that of a free flowing, enriched, well functioning conduit between these fluctuating energies of heaven and earth.  We are literally a conduit BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH.

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