Significantly Enhance Your Children's Health With These 4 Tips
ByJennifer Minar-Jaynes

Can you believe that FEWER than 5% of the typical American child's calories come from natural foods?

Instead of eating fresh fruit, vegetables, beans, raw nuts and seeds, our children are eating mostly highly-processed pre-packaged foods. They're also eating an alarming amount of fast food.

In fact, french fries constitute the most commonly eaten vegetable by the time our children are just 15-months old.

 "Time and health are two precious assets that we don't recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted." - Denis Waitley

This might explain why American children are the heaviest worldwide. And they're getting heavier at a faster rate than all other children around the world.

According to Joel Furhman, M.D. author of "Disease-Proof Your Child," a diet that consists of predominately processed foods and little to no fruits and vegetables guarantees weakened immune systems, frequent illness, shorter lifespan-and a much higher risk for developing several cancers later in life.

What's more, being overweight during childhood and adolescence isn't only uncomfortable and embarrassing for many children, it also GREATLY increases their risk of developing high cholesterol, hypertension, respiratory ailments, orthopedic problems, depression and type 2 diabetes--problems that no parent wants for their children.

Dr. Furhman offers these 4 tips to make over your children's diets & significantly enhance their health:

1. Stock your home with a variety of produce-especially fresh fruits, raw vegetables, and raw nuts and seeds.

2. Replace most foods of animal origin with foods or plant origin. If using animal products, use only white-meat poultry and eggs a few times a week and2 other animal products more infrequently.

3. Limit sweets and remove sugar, salt and white flour from the home, as well as all products with these ingredients.

4. Serve a cooked veggie main dish every night.

I would go one step further and recommend serving at least one raw vegetable at each meal and one raw fruit with every snack. Raw plant foods still contain all of their nutrients-and are a very important part of a healthy diet.

Dietary changes are some of the most difficult changes we will ever make. But they are also some of the most important, especially when it comes to our children's health.

Our children rely on us for guidance. So let's guide them toward making good food choices and show them they can love healthy foods. If prepared and presented the right way, a lot of these foods taste as good and are as enjoyable as the unhealthy versions.

Jennifer Minar-Jaynes writes about childhood nutrition and shares delicious, nutrient-rich recipes for kids at www.ProjectJennifer.com. She also writes about building successful blogs at /www.WritersBreak.com.

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