As I was working on my blog post this weekend, my 10-year-old daughter handed me this school essay to review for her. Two thoughts:
1. It appears that the nerd gene does not skip a generation.
2. Despite appearances, maybe our kids do hear some of what we have to say after all.

WHY TO (AND HOW TO) BE HEALTHY

By Zoey

To be healthy, means a lot more than washing your hands and eating good fruits and vegetables. Even if that is a good start, it’s still not enough. You will be quizzed multiple times in this essay to see how much you know. Here is how to keep you healthy. Try eating healthy foods like oranges and broccoli! Exercising is also a great way to keep in shape, and it can be fun! But watch out- if you don’t do either of those things very much, you could be at risk of becoming obese. Have fun reading the essay!

Tom and his mother are going to the grocery store. Tom’s mother says he can choose one thing, anything he wants. Tom loves candy, but he also loves watermelon. He knows that watermelon tastes good, and is healthy, but candy is so irresistible! What should he choose? If you chose watermelon, then you are becoming a healthy-eating-expert! Tom was debating whether he should choose candy or watermelon. Watermelon is just as sweet as candy, except its healthy! Did you know bagels are a great source of energy? Dump Frosted Flakes for bagels, and that soccer game of yours that is coming up, will be won faster than you can say pickles! But don’t go crazy. Bagels might give you lots of energy, but they have a lot of calories. Also, only use a sliver of butter or cream cheese if you need to. Cream cheese boosts you up in calcium, but has lots of fat. Butter is no use at all! If you eat something with a lot of fat, like fast food every day, the fat will build up in an important place like your lungs, and the blood cells carrying oxygen will be stuck behind the wall of fat, giving you a heart attack, or suffocating you. Did you know that the average person drinks 10,000 gallons of liquid and eats 50 tons of food in their lifetime? That’s a lot of meals. If you look at, let’s say Skippy’s Natural Creamy Peanut Butter Spread. Turn the jar around until you see a white section that says Nutrition Facts. There will be the serving size, number of calories, and amount of fat. Two tablespoons are 190 calories. Well that is a lot of calories, but if you eat the right amount, it won’t matter. Choosing the right food also counts. Fruit and vegetables are very good for you, and they taste great! So when you go to the grocery store, make sure you choose wisely.

Abby knows she needs more exercise. She is home alone today, and she decides she is going to run on the treadmill for a bit. As she goes downstairs, she passes the computer. She stares at it longingly. She knows she has to go on the treadmill, but the computer is one of her favorite activities! What should she choose? The correct answer is she should go on the treadmill. The American Heart Association says that not exercising can give you heart disease. If you wish to get heart disease, just lie down on the couch and eat potato chips for the rest of your days. But if you don’t want to, try running around for a certain time daily, or playing a sport! Sports make exercising fun!

Ryan doesn’t care about how he looks. He is overweight, and very slow. Half of him wishes to be like the other boys, running around, playing games, making girls swoon over them. He would gladly exercise to be like those boys. The other half doesn’t care, and thinks that exercising is for crazy sports people. Which side should he follow? Well which would you rather? Research says that America is one of the most obese countries in the world! One of the things that is not helping America become more fit is school lunches. Penn Valley school lunches are about 400 calories. Sure, if you exercise, you can work off those calories. But some people don’t exercise. If you are one of the people who don’t exercise, you are at risk of becoming obese. Think of Wall E. All the people went up to space, and were too obese to move. They had little chairs that moved them! And do you want to join the army? How about the air force? Well the army can actually turn you down, if you are too obese. Lay off the M&M’s, and you can be America’s new top spy!

It’s really serious if you don’t eat right and exercise. It could be really dangerous for your health. Take my advice wisely, and exercise daily. Eat good foods, and make sure there is a rainbow on your plate! Also, fat free doesn’t mean healthy. Fat free butter still might have bad stuff in it. Eating is more important than you think! I hope you learned something.

Thanks for helping me with my blog post, ZJ. Now go outside and run around!