Kids meal by Alin Hagopian

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What would you say are the biggest problems facing our children today?

By Sylvia Bourdjian ? Matta

Azad-Hye Special
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A new survey of adults — including those with and without children — shows that childhood obesity is the No. 1 one health concern. The survey was conducted among 2,064 adults. They were given twenty different health concerns and asked to rate which ones were a “big problem.”

Here is the top ten list of biggest health concerns for children in 2008.?

1. Childhood obesity???
2. Drug abuse
3. Smoking
4. Bullying
5. Internet safety
6. Child abuse and neglect
7. Teen pregnancy
8. Alcohol abuse
9. ADHD (Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder)
10. Chemicals in the environment??

The effects of eating habits on childhood obesity are difficult to determine. Soft drink consumption may contribute to childhood obesity. Eating at fast food restaurants has become prevalent among young people. Physical inactivity of children has also shown to be a serious cause, and children who fail to engage in regular physical activity are at greater risk of obesity. Many children fail to exercise because they are spending time doing stationary activities such as playing video games or watching TV.?
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Children's food choices are also influenced by family meals. A household eating questionnaire to 18,177 children discovered that four out of five parents let their children make their own food decisions. As a reaction, even the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has been campaigning to ban the junk in UK schools and get kids eating fresh, tasty nutritious food instead that helped to improve exam results and classroom attendance. He says “What we eat affects everything: our mood, behavior, health, growth, even our ability to concentrate”.

Now, back to our world where next to our Armenian and Middle Eastern variety of cuisines, we like to adapt the new trends in our nutrition. All the above mentioned health concerns are abundant in our societies and this was the motive that led Mrs. Alin Hagopian to publish a cook book “Kids Meal” having in mind her own 2 daughters. She lets her children participate in the kitchen rituals, letting them experience with their hands what goes in to their stomach.???
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Children are our important target; we need to feed them in the right and safe way and to entertain them by good and safe habits. A wise man once said “If you want to feed your child for one day, serve him/her a fish but if you want to feed him/her for life, teach him how to fish”.?

Kids will love this book because it gives them the chance to work with flour and change it into dough and experience working with a mixer, whisk and do all the stuff that their parents do.
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Thus the purpose of the book: Kids, you don?t have to be chefs after all, but it?s good to know how to make a simple breakfast for yourselves, if mom is not around or even a surprise cake to your parents on their anniversaries! You have to learn how to create things from home ingredients, instead of calling home delivery service with the fat and carbohydrates associated with junk food.?
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For those interested, copies are available for sale at www.hamazkayin-bookstore.com or tel. +9611241263/4 (in Lebanon), and on Planet Armenia Online Store http://www.planetarmenia.com/shop/.

In Aleppo – Syria, the book is available at Cilicia Bookstore in Souleymaniah.

Upper-left picture: The cover of the book.

Below picture: A page in the book.