Mama, Did you Know Calories are Bad?

Guest Blogger: Melissa Carr

Recently, I was preparing dinner for my family. My daughter was helping. She innocently picked up a box of pasta from the counter and said, “ooooh, Mama, this has 150 calories in it…that’s bad.” Shocked that my 5 year old even knew what a calorie was, never mind, that she thought calories were “bad”, I asked her where she had heard about them. She went on to tell me how the school nurse had come to their classroom that day for a lesson about nutrition. When I asked her what the nurse said a calorie was, she told me, “calories make you get really crazy and then you have no energy.” Clearly, my munchkin was mixing calories up with sugar – which led to an important talk about good calories and bad calories.

Here is how our calorie conversation went down (after I picked my jaw up off the floor):
- I explained to that calories are not bad.I told her that calories are like gas for your body…they give you energy.
- I described how some calories are really healthy for you (I gave examples like fruits, vegetables, whole grain breads, pastas etc.) and some are not so healthy (french fries, candy, ice cream).
- I let her know that the unhealthy calories are “treats” and you should only have them once in a while. If you have too many of the unhealthy calories all the time, your body will not feel very good.

Read Complete Blog Here: http://thethirtiesgrind.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/mama-did-you-know-calories-are-bad/

Melissa is working mother of two and lives in Vancouver, B.C. She enjoyes spending time with her kids, writing, interior design and food – definitely food!