💾 Archived View for eir.mooo.com › nuacht › lui172500481513.gmi captured on 2024-08-31 at 12:32:52. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Limerick woman launches book to encourage a healthy lifestyle for children

Sandra Quinn, 30 Aug

GROWING up in Glencolmcille in Donegal - with her father working as a

fisherman - good food and homemade produce were a staple in the life of

Christina Hardy.

She said that her Dad used to always say “that’s good for you” and the

value and nutrition behind food was always part of her life in some

way.

Growing up, they would get treats once or twice a week, but it was

mostly healthy, wholesome food and a lot of fish and chicken.

As she got older, Christina loved Home Economics in school and has this

one core memory of getting 100% in a test and her teacher saying;

“Thank God for you, Christina.”

Looking back, Christina said that getting that validation and knowing

that this is something she’s good at gave her a real confidence boost

to pursue this as a career in some way.

Initially, she wanted to be a Home Economics teacher, but she didn’t

get enough points and ended up studying chemistry in college.

About ten years after she finished school, Christina retrained and

became a nutritional therapist.

Her work in this area led her to appreciate how far reaching the

influence on food in your life can be and how important it is to get

this message through to young children at a formative age.

Christina’s book “Colourful Foods and Activities for my Body & Mind” is

aimed at children aged between three and 14 and aims to promote

positive messages and good habits around health messages, growing food,

recipes, the importance of nutrition and exercise and how this all ties

in with mental health and mindfulness.

As a nutritional therapist, she said that a lot of clients come to see

her due to IBS, fertility support or weight loss and that a lot of her

initial work centres around undoing bad habits formed in people’s

childhood.

She realised that if children were given the tools to create good

habits and attitudes at a younger age, that it would make for a

generation of adults who are more balanced and have a healthier

attitude to food, nutrition, exercise, sleep and mindfulness than their

parents or grandparents.

Christina said that whenever she saw children in her clinic, she

realised how much of an open book they are with food and health.

“They would ask questions like what food should I eat before training

or what makes my body run faster. They are just so open and whenever I

gave talks during Active Week in schools, it was amazing how much they

took in,” she said.

Her hope for the book is that it would kick-start good habits and by

instilling these from a young age, good food, healthy eating, a good

sleep routine, positive exercise patterns and mindful breathing

techniques would all just be part of life and not something that these

children, as they grow into adults, would have to consciously work at,

to achieve.

Rather than giving people huge steps to transform their lives, which

might not be sustainable, Christina sees herself as a facilitator who

helps people to assess where they’re at, what they need to do and how

to achieve that over time in sustainable manageable ways that fit in

with their lifestyle.

“A lot of women I see when they come to me say they’ve been dieting for

years and they just want to be normal. When they are ready, there are

no quick fixes - one of my passions is to help break the dieting cycle

especially between a mum and daughter and to break that generational

habit,” she said.

She pointed out that children are always watching and observing and if

they see their parents counting calories or focusing on the number on a

weighing scales, they will start to do that in some way too.

“I want children to look at food as fuel for the body and not to shy

away from food or think of things as being good or bad for you - all

food gives you something.”

Dr Malie Coyne helped Christina to incorporate subtle messages about

mindfulness into the book.

“Imagine starting young kids off with good breathing techniques and

dealing with their emotions and then in years to come when they’re

doing exams, the relaxing breathing techniques are just something they

do, not a new skill they have to learn in an already stressful time,”

Christina said.

“It’s a good habit, that is just part of their day,” she added.

By incorporating colouring into the book, Christina said it’s a great

way to get younger children involved, but it also allows the book to

grow with the family.

Christina has two girls, aged nine and 13 and her nine-year-old is

colouring in their hardback copy of the book and she said it’s helping

to “bring the book to life” and that the book is really about “vibrant

health” in every way.

Little rhymes also help smaller kids to build familiarity with food and

their good values and what they give you.

For instance, through rhymes and food characters, children learn that

bananas help to mix food up in their tummy (in that they have prebiotic

qualities) and that tomatoes give the “heart a little flutter” as they

promote cardiac health through lycopene, which can lower ‘bad’

cholesterol as well as blood pressure.

Older children then may take more from the food growing ideas and the

recipes, and, even recently, Christina came home from work to find that

her teenager had made dinner and a crumble for dessert.

Christina said that while mess in the kitchen can be hard to cope with,

children need to be given freedom there - supervised when it involves

chopping or learning how to do anything that involves risk, but that by

getting involved, they are learning and these lessons will stay with

them.

“We don’t have to be so concerned about the mess - let the flour be

everywhere, let them spill the berries - it builds their confidence so

much,” she said.

She added that cooking and preparing food with an adult with you is

also a way of focusing on the moment and in its own way is mindfulness.

READ MORE: Limerick Astronomy Club: Real cosmic spectacle awaits in the

September skies

Christina said that children need more good examples in whatever form

that comes in - whether it’s seeing an adult make something from

scratch, seeing someone prioritise time for themselves to relax, get

exercise or making sure they get enough sleep.

She said that there is so much information out there in the world now

that common sense has been waylaid by many.

“Keep it natural and tap into our own common sense - the more we can

get back to that with simple things. Like sticking to the periphery of

the supermarket - the middle aisles are where the additives and sugar

are, so get as many things from the periphery and limit the other

things. Food doesn’t need to be good or bad, but you’ll get more from

some food than others,” she said.

A number of experts contributed to the book, these included clinical

psychologist and author Dr Malie Coyne (visit her website here),

gardener and owner of D&M Garden Centre, Cafe and Food Hall, Tom

Giltenane (visit the website here) and athlete and coach and world

master gold medallist for Ireland Ger Cremin.

“Colourful Foods and Activities for my Body & Mind” is available from

the following stockists:

* D&M Garden Centre in Croagh,

* O’Mahony’s Bookstore Limerick,

* Sonas Healthfood Store in Newcastle West,

* Nature’s Hand in the Crescent shopping centre,

* Limerick Greenway bike hire in Barnagh,

* All Amazon platforms and you can send a message via social media

(christina_nutiritional_therapy on Instagram) or email:

christine2019@outlook.ie for a signed copy.