TheDoctorsTV and Healthy Popcorn Instead of Cotton Candy at the Amusement Park
The summer heat has made the doctors go crazy. Dr. Jim took a young fellow to Knott’s Berry Farm Amusement Park to enjoy some summer fun. The best tip that he gave people was to remove chewing gum from their mouths before getting on the rides at the Amusement Park, because it presents a choking hazard when the wild ride jerks small bodies back and forth.
He was giving more advice, but he made one mistake that I feel deserves a comment. He thinks that it’s OK for you to let the kids eat Cotton Candy when you go to the Amusement Park or a festival or county fair. NO…don’t do that to your children’s bodies!
It’s relatively easy to make excuses when you’re out in public to have some fun and you make an allowance for the sorry snacks, food, or drinks that are NOT healthy choices…just because you are a captive audience in the confines of the venue. So you cheat yourself or your kids, when you COULD have taken ten minutes to make a healthy snack to take along with you to any event!
Do that next time! Go into your kitchen and whip up a batch of popcorn with natural seasoning for a healthy snack to take with your family to the Amusement Park or the concert or to the fair. It takes all of ten minutes when you have some of the basics in your pantry. You can bag it and hand it out to the kids between rides when you need a little breather before the next wild ride on the roller coaster. You can take healthy drinks with you, too.
One of our favorite healthy snacks is popcorn. When you pop it with air, sprinkle herbs and spices on to make it taste great, sea salt to taste, and spritz some infused garlic olive oil on those kernals to replace the butter; then you have an ideal alternative to Cotton Candy, hot dogs, burgers and fries, ice cream cones, chili, pizza, or any of the usual culprits. Popcorn provides fiber and some basic nutrients that will make you feel good about this choice. You can’t go wrong when you make it right in your own kitchen with trusted ingredients!
Dr. Jim also suggested that you take your own purified water with you on your outings. If you are out in the hot summer sun, you need to sip water to keep your body hydrated at least every hour or so. The kids might forget to take a drink when they’re looking forward to the next exciting ride; so encourage them to take a sip every time that you do. You can also take some juice or healthy drinks that replace electrolytes with you, if water seems to tame for your tastes. The point is to be in CONTROL of the snacks and drinks when you go out in public, instead of depending upon what the vendors have to offer you which tends to be JUNK.
You can always take some nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, granola bars, organic cookies and crackers, and other healthy snacks with you in addition to popcorn. If you have them in your pantry, it will feel like it’s second nature to grab them when you’re on the go, rather than waiting until you get to the Park to find something, anything that will feed your hunger! Don’t put yourself in a position to be at the mercy of the vendors who use cheap ingredients and charge exorbitant prices for their wares.
