12 Ways to Turn your Kids into Vegetable Lovers

The evidence is clear: kids need their veggies. Vegetables supply critical nutrients to help them build healthy bodies and brains and to provide protection from cancer and other serious diseases. When eaten in place of higher-calorie foods and snacks, vegetables also help ward off weight problems in childhood and throughout life.

Here are 12 tips to help lead your kids to vegetable love:

1. Be a good role model. Kids learn from their parents' examples, so eat the way you want them to eat. Show them how it's done by loading up your plate with vegetables at every meal.
   
2. Eat at the table. Your kids can't see the example you're setting if you're all eating in front of the television or in different rooms. Eat together, at the table, as a family.
   
3. Make vegetables part of the routine, from day one. Getting infants to eat puréed vegetables isn't too hard. It's when they move on to solid food that things get more challenging. Don't let their pickiness wear down your resolve – offer toddlers vegetables to munch on at every meal. If they don't like the vegetable you're serving for lunch, don't force the issue or turn the meal into a battle. Just stick with the routine: offer a different vegetable at dinner, and another one at the next meal, and the next. When you make vegetables a part of their everyday routine, starting at a young age, kids get the message: we eat vegetables.
   
4. Use ChooseMyPlate.gov as your guide. This government-sponsored website, based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, recommends filling half your plate with vegetables and fruit at every meal. That goes for your kids' plates, too. Check out ChooseMyPlate for all kinds of ideas on how to incorporate fresh produce into your family's daily meals.
   
5. Make kids part of the planning. As kids start to get older and more determined in their resistance – usually around second or third grade – give them more control by letting them be part of the meal-planning process. Take them with you when you go grocery shopping or to the local farmer's market, and let them pick out one new vegetable to try each week. They're more likely to go along with something that is partly their idea.
   
6. Share the joy of cooking. Once you get home with those new vegetables, spend some time with your kids exploring websites for different ways to prepare them. Let the kids read the recipes and vote for what sounds best. Then let them help with the preparation – depending on their age, they can toss vegetables with olive oil, measure spices, or help with stirring. If the first recipe turns out to be a flop, consider that a challenge: pick up the same vegetable a few weeks later and find a tastier way to prepare it. Didn't like it sautéed? Try roasting it, grilling it, or adding it to something the kids already like, such as soup, pizza or salad (see next item).
   
7. Start supper with a salad bar. According to Cooking Light (Nov. 2012), having access to a salad bar raises kids' fruit and vegetable consumption by nearly 40 percent. Make salad a regular part of supper. Instead of tossing one big salad for everyone, set the ingredients out separately and let the kids build their own. Change up the choices and try new ingredients regularly, but go easy on high-calorie add-ons like nuts, bacon, cheese and croutons.
   
8. Help them grow their own. Growing a garden – or even one cucumber in a pot – is a sure-fire way to help kids fall in love with vegetables. The process of choosing their own seeds, planting and watering them, and watching them sprout, grow and produce food is irresistible. If you don't have space for a garden, plant a few things in pots, or scout out a location to share a community garden.
   
9. Dip 'em. Many kids who normally turn up their noses at vegetables will give them another try if they're served with dip. A small serving of hummus, salsa or low-fat ranch dip can give broccoli, celery and snap peas a whole new appeal. Veggies and dip make a great after-school snack or pre-dinner appetizer.
   
10. Always be veggie ready. Kids on the go will grab whatever snack is the easiest. Make sure the most accessible snack in your house is vegetables. Keep your fridge stocked with a variety of veggies – cleaned, peeled, cut up, bagged and ready to go. And while you're at it, keep a full fruit bowl on the counter.
    
11. Encourage kids to take at least one "no thank you" bite. Assure them that you won't force them to eat a plateful of something they dislike – you don't want to turn mealtime into an unpleasant experience. One "no thank you" bite however, is a reasonable rule. Kids should try one bite before saying "no thank you" to the rest, even if they've had it before and didn't like it. Tastes change. Your kids may surprise you – and themselves – by discovering one day that they've grown to like Brussels sprouts after all.
    
12. Explain yourself. "Because I said so" isn't the strongest argument for eating vegetables. "Because they will help you grow up strong, develop a smart brain, do well in school and have the energy to do all the things you want to do," is much more persuasive. Your kids still may groan and roll their eyes at you, but over time, the message will sink in. They may not love vegetables right away, but they'll grow up understanding why vegetables are important, and they'll learn to tolerate, accept and even like some of them. And that's a great step in the right direction.

A Woman's Right to Life Insurance!

Women Underestimate Their Family Contributions By Lacking Sufficient Life Insurance, Says I.I.I.

Women contribute to their families’ economic well-being whether working outside or inside the home. Yet many have yet to realize that their purchase of a life insurance policy would have a significant impact on the quality of their family’s lifestyle if they were to die, says the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I). 

According to a national poll, 43% of adult women have no life insurance. Among those that are insured, many are severely underinsured, carrying roughly 1/4 of the amount that would likely be needed by their life insurance policies’ beneficiaries. Indeed, women who are a family’s primary breadwinner carry 31% less life insurance than their male counterparts, even as a growing number of women earn as much, if not more, than their husbands.

In 2007, 25.9% of wives were earning more than their husbands in households where both spouses work, according to the most recent data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s up from 17.8% two decades earlier.

“Ironically, 100 years ago women weren't even able to buy life insurance,” said Loretta Worters, vice president with the I.I.I. “Today, women can protect their finances, but they aren’t buying the coverage or, if they are, it isn’t enough.”

Many financial experts consider life insurance to be the cornerstone of sound financial planning. It can be an important tool in the following situations:

1. Replace income for dependents
   If people depend on your income, life insurance can replace that income for them if you die. The most commonly recognized cases are parents with young children. However, this can also apply to couples in which the survivor would be financially stricken by the income lost through the death of a partner and to dependent adults, such as parents, siblings or adult children who continue to rely on you financially. Insurance to replace your income can be especially useful if the government- or employer-sponsored benefits of your surviving spouse or domestic partner will be reduced after your death.
2. Pay final expenses
   Life insurance can pay your funeral and burial costs, probate and other estate administration costs, debts and medical expenses not covered by health insurance.
3. Create an inheritance for your heirs
   Even if you have no other assets to pass on to your heirs, you can create an inheritance by buying a life insurance policy and naming them as beneficiaries.
4. Pay federal “death” taxes and state “death” taxes
   Life insurance benefits can pay estate taxes so that your heirs will not have to liquidate other assets or take a smaller inheritance. Changes in the federal “death” tax rules will likely lessen the impact of this tax on some people, but some states are offsetting those federal decreases with increases in their state-level “death” taxes.
5. Make significant charitable contributions
   By making a charity the beneficiary of your life insurance policy, you make a much larger contribution than if you donate the cash equivalent of the policy’s premiums.
6. Create a source of savings
   Some types of life insurance create a cash value that, if not paid out as a death benefit, can be borrowed or withdrawn on the policyholder’s request. Since most people make paying their life insurance policy premiums a high priority, buying a cash-value type policy can create a kind of forced savings plan. Furthermore, the interest credited is tax deferred (and tax exempt if the money is paid as a death claim).
7. Replace services of a primary caregiver. Managing the house, caring for the kids and in many cases caring for elderly parents, can be costly, and a life insurance policy’s proceeds, if substantial enough, can continue to pay caregiver-related expenses for years.   
   The same concept applies to stay-at-home moms. While they aren’t bringing home a salary, they have tremendous economic value, which often goes unnoticed in terms of the support they give to their family, the I.I.I. noted. 

“What would happen to the family if the Mom weren’t around? Who would manage the day to day housekeeping, the laundry, driving kids to and from their sports activities?” said Worters. “It would cost a small fortune to even try to replicate that care. A life insurance policy can help cover those expenses.”

Single women with no dependents may want to consider life insurance as well. Depending on the type of life insurance purchased, a policy can also be a forced savings vehicle. Women are, as a group, living longer than ever before, and the need for sufficient retirement income is crucial. 

For more information on life insurance options, contact Modern Insurance Marketing, Inc.!

Go to www.moderninsurance.com or find us on Facebook!

  

Prepare your body for daylight saving time starting now

Daylight saving time begins early Sunday morning March 10th. That means you’ll effectively lose an hour of sleep this coming weekend.

“Springing ahead” can play havoc on your body’s internal rhythm — and those effects may last for weeks. So what can you do to make the transition a little easier?

Dr. Shelby Harris is a sleep expert at New York’s Montefiore Medical Center. She says when many are already not getting enough shut-eye, losing another hour could potentially increase your heart attack risk.

“There was a study in I believe 2008 that was out of Sweden that showed that there was a five percent increase in heart attacks at that time in the morning because you’re waking up an hour earlier and peoples cardiovascular systems are a little more unstable earlier in the morning. And if you’re already possibly at risk for having a heart attack you might be at a greater risk if you’re having to wake up earlier than usual. There’s more car accidents because of one less hour of sleep. People’s attention, concentration, motor function are actually impaired just for one hour less of sleep,” said Dr. Harris.

Dr. Harris suggests trying to get your body to adjust before the clock change may make the transition easier.

“Starting on Wednesday the week before is go to bed and wake up fifteen minutes earlier every day so Wednesday night you’ll go to bed at 10:45 instead of 11.  Instead of waking up at 7 wake up at 6:45. And then do 10:30 with a 6:30 wake up and just go to bed 15 minutes earlier each day and wake up then when the clock changes you’re actually on the new schedule,” said Dr. Harris.

Dr. Harris says then on Sunday, get out of bed and don’t be lazy around the house. She says getting as much sunlight as possible will help make the change a little easier.

Don't Get Into A Storage War; Make Sure Your Storage Unit is Properly Insured!

HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE MAY PROVIDE OFF-PREMISES PROTECTION, BUT POLICY LIMITS DIFFER, SAYS I.I.I.

Whether you are downsizing to a smaller home, safeguarding heirlooms after a death in the family or just cannot let go of those old mementos, storage units can provide a useful solution for dealing with extra belongings. While storage units may be the answer to de-cluttering your home, adequate insurance coverage is the answer to protecting your belongings, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.). 

“If an item is valuable enough that you are willing to pay for storing it, the item should be financially protected with the proper amount and type of insurance,” said Loretta Worters, vice president for the I.I.I. “Even in the best managed storage facilities, theft, fire and other disasters can and do occur. That’s why before signing a rental agreement, it is important to find out what types of losses will be covered by the storage facility and whether supplemental insurance may be needed.”

The Self Storage Association notes that one out of every 10 households in the U.S. currently rents some kind of storage unit, including portable on demand storage (PODS).

Most storage facilities require that you maintain insurance for the full replacement cost of the contents of your storage room and ask to see a copy of your homeowners or renters policy. One way to satisfy your insurance obligation is by purchasing insurance through the storage facility. However, most storage facilities limit the value of property that can be stored in a unit, basing it on the size and the amount of your rent (usually up to about $20,000). If your property is worth more than the assigned amount, some storage facilities will allow you to increase the assigned value of the property in your unit. There are also exclusions including art, antiques, jewelry, furs, watches, money, securities and other documents of value. Be sure to check your homeowners or renters insurance policies first to determine whether your contents may already be covered.

Standard homeowners and renters insurance policies that include off-premises protection provide coverage for property in storage facilities from theft and damage from fires, tornadoes and other disasters listed in the policy. Much like storage facility insurance, homeowners and renters policies do not cover damage caused by flooding, earthquakes, mold and mildew, vermin or poor maintenance. Some insurers may limit the off-premises coverage for personal possessions to 10 percent of the overall amount of homeowners insurance you have. Other insurers may offer higher coverage limits for personal possessions stored off-premises, so check with your insurance agent at MIM before renting a storage unit. Also keep in mind that insurance through your home or renters policy will be more comprehensive than storage facility insurance and is regulated by your state insurance department.

If you intend to store valuable property such as art, antiques, jewelry or furs, there may be dollar restrictions under your standard homeowners or renters insurance policy for theft. Ask your insurance professional about adding a floater or endorsement to your policy in order to fully cover these items. There are also specialized storage facilities available for these types of items, as they often need to be kept at specific temperature and humidity levels. Small items such as jewelry can also be kept in a bank safe deposit box; insurers will generally charge less to cover an item stored at a bank.

One of the best ways to substantiate the value of your personal property is to create a detailed home inventory of all your possessions, including those in storage. If your property is stolen or damaged, an inventory can help speed the claims process and substantiate your loss. It will also help you determine how much insurance to buy to adequately protect your possessions.