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Elizabeth M. Ward MS,RD

Elizabeth is a freelance writer and nutrition consultant. She also contributes to the Diet Challenge Blog for USA Today!

I have always loved having the kids home for the summer, and I’m a person who never gets bored, so I’ve found ways to keep my kids busy and having fun. There are a myriad of scheduled activities for kids to participate in outside the home, such as summer reading clubs at the library and bookstores, day camps, and swimming lessons, but today I want to focus on simple, everyday activities at home.

I have always encouraged imagination and creativity through play, as it’s not only fun, but educational too. If you give the kids a few supplies and a starter activity, and then just let them take it where they want it, they’ll have a blast!

• Running through sprinklers is a favorite childhood activity. Add in an umbrella, a bucket, and a big squishy sponge and watch what fun they will have!

• Fill a wading pool with water on a really hot day, dump in a big container of ice cubes, and let the kids try to get the ice cubes out of the pool with their feet! Read the rest of this entry »

Whether it’s a day trip or an extended vacation, when the key goes in the ignition, healthy eating often goes out the window. I speak from experience, of course. My family relaxes their otherwise good habits during the lazy days of summer, and that’s OK – to a point.

The trick is to limit the damage. Kids will clamor for summertime treats like corn dogs, fried dough, and ice cream, as sure as the sun will shine. Packing nutritious snacks to take to camp, to the beach, or to eat in the car makes it easier to resist large portions of restaurant food, get the nutrition you need, and save money.

Summertime Snacking Basics

These are my cardinal rules of noshing between meals: Read the rest of this entry »

With our busy lives, it may seem like a challenge to eat healthy, nutritious meals regularly. Who has time, between soccer practice and dance class and summer camps or school? Everyone, says dietitian Elizabeth Ward, if you keep your pantry and refrigerator stocked with essential ingredients for healthy dishes.

Elizabeth recommends keeping key foods on-hand so that you can whip up a nutrient-rich, delicious meal in just a few minutes, even when you’re on the go. She suggests keeping standard items, like canned beans, whole-wheat pasta, oatmeal, peanut butter, eggs, vegetables, and whole grain cereals, in stock.

Check out the video below for more of Elizabeth’s tips on what to keep in your pantry so that a healthy meal is always just minutes away!

NBC recently featured Mom’s Best Naturals on The Today Show in a segment about healthy snacks for kids. As Michelle Obama’s recent push to fight childhood obesity demonstrates, snacking smart is more important than ever. As discussed during the segment, turning your child’s snacks into mini-meals is a great way to ensure they’re getting the proper nutrients their bodies need while avoiding filling up on junk food. A bowl of your favorite Mom’s Best Naturals cereal as an after-school snack does just that.

Registered dietitian and mother of three Elizabeth Ward recommends the following tips for healthy snacking:

• Make snacks into mini-meals, not meal wreckers. Children get more than 25 percent of their calories as snacks, so it’s especially important to serve healthy foods that kids would eat at mealtimes.
• Snack healthy, all day long. Avoid common mid-morning snacks that are full of fat, sugar, and sodium by replacing them with snacks that combine foods rich in complex carbohydrates and proteins that will help keep them fuller for longer, and give kids the energy they need to play and learn.
• Minimize snacking by serving balanced meals. A balanced breakfast with fruit, milk or yogurt, and whole grains gets the day off on the right foot and prevents the hunger that can lead to snacking.

Check out The Today Show clip to learn additional smart snacking tips!

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Clip provided by, and used in this blog post with express permission of MSNBC.