Limerick woman launches book to encourage a healthy lifestyle for children

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.

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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.