Hot dogs. Pizza. Burgers. Don’t forget the doughnuts!
These are the staples of most church outings, get-togethers and especially youth and children’s groups. Is that the kind of food we want to “promote” and serve our kids all the time?
If you watched the video above, do you really want to eat that stuff? Do you want your kids to eat it? Yet at many church events, especially for children and youth, we roll out the hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza.
These foods won’t kill you if you eat them occasionally - my blog title was a bit of exaggeration. Or is it?
Obesity among children is a major problem – it has more than tripled in the past 30 years. Doctors are urging a ban on junk food ads during kids shows.
The problem is we don’t eat these kind of foods occasionally. We eat them all the time, including at home, going out to eat, at school and now at church.
! I think it’s the church that should step up and choose alternatives instead of serving these foods all the time.
As a cancer survivor, I’ve got to choose the right foods to help my immune system stay strong. It’s not just about fighting disease. God made our bodies a certain way and they need certain foods to function properly.
Here’s a few suggestions:
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches — Perfect for children’s events and probably youth, too. For that matter, adults would eat them also (use wheat bread not white)! A good substitute for hot dogs and hamburgers.
Carrots, celery and other veggies — Yea, this is a hard one. Make it a bit more flavorful by having peanut butter or other dips available. People won’t eat them? Well, maybe the church should be the leader in showing what foods we should eat.
Bananas, apples and other fruits — This is not as tough as the veggies. Use this instead of doughnuts in the morning. Put some grapes in as well, along with other fruits such as kiwi.
Maybe the least we can do is starting using healthy foods occasionally rather than not at all. But please, dump the hot dogs!
There are probably other substitutes as well. Can you think of any?
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Falafels instead of hamburgers. Most kids (and adults) love these bean patty pita sandwiches the first time they try them.
And an assortment of cheese and nuts is essential. When dealing with a large number of people diabetic needs should always be taken into account.
Nuts – totally forgot about them. Great option. Letting people stuff pitas is also a creative idea.
You must have written this after VBS. I totally agree! I think quesadillas are another great, hand-held option too. You can stuff all kinds of veggies in there. However, cost usually becomes the problem. There’s not much that’s cheaper than hot dogs and white buns. At our house, however, we look at the increase in cost as “health insurance” for the future instead of pills and medical bills.