Making Exercise and Nutrition Fun at Upper Crust Bagels

More than a dozen children were doing jumping jacks, sit ups and push ups at in Old Greenwich Thursday night.

Were they trying to work off a major bagel-and-cream-cheese binge?

No, they were there for a presentation on diet and exercise by local health and fitness experts Tracy Gwozdz, Jeremy Boland and Kim Pearson during the second “” event sponsored by and Upper Crust Bagel Co.

Unlike last month’s event at Upper Crust, which was just for adults, this one included kids and was mostly focused on them. The event kicked off with a lively interactive presentation by nutritionist Tracy Gwozdz, who offered some practical tips for healthy snacks and meals.

“Healthy eating can be fun,” Gwozdz, a certified health counselor from Riverside, told the crowd of about 35 adults and children who gathered in the popular bagel shop. “It doesn’t have to be boring, and it can be really delicious.”

When Gwozdz asked the children what some of their favorite foods are, “Hamburgers!” “Pizza!” “Hot Dogs!” were the immediate (and robust) replies. She said with today’s hectic schedules, families are increasingly relying on pre-prepared or “convenience foods… which often aren’t all that healthy for us.” The development of healthy eating habits, she said, starts at home (however she mentioned that there is also a to get healthier school lunches into the public schools).

“We need to help our kids develop healthy habits early — because it’s much harder to relearn how to eat healthy when you’re older,” she said. “And all of you as parents are role models. Our kids look to us to see what we’re buying and eating.”

Gwozdz, who has five children, said she keeps junk food in the house “to a minimum… but at the same time I don’t believe in deprivation. I believe in moderation — it’s OK to have some cookies, some chips — just don’t overdo it.” She also recommended that parents keep junk food out of sight when it’s the wrong time to be eating it: “If they see it, they’re more likely to eat it,” she said.

Gwozdz offered some suggestions for healthy snacks to pack for school, including “cut-up fruit, cut-up raw veggies, unsweetened raisins — just be cautious buying dried fruits because they can have added sugar — almonds, walnuts, cheese sticks, organic yogurt, apples with peanut butter…”

She also taught the children to calculate how much sugar is in a food item by converting the total number of grams into teaspoons (which makes it easier to visualize).

“Every four grams of sugar equals one teaspoon,” she explained. The children calculated that the 47 grams of sugar in a bottle of Snapple was equivalent to about 12 teaspoons of raw sugar.

She also taught them not to be thrown off by the “serving size” on the label — for example, Vitamin Water provides nutritional information for an eight ounce serving on the label of its 12 ounce bottles.

“Sugar is addictive,” Gwozdz said, adding that there's really no need for foods like ketchup to have so much sugar in them. “They put sugar into products because it makes you want more of that product.” She said fortunately there are more alternative, lower-sugar food products on the market today than before — you just sometimes need to look to find them.

During the event, healthy snacks including turkey sliders and sweet corn quesadillas were distributed to the attendees. An informational booklet that was handed out included the recipes.

Gwozdz also engaged the children with a lively multiple-choice question-and-answer game based on diet and nutrition facts.

Next up, Boland, a K-5 physical education teacher and strength and conditioning coach for Greenwich Track, with assistance from Pearson, a special education preschool teacher and nationally recognized fitness competitor, got the children moving by demonstrating a variety exercises they can do at home including sit ups, push ups, jumping jacks and more.

“Kids are the front line in the battle on obesity,” Boland said. “If we can get them to be more active when they are younger, there is a higher chance of them staying active after they become adults.”

Since parents need to lead by example, Boland recommends that families do exercise activities together.

“If you want your kid to have healthy exercise habits, they need to see it at home,” he said. “That’s where the healthy habits start. The more often they see their parents being physically active, the more likely they are to do it throughout their lives.”

Following Boland's exercise demonstration the children created their own customized workout routines, based on the new exercises they had learned, using a scheduling chart included in the informational booklet, which was produced by Patch.

The evening ended with the children enjoying a healthy snack: Yogurt parfaits with strawberries, blueberries and granola. In addition Free Patch jump ropes and tote bags were distributed to attendees.

Upper Crust Bagel co-owner Rob Guerrieri estimated that a total of about 50 people attended the event — roughly double the attendance of the .

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