Archive for the ‘nutrition’ Category
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
The summer is ending and the back to school frenzy is starting up. Moms nationwide are wondering, “What should I feed my kids for snack?”
If your kids are like most, they come home from school and head straight to the kitchen. This is not surprising as many school lunch periods start as early as 10:30 am; these kids are ravenous after 5 hours of “fasting”. Sometimes they even have an after school activity further delaying their next feeding!
So what should you do when your child comes home starving
You first need to answer a few questions. What time is your child’s lunch period? Are they served a snack in school? Kids’ eating schedules vary depending on age. For example, younger kids generally have a mid-morning snack while older kids don’t. Your kids should never go more than four hours without eating something. If your older child isn’t allotted a set snack time, consider sending a portable snack in their backpacks. Many of my patients eat their snacks in between classes.
Next you need to know if they are eating their entire lunch or throwing most of it away. Don’t assume that your kids eat everything you send in with them. If you think your kids are not eating lunch, call the teacher. Don’t be afraid to express your concerns.
Do they go to an after school program that serves snacks? Can you send a snack with them? These answers will help determine how hungry they will be when they get home from school.
What time do you normally serve dinner? If dinner is early (around 5:00-5:30), afternoon snack should be somewhat small. If you serve dinner late, you should offer a large afternoon snack.
Finally, sit down as a family and create a list of healthy snacks. Be sure to discuss portions sizes so your kids understand that even healthy foods have calories. Take your kids shopping with you so they can see all the healthy choices the supermarket has to offer. The more involved your kids are, the more likely they are to eat the healthy snacks you offer. Offer healthy choices instead of dictating which snacks your kids eat.
In summary, your kids should eat every four hours. Figure out their schedules and fit in snacks at appropriate intervals. Ideally, snacks should consist of a combination of protein and fiber. Avoid sugary snacks, like 100 calorie packs, that simply spike blood sugar levels and cause your kids to have a sugar crash.
Here are some snack ideas to get you started.
-Air popped or 94% FF popcorn
-Apple slices and low fat cheese
-Cold grapes already pulled off the stem
-Baked tortilla chips & salsa
-Hummus with low fat pita chips
-Cut up raw veggies with fat-free dip
-Low fat yogurt or cottage cheese with pineapple chunks
 Share on Facebook
Tags: afternoon snack, afternoon snacks, back to school snacks, child nutrition, diet for kids, diets for kids, healthy snack, healthy snacks, healthy snacks for kids, nutrition
Posted in nutrition | Comments Off
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
“Organic” products and organic foods have become a buzzing topic as of lately. Not surprisingly, consumers are often confused as to what organic really means. This article will look to answer some of the most common questions about buying organic and the benefits of choosing certain organic foods over non-organic foods.
What is Organic?
Use of the term Organic is monitored by the USDA National Organic Program (NOP). The NOP uses the word “Organic” to mean that a food or produce is grown or raised without the use of pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, in an area that is not contaminated by sewage, and does not involve genetically modified organisms or ionizing radiation[1]. “Organic” meat means that the animals are not raised with or given antibiotics or growth hormones.
The USDA NOP has created three categories of organic. 100% Organic is a top grade Organic product and all ingredients in the product are made according to the USDA organic farming standards. The second category is labeled simply as Organic which means that at least 95% of the ingredients are organic. The third category is “Made with Organic Ingredients” which signifies that at least 70% of ingredients are made according to USDA’s organic standards without any genetically modified organisms.
Don’t get tricked!!! Products that contain less than 70% organic ingredients may still have labels boasting about their few organic components; this does not mean that the product is considered an organic product!!
Look for the Seal The USDA Organic seal assures buyers that the product comes from a manufacturer or farm that has an Organic-certified program and system plan and that all records of product production are verified in accordance to that plant. Manufacturers and farms that produce food that hold this seal are inspected annually unannounced to ensure standards are met and maintained.
Why Buy Organic??
Pesticides belong to a group of chemicals intended to kill living organisms and are intended to be toxic material. Consuming small amounts of pesticides each day may lead to a build-up of these toxic materials in the body. Pesticides in and on food have been linked to a variety of health problems including skin, eye, and lung irritation, cancers, nervous system side effects, and changes in hormone levels[2]. Organic produce is grown to be “earth friendly”, without pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. Although some foods nutritional content does not change depending on whether the food is organic or not, the presence of pesticides does!!!
What to buy Organic
According to the Environmental Working Group, the most contaminated foods are peaches, strawberries, apples, domestic blueberries, nectarines, cherries and imported grapes; buy these fruits organic! Of the vegetables: celery, sweet bell peppers, spinach, kale, collard greens and potatoes are best to buy organic because these vegetables retain the most pesticides[3]
Naturally lower in Pesticides
The vegetables least likely to test positive for pesticides are onions, sweet corn, sweet peas, asparagus, cabbage, eggplant and sweet potatoes. Lower pesticide containing fruits include avocados, pineapples, mangoes, kiwi, domestic cantaloupe, watermelon, grapefruit and honeydew.
For a complete list of pesticide content for fruits and vegetables go to www.foodnews.org
Your Shopping List for Organic Foods:
Buy these Organic (15 Listed from most pesticide-containing to least)
- Celery
- Peaches
- Strawberries
- Apples
- Domestic Blueberries
- Nectarines
- Sweet Bell Peppers
- Spinach
- Kale/ Collard Greens
- Cherries
- Potatos
- Imported Grapes
- Lettuce
- Imported Blueberries
- Carrots
For a complete List visit www.foodnews.org
[1] http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/NOP
[2] http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/food/pest.htm
[3] www.foodnews.org
Share on Facebook
Tags: natural foods, organic, organic farms, organic foods, pesticides in food
Posted in nutrition | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
What child doesn’t love to eat a bag of popcorn, licking the excess salt off of each finger? Many of the foods we love contain large amounts of sodium. Foods with lower levels of sodium often taste bland. But are we once again sabotaging our health for taste? (Yes!) And should the government help save the public’s health by mandating decreased levels of salt in the foods American’s consume? (Yes!)
According to a new statement from the Food and Drug Administration, Americans are eating way too much salt. The FDA has called for the government to impose stricter regulations on how much salt food products can contain. Unfortunately, the government has no plans to institute these suggestions. Instead, the FDA must rely on voluntary salt reductions from food manufacturers. To date, this approach has not worked very well.
How much salt are we eating? The average American eats 1.5 teaspoons of salt a day, more than double the recommended amount. In fact, this amount of salt increases the risk for high blood pressure, strokes, and other medical problems. Don’t think that you are safe by simply forgoing the salt shaker! Putting salt on foods only adds insult to injury. Large amounts of salt are hidden in most processed foods and restaurant meals.
Current government guidelines call for a maximum daily sodium intake of 2,300 milligrams. Health problems appear when intake is above this number. These new statements suggest a recommended maximum daily sodium intake of 1,500 mg a day (and less for adults over age 50). It seems we pay no attention to these guidelines as the average consumption of sodium is more than 3,400 mg a day. Apparently, simply knowing that one’s diet is not healthy is not enough to convince the average American to change his habits.
Rather than calling for a drastic reduction in added sodium, researchers are suggesting a gradual change so the country’s taste buds can adapt and the food industry has time to look for tasty, but healthier, alternatives. Their proposed regulations would ease both food producers and consumers into a healthier way of eating by setting maximum sodium levels for different foods in a stepwise rollback set over a period of years. The final goal is to decrease salt consumption by 0.5 teaspoons per day.
Government officials claim that writing new laws to set limits on sodium levels would take much longer than working with food executives on voluntary reductions. Food executives, however, argue that there are no tasty ways to decrease sodium levels. But brand-to-brand differences in the same foods suggest that’s not so.
The Institute of Medicine, in a statement given this Tuesday, reported that the food industry has made very little progress in voluntarily reducing sodium. What a surprise! You mean companies haven’t been willing to spend large amounts of money to produce a product that, while healthier, will not taste quite as good? Shocking. How can a plan based solely on the good nature of food industry executives not succeed?
Salt leads to real health problems. One in three U.S. adults suffers from high blood pressure, a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes, and kidney failure. The American Medical Association predicts that 150,000 lives could be saved each year, simply by cutting the sodium levels in processed and restaurant foods in half.
Share on Facebook
Tags: child abuse, child nutrition, Child Obesity, child obesity abuse, fat child, fat children, fat kids, healthy diet, nutrition, obese child, obese children, obese kids, overweight child, overweight children, overweight kids, salt, sodium, unheatlhy diet
Posted in nutrition | Comments Off
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
It’s the summer, and you’ve just been invited to a 4th of July barbecue. You RSVP “Yes”, but in the back of your mind you’re thinking, “Ribs, hot dogs, potato salad, creamy dressings, hamburgers, icecream; How am I going to control myself?!”
Obviously, if you are attending a barbecue, it is impossible to control WHAT is there, but it is possible to control what you put on your plate and how much you eat! While you are outside with guests, make it a point to enjoy the company of others and socialize rather than stand at the food table and snack all day. Enjoy what is there, but fill up your plate with the healthiest options available, like salad with light dressing, a piece of grilled chicken, corn on the cob, and fruit salad. If it helps control your food cravings, try eating a piece of fruit with peanut butter, a small salad, or a handful of nuts before going to the barbecue. Many people think, “Well, if I don’t eat anything before I got out, then I can eat more when I am there.” This simply is not a healthy way to go about your daily eating! Trust me, in the end, you wind up eating more!
Now let’s say you are the one hosting a barbecue and you want to create a delicious menu that your guests will enjoy, but will be healthy and prevent your child from overeating.
What should I drink?
The best option is to stick with water! Try adding orange slices, lemon slices, or lime slices. They add a great subtle flavor with virtually no calories! It is important to keep yourself hydrated while you are outside!
For your guests, offer cans of diet and regular soda along with whatever alcoholic or other beverages you think they would like. However, make it a point to place the diet soda in a separate cooler of ice; that way you will remind yourself to just go to that cooler and avoid the one with the regular beverages.
What kinds of appetizers should I serve?
The best appetizers and snack options to offer are baked tortilla chips with salsa, pretzels, fresh fruit salad, and cut-up vegetables with low-fat dip.
What should I grill? Hotdogs and hamburgers just seem so easy to throw on the grill, but I know there are healthier options.
If you simply can’t do without hamburgers and hotdogs, then opt for buying 93% or 95% extra lean ground beef and forming them into patties yourself! Spray the grill with non-fat cooking spray and enjoy a delicious lean burger. Hotdogs can be very tricky because often they are loaded with fat and sodium. The best option for hotdogs, are low-sodium and low-fat. Brands such as Healthy Choice and Hebrew National offer this! My family loves the Hebrew National 97% fat-free hot dogs! If you want to be adventurous and try some other meats, here are a few options that go great on the grill! Always remember to trim the fat off of your meats and avoid high-calorie marinades! Opt for light, whole-wheat rolls rather than white rolls and fat-free cheeses instead of regular cheeses. Limit the amount of condiments used and avoid mayo altogether. If you must have mayonnaise, use a small amount of fat-free mayonnaise.
| Option |
Serving Size |
Food Color |
| Lean Flank Steak |
3 ounces |
Yellow + Green |
| Grilled Shrimp |
6 large |
Green |
| Veggie Burger |
1 burger |
Green |
| Fat-free turkey hot dog |
2 hot dogs |
Green |
| Pork Tenderloin |
2 ounces |
Green |
| Veggie Sausage Links |
3 links |
Green |
| Chicken Breast/NO skin |
2 oz/half breast |
Green |
| |
|
|
Keep in mind that fish is also a great BBQ dish, but can be difficult to cook on the grill, as it breaks apart easily. Try placing a white, lean fish of your choice in parchment baggies and toss in veggies and lay on the grill! It’s easy to make and when you’re done, just throw the bag away.
Another great fish option is to cook salmon on a cedar plank placed on the grill. The outside gets crisp while the inside remains soft. Plus, the cedar gives the fish a fabulous taste!
Top Tips When Grilling Meats:
- 1. Trim the fat
- 2. Avoid high-calorie marinades
- 3. Take off the skin
- 4. Stay away from overly processed meats, like full-fat sausage!
- 5. Try cubing chicken or beef and making a vegetable kabob
- 6. Use fat-free cooking spray. Avoid greasing the grill with oils/butters as it adds unnecessary fat and calories!
But what should I serve WITH the meat? That always seems to be the hardest part for me.
I am sure you are thinking about pairing that hamburger with potato salad or a buttered-up corn on the cob, but there are many satisfying healthy options to pair meat with. Here are just a few:
| Option |
Serving Size |
Food Color |
| Fresh strawberries |
1 cup |
FREE |
| Grilled peppers and onions |
½ cup |
Green |
| Salad with fat-free dressing |
1 cup |
Green |
| Sugar-free jello |
3 tbsp. |
FREE |
| Corn, cob, NO butter |
1 cob |
Green |
| Grilled zucchini and squash |
½ cup |
FREE |
| Angel Food Cake |
1 slice |
Green |
| Potato Chips, baked |
10 chips |
Green |
| Baked Sweet Potato |
2 oz./half potato |
Green |
| Fat-free pudding |
½ cup |
Green |
| |
|
|
Hopefully, this gives you some great ideas to work with for your next barbecue! Remember to enjoy the company of your guests and plan fun activities and games with the kids to keep them active and not focused on sitting and eating. Set up a volley-ball net, jump in the pool, set up a relay-race or obstacle course, and get moving!
Share on Facebook
Posted in nutrition | 28 Comments »
Monday, June 29th, 2009
Healthy Birthday Snack Ideas:
A child’s school birthday celebration should be centered around the child; instead, it has become centered around cupcakes. Parents bring in these unhealthy treats and kids rejoice. Yet with the current child obesity crisis, many are rethinking this caloric tradition. In response, I have created this list of healthy birthday school celebrations. Enjoy them! And please, let me know if you have any additional suggestions.
Non-Food Options:
1) Allow extra recess time in honor of each student’s birthday and allow the birthday child to choose an active activity or game. The birthday student’s parents are welcome to participate.
2) Craft project: Bring in supplies so each student can make a birthday card for the birthday child.
3) Craft project: Decorate a balloon with stickers and glitter. Each child gets to take their creation home.
4) Bring in a large balloon bouquet and let each child pick a balloon to take home.
5) Parent reads selected book of choice to class.
6) Create a birthday book for child; each classmate creates a special page about the birthday child.
7) Provide goodie bags with stickers, pencils, pens, school supplies, crayons, noise makers etc.
8) Arrange a classroom scavenger hunt with small non-food gifts for each child.
9) Decorate a birthday crown.
10) Bring in coloring books for each student. Have each child color a page from their book and then hang up the masterpieces and have a ‘gallery showing’.
11) Bring in small fun activity gifts for the students, i.e. jump ropes, mini-Frisbees, waffle balls. Allow some time for the students to play with their new gift.
12) Give each child elastic bracelets with birthday child’s name stamped on it.
Healthy (Or At Least Healthier) Food Options:
1) ‘Make your own’ yogurt parfait with fat-free yogurt, low-fat granola, and fresh berries.
2) Fruit Kebobs: Cut fruit into interesting shapes and let children put the fruit onto skewers with a few marshmallows.
3) Frozen Banana Krispie Treats: Cut a banana in half. Put a Popsicle stick in the banana and then smear with low-fat vanilla yogurt. Roll in rice krispies, freeze.
4) Fresh fruit topped with low-fat whipped cream.
5) Waffle topped with fruit and chocolate syrup.
6) Low-fat pudding with low-fat whipped cream.
7) Frozen fruit bars.
8) Create a trail mix: Let each child choose their own mixture of whole grain pretzels, multi-grain chex, and dried fruit.
9) Yogurt covered raisins.
10) Apples slices dipped in caramel dipping sauce.
11) Baked apples with cinnamon.
12) Sorbet.
13) Orange frizzes: Mix chilled orange juice with carbonated water and a scoop of sorbet.
14) One scoop of low-fat ice cream with sprinkles.
15) Exotic fruit of choice.
16) Jell-o topped with low-fat whipped cream.
17) Baked tortilla chips with salsa.
18) Homemade low-fat rice krispie treats.
19) Yogurt covered pretzels.
20) Baked potato chips.
21) Low-fat pita with hummus.
22) Baked tortilla with guacamole.
23) One scoop of fat free ice cream in a wafer cone.
Share on Facebook
Tags: child diet, Child Obesity, child weight gain, cupcake war, cupcake wars, diet, exercise, MeMe Roth, mothers, obese baby, obese child, obese toddler, obesity, overweight child, overweight mother, overweight parent, overweight toddler, overweight woman, parenting, school birthday, school cupcakes, school parties, weight gain, weight loss
Posted in nutrition | 8 Comments »
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
Last week, there was an article in the NY Times about Meme Roth and her fight with her children’s school concerning school birthday parties and cupcakes.
What sets her off is the junk food served on special occasions: the cupcakes that come out for every birthday, the doughnuts her children were once given in gym, the sugary “Fun-Dip” packets that some parent provided the whole class on Valentine’s Day.
“I thought I was sending my kid to P.S. 9, not Chuck E. Cheese,” Ms. Roth, a trim, impassioned 40-year-old from Atlanta, said in an interview. “Is there or is there not an obesity and diabetes epidemic in this country?”
Although I agree with Ms. Roth’s concern, the article outlines the outlandish strategies and infantile behaviour she uses to get her point across. For the complete article, click here.
Those who know me understand that this is my pet issue. I have seen too many children crying because they are trying to eat healthy but are surrounded by so many temptations. In my opinion, schools should be a safe haven. So I drafted a letter to the NY Times and surprising, it was printed in Saturday’s paper! Here is my article below:
TAKING SIDES
IN THE
CUPCAKE WARS
Published: June 19, 2009
Esther Pearl Watson
Re “Mother’s Fight Against Junk Food Puts a School on Edge,” by Susan Dominus (Big City column, June 16):
As a pediatrician and a child weight loss specialist, I am conflicted about this article. MeMe Roth, the mother “driven mad” by junk food, may not use the best tactics, but her point is right. We are in the midst of a child obesity epidemic. One out of every three children in our country is either overweight or obese. Our schools should be a safe haven for our children.
I have overweight children crying in my office on a daily basis because they are trying to eat well but are confronted with temptations at school. I do believe in all foods in moderation. But our children have plenty of exposure to unhealthy foods outside of school.
In a typical classroom of 26 children, there are up to 26 days of birthday cupcakes to contend with. Then you add in celebrations for holidays, and many classes have a party every week. There are many healthy birthday options, and we can use them to celebrate our children’s birthdays without sacrificing their health.
Joanna Dolgoff
New York, June 16, 2009
I am interested in hearing your thoughts about cupcakes and school birthday parties. I know I am in the minority. I agree that it is perfectly fine for a child to have a cupcake every now and then. The problem is that it becomes more than now and then. Each child’s birthday usually results in two cupcakes- one at the school party and one at the out-0f-school party. Not to mention all the junk food that is thrown at our kids from everywhere else. Is it really necessary to add another temptation? Can’t we celebrate a birthday without eating unhealthy fare?
Next week: my suggestions for healthy birthday celebrations.
Share on Facebook
Tags: child diet, Child Obesity, child weight gain, cupcake war, cupcake wars, diet, exercise, MeMe Roth, mothers, obese baby, obese child, obese toddler, obesity, overweight child, overweight mother, overweight parent, overweight toddler, overweight woman, parenting, school birthday, school cupcakes, school parties, weight gain, weight loss
Posted in Child Obesity, nutrition | 8 Comments »
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
I recently read a FASCINATING book called “The End of Overeating” by David A. Kessler, MD. I highly recommend it! In the book, Dr. Kessler reviews what makes some people prone to overeating. He outlines the science behind the drive to eat when you are already full. He then goes over how restaurants manipulate us to get us to eat more quickly and thus eat more food.
We are born preferring sweet tastes. Even newborns “smile” when given sugar water! But we are not just drawn to sweetness alone. As Dr. Kessler points out, few people eat sugar straight from the packets. Rather, we prefer mixtures of fat and sugar. Adam Drewnowski did a study where he gave people drinks containing different ratios of milk and sugar. Not surprisingly, the skim milk with sugar (no fat, lots of sugar) and the unsweetened cream (lots of fat, no sugar) did not get high marks. Everybody preferred the mixture that contained lots of sugar and lots of fat.
More interesting, is that there is a “bliss point”, a point where we enjoy the sugar/fat the most. It is possible too make a food too sweet or too fatty. We all know that too little fat/sugar is no good but scientists have shown that too much fat/sugar is also not desired. Scientists have shown that the ideal amount of sugar in a drink is 10%. If a drink is more than 10% sugar, it is deemed too sweet.
Eating foods high in sugar and fat makes you want to eat MORE sugar and fat.
Variety makes you eat more. Our body has what is called “taste-specific satiety”, meaning that it can become full from a certain taste but can immediately feel “hunger” if exposed to a different type of food. This helps account for why we eat so much more at a buffet than a sit-down meal.
We become conditioned to eat high-fat, high-sugar foods. In one study, people who did not usually snack mid-morning were given a high-fat, high-sugar snack before lunchtime for five days in a row. For days afterwards, they craved a mid-morning snack, even though they never used to eat at that time!
When we first put a yummy food in our mouths, our taste buds send a signal to the brain that activates our body’s natural opiates. Opiates make us feel pleasure and can also relieve pain or stress and can relax us. No wonder I want to turn to a donut whenever I feel discomfort and anxiety!
Restaurants use this science agains us! Restaurants are in the business to sell food. And what sells? Fat and sugar! So restaurants will stick fat and sugar into everything. If you order vegetables in a restaurant, chances are they have been fried (or sauteed) in oil.
It gets worse. In just one example from the book, a consultant/restaurant insider discusses the Southwestern Eggrolls from Chilis.
Deep-frying the tortilla drives down its water content from 40 percent to about 5 percent and replaces the rest with fat. “The tortilla is really going to absorb a lot of fat”…
“Cooked white meat chicken, binder added, smoke flavor. People really like smoky flavor- it’s the caveman in them.”
“There’s green stuff in there,” he said, noting the spinach. “That makes me feel like I am eating something healthy.”
He believed the chicken had been chopped and formed much like a meat loaf, with binders added, which makes those calories easier to swallow. Ingredients that hold moisture, including autolyzed yeast extract, sodium phosphate, and soy protein concentrate, further soften the food.
I noticed that salt appeared eight times on the label and that sweeteners were there five times, in the form of corn-syrup solids, molasses, honey, brown sugar, and sugar.
“This is highly processed?” I asked.
“Absolutely, yes. All of this has been processed such that you can wolf it down fast… chopped up and made ultrapalatable… Very appealing looking, very high pleasure in the fod, very high calorie density. Rules out all the stuff you have to chew.”
By eliminating the need to chew, modern food processing techniques allow us to eat faster. “When you’re eating these things, you’ve had 500, 600, 800, 900 calories before you know it,” said the consultant. “Literally before you know it.” Refined food simply melts in the mouth.
Restaurants add fat to everything! Why? The fat helps to lubricate the food so it absorbs saliva better and is swallowed more easily. Fat also lingers after food is swallowed, leaving the flavor behind in your mouth. The end result is that you eat so quickly that you don’t realize how much you have consumed. And you still have some flavor in your mouth, keeping you salivating. So what do you do next? You order more!
Restaurants also add lubricants and process foods to eliminate the amount of time spent chewing. According to Gail Civille, in the past Americans typically chewed a mouthful of food twenty-five times before swallowing; now it is only about ten times. Food processing creates a type of “adult baby food” which doesn’t require much effort to eat. Because it goes down so quickly, it easily overrides the body’s signals that should signal fullness.
Did you know that most restaurant food is fried not once, but twice? It’s true! Most chain restaurants use “individually quick-frozen foods”. These foods are partially fried in factories before they are quick-frozen and sent to the restaurant. Once in the restaurant, they can be taken from the package (still frozen) and into the deep fryer before being served. Very few chain restaurants cook the food from scratch. This helps explain why a Chili’s burger tastes the same in New York as it does in Nevada. They are all made in the same factory! Yum… Even the vegetables and lettuce are prepared elsewhere and then either frozen or sealed in vacuum packages.
The book goes on to give lots of other examples of how restaurants manipulate food to get us to eat more quickly and thus eat more. It also goes over lots of different food chains, including Starbucks, Cinnabon’s, Pink’s, McDonalds and more, revealing their techniques to make their food more appealing. I think it is a must-read for every parent. It definitely has made me think twice about eating out!
Share on Facebook
Tags: child diet, Child Obesity, child weight gain, diet, exercise, fast food, healthy meals, mothers, obese child, obese toddler, obesity, overweight child, overweight mother, overweight parent, overweight toddler, overweight woman, parenting, restaurants, weight gain, weight loss
Posted in nutrition | 2 Comments »
Thursday, May 28th, 2009
Mothers continually struggle with trying to get their kids to eat more vegetables. The question arises, should moms sneak veggies into their children’s food? Or should they spend their energy convincing their kids to eat vegetables on their own?
It is clear to me that it is worth the extra effort to get your children to eat vegetables knowingly and willingly. Sure, you can spend your time mashing up carrots and chopping up spinach to sneak into your daughter’s pancakes. But what will happen five or ten years from now when she is living on her own? She won’t be used to the true taste of a veggie and she certainly won’t have the time (or patience) to julienne her own greens. Your victory will be short-lived.
You are much better off teaching your sons and daughters to enjoy the taste and the crunch of a vegetable. It may seem easier said than done but there are some strategies you can use to make the process easier.
1. Serve your child vegetables from the beginning and continue through toddlerhood.
Every baby is given vegetables as some of their first foods. But somehow, by the time a child is 2, his sole vegetable is usually potatoes in the form of french fries. Parents often stop serving vegetables because the child is too old for pureed veggies and too young to eat hard chunks of vegetables on his own without choking. Yet this is the most crucial time to serve your kids vegetables as snacks. Try steaming or microwaving vegetable chunks until they are soft and no longer a choking hazard. Be sure to serve all different types, including broccoli, carrots, zucchini and cauliflower. Half of your child’s mealtime plate should be vegetables.
2. Allow your children to see you enjoying vegetables.
If you crinkle your nose at the sight of a brussel sprout, it is likely your children will too. On the other hand, if you look forward to eating vegetables, your children will get the message that veggies are a healthy and delicious part of their diet.
3. Serve vegetables as its own course before the meal.
What mother hasn’t experienced her kids crying that they are STARVING while she is cooking dinner? This is a perfect opportunity to get your kids to eat their vegetables. Put out a plate of chopped veggies for your kids to pick on while you cook. When vegetables are the only option, kids are more likely to eat them. Give them another choice and they will often go with the less healthy version.
4. Serve vegetables in funny designs.
A bowl of zucchini may not seem fun but place the zucchini on a plate in the shape of a smiley face and suddenly eating it becomes a game. Presentation can make a big difference. Plate the vegetables in different shapes and your children may enjoy eating them more!
5. Serve vegetable soup.
Most kids love a bowl of vegetable soup, particularly on a cold day. When you are having a particularly hard time getting your children to eat their veggies, throw them into a soup.
6. Take your kids shopping.
Take your children to the grocery store and spend some time in the produce aisle. Go through the types of vegetables with them so they know the different options. Allow your children to pick which special vegetable they want to try that week. Then, when you serve it, make a big deal that this is your child’s “Special Vegetable of the Week”.
7. Start a vegetable garden.
Even better than letting them choose a vegetable from the supermarket? Letting them pick one off the vine. Start a vegetable garden with your children so they can grow their own vegetables. Get them involved by allowing them to water and tend to the garden. Then when the vegetables are grown, have your kids pick them and help you prepare them for eating. The more invested your children are in the process, the more likely they are to eat the vegetables!
8. Serve vegetables with a healthy dip.
Everybody loves veggies with dip. The key, however, is picking a healthy dip. You are not helping your children by getting them to eat vegetables covered in full-fat ranch dressing. Rather, give them a small amount of light or fat-free dressing to dip. You can also try a small amount of heart-healthy guacamole or hummus. Remember, the idea is for your kids to eat vegetables with a little bit of dip- not dip with a little bit of vegetables!
9. Serve vegetable stir-fry.
A great dinner option is some type of protein (chicken, lean steak, or fish) with stir-fried vegetables. My kids love when I make chicken teriyaki (which is mostly veggies with small chunks of chicken). Sometimes I even add a few pineapple rings for extra sweetness!
10. My favorite way to serve my kids vegetables…
Anybody who has ever gone out to lunch with me and my family knows my ordering quirk. Instead of ordering french fries for my children, I order them sliced cucumber. Like french fries, they can be eaten with their hands and they have a nice crunch. Obviously they don’t taste the same as french fries but my kids enjoy them. My children know that unless it is a special occasion, french fries are not an option for them. It took awhile and there was definitely fighting and complaining in the beginning. But I held strong and they have learned to eat the cucumbers instead.
There are many ways to get your children to enjoy eating vegetables. You may have to get creative but in the end it is well worth it!
Share on Facebook
Tags: child, children, diet, healthy, kids, nutrition, obesity, parenting, picky, picky eater, vegetables, weight, wellness
Posted in nutrition | 9 Comments »
|
|
