Taken from a mid-week by Shannon Sundberg in 2005
Feeding Guide for Young Children
(Serving sizes are listed after the foods)
Bread, pasta, rice, and cereal: 6 servings/ day
Bread: ¼ - ½ slice
Buns, bagels, muffins: ¼- ½ slice
Dry cereal: ¼- 1/3 cup
Plain crackers: 2-3
Pasta and rice: ¼ - 1/3 cup
Fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C: 2 servings/ day
Chopped, cooked, or canned: 1/3 cup
Dark green/ orange fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin A: 2 ser./ day
Cooked or chopped raw: ¼ cup
Other fruits and vegetables (including the potato): 3 servings/ day
Cooked, canned, or chopped raw: ¼ cup
Whole: ¼ - ½ piece
Milk, yogurt, and cheese: 3 servings/ day
Milk, yogurt: ½ cup
Cheese: ½ oz
Meats, poultry, fish, dry beans, and peas, and eggs: 2 servings/ day
Lean meat, fish and poultry: 1-3 Tbsp chopped or 1-2 oz.
Eggs: 1 whole
Dried beans and peas: 1-3 Tbsp
Fats and oils: 3-4 servings/ day
Butter or oil: 1 tsp
A good rule of thumb for serving size is 1 Tbsp for each year of age.
** Children under two years of age should not be on a fat restricted diet and
should consume whole milk and whole milk products. After age two, children
should be transitioned to low fat milk products.
Sample Menu for 1-3 year olds
Breakfast
Whole milk ( ½ cup)
Cream of wheat ( ¼ cup)
Banana ( 1/2 )
Mid morning meal
Oatmeal raisin cookie (1)
Orange (1/2 of orange)
Lunch
Whole milk ( ½ cup)
Chicken breast strips (1 ½ oz)
Whole wheat bread (1 slice)
Butter (1 tsp)
Peaches ( ¼ whole)
Mid afternoon snack
Cheese ( ½ cup)
Whole grain crackers (3)
Water
Dinner
Whole milk ( ½ cup)
Spaghetti ( ¼ cup) with
Meat sauce (2 Tbsp)
Broccoli (2 Tbsp)
Butter (1 tsp)
Whole wheat dinner roll (1)
Applesauce ( ¼ cup)
Evening Snack
Whole milk ( ½ cup)
Graham crackers (2)
Snacks are an important part of a young child’s diet, since their stomachs
can only hold so much at mealtime. Plan snacks to include healthy foods that
will help your child get all of the nutrition they need throughout the day.
Child Friendly Foods
Grain Group
Cold cereal with < 3gm sugar/serving
Whole grain bagels
Whole wheat English Muffins
Graham crackers, animal crackers
Whole wheat pita bread
Rice cakes
Whole wheat toast
Tortillas
Fig newtons
Noodles
Rice
Whole wheat pancakes or waffles
Dairy Group
Cheese and string cheese
Milk
Yogurt
Pudding
Cottage cheese
Frozen yogurt
Vegetable Group
Any raw vegetable cut into thin strips
Steamed vegetables are softer and easier to chew
Canned beans
Frozen veggies like corn and peas
Vegetable soup
Tomato slices and grape tomatoes (halved if worried about choking)
Fruit Group
Any Fresh fruit, cut into small pieces
Canned fruit in juice or light syrup
Frozen fruit
Fruit leather
Unsweetened applesauce
Dried fruit (make sure your child is able to chew without a problem)
Protein Group
Beans and lentils- these are great finger foods
Hard Boiled eggs
Turkey, ham, or chicken cut into cubes
Tuna or chicken salad
Bean dip
Feeding Tips
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Try to eat together: children learn by watching others eat!
Make sure you are sitting down to eat during meal and snack time and make the
environment as relaxed as possible.
Reward children with attention and affection, not food.
Give children the freedom to choose foods (choices made between two healthy
foods- for example “You get to choose what vegetables we have with lunch today.
Would you like carrots or cucumbers?”)
Include a variety of textures and colors with each meal and snack.
Turn off the TV during meal time.
Give kids enough time to eat, don’t rush meals.
Avoid being a “short-order cook.” Serve at least one food you know your child will
eat and encourage them to try new foods. Don not make a separate meal for them.
Sometimes kids prefer “plain” foods, so you may want to try not mixing them up
(casseroles, soups, etc.) A lot of times kids don’t like foods to touch each other.
Get you kids involved with meal planning, preparation, and grocery shopping.
Children often don’t like extreme temperatures. Allow hot foods to cool off and
cold foods to warm up a little.
Offer new foods at the start of a meal when kids are the most hungry.
Serve the same food in different forms (raw carrot sticks for lunch one day and
steamed carrot coins for dinner the next day).
Try your best to keep to a schedule for meal and snack times. If your child doesn’t
eat well at one meal or snack, don’t worry, you will be offering food again in about 3
hours.
Don’t force a child to clean their plate. Encourage them to listen to their own
hunger cues. Your job is to offer healthy food. Let your child decide how much
they want to eat.
Most important- Don’t give up! It may take a child 17 times of trying a food before
they can say whether or not they like it!
Make meal and snack time fun and exciting! Invite a friend over, have a theme meal,
make fun shapes out of their foods (cookie cutters are very handy for sandwich
shapes, cheese shapes, etc.), decorate the table with something fun..just be
creative!
Let you child get a little messy. It is part of the whole food experience for a child
to take, touch, and smell the food. It really does help with their development and
adjustment to a variety of textures, tastes, and smells.
(End of info from Shannon Sundberg)
Ideas to Sneak in Good Foods
(Although this is good for sneaking it in, you really want your child to learn
to like the foods you are sneaking in. Add some on the side for them to try.
Remember it can take up to 10 times for a child to learn to like a food.)
Puree in the food processor or blender steamed or roasted veggies.
You can mix the pureed foods in anything: muffins, casseroles,
Pancakes, smoothies, and even mac n’ cheese.
Muffin recipe:
2 c. flour (try to use whole wheat)
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ c. sugar
1 egg
1 c. milk
1 ½ c. mashed fruit or vegetable
1/3 c. oil or applesauce
Sprinkle it in:
Flax seed: Sprinke in yogurt, ice cream, or:
Milled Flax Seed may be used as a Fat Substitute in most
recipes. Generally, 3 Tbsp milled flax seed can replace 1 Tbsp.
fat or oil. 1 Tbsp. milled falx seed plus 3 tbsp. of water can
replace 1 egg.
Insights from Oprah
4 Rules:
1. Nothing is ever off limits: your children should be able to
eat anything in your house. Don’t bring the junk in!
2. Don’t eat in front of the T.V.: we have no awareness when we
eat in front of the T.V.
3. Fiber for breakfast: you want 7- 10 grams/ day. The more
fiber we have for breakfast, the fuller your child will feel.
This prevents early and bad snacking. Fiber fills, sugar
doesn’t!
4. Physical activity: make physical activity a family activity. A
good idea: after dinner have the whole family clean up
instead of watching T.V.
Insights from Angie
(for what it’s worth…)
-I am not good about strict snack times and I admit I am a little lazy about
getting food for my kids. I (most of the time) like for food to be available
when they are hungry. That said, I only have healthy foods available.
Things I keep in the fridge that are in easy reach:
 Cut up carrots, celery, cucumbers, and peppers
 Raisins, apples, sliced peaches and strawberries
 Bread (whole wheat of course…without the hfcs)
 Plain or vanilla Yogurt: this one can be a little messy depending on who
gets it out of the fridge
 I usually don’t have crackers in my house because that is all they will
eat. I know they will still eat dinner if they snack on veggies and
fruits, but they won’t eat dinner if they eat a bunch of carbs.
Good Resources:
First Meals, by Annabel Karmel
www.drgreene.com
http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org
Taken from http://life.familyeducation.com/ :
Picky Eaters: Born or Made?
To Eat or Not to Eat? That Is the Question
Once upon a time there lived a storybook badger named
Frances, who would only eat bread and jam. Bread and
jam for breakfast, bread and jam for lunch, bread and
jam for supper. Her mother tried to interest her in
eggs, sunny-side up, or a delicious plate of spaghetti
and meatballs, all to no avail. Finally, Frances' mom
gave up and gave in, serving only bread and jam to her
fussy child until one day even Frances was forced to
admit that there can indeed be too much of a good
thing.
There's good reason why the classic picture book, Bread
and Jam for Frances by Russell and Lillian Hoban, has
enchanted children for three decades: friendly, furry
Frances reminds young readers of themselves. Many
children go through stages when they refuse to eat
certain foods, or insist on only eating a few favorite
things (usually devoid of all nutritional value, or so
it seems). Eating is often divorced from hunger in the
power struggles and manipulative game-playing that
result:
"I won't eat broccoli! It's like eating baby trees!"
"You must have two bites of salad and one bite of
meatloaf to get dessert."
"Why do you always make fish when you know I hate it?!"
"If you drink your milk, I'll play Candy Land with
you."
We wonder: Is this our fault? Are all the other
children in the neighborhood happily eating salad and
meatloaf right now, while our willful, whiny child
holds out for chicken nuggets? Are the other parents
who meekly made PB&J in advance, knowing their children
would refuse meatloaf and salad, enjoying a happier,
quieter supper than we are right now?
But the first question, before we get to "how to make
them eat," is, "how to get ourselves off the hook." To
find the answer, we surveyed parents from Seattle to
Boston, asking them: "Are picky eaters born or made?"
Not surprisingly, those with picky eaters believe they
came into the world as such. Those whose children eat
everything give themselves a big pat on the back. A
sampling of the findings:
Andrew, father of Nathan, 18 months: "They're born. We
have struggled so much to get this kid to eat. He loves
noodles and sweet things, but he likes them better on
my plate than on his. He loved American cheese slices
for a few days; now he won't touch them. It's not what
we're doing, it's that he just keeps changing."
Sam, father of Peter, four years: "They're made. We've
never made special meals for him, always insisted that
he try new foods, and as a result he eats everything.
He loves fruits and vegetables."
Amy, mother of Michaela, five years, and Lily, three
years: "It's both. It's personality, temperament.
They're born that way and it just gets made worse, or
not. When Michaela was a baby she would eat everything,
then at two she wouldn't, and now she's starting to
branch out again. Lily has always been more particular.
She looks at a food first, asks a lot of questions
before she'll try it. But let's face it, this is almost
always about the parent, not the kid!"
True, perhaps, but since establishing parental guilt or
innocence will not get us where we want to go, let's
now move beyond bread and jam and look for solutions.
Beyond Bread and Jam
The good news is, what is true for a storybook badger
is also true for children. In other words: This too
shall pass. Most kids won't starve, since much of this
conflict has nothing to do with actual hunger or intake
of food, anyway! Picky eating often represents a
child's desire to exert control (which is why we see so
much of it during the toddler years). There are simple
things we can do to encourage good eating habits, but
only if we are willing to stop micro-managing the
intake of every morsel. A few simple suggestions:
1. Don't barter, plead, or make deals involving food.
Drawing connections between eating and good or bad
behavior ("Good girls who eat their carrots get ice
cream") sets up a dynamic that can prove to be
disastrous in adulthood ("I'm entitled to eat this
entire bag of cookies because I won the new account" or
conversely, "because I'm feeling anxious or unloved.")
2. Limit or ban the amount of junk food and sweets kept
in the house. New York Times' health columnist, Jane
Brody writes that she never kept candy, chips, soda, or
ice cream at home when her kids were growing up.
Instead, she gave them money once a week to go out and
buy their own goodies. This had the effect of
restricting their access to foods void of nutrition,
but without complete deprivation. Similarly, you can
cross frozen fries (loaded with hydrogenated oils!) off
your shopping list, but build in a visit to a fast-food
emporium instead.
3. Choices, choices, choices. Since picky eating is
often a power play-- "I refuse to eat what you say I
must" -- you can increase the chances that kids will
make healthy food choices by spreading the dining room
table with a myriad options. Instead of meatloaf, for
instance, serve "make your own" tacos and let kids
"build" their own dinner, choosing whether or not to
add cheese, tomatoes, or lettuce. Replace a single
salad with a colorful platter of cut-up veggies,
including baby carrots, pea pods, celery, and red and
yellow peppers, perhaps with a selection of dipping
sauces (nothing fancy, dressing out of a few bottles
with do!) Fondue, now back in vogue as a chic dinnerparty option, is great fun for kids because eating
becomes an engaging activity.
4. Read labels. Think that six-pack of applesauce is a
healthy snack choice? Chances are it's low fat or fatfree, but most likely packed with sugar and utterly
devoid of nutrients. Then again, juice boxes that seem
surprisingly devoid of vitamin C may have added
calcium. With heavily processed foods, it's impossible
to make assumptions. Check the ingredients.
5. Be realistic about portions, mindful of hunger. Twoyear-olds, for example, should get one-quarter to onethird of an adult's food portion. That's not a lot, and
yet another reason not to force-feed by demanding "four
more bites." Kids need to learn to eat in response to
hunger cues, not because you say so.
6. Be sneaky. There's something to be said for "what
they don't know won't hurt them." Soft tofu or cooked
vegetables can be pureed and added to tomato sauce.
Finely chopped spinach or broccoli can be mixed into
ricotta cheese when stuffing shells. Add unsweetened
applesauce or shredded carrots to muffins.
7. Be patient. Good eating habits are built over time.
Nutritionists and pediatricians say you should consider
your child's nutritional intake over the course of a
week, not a day. Leaving aside economic variables, most
children with access to enough food will get enough of
what they need to be healthy.
Taken from www.drgreene.com
Healthy Eating, Part I - How important is good nutrition?
With all that we know about tobacco, how can people still smoke?
Easy. They're enticed by big business; they enjoy it; it's cool; and it's
very, very habit forming. Now for the shock--poor nutritional choices
cause every bit as much cancer, death, disability, and chronic disease
as cigarettes do. The modern American diet is public health threat
number one (American Journal of Preventive Medicine, March-April
1995). With all that we know about junk food, how can people still eat
it? Easy. They're enticed by big business; they enjoy it; it's cool; and
it's very, very habit forming.
When I was growing up, my father grew tomatoes in our backyard.
These vine-ripened tomatoes were absolutely delicious--far better than
any others I can remember having. As plants grow, the new growth is
built from materials taken from the soil. Nothing can be incorporated
into plants unless it is present in the soil. Plants grown in depleted
soils are just not the same. Commercial fertilizers can put the basic
required minerals back into the ground, but this simplified soil is not as
rich as organically maintained soil. Plants do the best they can with
whatever materials are available.
When my daughter was born, she weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces. Today,
as I write, she is 8 years old and weighs over 50 pounds. All of the
materials for this dramatic increase in size have come from the food
she has eaten. Like the tomato plant, Claire's body does the best it can
with available materials.
When I look at my children playing football in the park, I am looking at
structures built from the food they have eaten, the composition
depending on the nutrients that were available at the time. When you
begin to really see this, you begin to feel differently about hot dogs...
Getting children to eat well is far easier said than done. For the next 5
days--the first full week of the New Year--I'll give you some tips for
making delicious and healthy changes. We'll start today with the
foundation principle. This won't solve the challenges by itself, but
without this principle, other tips won't work well in the long run.
Sometime around 9 months of age, many babies begin to think that
smooshed baby foods are not where it's at. They develop an intense
desire to eat whatever it is that you are eating. This is a critical part of
child development because your child will begin to strongly imprint
your health patterns. Eating junk food while offering our children
vegetables just doesn't work.
I can remember the brave little face of my son. Daddy was drinking a
cup of coffee. My boy kept asking for a sip. I declined by saying that it
tastes yucky to kids and making a face. He persisted, and I gave him a
little sip. His face combined shock, disgust, and disappointment. His
eyes got big and watered. Then he smiled and said, "More." It
reminded me of the time I smoked a cigar offered to me by an older
boy on a scouting trip. Kids' desire to imitate at this stage is a deep,
powerful force. Tap into it.
Many of us have unhealthy habits that we've accumulated over the
years. The miracle of having a child is often our best opportunity to
shed those habits that don't serve us and to develop new ones that do.
Our parenting instincts make it easier to do something for our children
that we would not do for ourselves alone. These changes, of course,
directly benefit our children as they follow our examples. They also
benefit our children by giving them healthy, energetic parents, both
now and in the years to come. They add freshness to our marriages or
adult relationships. And of course, they are what our own bodies are
crying out for.
So when your child begins wanting food from your plate, let it be fresh
fruits and vegetables plus whole grains. When he or she wants to taste
what you are drinking, let it be something you would be happy for
your child to drink. Don't let your baby's foray into the world of adult
foods be potato chips, French fries, or sugary treats.
Of course, budding toddlers will want some foods that you don't eat.
They won't take all the ones that you do. Still, don't miss out on the
power of imitation to make healthy eating habits natural for your child.
And remember, we can't give something that we don't have.
When you give children good nutrition, you are giving them the
nutrient building blocks that literally become the eyes you look into;
the knees that get scraped; the bones that support their growing
bodies; their inquisitive, curious brains; and the hearts that pump
quietly night and day down through the years.
Healthy Eating, Part II - What foods do children need?
What foods should be avoided?
When my son Kevin was about 3 years old, he spied a green pea. He
picked it up between his fingers and rolled it over. It looked good! He
then pushed the pea up his nose. Interesting. Vegetables are fun! He
used another pea to push the first one up higher. Then another. Yet
another pea followed the first three into Kevin's nose--and it was not
the last! Kev was not satisfied until he had enjoyed five peas--in his
nose! Later, in the emergency room, after they'd removed the peas,
Kev's older brother Garrett, with a sweet twinkle in his eye, called
Kevin a pea-brain!!! When I say that kids need vegetables, I mean
they need to eat vegetables -- by mouth.
It's hard to compete against fast-food kids' meals--salty, fatty food,
served quickly, in a bright, exciting place--and they come with toys!
It’s no wonder trips to fast-food restaurants have become the pinnacle
of gastronomic delight for most preschool children in the United
States. But here, in these fast-food restaurants, children miss out on
important nutrients and fill their tummies (and arteries) with things
they don't need. We need to be very clear about what they need and
what they don't in order to avoid being knocked over by the junk food
current.
Children do need whole grains. They do need fresh fruits and fresh
vegetables. They do need a source of calcium for their growing bones.
They do need healthy sources of proteins, either from fish, poultry,
eggs, and meat, or from plant sources. These foods give them the
vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients they need to build high-quality
bodies.
Children do not need to eat large amounts of sugar. In the 1800s, the
average American consumed 12 pounds of sugar per year. By 1975,
however, after the overwhelming success of the refined-food industry,
the 12 pounds had jumped to a world-leading 118 pounds per year,
and jumped again to 137.5 pounds per capita (for every man, woman,
and child) by 1990. (Food Consumption, Prices and Expenditures,
United States Department of Agriculture, 1991).
The effect of sugar intake on children's behavior is a hotly debated
topic in pediatrics. Parents and educators often contend that sugar and
other carbohydrate ingestion can dramatically impact children's
behavior, particularly their activity levels. Physicians, on the other
hand, have looked at controlled studies of sugar intake and have not
found hypoglycemia or other blood sugar abnormalities in children who
are consuming large amounts of sugar.
An interesting article appears in the February 1996 edition of the
Journal of Pediatrics. In contrast with other research teams, William
Tamborlane, MD, et al of Yale University, leaders in child nutrition,
reported a more pronounced response to a glucose load in children
than in adults.
It is commonly acknowledged that as blood glucose levels fall, a
compensatory release of adrenaline occurs. When the blood glucose
level falls below normal, the resulting situation is called hypoglycemia.
Signs and symptoms that accompany this include shakiness, sweating,
and altered thinking and behavior.
Tamborlane and his colleagues demonstrated that this adrenaline
release occurs at higher glucose levels in children than it does in
adults. In children, it occurs at a blood sugar level that would not be
considered hypoglycemic. The peak of this adrenaline surge comes
about 4 hours after eating. The authors reason that the problem is not
sugar, per se, but highly refined sugars and carbohydrates, which
enter the bloodstream quickly and produce more rapid fluctuations in
blood glucose levels.
Giving your child a breakfast that contains fiber (such as oatmeal,
shredded wheat, berries, bananas, or whole-grain pancakes) should
keep adrenaline levels more constant and make the school day a more
wondrous experience. Packing her or his lunch box with delicious,
fiber-containing treats (such as whole-grain breads, peaches, grapes,
or a myriad of other fresh fruits) may turn afternoons at home into a
delight.
Refined sugars also affect insulin control, which decides how much fat
they will store for the rest of their lives. As a child, I had HoHos,
Twinkies, and Ding Dongs as regular parts of my meals because my
mother, like so many of that era, wanted to give her children a nice
treat. We both shudder now to think of it.
Sugar is not just found in sweets or junk cereal. It's in almost
everything. When you look at labels, you find sugar, sucrose, glucose,
dextrose, sorbitol, or corn syrup on almost every label. The more
simple meals from whole foods contain much less sugar.
Fruit juices contain lots of simple sugar without much fiber. Many
people think of juices as health foods. This simply isn't true. In small
quantities they are fine, but they are mainly a way to get many of the
calories and some of the nutrients from a substance, without getting
as full and without getting the needed fiber. And children who drink
more than 12 ounces of fruit juice per day are shorter and fatter than
those who don't.
Fruits contain lots of sugar, but it's in a form that's intended for the
body to use. Instead of sugar-coated breakfast cereal, try cereal with
berries. Most kids like this. They enjoy the treat, and it stays healthy.
Children do not need large amounts of refined white flour. Again, in
this century, white flour has become a major part of our diets. This
simple carbohydrate acts in our bodies much like white sugar--empty
calories that disrupt energy levels and insulin levels and increase body
fat. The risk for diabetes increases with consumption of white bread,
white rice, mashed potatoes, and French-fried potatoes (Journal of the
American Medical Association, February 12, 1997). White flour can
easily be replaced with whole-grain flours. Whole-grain cereals can
replace breakfast cereals made from white flour. Which are wholegrain cereals? Special K? Product 19? Corn Flakes? Cream of Wheat?
No. No. No. But the following are: Cheerios, Raisin Bran, Total,
Wheaties, Spoon-Size Shredded Wheat, Grape Nuts, and oatmeal.
When selecting among whole-grain cereals, try to minimize sugar and
chemical additives.
Children do need fiber. They need their age plus 5 to 10 grams of fiber
per day (that is, 3-year-olds need 8 to 13 grams per day; 18-year-olds
need 23 to 28 grams per day; adults over 18 years need 25 to 35
grams per day). Dietary fiber is essential for optimum health
(Pediatrics, 1995 supplement). Most children in the United States get
far less than they need. White-flour snacks, breads, and cereals are
major culprits . Fiber is found in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.
Don't let the names of products fool you. Names like Pepperidge Farm
Hearty Slices Seven Grain, Multigrain Cheerios, and Arnold Bran'ola
Nutty Grains Bread sound like they would be made mostly from wholegrain flour. Nope. Arnold Country Wheat and Pepperidge Farm Natural
Whole Grains Crunch Grains breads are, however. Nabisco Reduced
Fat Triscuits and Wheat Thins are primarily whole wheat. Wheatsworth
crackers are not!
Check the first ingredient on the ingredients lists of breads and
crackers. It should say "whole wheat" or some other whole grain, such
as oats. "Wheat flour" or "enriched wheat flour" are not what you are
looking for--they are essentially plain white flour.
If the front label says, "Made with whole wheat" or "Made with whole
grain," get suspicious! Usually the product is mostly refined white flour
with a touch of whole grain thrown in to fool you! Front labels can
easily deceive. These breads are made with mostly refined flours:
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Cracked wheat
Multi-grain
Oat bran
Oatmeal
Pumpernickel
Rye
Seven bran (or twelve bran)
Seven grain (or nine grain)
Stoned wheat
Wheat
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Wheatberry
Whole bran (bran is just the outer part of the grain kernel)
(Source: Nutrition Action Healthletter, The Center for Science in the
Public Interest, March 1997) Some of these names are enough to
make you think that the manufacturers are trying to fool us into
thinking that their products are healthy when they are not.
Children do not need large amounts of fat--although fat by itself isn't
quite the culprit that most people think. Fat in combination with simple
carbohydrates (such as sugar, white flour, white rice, or potatoes) is
far more dangerous than fat alone because the fat is handled by the
body so differently. French fries, potato chips, cheeseburgers on
white-flour buns, donuts, candy bars, and the like are particularly bad.
Butter on vegetables is much better for us than butter on white toast.
Children do not need partially hydrogenated anything. These artificial
fats, so commonly found in items on grocery store shelves, are not
found anywhere in nature. It pays to take an honest look at what your
children are eating. Here's a great tip for getting a handle on what
they actually consume: Lifeform, by Fitnesoft, is a powerful, easy-touse computer program for analyzing the diet. And you can try it for
free! It has a database of more than 13,000 of the most common
foods. As you begin to type in what your child ate at a meal, a menu
appears for you to select the food with the click of a mouse. The
database contains brand names (such as Big Mac or Jell-O Pudding).
Enter everything your child eats for a few days. At the touch of a
button, the program will perform a nutritional analysis and quickly
identify what nutrients are lacking (and what is in overabundance).
You can download the program for a free 30-day trial at
http://www.fitnesoft.com/. Now that we have our sights set on what
foods to choose, tomorrow we will continue this five-part series with
how to make these choices enticing.
Healthy Eating, Part III - The five greatest motivators for preschool children to eat
healthy foods.
Let's get practical. The five greatest motivators for preschool children
to eat healthy foods are:
1) Imitation. If the foods in the house are healthy, kids will pick their
favorites from among healthy choices.
2) Tasty choices. Often kids' fruit alternatives are restricted to apples
and bananas, and maybe grapes or oranges. Many kids love peaches,
tangerines, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries,
strawberries, plums, pears, watermelon, and pineapple. Try SpoonSized Shredded Wheat, corn bran, or oatmeal with fresh berries. Try
bran crispbread as a snack instead of crackers or toast made from
white flour. Whole-grain pancakes can be a hit. The younger you start,
the quicker they will develop their tastes in these directions. During
the preschool years, make butter a treat for vegetables. Butter on
green beans makes them a lot tastier. Because of the "crunch," many
kids like raw carrot sticks all by themselves.
3) Fun presentation. When feeding your kids, you are competing
against multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns. Children's TV has
many commercials for sweetened breakfast cereals ("part of this
nutritious breakfast"--which would be far more nutritious without the
sweetened breakfast cereal!). Where are the commercials for fresh
veggies? They'll have to come from us. Preschool children often love
food that is shaped like something interesting--a face, a clown, a
dinosaur, a favorite hero, etc. Processed macaroni is manufactured
this way because it sells. In this environment we need to make healthy
food as appealing as the empty or harmful alternatives. Try a wholegrain pancake with a strawberry for a nose, kiwi slices for eyes, and
banana for the mouth. Brush its teeth with the fork before eating
(since after eating it won't have any teeth left!). Try corn on the cob
served standing up (it's a rocket ship), or lying down with a toothpick
stuck in the side (it's a submarine--the toothpick is the periscope).
4) When all else fails, sneak it in. Make zucchini bread, carrot muffins.
Add shaved vegetables or pieces of fruit to virtually any baked good.
Dried cranberries can be a hit (while dried fruit is high in sugar, it is
also high in fiber). A great way to hide fruit and vegetables is in wholefood smoothies and juices. High-speed blenders, such as the models
manufactured by Vita-Mix (not juice extractors that take the pulp and
fiber--and many nutrients--out) can turn fresh oranges, carrots, and
yogurt into a delicious treat.
5) Give a daily multivitamin as a safety net in this processed-food
world. Vitamins are, by definition, compounds necessary in trace
amounts for the normal functioning of the human body.
We need vitamins in order to see the world around us, to grow, to
make bones and connective tissue, to fight infections and cancer, to
heal wounds, to stop from bleeding to death, and to keep our teeth
from falling out.
We are not self-sufficient. We depend on a steady supply from outside
sources for these vital compounds. Vitamins cannot be manufactured
in sufficient amounts by the body and must be taken in from the
environment. They occur naturally in many foods (vitamin D is
manufactured by the body in response to sunlight exposure--15
minutes a week is all that is needed). Vitamins are also available as
commercial nutritional supplements.
While I have great respect for the results of modern nutritional
analysis, I have greater respect for the longstanding relationship
between humans and their natural foods. By eating whole foods (fresh
vegetables, fresh fruit, whole grains, etc.), your child can get the
necessary vitamins in the healthiest way. Vitamins occur in foods in
forms that are the easiest for the body to use and are accompanied by
important related compounds.
Toddlers and preschoolers are often picky eaters. As children grow,
their tastes change, and over time they should begin to eat a more
well-rounded diet. A vitamin "safety net" takes the pressure off
feeding issues during the early years. Without pressure or worry, you
can be free to be creative about increasing whole foods in your child's
diet, knowing that vitamins are present to help your child grow strong
and healthy.
This isn't to suggest that the battle is an easy one. Recently on
Dateline NBC (an American television show), host Jane Pauley casually
mentioned not liking vegetables as a child. While this phenomenon is
as current as today's news, it is also as perennial as our oldest
nutritional records. I've heard it said that the ancient Greeks defined
children as short humans who don't like vegetables. :^) Now that we
have mass advertising, children's fun meals, and peer pressure, the
battle is all the harder. But the battle is worthwhile, and it can
certainly be fun. The battle should never be with your kids. Never
push. Entice them, persuade them, teach them. Battle bad nutrition.
Healthy Eating, Part IV - Motivators for school age children and adolescents
During school years, the phenomenon of peer pressure begins to
become a very powerful force. Children see what's packed in each
other's lunches. And, yes, it's not unusual for your darling to trade the
apple for potato chips or the carrot for a candy bar. If they don't bring
their own lunches, the choices available at the schools usually get
broader (and less healthy) as the years go by.
Peer pressure can be turned to your advantage in three ways.
1) Kids are interested in health. They can learn the difference between
healthy food and junk food. They can learn to read labels. They can
learn to avoid harmful ingredients. Encourage your children's teachers
to teach the class at least a little about good nutrition at the beginning
of each year. If eating well is confirmed by this outside authority and
is tied in with success at school, it will help. Encourage this when you
eat out by trying to identify (together) the most healthy and least
healthy choices on a menu.
2) Connect with the parents of your child's class about how important
peer pressure is at this age. Make a list of the kinds of foods that
would be great in lunches and the kinds of foods to avoid. Encourage
the parents to band together to help healthy food be the norm for that
class. What's cool in a particular classroom is more important to kids
than what's cool nationally.
3) Make your kids' lunches the coolest. Use a wide variety of foods
your child likes. Don't let them get boring. You could use a different
fruit everyday for a month! Make it an event (guess the fruit--no
peeking!). You could even send clues along about tomorrow's fruit, so
everyone is trying to guess. Another month, carve faces into some
carrot sticks. They can name the carved carrots and eat the best one
last. Or try fortune vegetables--instead of fortune cookies. I can
remember being told, "Don't play with your food." I'm telling you the
opposite. Learn to play with your children's food. You'll have a great
time and make a big difference for them.
A promising trial called the CATCH Study (Child and Adolescent Trial
for Cardiovascular Health) was completed a few years ago. Over 5,000
third graders at 28 schools scattered across the country participated.
In 40 schools, no interventions were made. In the study schools,
nutrition was added to the curriculum, and the school lunches
themselves were made healthier. The kids were followed up through
third, fourth, and fifth grades. Complete dietary assessments showed
that, in the study schools, the amount of fat in the diet decreased
significantly from 39% to 32%, whereas in the 40 schools in which no
changes were made, the amount of fat intake did not change. Eating
well can be learned Journal of the American Medical Association, March
13, 1996.
The best way to sustain good nutrition throughout adolescence and
adult life is to learn it while we are young.
Adolescent nutrition
By the teenage years, many habits have already been set. "See ya,"
your teen tells you as she heads out of the house. By this time, most
of her eating habits have been established. If they are bad ones, this
is not a good time to enter a conflict about the issue. Later in life she
may be ready to revisit this issue, as some of you are now, but as an
adolescent, there are many more pressing issues.
About 20% of adult height and 50% of adult weight are gained during
adolescence. Most boys double their lean body mass between the ages
of 10 and 17 years. Because growth and change is so rapid during this
period, the requirements for all nutrients increase. This is especially
true of calcium and iron.
Adolescents need to take in at least 1200 mg of calcium per day
during the adolescent growth spurt to build strong bones to last a
lifetime. Almost half (45%) of the bone mass they will have for the
rest of their lives is added during adolescence.
Calcium is found in milk, yogurt, dark-green vegetables (such as
collard greens, spinach, turnip greens, and kale), cheese, pudding,
sesame seeds, tofu, bok choi (Chinese cabbage), canned non-boneless
salmon and sardines, and cottage cheese. Some brands of orange
juice are fortified with calcium. Calcium is also available in dietary
supplements.
Adequate calcium intake during adolescence results in fewer teenage
broken bones. More importantly, it increases maximum bone density,
reducing the risk for osteoporosis later in life, especially in
postmenopausal women. People reach maximal bone density while
they are adolescents or young adults and then gradually lose bone the
rest of their lives. The more they start with, the more they will end up
with. The amount of calcium consumed during adolescence correlates
directly with the total bone mineral content measured on adolescent Xrays Journal of Pediatrics, April 1995.
Most teens consume less than 1,000 mg of calcium per day. Those
who do nothing more than take a 500-mg calcium supplement boost
their intake from 80% to 110% of the RDA. This results in a
significant, measurable increase in bone density and bone mineral
content of the spine (Journal of the American Medical Association,
August 18, 1993), but these benefits disappear within 18 months if
teens return to poor calcium intake AAP News, February 1997.
Teens who consume 1200 mg of calcium per day are also measurably
stronger than those who don't. A study of 162 Icelandic girls found
their grip strength (an estimate of total body strength) to correlate
well with their calcium intake Journal of Internal Medicine, October
1994.
Some teens I know drink diet colas as if they were water. You've heard
of chain smoking--these kids do chain soda drinking. One can pops
open almost before the previous one is empty. I have even heard of
teens that pride themselves in drinking a 2-liter bottle of diet soda
instead of eating lunch! A high consumption of carbonated cola
beverages reduces bone mineralization and makes teenage girls
almost four times as likely to break a bone than their male
counterparts Journal of Adolescent Health, May 1994.
Rob, one of the adolescent boys in my practice, loved to compete in
track and field. His running times in his sophomore year of high school
were excellent, but try as he might, his times began to fall off during
his junior year. The harder he trained, the poorer his times got. A
blood test during his physical showed him to be anemic--not enough
oxygen-carrying red blood cells. The anemia came from iron
deficiency.
Anemia is common among adolescents, regardless of their level of
physical activity. Iron deficiency is the most common cause. An
inadequate diet is the chief reason for this problem. Junk food diets
can easily lead to iron deficiency. Teens on a weight-loss diet are
especially at risk, as are girls with heavy periods. Iron deficiency is
sometimes made worse by intense and lengthy physical training and
by the use of pain medications, which irritate the lining of the
stomach.
Iron supplementation significantly improves learning, memory, and
cognitive test performance in iron-deficient adolescents (even if they
are not deficient enough to become anemic) (Pediatric News, January
1997). Iron supplementation also measurably improves the
performance of iron-deficient, anemic athletes American Journal of
Diseases of Children, October 1992.
Rob made changes in his diet and also took an iron supplement for a
while. His performance improved steadily. (By the way, iron
supplements do not improve the performance of non-anemic athletes).
To make dietary changes, information should be presented about
short-term consequences, particularly related to appearance, athletic
ability, popularity, and enjoyment of life, because these are more
important to most teens than long-term health. For instance,
adolescents can be told, "Calcium will help you grow taller during your
growth spurt. It also makes you measurably stronger. Iron will help
you do better on tests and stay up later without being as tired. Carrots
will make you a better driver, and will make me more comfortable
lending you my car," and so on.
When you do speak of long-term consequences, link them to the
things that teens care about--particularly body image. For instance,
"Have you ever seen old men and women that are bent over when
they walk? Have you seen old men and women that are strong and
active? One of the biggest differences was how much calcium they got
every day when they were your age..." Teach, but don't nag.
Again, make good food fun for your teen. This doesn't mean you
should make mouse ears out of zucchini slices; instead, have their
friends over for a healthy cookout. I can remember when I was
younger we had a vegetable party. Different vegetables were on
numbered plates spread throughout the house. Each guest had a score
card, on which they tried to identify the vegetables (some were quite
unusual). There was a taste test (vegetables were rated for
appearance, aroma, texture, and flavor), and awards were given to
the best (and worst) vegetables. We also tried to pick which person
(celebrity or acquaintance) most reminded us of each vegetable and
why. The evening was a blast--although I was skeptical at first--I had
as much fun as I'd had at any dance (well, almost any dance...:^)
Healthy Eating, Part V - Good news for vegetable haters everywhere!
Given the opportunity, starting your baby off with good eating habits is
a great way to go. Even if it's too late for that now, an important
lesson from the first feedings still applies: New tastes can be acquired!
This is good news for vegetable-haters everywhere.
If you drink coffee, you probably remember the first time you took a
taste. It was horrible! How could anyone like that disgusting stuff!
Many baby foods that we consider very bland have the same impact on
children. Children have extremely sensitive taste buds. Their vision
may have slightly soft focus, but their senses of taste and smell are
much sharper than ours. When it comes to introducing new foods,
breast-fed babies have an advantage because the taste of mom's milk
varies depending on what she has eaten. Formula-fed babies get the
exact same taste every time they drink a bottle, and the introduction
of new foods can be more difficult for them. Whichever milk they are
fed, new tastes can be acquired.
"My baby hates peas!"
I can't tell you how many times I've heard it.
In an exciting study of babies with a demonstrated dislike for peas
(perhaps you can picture the expressive faces of the babies enrolled in
the study), each was fed peas as the first bite of solid food for the day.
If the baby made a disgusted face or spewed the peas, the peas were
not continued that day, in favor of other foods the baby liked. The
peas were not force-fed. By the end of only 10 days, 85% of the peahaters had become pea-lovers! They literally giggled at the sight of
peas! Take the time early on to give your bundle of joy a delight in
peas, green beans, carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes.
The best way to get your infant to eat any new food is to desensitize
him or her to the taste. You can accomplish this by using the new food
for the first bite of solids each day for 10 days straight.
Never force a child to eat more of a new food than she or he is ready
for, but always be ready to scoop up more if the child is still
interested! Some new tastes take longer to acquire than others, but
continuing to expose your child to small amounts of healthy foods
(that the adults in your family eat) will pave the way for good eating
habits in the years to come.