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Children and Food Issues

ericad

Ideal_Rock
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Joined
Jul 28, 2007
Messages
2,033
With our daughter we simply explain (in an age-appropriate way) what types of nutrition can be found in each particular food. Like, milk grows your bones and teeth, carrots give you sharp vision, green veggies are good for your blood, yogurt and meat and cheese give you big muscles, fruit helps you not get sick, apples make you poop (lol), etc. Naturally, she then asks what candy is good for, cookies, McDonalds, etc. as each situation comes up. We tell her the truth. That these foods are not healthy for her body (and that some foods actually hurt her body) so it's only ok to eat them from time to time (or not at all, whatever the case may be), and she makes healthy choices on her own. When it's time for dessert, she often chooses something reasonable, like a fruit leather or a small square of dark chocolate (takes after mommy with the dark chocolate fixation), or one my homemade smoothie popsicles. We go to great lengths to avoid processed or frozen foods and she's a grazer, so in a given day she might only eat 20 bites cumulatively, so we need to make each bite count.

One of my ideas, which I'm so proud of, is that every other week I make a big batch of homemade Belgian Waffles. I use organic whole grain waffle mix, organic milk and eggs, add in flax and chia seed, then mix in a few handfuls of organic semi-sweet chocolate chips. I then split each big waffle into 4 pieces (so usually about 20 pieces altogether) and pop them into freezer bags. Then, each morning before school, I pop a frozen waffle into the toaster and she gobbles them up with a glass of milk and never tires of them. I have a theory that kids will eat anything if you add a few chocolate chips...if only I can come up with a tasty recipe for chocolate chip salad...

By doing this simple thing, we have avoided sugary cereals filled with artificial colors and simple carbs, or frozen breakfast items filled with palm oil and corn syrup. I also pack her school lunch every day and the teachers are very strict that the kids must have each food group in their lunch (parents get busted if the lunches aren't healthy enough), and they teach them to eat their protein first, then their fruit/veggie, then their carbohydrate, all their milk, and dessert is last and only if they have enough time left and have eaten enough of the other food groups in the right order. This has been very effective teaching the kids to take ownership of their food choices and health.

As for fussy eating, our only rule is that she must try one bite of everything I make. If she doesn't like it, she doesn't need to keep eating it, but she must eat one bite to try it. Often, after trying a particular item for this one bite several times, she accepts the food into her "portfolio" of stuff she eats. But it takes lots of attempts. We also don't make her clean her plate. I don't want to encourage over eating. DD never eats until she's full. Rather, she tends to eat until she ceases to be hungry, then finds she has better things to do. This is fine. It means she has lots of snacks, and needs to eat something every couple of hours, but that's ok. Grazing is a healthy way of eating. I have always struggled with my weight, and I'm a stuffer. I eat till I'm ready to pop. That's not a good way! She's also a veeeeeeerrrry slow eater. Painfully slow at times. But again, that's better than the alternative, so we don't make a big deal out of it.
 

hihowareyou

Shiny_Rock
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Joined
Jul 23, 2009
Messages
188
I think it is so important to be a good role model with food.

I remember when I was growing up there were a lot of things that we didn't have in our house. We were not allowed soda or crisps or chocolate but at the same time I used to find soda cans in my mother's car when she got home from work and I knew of three places in the house where she would hide blocks of chocolate. Of course as a 6 year old I figured that it was ok it eat junk food so long as no one saw you do it, so I started my own stashes of food in my room and sneaking chocolate from my mum's hiding places.

I was still very healthy compared to what I know a lot of my friends were eating but it did start some bad habits that were difficult to break. I'm trying to get FH and I into good eating patterns now, not only for our own health but also so we are good role models for our kids when they appear.
 
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