Practical Family Nutrition

Don't Feed Your Child

2009-11-12T16:49:00.000-08:00

Don’t Feed Your Child

Mindful parents don’t feed infants and children, we let them eat. When I visualize a parent feeding a child I see a parent spooning food into a child’s mouth. This parent seems determined to get a certain amount of food and a certain type of food into the child. They may resort to distraction, rewards, or punishment to accomplish their goal—getting the child to eat.

A mindful parent offers food to an infant or child. This parent also chooses one or two foods to offer, but they have no agenda about the amount of food that needs to be consumed. It is not thel parent’s job to get the child to eat. This parent follows the child’s tempo, offering a new spoonful when the child has finished chewing (look at the jaw moving) and opens his or her mouth for more. If the child is self feeding, the parent sits back and observes, or eats their own meal.

A mindful parent lets the child explore the food with touch, taste and smell. The child is allowed to eat as little or as much as they wish. Observation of a child will tell us when an infant or child is finished. A rejected food can be offered again at another time, but it is not forced on the child, not even a small taste. In this way we allow our children to maintain their ability to react to their own nutritional needs. This is how we create healthy eaters.

New Foods for New Babies

2009-10-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

New Foods For New Babies

Food introduction for new parents can be daunting. There are many books, charts and experts to tell you what to do and how to do it. My book “Simple and Savvy Strategies for Creating Healthy Eaters” condenses this information and makes eating with your new eater stress free and fun. To get started, here are several simple rules to remember:

• Make sure your child is ready for solids. You will know when this happens as your child will, all of a sudden, intently focus on you when you eat.

• Offer any food that is the proper consistency. (Think applesauce, or a little thinner.) You don’t have to start with rice cereal, or offer vegetables before fruits. Meats or fish, if they are moist and the consistency of applesauce are as good as pureed carrots or blended bananas.

• The only food NOT to offer is honey, either room temperature or cooked into a food. Honey may contain a heat resistant botulism that can be fatal to infants.

• Don’t entertain, just offer a small amount of food on a small food—if your child opens his or her mouth, put the food in. If your child pushed is out with their tongue or gags after 2 tries, stop. Decrease the thickness of the food.

• A grimace is not an indication that children do not want the food again. Stop feeding when your child does not open his or her mouth when the spoon approaches, pushes the food away, or keeps looking away.

• Offer only one new food every 3rd day. After each new food look for signs of allergy, including but not limited to vomiting, rash, swelling of lips or tongue, or diarrhea. If there is any breathing difficulty, call 911 immediately.

• Let your child be involved in the process. Don’t let them be distracted with TV, videos, games, toys, books or loud music. Let them set the pace of the feeding. Let them decide when they have had enough to eat, whether they ate nothing or more than they have ever eaten before.

• Remember that children’s eating patterns are inconsistent. Eating a certain amount one day does not mean that the child will usually eat this amount. Eating or rejecting a food does one day does not mean they will eat or reject the same food any other day. Food acceptance and quantity will change day to day and meal to meal.

The Ying and Yang of Halloween

2009-10-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

The Ying and Yang of Halloween

Trick or Treat time. Once again many of us are plagued by the ying yang of what to do. Give out candy, which perpetuates poor health and health habits, or give out something healthy that kids will likely throw away. I have two suggestions. One is to give out non-food items. There are many inexpensive and small items kids like to have. Try temporary tattoos, shiny rocks, shells, pencils, erasers, small rubber balls, glow sticks, stickers or even coins. If you are feeling creative, make something yourself. Give each child one or two pieces of origami paper and directions to make an animal. Buy a book of Mad Libs or crossword puzzles. Give each child a page of the book, rolled up with a ribbon. You can even make your own mad lib or crossword puzzle. Find the directions to a unique paper airplane and attach them to the appropriate size piece of paper.

If you want to give out candy type items I recommend sticking with real food. By real food I mean nuts, seeds, dried fruit (with no sugar added), honey based treat (as opposed to high fructose corn syrup) and popcorn. Buy small individual serving size bags of sunflower seeds, nuts or pumpkin seeds; or bag them yourself. There are several different brands of sesame honey candy available. Even peanut brittle is real food; nuts and sugar. Dried fruit such as raisins, mango and berries are widely available, but also may require you bagging them in small sizes.

Popcorn is great for kids. If you like you can pop it yourself and give it out warm in small bags. The children can eat it as they walk from house to house. You can also give out small bags of unpopped popcorn kernels with directions on how to pop it on the stove top with oil. Many children think popcorn needs to be micro waved and are amazed that it can be popped in a pot. Please do not give out microwave popcorn, the bag liners have carcinogenic ingredients that escape into the popcorn when heated. Also, flavored popcorn usually has high levels of food coloring, artificial flavors and salt. Another corn based real food is dried corn kernels. These also come in small snack bags.

Although honey is just pure sugar, it is a natural real food. Purchase honey in small plastic tubes. Also, the amount of honey in the tubes is very small, but kids love to suck it out. You might consider serving real apple cider on Halloween night, let the kids and adults drink it at your home. Warm the cider if it is cold on Halloween night. Hot chocolate, made with real milk, may also be appreciated in some areas of the country. So enjoy, and have a great, guilt free evening.

Halloween is Not an Entitlement

2009-09-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

When I was a child we would spend hours running through the neighborhood trick or treating, though snow, rain, sleet, whatever. We would move in the dark, from house to house, trying to find the fastest approach. This was independence, survival and great fun. Unfortunately, too many of us now take our children trick or treating at an indoor mall, an office complex, or a covered strip mall. There are lights everywhere, no on gets wet, and those indoors don't even have to figure out how to keep warm and have their costume show. Stores are so close together that your child gets a new piece of candy every 5 steps. Well, where is the adventure in that?

Many children today have been brought up to feel entitled to all sorts of foods, privileges and material goods. I don't think children are entitled to Halloween candy without a little effort. I am all for letting our kids get out there in the elements: running, jumping in leaves, feeling the cold, smelling the candles burn in pumpkins. I want to see a costume, especially one home made. I want to hear kids yell "TRICK OR TREAT". Kids need to earn all of those treats.

Maybe you won't feel so bad letting your children eat a few pieces of candy if their Halloween night is an active one. If you are worried about their safety, walk with your children, or follow on a bike. Make sure that each child has a patch of glow-in the-dark on them, either a vest, sticker, glow stick bracelet or necklace, or a flashlight. Give your children neighborhood boundaries and times to check in or be home. But let kids have Halloween--they might even get some exercise!

Need some tips on healthy and not-so-unhealthy Halloween treats? All that and more in October.

School Potlucks

2009-08-31T12:14:00.000-07:00

Fried Chicken, more fried chicken, pizza, fried chicken, fried chicken and more fried chicken. That's what entrees were available at the potluck for my child's class last week. I know people are busy and don't have time or want to cook. I know that store bought or take out is more convenient and I have no problem with this. But I also know that there are plenty of store bought and take out opportunities that are a lot healthier than fried chicken.

If asked to donate books to the school, I doubt that these parents would choose poorly written stories or books portraying anti-social or illegal activities as desirable outcomes. They want the best for their children (this was a potluck at a private school)and will complain if they believe their child is not getting the best available. So why do they choose fried chicken?

I wonder what these parents are thinking when they purchased all of this chicken. I don't know all of these parents well, but as a group they are educated and upper middle class or above. It never ceases to surprise me that when we try to provide the best for our children, nutrition is often over looked.

These parents want the school to provide positive role models for their children. They want the best teachers, the most current technology, plus theatre, sports, dance, art, foreign language, advanced placement classes, international studies and travel opportunities, and healthy food at the cafeteria. They want recycling, volunteering opportunities,and college ready young adults at graduation. I am all for this, but I also see that I have a role to play as well. It is my job to model appropriate food choices by providing nourishing food. I know potlucks are parties and are for fun--but let's also remember that we are always influencing our kids, even through our food choices.

Road Trips and Restaurants

2009-08-12T08:04:00.000-07:00

Just because you have children doesn’t mean that you can no longer eat at a restaurant. The experience will definitely be different than pre-kids, but with some planning it can also be enjoyable. Here are some suggestions from other parents who have taken their children to restaurants, and survived.

• Go early, for better service, avoid waiting for a table
• Choose family restaurants
• Choose noisy restaurants
• Choose restaurants where children can be entertained: ceiling fans, fire places, fish tanks, open kitchen, other babies
• After ordering, take children for a walk around the restaurant or outside
• Make reservations if possible
• Order appetizer as child’s meal
• Share your meal with a child (don’t need to order “kid’s meal”), ask for an extra plate

How to Eat your Food While it is still Hot

• Take turns eating with other adults
• Have your meal brought later or earlier
• Have you Child’s meal brought earlier
• Make sure your child is hungry, give only small amounts of snacks before the food arrives.

What to Bring

Portable high chair (Upside-down wooden restaurant high chairs will hold a car seat)
• “Floppy” which fits over high chair and shopping cart
• Sippy cup
• Toys (on rings)
• Small snacks to eat before food arrives or if child finishes first
• Disposable or reusable mat for table
• Bib
• Wipes

Keep it Safe

• Move most items out of child’s reach as before child sits down
• Don’t put a tray down within child’s reach
• Check food temperature, may be too hot
• Check for hot plates, especially in Mexican restaurants
• Cleanliness of table tops, highchairs and floor
• Stability of restaurant high chair

How to Deal with the Mess

• Pick up after your child
• Tip more, don’t forget the bus person who is likely to do most of the cleaning
• Use a bib with a catch pocket at the bottom
• If available, ask for a paper drop cloth

Long Car Trips (over 2 hours)

• Bring both healthy and fun foods. Bring foods that are new and fun to help with interest. (If your child has food allergies, do not bring any new foods; you don’t want a reaction on the road).
• Pack paper towels, napkins or pre-moistened wipes.
• Let your children drink water freely, juice and other sweet drinks consumed for fun will also increase the need for more bathroom stops.
• Offering foods as a distraction is okay, but not too often, approximately every 1.5 -2 hours. Do not offer food 1.5-2 hours before you plan to have a meal or your child won’t be hungry.
• Do not use food as a reward for good behavior or take it away for undesirable behavior

Offer snacks that won’t stain when spilled
Crackers, cereal, cookies, fruit, vegetables, cheese, nuts and seeds (children over age 3), avoid dips, jelly, cream filled foods, foods in tubes or cups (yogurt, pudding, applesauce) and foods that melt such as popsicles and chocolate.

Choking
Avoid any potentially choking food, especially for children under age 3. Sit next to and observe a child under age 3 with all foods.

Choking foods include:
Hard candies and most fresh fruits and vegetables, chips, raisins, whole grapes, teething biscuits, and hard crackers

Keeping Food Fresh:
A cooler packed with ice or cold packs is ideal for car travel, especially in the summer. Frozen juice boxes or yogurt tubes can be used to keep other foods cold. Each child can be given an insulated lunch box with a variety of snacks and drinks. Perishable foods are not considered safe for eating if they have been at room temperature or above for more than 2 hours. (Perishable food in a hot car will be safe for an even shorter time).
If you are not traveling with a cooler filled with ice, limit snacks to those that are stored at room temperature:
Crackers, cereal, cookies, nuts and seeds (children over age 3), dried fruit, and hearty fruits and vegetables such as apples, carrots and oranges.

Stop to Eat Meals
• Children need breaks, to run, play and eat a real meal.
• Bring a blanket for a picnic or a plastic table cloth for public picnic tables.
• Eat the messy foods at meals: PB&J sandwiches, packaged applesauce, yogurt or pudding, anything with chocolate.
• Pack sandwich fixings such as bread, deli slices, tomatoes and condiments or bring crackers, cheese and fruit.
• Children like dips such as bean dip, salsa, hummus and salad dressings for crackers, chips, fruit slices and veggie sticks.
Finger foods for Traveling with Babies (Sit next to and observe an eating child under age 3 with all foods.)
• Cheerios or chex style cereals
• Oyster crackers
• Thin break sticks
• Pre-cooked, soft noodles
• Soft cooked beans
• Cooked rice, barley, quinoa, millet or couscous
• Small pieces of soft fruit: canned peaches, pears or apricots, fresh banana, melon, avocado or kiwi
• Canned or steamed peas, carrots, zucchini
• Grated cheese
• Pre-cooked pieces of potato, sweet potato or squash

Update: My son is eating vegetables!!

2009-07-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

Summer is the best season for fresh food. So many different and delicious fruits and vegetables are available, fresh from the garden. I am extremely fortunate to live next to people who have a garden, so large and successful that they cannot eat all they produce. In the past they have kindly shared their excess with me and my family. This year, as they are becoming too old for the shoveling and weeding, I have become their laborer in exchange for an even larger share of the bounty. Besides sitting down to a salad of fresh lettuces, spinach, carrots, and cucumbers, we are also harvesting peas (three different kinds), green beans, zucchini, raspberries, strawberries, potatoes, shallots, cilantro, basil, parsley, thyme, and dill.

But most amazing of all is my son's interest. As you may know from my book or a previous blog, my son does not usually show much interest in fresh fruits and vegetables. But this summer he is. He goes next door to the garden when he is hungry and picks some strawberries and raspberries. He is picking and eating snap peas, snow peas and green beans, stuffing them in his pockets. He searches for cucumbers and loves their flavor and crunch. He also loves to pull carrots from the ground, rinse them with the hose and eat them right then and there. Actually, all of these foods he eats at the garden. Once they are on the table, even if they are still raw and untouched by slicing, cooking or saucing, he doesn't show much interest.

So I am all smiles as he munches away, and my wonderful and generous neighbors are totally welcoming and supportive of his interest as he nibbles away at their garden. As I think back, my daughter never ate a tomato until she tried one freshly picked in our yard. She loves them now and even eats them from the store and served at the table. So no matter where you live, grow something--cucumbers and tomatoes grow well in pots, lettuce doesn't' take much room, and potatoes grow underground beneath their green leafy tops (kids love digging for these in the late summer). If you can't grown foods at home, visit a local farm that sells to the public or visit a farmers market. Most vendors give out samples and it is amazing what kids eat when it is a sample.

Enjoy the rest of the summer. I am looking forward to the harvesting of tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, onions, apples, Asian pears, plums, more zucchini, and grapes. And I can't wait to see what my son will be eating then.

Avoid Over Eating

2009-07-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

I am reading David Kessler's book "The End of Overeating". He has totally reinforced my motivation to convince parents to stop feeding their children an abundance of processed foods. Kessler's book focuses on why we over eat. He takes the reader through the way the brain can react to food cues, smells, and stimulus which then create memories and habits. He then discusses how most of our foods, all those that are processed, are scientifically manufactured to increase our desire and addiction for the food. Lastly he talks about how to break the habits of over eating.

Kessler's premise is that we are all fighting a battle against "Big Food" where food is manipulated to give us the most pleasure with the least effort. Many of the doctors and scientists that he interviews for this book, and the studies that he uses to support their findings are based not only on people who are over weight or obese, but on drug abusers, alcoholics, gamblers and smokers. Addictive behaviors all produce similar reactions in the brain. Foods are structured to melt away in our mouths with almost no chewing. The tastes of salt, sugar and fat are balanced in a way to produce the biggest WOW, and to last even after the food is out of our mouths, leaving us wanting more. As these foods melt away so quickly, we eat more and more, way before our brains tell us we are full. We become accustomed to eating large portions of foods. Habits are formed along with extra weight.

So the most important action you can take to teach your child how to eat is to avoid processed foods. This includes almost all chain restaurant foods (and many others), salty and sweet snacks foods, candy, soda, breakfast cereals and many ready to eat canned and frozen meals. Provide your children with real food: fruit, vegetables, whole grains (oatmeal, brown rice, corn, whole wheat noodles and breads), lean meats, eggs, cheese, nuts, seeds, beans, sea food, and baked goods with real food ingredients only (flour, sugar, butter).

Insist that your children sit down and eat, chew their food, and let their bodies, mouths and minds realize that they have eaten and are satisfied. Serve portions that are small so children see what an appropriate portion looks like, and then allow for seconds if your child still senses hunger. Read Kessler's book- it will really show you how to create a healthy eater in yourself and your child.

Make Summer Food Fun for Kids

2009-06-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

Make Summer Food Fun for Kids:
20 Ideas for Older Kids and Teens

By Beverly Pressey, MS, RD

www.creatinghealthyeaters.com

¬Kids are sometimes fearful about new foods, but they are also motivated by fun and colorful presentations. Summer foods offer many opportunities for your child to fill up on foods that are healthy and fun to eat. To interest your child or teen in seasonal vegetables and fruits, consider planting something of your own.

Tomatoes and lettuce grow well in patio pots. You don’t need a designated garden to grow a few vegetables, just plant the veggies amongst your other flowers and trees. If you can’t plant your own, take advantage of Farmers Markets and roadside stands. Produce from these vendors is usually local and therefore fresher than that in your local grocery. Look for U-Pick farms in your area where you and your kids can see how food grows and pick it yourself. If you pick berries, keep in mind that they freeze very well and can then be enjoyed in winter.

Here are 20 refreshing ideas for meals, snacks, picnics or parties.
1. Fruit bowl: introduce seasonal soft skin fruits, leave a bowl of washed fruit in the refrigerator with pears, plums, cherries, peaches, seedless grapes, apricots, and nectarines.
2. Buy some fresh berries and make a cobbler with (or without) your kids.
3. Summer is great for melon. It’s sweet, cold and thirst quenching. Make a bowl of cut up melon each evening or morning.
4. Make fruit kebobs, use melon chunks, grapes and pineapple squares. Offer vanilla yogurt or blended soft tofu (with a dash of vanilla and a teaspoon of honey) as a dip.
5. Freeze individual grapes, on the stem or in ice cube trays. These are like mini-popsicles.
6. Cut bananas in half, place popsicles sticks in each. Let the kids roll them in their favorite topping: crushed nuts, chocolate sprinkles, or colored sprinkles. Freeze on wax paper and enjoy a great frozen treat. Many children that don’t eat bananas will eat these.
7. Make fresh fruit smoothies by blending berries, melon, bananas, pineapple and other skinned fruits with a little water, juice or yogurt.
8. Make your own popsicles. Buy reusable popsicle molds at a kitchen supply store. Fill them with home-made smoothies, fresh juice or your favorite yogurt.
9. Make parfaits with the kids or have some ready in the refrigerator. For a fruit parfait layer yogurt, any cut up seeded fruit and granola or ground nuts, repeat. For best presentation prepare in a clear plastic cup or wine glass. Serve with graham crackers or vanilla wafers.
10. Keep a bowl of cut up carrot and celery sticks plus snap peas, and cherry tomatoes and a variety of dips. Kids like ranch and French dressings. For a meal, give them the veggies with hummus or bean dip and chips.
11. Wraps: pre-make some wrapped sandwiches such as refried beans and cheese, chicken salad, cream cheese and finely chopped veggies, or peanut butter and banana.
12. Have sandwich fixings available. Deli slices, bread, lettuce, mayo, mustard and ketchup. Offer avocado or tomato slices for variety.
13. The right snack mix can make a very kid friendly meal. Combine raisins, nuts or seeds, wheat chex and a small amount of mini chocolate chips. Serve with a glass of milk or over yogurt.
14. Most kids love cheese. Have string cheese, sliced cheese or cheese squares ready to go. Serve with Trisquit or Ry-Krisp crackers for a whole grain addition.
15. Let the kids help make lunch kabobs. Have them place any of the following on a kebob stick: cut up cooked chicken, deli meats, cheese squares, olives, cherry tomatoes or cucumbers. Use Italian dressing as a dip.
16. Corn on the cob, grilled, boiled, or (cooked) cold is always a hit with children. Serve outside with watermelon for a great (and messy), hands on meal or snack.
17. Make a pasta salad with any one of the many shapes available, stir in cheese, cherry tomatoes, peas, olives or Italian salad dressing to the cooked and rinsed pasta. For extra nutrition use whole wheat pasta or a combination of white and whole wheat.
18. More kebabs: cook ravioli and put on skewers with olives, cucumber or zucchini slices. Dip in tomato sauce.
19. Peanut butter and berry sandwiches, with fresh berries and whole wheat bread.
20. Put a scoop of egg salad or tuna salad in an ice cream cone. Top with a cherry.

Consumer Gram Scam

2009-06-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

Do you know what a gram is? Is it a measure of size, weight or volume? As the United States has yet to adopt the metric system of measure, I wonder why the nutrition label on food packages, supposedly a source of consumer nutrition information, uses grams as a unit of measure as know one knows what it means.

A gram is a unit of weight. This means that a gram of fiber may have more or less volume than a gram of sugar. Can you picture a gram of sugar? When a 6 ounce cup of yogurt says that there are 31 grams of sugar does this mean anything to you? What if I told you that there are 4 grams of sugar in a teaspoon (which there are). This would mean that there are 7.5 teaspoons of sugar in that 6 ounce cup of yogurt. Now think about this, would you put 7.5 teaspoons of sugar in your tea or coffee cup? Probably not. Granted, some of these sugars are naturally occurring from the milk (lactose) and fruit (fructose), but much of it is added sugar.

Look at some other foods you eat. How much sugar is in a bowl of cereal, 8 ounces of juice, a can of soda? Did you know that you were drinking 7-8 teaspoons of sugar for every 8 ounces of a soft drink you drink(keep in mind the can holds more than 8 ounces)? Is it OK with you that your child is getting 16 grams (4 teaspoons) of sugar in a 1 cup serving of General Mills Oatmeal Crisp:Triple Berry, or 19 grams (almost 5 teaspoons) in 1 cup of General Mill Oatmeal Crisp:Apple Cinnamon, or in 1 1/4 cup of Kellogg's Crunch:Cran-Vanilla or Toasted Honey? Quaker 100% Natural Granola:Low Fat has 4.5 teaspoons of sugar (18 grams) in only 2/3 cup, even though its name implies health.

So beware. As our children are more likely to become overweight than ever before, know what you are buying. Look at the nutrition label and learn what it is really telling you. Don't be fooled by the use of grams or the manufacturers assurances that their product is good for you.

Avoiding Food Addictions in Our Children

2009-05-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

There is a new book available, called The End of Overeating. It's author is Dr. David Kessler, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration under presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He was curious why people felt compelled to over eat. As a recovered (recovering) over eater and dietitician, I bleive there are many reasons why people over eat. Kessler focuses on the addictive properties of fat, sugar, and salt. I don't disagree with his premiss. Neal Barnard, MD, has published a book also addressing these addictions in his book Breaking the Food Seduction: The Hidden Reasons Behind Food Cravings---And 7 Steps to End Them Naturally. Barnard helps you identify your addictions and how to stop the cravings and start eating healthier foods.

Both books are warning for parents. Our time to help our children become healthy adults is now. They need to be given fresh, unprocessed, basics foods on a regular basis. Chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes type II, high blood pressure, athlerosclerosis, high cholersterol and osteoporosis occur over a life time. A consistenly healthy diet over a life time can is your best insurance for avoiding all of these conditions. As our eating habits develop from childhood, now is the time to keep your children healthy for a life time.

The occasional high fat, high sugar or high salt food will not have immediate healthy effects on a child. But when you offer food to a child you are establishing taste patterns. Children who are regularly fed highly sweet foods sugh as desserts, candy, juice, soft drinks and cereals will start to expect and demand these tastes to feel satisfied. A child who is regularly given high fat foods such as chocolate, fried foods, and creamy sauces will start to develop a need for these foods. Salt is also addicting, so too much soy sauce, canned soups, processed foods and restaurant foods should be kept to occasional foods to allow children to be satisfied with food not overly salted.

Healthy, nonaddictive foods are simple to serve, many require no cooking-- such as fresh raw fruits and vegetables. Whole wheat breads, brown rice, oatmeal, millet and quinoa are all whole grain foods that children enjoy. Beans, nuts and seeds are also loaded with nutrients and their fats are healthy for growing children. Seafood, especially salmon is full of important nutritients for children and adults. Low fat dairy products such as low fat milk, low fat cottage cheese, mozerrella and parmesan cheese are healthy dairy choices. If you are a meat lover, enjoy low fat meats in resonable portions (a portion is the size of a deck of cards) one or two times a day. An occasional egg is good for you as well. Eat you foods prepared simply, without sauce or salt. Really taste the food. Enjoy it. Don't let your child become an addict

Seven Steps to Creating a Healthy Eater

2009-04-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

We nourish our children, hoping that our children are receiving the nutrients that will allow their bodies to grow to their healthiest potential. Our intentions are admirable, but at times we become too concerned with the details and lose sight of the goal. We suddenly become desperate for our child to eat one more bite of broccoli, as if this bite determines health or illness. Other times we make sweeping rules for ourselves and families, such as "we are never going to eat chocolate again." Most likely this doesn't last and we feel like we are failing as a parent.

Creating a healthy eater is about the big picture. Over the past month did I or my family eat a variety of healthy foods (whole grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy, eggs, beans, low fat meats, fish, nuts and seeds)? Was more that half of what we ate real, whole foods? Did I allow my family to:

1.Eat when they are hungry

2.Stop eating when they are sated (full)

3.Eat mostly healthy foods

4.Eat some fun foods

Did I not encourage my family to eat to

5.Please others

6.Avoid something

7.Receive something

These are the 7 tenants to creating a healthy eater. We should only eat when we are hungry, not to get something, avoid something, or please someone else. Are you forcing your child to eat for the wrong reasons? The promise of dessert if a child eats one more bite is the wrong reason to eat. The threat of a punishment for not trying a new food is not a healthy incentive to eating.

Did you allow for the enjoyment of some fun foods? Fun foods are also part of the diet of a healthy eater. I person constantly deprived of fun foods, or offered fun foods only are a reward (bribe) will likely become overly concerned with having these foods. The perceived deprivation many times leads to over-indulgence in these foods when the eater is allowed to make their own food choices. As many fun foods are high in sugar and fat, this over-indulgence can lead to over weight. Moderation and mindful eating are the goals for eating all foods, including those that are just for fun.

2009-03-30T14:43:00.001-07:00

Are You Feeding Your Child Too Much?

2009-03-30T14:15:00.001-07:00

I recently read a study discovering that by age 5 children tend to eat what is on their plate, regardless of how they feel. Perhaps by this age children have heard "clean your plate" so many times that they just do. Or perhaps because when they are given a portion of food they assume this is how much they should eat. Ideally, a child should never be made to feel that they must eat, especially to please others. To create a healthy eater we must let children eat how much they need to eat to become sated ( a feeling of having enough). We can do this by either allowing children to serve themselves or by giving them very small servings (1-2 tablespoons) of foods. Let the child know that if they are hungry they can ask for more.

Sometimes a child allowed to self serve will serve too much. This may be because it is fun to move food from the serving bowl. If this is the case, feel free to step in and remind the child that we serve ourselves what we plan on eating. Let them know that they can practice serving after dinner, perhaps with a scoop in sand or dirt. Other children serve themselves too much food because they are very hungry and believe they will eat all the food on their plate. This happens often at my home. When we see extra food on a child's plate we remind them to take less next time, and that there will be more available if they need seconds. This is a trial and error process, so be patient.

Restaruants are notorious for serving us too much. "Single" servings are becoming so large, 20 years ago they would have been called extra large or jumbo. A hamburger with cheese plus fries may contain as many as 1600 calories; the total amount of calories needed per day for many women. As both children and adults regularly see these inflated portion sizes, we assume they are normal and eat them. Many studies have shown that the larger the portion the more we eat. We don't stop when we feel sated. People eat more chips from a warehouse store bag of snacks than from a grocery store bag. We even eat larger portions when we have large quantities of the food in the house.

I bring all of this to your attention as large portions make for large children and adults- not tall, but overweight or obese. One of the major changes you can make to help avoid obesity is to serve small portions at home or allow family style serving. When dining out, share entrees. Order 3 entrees and an extra plate for four people. Don't let the restaurant decide how much you need to eat. If you buy at warehouse stores, repackage the foods into smaller containers and put these smaller containers in your kitchen. Store the remainder out of sight. You'll save calories and money too.

"Fiber" the Newest Label Scam

2009-03-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

You can find calcium in orange juice, vitamin B-12 in cereal and now you can find fiber in cookies, yogurt and ice cream. Fiber???? Well, sort of. Polydextrose is being added to foods that don't naturally contain fiber just like oranges don't naturally have calcium and grains don't have B-12. It is still unclear if single nutrients added to foods acts in the human body like nutrients present in the real food. But we do know that polydextrose does not decrease cholesterol or decrease incidence of heart disease as the naturally occurring fiber found in oats and many other whole foods. It may do nothing more than add bulk to the product--cheap filler. Slate.com has a great article on this topic, http://www.slate.com/id/2213354/pagenum/all/#p2.

So I am again telling you, EAT THE FOOD. The real whole food knows what it is doing. It has nutrients to keep our bodies functioning properly and hundreds of other properties that we haven't even discovered yet. These properties work in conjunction with each other within the food itself and lose their efficacy when separated out and added to some other food product. Stop looking for the Perfect food, it's already out there and it's called unprocessed whole food--fruits, vegetables, eggs, whole grains, vegetable oils, wild fish and grass fed beef.

When you start to see advertising for fiber in foods that are not primarily plant foods, realize that because of the lax labeling laws in the U.S., food companies are using the word "fiber" to entice you into buying their food product. You see fiber and think healthy. Never mind that the fiber in this product is likely not going to do you any good.

Fattening Up Babies

2009-03-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

We are so obsessed about weight in this country. Even babies are targets. Babies are supposed to be cubby. They are supposed to have several chins, a neck that is hard to find, and rolls of fat at their thighs, wrists and elbows. For the first year babies should be fed on demand. That means feeding them when they show they are hungry and stopping when they show they are done. A baby fed like this will grow appropriately.

Some babies have less fat than others. Over and over I have heard from moms (who are offering appropriate foods at appropriate times) of smaller, leaner babies that they were told to fatten up their child and get them to eat more. They have been instructed to put powdered milk in foods or slather butter on crackers or in rice cereal.

You should never MAKE your baby eat. This will alter their life-long perception about food intake. They will start eating for external cues instead of internal ones - hunger and fullness. As babies instinctually know how much energy (calories) they need, offering high density, high calorie foods will usually result in the baby eating less quantity. This has been proven is several studies. Babies given watered down formula drank more and those given concentrated formula ate less.

It is not your job to get your child to eat. If you have a thinner baby, you can try offering food more often, maybe every 1 ½ - 2 hours. If babies are hungry they will eat, if they’re not, they won’t. Follow their cues. They know what they are doing.

Baby Bottle Pop : Nipple Confusion

2009-02-20T09:09:00.000-08:00

The New York Times and many other bloggers and public interest groups have been giving Topps Candy company a hard time for creating, selling and marketing Baby Bottle Pop, a nipple shaped sugar candy that is dipped in more sugar, corn syrup, and artificial dyes, and licked or sucked. These sources are also outraged that a young teen age girl rock band, the Clique Girlz, will be promoting this product with commercials viewed on children's programming. I agree with all of their outrage, With childhood obeisty and diabetes on the rise we do not want our children encouraged to eat sugar, but why is this candy worse than any other candy?

What's not being said about Baby Bottle Pop that needs to be said?

Young teenage girls have babies. Young teen age girls are influenced by other young teenage girls especially if they are on television. Young teen age girls watch children's programming. In a culture with few visible role models for appropriate parenting, where do young teens find information?

There is already a common misguided, unnecessary, and potentially harmful practice to put sugar water in a bottle for a baby. Baby Bottle Pop is in the shape of a bottle nipple. The word "baby" is in the name of the product. I don't think it is too much of a leap to worry about young mothers seeing a candy nipple and offering it to their baby; sugar, corn syrup and a variety of artificial sweeteners, yum. That is the real horror of this candy.

Mom's on a Diet

2009-02-08T14:20:00.000-08:00

When I hit 40 I found my eye sight was not quite what it used to be but bifocals took care of this slight imposition. Now in my early 50's I found that my weight is slowly creeping upward, despite my 6 day a week work-out routine. I want to loose 15-18 pounds. Ten pounds of post baby weight I never lost after my second child and another 5-8 pounds that has snuck up on me. So what is a mother of two young and impressionable children to do, especially when that mom is a Dietitian?

A parent on a "diet" will impact a child (mine are 7 and 12)and I don't believe in diets. Children can take in the wrong message from a parent making too much of their diet. I believe in making changes that can be made without adding any stress, tension or feelings of hunger or deprivation. Changes need to be life long.

So I decided to eat less, one portion of food (i.e. 1/2 cup to 1 cup portions mostly). I put myself on a 1500 calories plan as I am only 5"4". I eat 6 times a day with 400 calories at breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus three 100 calorie snacks. I eat what I want, both healthy foods that I enjoy and potato chips, nuts, cookies and ice cream which I also enjoy. I am just eating less, 1/2 cup of ice cream is 120 calories (Dryers Slow Churn) and Trader Joes reduced fat potato chips, 1ounce, is also about 120 calories. So a lunch of 2 scrambled eggs, 1 oz. chips, 1 large apple and 1 square of dark chocolate is 367 calories. No special foods, shakes, bars or recipes. My kids see me eating. I tell my husband that I don't want my body to think it is being starved, so I always eat all of my calories. I eat any "left over" calories in addition to the 100 snack calories dedicated for evening snack, as dessert.

I am loosing about 1 pound a week, 10 pounds down so far. What will I do when I reach my goal? I may not make it to my goal as at some point my body may stop loosing weight. At that point I will just keep the same eating pattern and be the way I am. If I do reach my goal and am still loosing weight I will add a few more calories until I neither gain nor loose weight.

Please Don't Be This Parent

2009-01-31T11:13:00.000-08:00

It is amazing how possessed some parents are about what and how much their child eats. At the San Diego Zoo, watching elephants eat, a parent started in on her child. "See how the elephant eats everything" she said. I'm no child psychologist, but does she think that her kid is going to relate to the elephant and decide, "wow, she's right, I'll start eating all of my vegetables too". Or does the kid think, "I thought we were here for fun and now I'm being lectured about my vegetables." I vote for the latter. If mom keeps this up soon the kid won't want to go anywhere with mom, as he feels he will always be an open target for criticism.

Please don't be this parent. All the studies that quantify the feeding behaviors between parents and children have shown that when a parent over manages the child's eating, the child will over eat when left on his or her own. A parent's job is to provide a variety of healthy food in a timely manner and letthe child choose to eat the offered foods or not.

I have seen over and over a child signalling that he or she is done with the meal. The parent says "take one more bite before you go". What is this parent trying to accomplish? I am still amazed by how many parents think one more bite of food will make or break a child's nutrition, unlikely. This "one more bite" becomes a knee jerk reaction on the part of the parent, always insisting on the last decision. This is not a successful way to teach a child to take care of him or her self. Nor does it let a child know they can trust their own internal cues for knowing when they have had enough food. We are all born with a natural instinct to eat to survive, and know when we have had enough. The only reason children loose this ability is if we teach them to ignore it, by telling them how much to eat.

Rice is Not a Vegetable

2009-01-21T19:04:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wonder about what people believe is a vegetable. I was at dinner with my parents a few weeks ago and my dad asked for vegetables instead of a potato. The waitress said this was fine. When she brought his plate he asked where his vegetable was. She motioned at the large (probably more than 1 cup) pile of green speckled rice on his plate. My dad seemed confused so the waitress told him that the vegetable was "broccoli rice". Now there are times at restaurants when my dad complains and I would like to become invisible, but this time he was so right. There was probably about 1 tablespoon of broccoli in this rice.

I also see a lots of bagged fried snack food trying to get people to believe they are vegetables. There are pea crisps, fried green beans, carrot chips, and root vegetable chips (yams, sweet potatoes, etc.). Granted these foods started out as vegetables, albeit starchy ones. But frying or baking these in large amount of oil really takes away the spirit of the vegetable. These are now foods that have almost all of their calories from fat whereas vegetable are usually very low in fat. Keep in mind, if it looks like a snack food and tastes like a snack food, it probably is a snack food.

Keep in mind that vegetables are plants that grow naturally from the ground-- with proper conditons and care. Fresh: raw, grilled, baked, roasted or steamed vegetables are the most nutritious and therefore the tastiest. I have no problem with frozen vegetables, and even canned vegetables (but watch out for the salt)are much better than no vegetable at all. But surely rice is not a vegetable.

Groceries for Less

2009-01-12T17:06:00.000-08:00

I have been noticing lots of articles in magazines and on line with suggestions for lowing food costs. Advice ranges from coupon clipping to following specific food plans and recipes. All this advice may be helpful to some, but time consuming and expecting too much of a change for others (like shopping at 3 or 4 different stores to get the lowest price).

I would like to offer 1 easy way to lower your cost of groceries $20.00 or more every time you shop. STOP BUYING BOXED CEREAL AND COOKIES. For those adults in the group, stop buying "energy" or breakfast bars-- these are actually cookies enriched with vitamins and minuscule amounts of other esoteric herbs and phytonutrients.

Most breakfast cereal cost about $6.00 a box, with approximately 12 servings. This averages to 50-60 cents a serving, which you might not thing is a lot, but 1 cup of cooked oatmeal is about 4-5 cents a serving, when you buy bulk oatmeal and cook it yourself. Keep in mind that wheat flour, the main ingredient in many cereals cost you about 3-4$ a pound (less for bakers and cereal manufacturers).

Plain oatmeal doesn't appeal to everyone, but you can flavor it with a teaspoon of sugar or colored cookie decorating sugars for extra fun. Add a little pizazz with a little cinnamon and some raisins or other dried fruit. You can also try mixing in fresh fruit and nuts. You can even make it chocolate by mixing in some hot chocolate mix. If you just can't stomach hot oatmeal, there are many easy recipes for home made granola, a combination of oven roasted oats, nuts, and seasonings.

You can't buy most varieties of cookies for less than the cost of 5 pounds of flour, and how many servings are in that box, about 12? That's 25 cents a cookie. There are cookies that cost a whole lot more, but we'll stick with the lowly average chocolate chip cookie.

Replace cookies by making your own. Yes, actually bake them. It doesn't take as much time as you may think. I can make 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies from scratch in about 1/2 an hour. Once a week while my son is in the kitchen doing his homework (which he is constantly asking me to help him with) I make cookies. He gets his work done and I am available if he needs me. Not only do the cookies cost a lot less, I know exactly what is in them. I can use organic ingredients or not, replace some white flour with whole wheat, or use raisins instead of chocolate chips. A home baked oatmeal cookie with whole wheat flour, raisins and nuts would make a great substitute for a breakfast or energy bar at a fraction of the cost.

Just look at your next grocery bill and add up the cost of cereal and cookies. I think you will be surprised.

Don't Put Your Child on Your Diet

2009-01-05T08:44:00.000-08:00

January is traditionally the time when many of us decide to make changes. Losing weight is usually among the resolutions most often named. As two thirds of Americans are either over weight or obese, this is a great way to start the year. There are almost as many weight loss diets, strategies and gimmicks as there are people using them. These methods ranges from safe and effective to total cons. Given your temperment, life style, food likes and dislikes, and personality, some eating plans will work for you, other will not. I am not going to go into the pro's and con's of all the diet plans and programs available, but I am here to tell you NOT to put your child on any of these diets.

For all children, except those with specific medically diagnosed illnesses, diets are not appropriate. Encouraging lots of physical activity and offering healthy foods (low fat cheese and meats, seafood, beans, fruits, vegetables and whole grains) is all a child needs. Their body will then grow into it's appropriate and normal weight. Any diet that strictly limits or omits a major food group (carbohydrates, protein, or fat) is unhealthy for a child, and you too. Never use diet shakes, meal replacements, weight loss pills or an over abundance of any supplement as weight loss techniques for children, unless under the direction of a doctor, certified or registered nutritionist or other accredited health care provider.

Children will do best by eating food. Learning to enjoy a variety of healthy and nourishing foods is as important as learning to read, swim or share. As with anything we want our children to learn, we want to establish patterns that will benefit our children now and as adults. Being offered healthful and delicious food choices and encouraging our children to listen to the needs of their bodies prepares a child to naturally make healthy food choices as an adult.

Just Eat the Food

2008-12-26T14:49:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month the Los Angles Times reported that "Vitamins Aren't a Cure All," I whole heartily agree. This article sites many very well managed, long term studies involving tens of thousands of participant where increasing a certain vitamin via a vitamin supplement did not protect the participants from an increase in certain chronic diseases. Also cited where studies where an increase in a vitamin from a supplement increase the likelihood of developing the disease (remember the study where Finnish smokers given beta carotene had more incidence of lung cancer?).

Food is smarter than us. It has been around for millions of years, nourishing us and the other living inhabitants of this world. It has evolved to provide us with exactly what we need, in combination with other of the plant's properties to aid in enhanced absorption of the vitamins, minerals and other plant nutrients (phytonutrients). Even those we have yet to isolate and name. The plant knows what it is doing, all we have to do is eat it.

So why are scientist working to replicate a specific nutrient and put it in a pill? It doesn't seem to be working. We know a diet of fruits, vegetables, low fat proteins, high fiber grains and healthy fats (vegetable fats) produces healthy individuals around the world. So much time, money and other resources are spent trying to out-do nature. We don't need to dissect the food. Just because our scientists have not "discovered" and named every component of a plant food doesn't mean it's not there. It is and when we eat it we reap the benefits. Why don't we just spend all of those research and marketing dollars spent on supplements on getting healthy fresh food to everyone. We would all be healthier and happier for it.

Screen Time Most Often a Detriment to Children's Health

2008-12-07T11:27:00.000-08:00

This past week, the National Institute of Health and a nonprofit advocacy group called Common Sense Media presented the results of a study on media use and children's mental and physical health. They chose 173 studies from 1,800, from 1980 until present, that met the study's criteria. They concluded that "In a clear majority of those studies more time with television, films, video games, magazines, music and the Internet was linked to rises in childhood obesity, tobacco use and sexual behavior. A majority also showed strong correlations — what the researchers deemed “statistically significant associations” — with drug and alcohol use and low academic achievement."

Will this finally stop the debate? We now have long term scientific evidence that too much media time leads to undesirable characteristics in our children. Either from content or just sitting around too much (most likely both) our children are not benefiting from the vast majority of their screen time. We also know from many other studies that children who eat at least 3 meals a week with their family, with no other distractions such as radio, TV, or reading materials, eat healthier in and out of the home, have better grades, are less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, and have better self esteem.

So why can't we turn off the TV and actually talk to each other? Why can't we eat together? If a child has time to watch 45 hours a week of media, they certainly have time for a family meal. Make it a priority to have at least 3 family meals a week. There is no financial cost to this. You will actually save money now and in the future. Individual servings of frozen or boxed foods are expensive, usually loaded with salt or fat, and are each cooked separately. One family meal eaten by everyone saves food and power costs. Having the whole family in one room means that the lights in all of the other rooms are off, as are electrical media gadgets, TVs and computers. In the long run you can save money on health care, avoiding fees to doctors, nutritionists, counselors, psychologists and therapists.

If you don't know what to talk about, there are several products that help families learn to have conversations at the table. But to avoid that cost, just ask each person at the table to recount one really good or even one really unpleasant moment of their day. Once everyone gets used to talking, dinner conversations can be fun, educational, and give you invaluable insight into the lives of those you live with. (If that seems too controversial, just talk about the food.) Watch what happens when there is no screen distraction in your home. I believe you will be amazed.

Donuts for Breakfast

2008-11-30T12:25:00.000-08:00

My parents are visiting for Thanksgiving. For my daughter this means lots of time with grandma and grandpa, including sleepovers at their hotel. For my son this means donuts for breakfast. My parents stay at a hotel that serves a full breakfast buffet every morning. They have a wide variety of healthy choices inclucing oatmeal, fresh fruit, yogurt , eggs, whole wheat breads, and low sugar cereals. They also have an even wider variety of fun foods, including make your own fresh waffles (whip cream is available), white flour muffins, bread, and bagels, sausage, gravy, biscuits, high sugar cereals and donuts.

I do not buy donuts for my family. I try to avoid 100% white flour products and only buy cereals with less than 7 grams of sugar per serving (about 1.5 tsp.). So my son looks forward to his breakfast with his granparents. This year, at age 7, he ate 2 donuts and 1 or 2 bowls of Fruitloops for breakfast on two separate mornings, washed down with apple juice (another food I don't buy). I painfully witnessed his joy.

I am pained as I know that these fat and sugar laden donuts, completely devoid of any nutrients, are clogging his arteries. But you should see the look of pure joy on his face as my son eats his donuts. I have not seen a food give him so much pleasure since he was breast fed. My son loves me (maybe it was the breastmilk). He associates his grandparents with, among other adventures, donuts. And from an emotional standpoint this seems fine to me. My son will always have great memories of his grandparents. Who am I, a Registered Dietitian specializing in the nutrition of babies and children, to get in the way of this love?

Luckily we only eat breakfast at the hotel a couple of times a year.

Beyond the Harvest

2008-11-25T11:33:00.000-08:00

As November comes to an end, you may have noticed that there are fewer choices of fresh, especially local, fruits and vegetables available. You may see melons, strawberries and grapes at your market but these have been imported or kept in cold storage so they are really no longer fresh, and the taste suffers. The same goes for vegetables. Many of us tend to get in a rut during the winter months, eating only apples, bananas, pears, and oranges or worse, eating very little fruit at all. Vegetable varieties are also less abundant. The lettuce looks less vibrant and the tomatoes seem to have little taste.

But winter offers us an opportunity to try some new foods we might not have tried in the abundant months when our favorites where available. There are many different types of apples. Try several different kinds in a salad with raisins and walnuts. Winter is also a good time to check out the frozen food section. You can find berries, peaches, pineapple cherries, and even mango. These fruits have no added sugar so are better for you than those canned or those dried with sugar added. Warm any of these fruits for a topping on pancakes, waffles, or even ice cream. A variety of frozen fruit is great in a smoothie. For those of you who like to bake, these frozen fruits are fine for putting in muffins and making pies. Cranberries are in season now. You can cook your own or buy them dried or in a sauce or syrup.

Vegetables are generally heartier than fruits, so many have longer growing seasons. Carrots are at their sweetest now, as they develop more sugar as they mature in the ground. Leafy vegetables including broccoli, cabbage, kale, collards and cauliflower are still available. Any of these would be great in a simple stir fry with your favorite meat, poultry, seafood or tofu. Discover something new this winter- ever try parsnips, rutabaga, kohlrabi, Jerusalem artichokes, chard or beets? Most winter vegetables are great for roasting (baking at a high heat) and many other recipes can be found on the inter net.

Winter is also a wonderful time for a chopped salad. A food processor really helps with this, just chop red and green cabbage, Jerusalem artichokes and carrots together. This hearty salad is great with warm crusty bread and cheese for a light dinner. Some fruits go well in a lettuce salad. Try using very thin slices of apples or pears or some canned or fresh mandarin orange sections with sliced almonds.

If you are not one to do too much in the kitchen, at least try out the different kinds of potatoes and squash. Potatoes come in all sizes and many colors, including yams, sweet potatoes, red and even purple potatoes. You can bake, boil or roast any of these. There are also many different kinds of squash. Don't let the color or size intimidate you. Squash are not just for decoration, they are for eating and they are as easy to cook as a baked potato. For most squash all you need to do is cut it in half, scrape out the seeds and bake on a lightly greased pan at 375 degrees for approximately 1 hour. The squash should be soft to the touch when done. You can serve them in their shells or scrape out the inside and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon.

Winter is here, but that doesn't mean that fruits and vegetables are gone. Challenge yourself to include something new at least once a week. You'll be amazed at what you discover.

Why Do You Think They Call It Formula?

2008-11-17T10:12:00.000-08:00

Many parents ask me if they should use baby formula or formulas for children after their first birthday. For the vast majority of children the answer is no. By one year of age a child should be eating enough quantity and variety of solid foods to meet their nutritional needs.

Toddler formulas were created to enlarge the market share for baby formula companies. After all, what company wants to have to replace their customers every year, wouldn’t it be better to keep customers for at least 2 years? So by creating a new product they can extend their market. Toddler formulas contain many important nutrients. But a product containing all of these nutrients, is more like a food than a drink. Reliance on theses products may result in a child who relies on the formula for energy and sustenance but does not learn to develop a taste for a variety of foods. Your child will be drawn to the nutrients that they need. It is always preferable to obtain nutrients from their natural original source; food. The more a food is processed or created in a lab, the less like food it really is. Why do you think they call it FORMULA?

All of the nutrients found in toddler formulas can and should be taken in from food. The early years are critical for allowing a child to learn to accept a variety of tastes and textures. Children need to learn how to chew and swallow different types of foods. It is a time for children to learn to enjoy the color, touch and smell of new foods. It is also a time for a child to learn about all of the joys of eating with family and friends.

So let your child eat what you’re eating. Except those who are avoiding certain foods due to allergies, all foods are fair game. Offer food of an appropriate consistency and size to avoid choking, but don’t limit your child’s choices to standard “kid food”. Many 1 year olds can eat meat loaf, tender chicken cut into small bits, or fish (no bones). The more choices you offer now, the wider range of acceptability your child will have as an adult.

Less is More

2008-11-08T13:30:00.000-08:00

I was at my son's school picking him up early the day of his Halloween party. Of course there was the general chaos with children moving around in costume and from activity to activity. But what got my attention was the food table and an activity table.

The food table was covered with, of course, food. I remember seeing both fun foods and healthy foods: carrot sticks, grapes, apples, edamame, goldfish shaped crackers, puffed cheese balls, and pretzels. But there was even more food that I don't remember. One activity table where children were to decorate a ball of clay with beads and noodle and other do-dads was covered with a very large choice of decorations.

I don't believe that having more of everything than one could possibly use is necessary or particularly helpful. Many of us with access to resources over provide for our children. This does not help create a child that values what is, or a child that appreciates what is given. I don't believe that a child needs a 6 foot long buffet of food to make a party successful. I remember being quite happy with my one ghost shaped cookie and small (maybe 1/4 cup) container of ice cream at my school halloween party. The idea of a treat was what the excitement was about, not the actual treat. Especially as my peers and myself all came from families that had the resources to provide food and celebrate holidays on a regular basis. A craft project with too many choices does not necessarily encourage creativity or enhance results. It results in a mess. It is amazing the results 10 different children create when each are given a lump of clay and 3 or 4 types of do-dads to adorn it with.

I am embarrassed by the opulence of it all. These are children that are almost all from upper middle class homes or above. They have birthday and holiday parties regularly in their homes and are invited to parties regularly outside of school. These children have been exposed to restaurants, shopping malls and grocery stores where everything is available and displayed in very attractive settings. These are children that want for nothing, they have clothes, heat, food, vacations away from home, toys, books, large screen TVs, computers, parents with cars, and opportunities for all sorts of extra curricular lessons after school.

So how do we teach our children to appreciate what they have and learn to realize that not everyone has access to what they have, see and expect on a daily basis? How do we change their expectations? How do we teach them to slow down and really appreciate what they have? We could start by toning down parties and celebrations at school and even at home. We could put our resources into schools that may not have the parents with the ability to provide even the cookie for the Halloween party. We could package up our party paraphernalia and instead of using it for our children, pass it on to those who don't have enough for these extras. Instead of providing too much for our children, we could help others by taking nutritious foods to food banks, not just at holidays, but year round. There are many ways to "spread the wealth", lets' teach our children how it's done.

Kidney Stones in Children?

2008-10-31T13:25:00.000-07:00

You may have heard that diabetes type 2, originally called adult onset diabetes as it didn't occur in children, is being diagnosed in children as young as age 4. But did you know that another supposed disease of adults is affecting more and more children? Hospitals in major metropolitan areas are now reporting children with kidney stones as often as once a week, where they once saw kidney stones in children once every few months. And they are seeing kidney stones in children as young as 5 or 6 years old.

Most all kidney stones are caused by too much salt in the diet and not enough water. There is a difference between water and other beverages. Water washes away excess salt, some beverages, such as Gatorade, soft drinks and some vegetable juices add to dietary salt. Excess salt is found in almost all canned and boxed soups as well as frozen entree foods. Be sure to check out the nutrition label. Any food that lists 20% of more %DV is high in sodium. The DV (daily value) percent lets you know the percent of nutrient one portion of this food provides. A box or can of food is usually more than one serving. So if a can of soup has 2 servings, and each serving is 20% of your daily maximum allowance of sodium, if you eat the whole can you have consume 40% of your sodium allowance for the day.

Other foods to beware of include salted snack foods, including nuts, crackers and baked goods. Bacon, salami, hot dogs and other sliced deli meats usually have a large amount of salt. Also be aware that olives, dill pickles and soy sauce are also high in salt. Small amount over the course of the day add up.

Let's keep our children healthy now and let them start adulthood with healthy bodies. We have the ability to shape their eating habits. Read the nutrition label no matter how healthy the product appears from its front label. Start now.

The Great Candy Give Away

2008-10-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

Halloween is the official beginning for The Great Candy Give-Away. It starts after sunset on October thirty-first and goes until February fourteenth. This season spans Halloween, Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Kwanza, Christmas, Winter Solstice, New Years Eve/day and Valentines Day. This season also coincides with the least availability of fresh fruits and vegetables, the shortest hours of day light, and in most areas of the country the coldest weather of the year. Blended together, this season encourages us to stay inside, visit with friends, and eat lots of sweets. Unfortunately, our bodies don't seem to realize that we don't need to build up an extra layer of fat to stay warm, most of us have central heating and wool socks for that.

So how do we avoid all the sweets this season brings? I recommend a combination of moderation and creating new traditions. Let me show you how this works using Halloween as an example. Instead of passing out candy bars (or boxes of raisins that few kids want) hand out one small individually wrapped candy (like Hershey Kisses or individual Star Bursts). If you are worried about looking cheap add some other small toys or prizes such as key chains, colorful mini tissue packets, stickers or brightly colored markers. You could even eliminate the candy all together and just give out the gifts. When your child comes home with too much candy, let them keep a few pieces and leave the rest for The Great Pumpkin. The Great Pumpkin comes at night while children are asleep and exchanges their candy for a gift.

For most kids, the costumes, decorating and Trick or Treating is more fun than the candy. Create a few new traditions, making a visit to your house memorable. Invest in some reuseable decorations, lights, scarry music or skeletons to place on your walkway or porch. Add on each year until you have the best display on the block. Better yet, have your kids help create a haunted house effect for your entrance way with appliance boxes, tin cans, or anything else you can think of. Stuff old worn out clothes to make people and let your kids figure out how to make them look spooky, place them in your yard with flashing lights around them.

You can have a lot of fun coming up with new, candy free ideas, if you give it a try. Halloween is a great tradition, so lets keep it alive with a heathy twist. Try your hand at moderation and tradition for other holidays. Let me know your ideas so I can share them with others.

Why Don't We Get Enough Vitamin D

2008-10-21T08:56:00.000-07:00

The American Academy of Pediatrics just came out with a new policy statement, doubling the amount of Vitamin D they believe children need. The new level is 400IU. To get to this level they recommend supplementation, because to get this much vitamin D from milk a child would have to drink 4 cups of milk. Four cups of milk would provide too many calories solely from milk-- not allowing room for vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, and fiber from other foods.

{Four cups of whole milk would also provide 600 calories (approximately half of a child's caloric needs per day) and the maximum advised amount of unhealthy saturated fats. Four cups of 2% milk would provide 480 calories (about 1/3 of daily caloires for a child) and 60% of the maximum advised amount of saturated fats. Most of our vitamin D comes from sun exposure.}

I understand that this recommendation is based on many peer reviewed studies. It appears that Vitamin D is part of the puzzle when looking at a variety of chronic diseases including cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, thyroid disorder, celiac and other autoimmune states. But Vitamin D must only be part of the puzzle, as our bodies work synergistically. Unfortunately our bodies are assaulted every day (even in-utero) by new combinations of man made substances, geneticly engineered foods, and stress.

So all children need to take a supplement? What is wrong with this picture? Aren't a variety of healthy foods, and in this case sunshine, supposed to be able to meet the needs of a growing child? It just strikes me as odd that we now need to supplement food. This is like supplementing air. How did we get to this point? What is wrong with our air, water, food, environment, and bodies?

As science learns more about how our bodies work, we need to stop using products that contaminate our world and damage our own normal bodies processes. If we don't buy it, they won't sell it. So take a stand on pesticides, genetically altered animals and foods, pthalates and BPA in packaging medical supplies and toys, and dangerous chemicals in personal care and home cleaning products. Let's stop damaging our selves and the earth so our bodies and our environment can support us as we support our world.

An Economic Message from a Nutritionist

2008-10-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

In an effort to keep my food cost from getting too high I have been changing my food shopping habits of late, perhaps you have too. In an effort to save money on food and maintain your family's nutrition I have one word for you: BEANS. One cup of cooked beans has as much protein as 2 ounces of beef, with no saturated fat. And beans are much less expensive than meat. You can replace beans for all of half of the beef in most recipes (canned or pre-cooked by you). Beans are great in chili, meatloaf, soups, tacos, enchildas, burgers or in a dip or spread. To find some recipes just type in bean reicpes or bean burger etc. at your favorite search engine.

There are many different types of beans and they all have their own flavor, and none of them taste like chicken. Most people, including kids, tend to like garbonzo beans, also known as chick peas. They are larger than peas and smaller than a marble and are a yellowy color. If you buy these dry, they need to be soaked and then simmer for an hour or more. However canned, pre-cooked beans are available at all markets and can be used as is. Garbonzo beans are creamy with a light flavor. These beans are the main ingredients in humus and are often found in minestrone soup.

Another favorite bean is the kidney bean. This is the bean used in refried beans. It is oblong in shape and a dark reddish brown color. It too can be purchased dry or ready to eat in a can. Refried beans are kidney beans smashed into a paste, with some seasoning and sometimes some animal fat added. I recommend the vegetarian refried beans even if your not vegetarian, as they have less fat. Try at least one bean meal a week. You wallet and your waist will thank you.

Stop MIcro Managing Your Child's Eating?

2008-10-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

We all want our children to eat healthy foods and there are many ways to allow this to happen. Our first job is to offer healthy foods often. A hungry child will eat, so the more often healthy foods are offered, the more of them will be eaten. But children are sometimes fearful of food, not hungry, or more interested in trying to get you what they want instead of eating. All of these actions can lead to the same disastrous result: a power struggle of over who gets their way. We can avoid this struggle by not over managing how much and what our child eats. Remember, you offer what you would like your child to eat. Then the rest is up to them. They can eat and nourish their body or choose not to eat with the consequence of hunger coming very soon. The beauty of this is that you were not the “bad guy” in this scenario. Hunger caused the discomfort, the result of them choosing not to eat.

But some parents can not let go of this managerial stance and let hunger and fullness do its job. They micro-manage a child’s eating. These are the parents that you see deciding for the child what food should be eaten first. Supposedly this ensures that nutritious foods will be eaten first when the child is most hungry. Perhaps, but a child given a variety of food over time will in fact choose foods that meet their nutritional needs. Telling a child what they need to eat first undermines their need for some independence and their reliance and confidence in their own internal cues that guide them naturally.

I often hear “you need to take one more bite”, as if that last bite guarantees the exact amount of calories or nutrients necessary at that moment in time. Or a parent who requires that a child finish a certain amount of a food. A child instinctively knows how much food they need, the more we trust them the more they will make good decisions.

Interestingly, there have been several studies that show that the more we manage our children’s eating decisions, the more likely they are to become over weight and have emotional problems with foods. The study observed parents eat a meal with their child. Immediately after the meal the children were put in a room without parents. There were activities in the room as well as a variety of snacks. It was observed that the children whose parents had over managed their child’s lunch where more likely to eat again, right after lunch. These children where also the ones who where already over weight.

Preschoolers Don't Need Special Foods

2008-09-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

Companies that sell baby food have a problem, babies quickly grow up into wobblers, toddlers and pre-schoolers. This means that baby food companies constantly need to find new customers. You may have noticed that they are working on solving this problem by introducing snack and entree meals just for very young children. Gerbers has Graduates for Toddler (finger foods) and are now introducing Graduates for Preschoolers. These are similar to Karft's Lunchable Juniors.

The only thing these foods have going for them is convenience, but the cost to you, your child and the environment is tremendous. These convenince foods cost way more than the same foods you slice and dice yourself and the packaging cost are probably higher than the food costs. Don't be fooled by suggestions of nutrtition, a slice of fruit is always healthier than dried fruit leather. These meals and snacks are also high in sodium and low on fiber. After age one, children can eat a wide variety of foods, preschoolers (after age 3) can eat just about any food that a school age child eats. They don't need "special foods"-- especially ones that are not nutritious.

Don't let these and other companies fool you into trying and buying their products. Do you know what the Nestle's senior vice-president for infant nutrition said about you "Once we make the consumer need apparent, mothers will understand it." (Business Week, 8/18/08) They admit that they are trying to create a need, dont' fall for it and become addicted.

Get the answers you really need from a regiestered dietitcian and mother, at my website and in my book "Simple and Savvy Stragegies for Creating Healthy Eaters. (http://www.creatinghealthyeater.com/)

Addiction to Political Polls and the Bath Room Scale

2008-09-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

The bathroom scale and political polls have much in common. Both are used to give us information. The bathroom scale tells the user how much he or she weighs and can certainly warn of unhealthy or unexpected weight gain or loss. Political polls are used to judge the current popularity or approval rating of a candidate. Although both are tools, used too often or incorrectly they can do more harm than good.

So why are we constantly using polls and bath room scales? What are we hoping to discover? Can’t we think, see, feel, and judge for our selves? Do we need to know what everyone else thinks to decide how to vote or what to eat? It seems it just gives us something to obsess about, while avoiding the real issues. Let’s get in touch with what we know is right for our bodies, our minds, and our country. Use the bathroom scale and a political poll sparingly, as one of many tools towards creating a healthy body and a healthy country. A poll result is only a number created by the manipulations of math. Your weight is a number describing how much gravity you exert on the earth. Don’t let it control you. It’s only a number that will certainly change.

2008-08-20T12:25:00.000-07:00

I recently took my son for a check up. The doctor asked what he eats and I gave an honest answer. My son prefers cookies, cake, doughnuts, candy and juice to other foods. He isn't offered these too often, but tends to eat minimally when offered the healthier choices such as vegetables, fruit, whole grain bread, brown rice, salmon, hummus, refried beans, cheese, and tofu. Our family is vegetarian and I am bordering on vegan, so he isn't offered meats at home although he is never discouraged from eating them when offered at friends' of a restaurant. So far he has chosen not to eat them.

So, after hearing my list of foods recently eaten by my son, my doctor felt that he may be low in iron. She offered to check his iron, I said "sure". I felt my honor and career were on the line. After all, not only am I a Registered Dietitian with a master's degree in nutrition, I have raised my children and made a living believing that if children are offered a variety of foods, mostly healthy, they will get enough of the nutrients they need. So here was an objective test.

She used a finger poke and a hemoglobin test, done within seconds in her office. Normal for a child his age was a score of 11-16. My son came in at 11. I felt relieved and vindicated. Eleven seems like a good score for a child that eats no animal flesh, my scores have always been on the low side as well. I even asked my doctor if she felt I should supplement his diet. She said no, just give him high iron foods. I smiled and said "I will offer him high iron foods, I can't make him eat them."

Dessert without Eating Dinner

2008-08-15T13:55:00.000-07:00

Should a child that doesn’t eat any dinner, or the foods that you wanted them to eat be offered dessert? Yes!!! Hear me out.

Allowing a child to have dessert if they eat their dinner is a bribe or reward. It also teaches the child to eat, not because they are hungry, but because they want to get something else. With holding dessert because a child did not eat dessert is the same as a punishment. Using discipline tactics such as rewards, bribes and manipulation to make a child eat has short term results with long term repercussions. You teach a child not to trust their instincts about how much to eat and creates a power struggle between you and the child.

So, what should you do it your family likes to have a fun dessert after dinner? I recommend any of three approaches. The simplest is to have the fun dessert at another time, either a snack earlier in the day or later in the evening. Another is sometimes harder for parents to do, but more effective in the long run. Whether a child eats dinner or not, let them have a child sized portion of the dessert. If this child has been offered a variety of healthy foods during the day, they may not really need dinner. If the child eats the dessert instead of dinner, they will be hungry very soon after dessert. Now hunger will teach them why they need to eat dinner. Do not give them any other food when this happens, but feel free to explain to them that they are probably hungry because they only had dessert for dinner. Your last choice is the hardest for parents. Put the dessert out with all of the other dinner foods at the beginning of the meal. Yes, your child will likely eat the dessert first, but as it is just for fun and only 1 portion is available, they will be most likely still hungry after having this fun food. Then they will probably eat dinner.

Please Bring a Healthy Lunch

2008-07-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

My son started camp last Monday. He came home with a notice reminding us to send him to camp each day with the regular stuff, water, bathing suit, towel, and a lunch. But not just any lunch, we were instructed to send "a healthy lunch". With the word healthy underlined.

I appreciate their effort, adding healthy and then underlining it, I'm sure this really took a lot of time. But is this the total extent of their efforts? Probably. I imagine this resolves them of any other nutritional responsibilities. Now I know this is only summer camp and it is not their job to provide nutrition education. But this is a sports camp sponsored by the community parks and rec. department. I know this community has put considerable time and effort into a healthy lunch program in their school district, with excellent results. Comparing a camp, where each child brings a lunch, to a school that provides the lunch is a big difference in control.

But it seems to me that they should either ask us to pack "a lunch" or give some advice or guidelines if they want a healthy lunch. There is free information all over the Internet about what constitutes a healthy lunch. Given this is a sports camp, they may have encouraged us to send nutritious foods given the amount of calories the children will be using and explaining the relationship between healthy foods and sports performance. Simple recommendations would be the to include a fruit or vegetable or both in the lunch. The encouragement to provide some whole grains such as whole wheat bread or oatmeal cookies (when oatmeal is the first ingredient) for longer lasting energy, plus a food with protein (cheese, hard boiled eggs, meats, hummus, tofu, nuts where allowed) and some vegetable fats in avocados, black olives, nut butters, or salad dressing would be great.

Not everyone knows what constitutes a truly healthy lunch. And why should they? There are all sorts of candies and even marshmallows that have the word "fruit" on their labels, and some are even sold in the produce section of the grocery store. There are prepackaged lunch packs that have banners touting the words "no trans fats", "5 grams of whole wheat" or "well balanced meal" and others. But a nutritionist would know that no trans fats doesn't mean no fats--this product could be loaded with animal fats which are the ones that add to high cholesterol. Five grams of whole wheat doesn't mean 5 grams of fiber. Five grams of whole wheat just means that 5 of the 21 grams of carbohydrate are from whole wheat flour, but the major ingredient is white flour. A well balanced meal has no regulated definition, so this label means nothing.

So, we need to have nutrition education part of every one's education so we can all know what "a healthy lunch" is. The money put into public nutrition education is abysmal compared to the money spent by advertisers and marketers who put outrageous claims on food packaging advertisers. I would like to see us, as a country, put more money into public nutrition education than all of the ridiculous funding of projects that benefit a few in one state or industry. Ask for it, expect it. Eat well and enjoy.

What the son of a dietitian ate yesterday

2008-05-07T13:48:00.000-07:00

My son, who is 7, loves fun foods. Despite my efforts, this is what he ate yesterday:

toaster waffle with syrup, water

probably snack at school, water

cheese stick, "baked" potato chips, water

apple slices

soup broth with noodles (2 bowls)

8 ounces chocolate almond milk

real fruit smoothy (home made) and 2 scoops low fat soy ice cream

You may have noticed that he ate NO vegetables. He was offered vegetables at lunch and dinner, but he chose not to eat them. Will he survive, yes. Try us another day, maybe he'll eat a vegetable.

Simple and Savvy Strategies for Creating Health Eaters

2008-04-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

I have not written here since March of 2007. Blogging got me thinking that instead of posting all of this information I should spend my time putting it in book form. Even with 2 children and working part time I managed to find enough 15 minute to 1 hour slots of free time in which to write. I am very proud, and relieved, to announce that my book will be available for purchase by June of this year. It is called: Simple and Savvy Strategies for Creating Healthy Eaters.

It is my belief that many of the parenting books and nutrition books on the market give us too much information. We don't need to become chefs, child psychologists, or nutritionist to feed our children and help them develop an emotionally healthy relationship with food. My book is just 128 pages long, including an index. It contains what you need to know to rear a healthy eater.

My web site is up, www.creatinghealthyeaters.com, even thought my book is not yet available for sale. But check it out, the more hits I get the faster others will be able to find it while searching for information.

As I have said just about all I want to say in this book, I will be blogging about current "popular" nutritional advice, especially as is pertains to children's and infant nutrition. I am also going to let you all in on the life of a nutritionist living with with a child who is stubborn, strong willed and has a strong preference for donuts, cookies, cake, candy and lemonade. This blog will really let you know how I combine being a mother, subjected to manipulation by her child, and creating a healthy eater.

PS: Once my book is published, I will be out and about selling it, let me know if you'd like a visit.

To Drink Milk... or Not

2006-10-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

Milk- to drink or not to drink-That is the Question

Cow’s milk is one of many sources of calcium, protein and Vitamin D. With just 2 cups per day a toddler will receive 100% of his calcium and protein needs, a preschooler will receive 100% and 75% respectively. So why the controversy? Is it the milk itself or substances given to the cows?

Some people are concerned about the antibiotics and hormones (BGH=bovine growth hormone) that are routinely given to dairy cows to combat infection and increase milk production. Are these substances getting into our milk supply and if so, are there negative effects? Some experts believe there is reason to be concerned but there have been no definitive studies. However, to avoid this concern buy organic milk. Organic milk is obtained from cows that do not receive antibiotics or hormones. These cows are also fed organic feed so they are not eating grains treated with pesticides.

There are a few small scientific studies linking cow milk consumption to Type I diabetes, in children predisposed to diabetes. In some children too much milk may contribute to constipation or iron deficiency. Sometimes eczema will clear up in a child if milk is eliminated from the diet. Milk is also one of the top 10 foods allergens, but so are other common foods such as wheat and soy. If any these issues concern you, you have several options. First, you can avoid dairy products completely and get enough calcium from foods such as tofu, greens, instant oatmeal, figs, almonds, and vsesames seeds. Many cold breakfast cereals and energy bars are now supplemented with calcium as is orange juice. Calcium supplements are also available for children.

Some children experience diarrhea and/or gas and bloating after eating milk or other dairy products. This could be a lactose intolerance. Lactose is milk sugar, which is naturally occurring in milk. If an individual’s body is not producing enough of the enzyme (lactase) which breaks down this sugar into smaller easily digestible parts, it may cause gas, bloating and/or diarrhea. Lactose intolerance can be mild (moderate amounts of dairy can be digested) to severe (any dairy product causes symptoms). See your pediatrician or a dietician to help you determine if you have a lactose intolerance, and how to adjust your dairy consumption and maintain sufficient calcium levels to best meet your health needs.

You may choose to avoid dairy products and use soy milk, soy yogurt and soy cheese. As soy contains phytoestrogen (plant base compounds similar to estrogen) there have been concerns by parents that too much soy may interfere with normal maturation. There appear to be no studies proving this to be the case. However, it is advised that soy supplements not be used as they contain a concentrated level of phytoestrogens not found in soy milks. Soy and other nondairy milks should be shaken vigorously prior to pouring to insure that the added calcium has not sunk to the bottom of the container.

So should your child drink milk? The choice is really yours. There are pros and cons with this decision as there are in most parenting decisions. It’s not easy, is it?

"Milk" It's Not As Simple As It Used To Be

2006-09-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

“Milk”, what does this word mean to you? It used to mean milk from a cow, homogenized and pasteurized. Now, milk may refer to beverages from soy, rice, almonds, oatmeal or other nondairy products. Additionally, milk products bear labels such as “nonfat”, “low fat,” “enriched”, “acidophilus added” not to mention flavors ranging from the old fashioned chocolate to the ever present coffee.

So how about a few definitions? Homogenization means that the cream (fat) particles of the milk are broken down into smaller pieces, allowing them to stay evenly dispersed in the milk, avoiding cream rising to the top. Pasteurization is heating the milk at a high enough temperature to kill of disease causing organisms. Therefore, young children and nursing mothers should never drink unpasteurized milk, referred to as raw milk. Acidophilus is good bacteria added to milk to help ease digestion.

Before age 1, a child should have either formula or breast milk. After 12 months, whole milk is recommended until age 2. At age 2 whole milk can be continued or can be changed to 2% milk. Nonfat milk (formerly skim) is not recommended as children need 30% of their calories from fat. Whole milk is 49% calories from fat, 2% milk is 35% calories from fat (it is 2% fat by weight), and nonfat has no fat. Young children need no more than 2 cups (16 ounces) of milk per day. Milk is a source of protein, calcium and vitamin D, but it is not the whole food that formula or breast milk is. Too much milk will not allow your child to be hungry for a variety of other foods, which offer a variety of nutrients. Two cups of milk a day will provide a 1-3 year old with all of their protein and 75% of their calcium needs. For 4-6year olds, milk meets 66% of their protein and 75% of their calcium requirements.

Nonanimal milks such as soy, rice, almond and others are usually nonfat or low fat. For children, buy the lowfat milk with the most calories from fat. To supplement the loss of fat in the milk you may want to add vegetable oils to your child’s diet. (Try olive oil on bread, rice or veggies). Only use these milks it they are ENRICHED. This means that the product has added calcium, Vitamin D and other nutrients that make them equivalent to cow milk. The protein in soy milk is similar to cow milk, however, other nondairy milks usually provide much less protein than cow milk. Other protein foods can easily make up this difference.

Flavored milks have the same nutrients including protein and calcium as their nonflavored partners, however the flavoring usually adds sugar (calories). Coffee milk should be avoided for those wanting to avoid caffeine, although the amount is not great.

What kind of milk is best for your child? You will have to decide. Next blog I will write about the pros and cons of the different forms of milk available to you and your child. Eat well, enjoy life.

Do I Need To Buy Organic Foods for My Child?

2006-09-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

Many people with young children wonder if the price of organic products is “worth it”. I can’t make that decision for you, but I can help you understand what “organic” is and is not.

Organic foods are grown without the use of genetic engineering, radiation, sewage sludge, or synthetic pesticides. Organic animals must be fed only organic feed, be given outdoor access and are not given antibiotics. Organic milk is from cows that meet all of the above criteria and are not given Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH). There are studies showing that organic products have more nutritional value than others, but there are also studies that show that they don’t.

Products labeled 100% Organic contain only organic ingredients. A product labeled organic must have at least 95% organic ingredients. Washington state as well as several others, have had organic standards for many years. There is now a federal organic standard, the symbol is a circle with the words “USDA ORGANIC” stacked in black type.

There have never been studies on the health effects of pesticides and children. Our government has set some upper limits for some pesticides, but these are for adults. But we do know that young children (birth-age 3) take in more food per pound of body weight than adults because children are in an extremely rapid growth period. We also know that young children’s immune systems are still developing and strengthening. For these reason, some people choose to use organic products when their children are young.

To help you make a decision I recommend “Food News”, produced by a nonprofit called Environmental Working Group. Their web site is www.foodnews.org. Check out their report card on pesticides. It will give you a current list of the foods that have the most and least pesticides. For many of us, avoiding the worst pesticide offenders or purchasing the organic product gives us peace of mind. It also saves the money and time that may be involved in purchasing all organic products.

Feeding the First Year

2006-09-07T17:24:00.000-07:00

Feeding your baby brings up a multitude of issues. First you have to decide to breast or bottle feed your child. This decision will see you through the first 4-7 months as all the nutrients your baby needs are provided in formula or breast milk. Next you realize that you that you will need to offer solid foods. This leads to a myriad of other issues and questions.

My advice is to follow your child’s lead, and your common sense and intuition. Your child will let you know when they are ready to start solids. Sometime between 4 and 7 months you will notice that your child can sit up with minimal assistance, move her head easily, and watches you intently as eating. He may reach for your food or make sounds while you eat. When you offer a spoon of food, your child will open her mouth or move forward to reach the spoon. He will also be able to swallow very soft foods such as baby rice cereal, soft banana mixed with breast milk or formula or baby foods without too much coming back out. Your child may, at first, push the food out with her tongue. If this is constant, she may not be ready for solids, but if she is ready, this will quickly decrease.

Current research shows that texture is more important then food group when offering first foods, so start with semi solids and thicken as time goes on. But try not to be too timid about increasing the solidity of foods offered. Remember, by 1 year most children are easily eating most table foods. In order to detect any allergies offer one new food every 4 days. If no unusual reaction occurs, offer another new food. It is recommended that children under the age of 1 year not be given liquid milk (yogurt and cheeses are ok if there is not history of dairy allergies in the family), honey including honey baked into crackers or cookies, and egg whites. Raw vegetables and crisp fruits are usually to difficult for babies until their 2 year molars come in.

During the first year we feed our babies on demand, usually every 1 to 2 ½ hours. Even if it appears that your child is not asking for food, offer it a least every 2 ½ hours. When feeding, choose 2 foods and let your child eat until they show you that they are finished. If they don’t eat either of the foods, the meal is over. Don’t go and get something else or cajole your child into eating. Babies eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full.

Every child develops differently. Try to stay away from developmental charts dictating exact foods and amounts your child needs to eat. Even if you offer the exact foods listed ona chart, this may lead to under of over feeding your child. Follow your child’s lead and your own loving instincts.