An Economic Message from a Nutritionist

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?

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

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/)