This is a guest post by Allison Gamble, who has been a curious student of psychology since high school. She brings her understanding of the mind to work in the weird world of internet marketing, and is still trying to teach herself not to clean her plate.

photo credit: left-hand

Food and nutrition are difficult subjects for adults, and even more so for kids. A child’s taste preferences are influenced by outside sources almost from birth, so it doesn’t take a psychology degree to realize that it’s necessary for parents to guide them in making healthy food choices.

Clearly, your kids don’t think about nutrition the way you do, so you need to look at things from their perspective in order to avoid common pitfalls in the emotional realm of food and eating.

Kids and Healthy Eating Habits

Kids begin to develop preferences for food at a very young age. If you want your kids to grow up eating a variety of foods, aim to give them a number of options as these preferences develop. As they get older, encourage them to choose different kinds of healthful, whole foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

Even if you make many wholesome foods available, chances are your kids will want something sweet from time to time. Instead of slapping a label of “bad” or “unhealthy” on desserts and treats that will turn these foods into guilty pleasures, allow your children to eat them in reasonable portions. If they ask why they can’t have more, use their questions as an opportunity to talk about how different foods affect the body. Your kids will probably notice that they feel better after eating fruits and vegetables than after candy or cake, and helping them to understand why goes a long way towards giving them the tools to make good food choices in the future.

Above all, be a positive role model for your kids. If you’re constantly hung up on calories, fat content, carbs or weight, your kids will be too. Remember that kids are extremely observant and will often do what they see you doing, regardless of what you say.

The Many Faces of Food

For kids and adults alike, food is more than just physical nourishment. Advertisers work hard to target kids by using specific situations, emotions, and ideas to convince youngsters that eating a certain food will yield a positive result. Unfortunately, parents can be just as much at fault when it comes to attaching emotion to food. Saying things like, “You can’t have cake until you finish your vegetables,” or “If you’re good today, we’ll go get ice cream,” sets kids up to think of food in terms of reward or punishment instead of health and nutrition.

Odds are, your kids know how to listen to their bodies much better than you do. Young children haven’t yet been exposed to societal pressures that make adults fixate on food choices. Kids naturally eat when they’re hungry and stop when they’re full, an instinct that’s important to honor. Forcing kids to clean their plates when they’re not hungry or don’t feel well leads to the feeling that they must eat even if they don’t want to, undermining the natural cycle of hunger and fullness. Don’t worry if your child doesn’t eat very much one day or decides he’s not hungry. Instead, let the matter drop and go do something else he enjoys. When he’s ready to eat, he’ll let you know.

Teaching kids to make healthy food choices is as much a matter of showing as it is of telling. Giving kids a positive perspective through discussion and being a good role model leads to intelligent choices based on facts about nutrition rather than perceived ideas of good and bad. Kids know how to listen to their bodies, so as a parent, all you have to do is nurture that natural instinct.

In summary

• Encourage your children towards healthful, whole foods.
• Don’t turn desserts and treats into guilty pleasures or rewards.
• Be a positive role model
• Let your child eat intuitively. They’ll eat when they get hungry. Don’t force it.

What has worked for you? Share your tips!

©2011 Littlestomaks.com

It is no secret that most people in America today do not eat enough fruits or veggies each day. According to a recent report from the CDC, only 26% of adults admitted to eating 3 or more servings of vegetables a day. Even the well-known health benefits of eating veggies do not entice people to give veggies the love they deserve!

On the other hand, I am sure that most parents want to get their kids ingesting veggies at each meal. After all, no parent wants to feel like they don’t care about their child’s health and nutrition! In desperation, they may rely on offering rewards or issuing threats to ensure their child’s cooperation.

Well, according to this Chef Boyardee advertisement, an alternate strategy is to hide the veggies in the food and just don’t tell them! Brilliant idea from their highly paid marketers!

What do you think? Is it smart to get a full serving of veggies, or whole grain pasta in your child’s tummy no matter what even if it means you hide it behind loads of salt, fat and sugar?

It is about time we give up on such stealth tactics and promote veggies in an overt, intelligent and sustainable way.

We are not impressed. Share your opinions below.

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

Ask The Expert is a weekly column on Littlestomaks.com. The idea is to have a reader-submitted question answered by a nutrition expert or a pediatrician. Feel free to submit your question in the comments section below.

This week, Registered Dietitian Emma Stirling offers a few handy tips on how to empower your little ones at an early age in selecting treats and snacks appropriately and in balance with healthful foods.

Question: I’ve simply avoided giving my toddler any candy, chocolates or ice-cream until now, but can’t keep this up forever. What’s the best approach?

Answer:

So you wake up one day and your baby, who was enjoying her food and eating reasonably well, turned into a toddler.  Suddenly your food is the last thing on her radar.  And when she is hungry, there are far too many new foods available in the supermarket, at the café or at grandmas.  So how should you approach treat or ‘extra’ foods?  And what are some top tips for the whole, extended family?  Let’s explore this, at times, conflicting area of toddler nutrition.

Reward wisely

If you be a good girl at the grocery store, you can get a treat.  You didn’t eat all your veggies, so you can’t have ice-cream.  Oh my poor darling, let me get a plaster for your grazed knee and a little candy to cheer you up.  Sound familiar?  If you have childhood memories of food treats being connected with rewards or punishment or comforts, then chances are you will copy these behaviors with your own children.  But the problem with this is, it simply teaches children that treat foods are the most desirable and this can set up future patterns of emotional eating.  The key is to break this cycle and approach treats as an enjoyable part of regular eating, with no strings attached.

Tip: Try non-food rewards for good behavior like a sticker chart, new book or favorite outing.

Separate snacks

Due to their small stomach capacity and active day, toddlers need mid-meal nutritious snacks for fuel and to help ensure daily nutrient requirements are met.  It’s important to clearly separate snack foods from treat foods.  The two lists will differ from family to family depending on your personal nutrition views.  But the key is to make it clear to all family members.  Yes that’s you grandma, daddy and big cousin, babysitter.  At mid-meal snacktime make sure little stomachs fill up from your “nutritious snacks list” first like fresh berries, wholegrain crackers and dip or small cubes of cheese.  And pack portable snacks in case you are caught out and the closest option is a convenience store. Once hunger is curbed or satisfied you can offer something from the “treat list”.  In my family all treats for all family members (yes, daddy’s dark chocolate too) are kept in an opaque container on a top shelf in the pantry.  Out of sight, out of mind, until treat time.

Tip:  Be a positive role model and prepare a nutritious snacks platter to enjoy together.

Timetable treats

Aim to be consistent with your approach and set up a timetable or guidelines on how you will include treats.  In my family, since my children were three years old, we have all been able to choose, two portion controlled treats a day on request.  I’ve talked to them about the difference between treats and fill you up healthy foods, plus the idea of time appropriate eating – “no we won’t have an ice-cream now, we’ve just had breakfast and ice-cream isn’t a breakfast food”.  So now they ask for their treat at appropriate times, like after dinner (brush your teeth before bed) or when on an outing.  It sounds too simple, but the power is in empowering at a young age.  It wasn’t long before my daughter cottoned on – “Oh I won’t have a treat after lunch mom, I’m going to save it for an ice-cream after swimming lessons”.

And you’ll be amazed at how it works at the grocery store.  My children can now purchase items for the treats box, take them home and store them away without any pester power or “I want one NOW!”.  And on some (rare) days, they even forget to ask for a treat.

Maybe you think that sounds rather generous?   In your home, it may only be a treat three times a week, or only after sport, or only at parties.  But whatever you decide stick to it, even on vacation, when a few too many extras can slip in.    A treat time plan the whole family (even mom and dad) sticks to, helps your kids develop a healthy relationship with food.

Tip: Make a craft project together and cut out pictures of treat foods and snack foods from catalogues.  Stick them on a chart that clearly shows the two groups for all to see.

©2010 Littlestomaks.com. All Rights Reserved

Disclaimer – Information provided in Ask The Expert column on Littlestomaks.com is intended to give you general guidance on a question related to toddler nutrition. It is not meant to be treated as medical advice. You are welcome to contact this expert for a detailed consultation on your specific situation to determine what actions, if any, you should take regarding nutrition and health of your toddlers. We do not recommend you to take any action based solely on the information presented in this column. Experts have agreed to provide their professional opinion on toddler nutrition related questions on a voluntary basis and no compensation is offered to them by Littlestomaks.com.