The Peril of Other Parents

Other Parents.  You’ve got to love them!

Other parents provide us with the support we need.  They are friends, sole mates, babysitters, counselors and, when the baby has been crying for hours, they are the only people who really know what we’re going through. In fact, we couldn’t do this job without them.

Having said that, other parents can also be quite perilous: They sometimes expose our children to different toys, different TV, and different foods than we would like.  Sometimes they even do this without asking.  Ever have a stranger offer your kid cookies?  I have.

My 3 Year Old Scores Junky Snacks from Other Parents and Kids.  What Can I Do?

Here’s the scenario: You and your 5 year old are at a play date and the other parent gives your child a donut. What do you do?

Well, instead of rushing over and grabbing the donut out of your child’s hands, giving the other parent a stern talking to, or even a smoldering evil-eye, consider this:

Your child is going to be in situations her entire life where unplanned treats will appear, seemingly out of nowhere.  She needs to know how to handle it.

Teach your child the two skills she needs to moderate her intake of junk.

• Don’t eat junk just because it’s there.  You have to really want it.
• Before eating junk, forecast other junk-eating opportunities that are coming your way.  Then, instead of indulging all the time, choose the times that appeal the most.

Navigating perilous parenting/food situations can be easy with some planning.

1) Set a daily limit on junk and then let your child chose when to enjoy.  Candy with Breakfast?

2) If your child is given a donut at a playdate or a party, let her have it.  It’s important that food choices never feel punitive and she’ll feel punished if you swoop in to take the donut away. 

3) If another parent gives your child a donut that she hasn’t expressly requested, ask your child to consider whether or not she wants the donut at this time. Making your child consciously choose whether she wants to eat something is good practice – even if she always seems to choose the treat – because she needs to learn the lesson that she doesn’t have to eat something simply because it’s on the plate.

4) Use the occasion to teach your child to consider future events when she decides to eat treats.  Don't say anything now, but when you get home discuss the idea of forecasting with your child.  Introduce the idea that sometimes there are more treats available than we should eat so we need to make choices.  The safest bet is to save junk for later in the day so we know what’s coming.

What if the other parent is your partner?

Well, now you’re on trickier terrain.  After all, your partner should get a say in how your child eats.  Work on coming to an agreement about what and how much the kids can eat and what constitutes junk.

Then focus on the lesson not the food.  After all, it’s what your kids learn about what, when, why and how much to eat that matters.

~ Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits. ~

Soccer Moms, BEWARE!

I’m a soccer mom.  Or at least I was.  And boy, is soccer fun. But it also is an activity that can wreak havoc on your kids’ eating habits.  Those sports drinks we give our kids? They teach all the wrong things.

Some sports drinks have less sugar than soda (and even less sugar than juice), but drinking them produces bad habits.  If your kids consume sports drinks regularly they will also:

• Feel they need a flavor kick from beverages.
• Develop a taste for sugary, salty flavors, thereby raising their sugar and salt taste thresholds.  This influences what other foods kids accept.
• Believe that people who participate in sports require special nutrients not found in nature (but found in manufactured products).

Kids don’t need sports drinks.

When my daughter was 6 she joined an after-school, recreational soccer team.  She loved running up and down the field, trying to get a kick in whenever she could.

My daughter also enjoyed standing around, yelling support to her teammates.  Since only 2 or 3 players really played, that’s how she and most of her teammates spent the bulk of their time.  But it didn’t matter. Soccer was a ton of fun.

Halftime was a blast too.  The coach would rev everyone up, and the kids would suck down their fill of oranges and Gatorade.

Oranges I get – the kids were hungry -- but Gatorade?  I know rehydration is important, but honestly, most of the kids hadn’t even broken a sweat! Even if they had, from a nutrition perspective, sports drinks are unnecessary. 

Sports drinks are sweet, salty drinks with a little potassium.  For instance, one 8-ounce serving of Gatorade has

• 110mg of sodium
• 30mg of potassium
• 14g of sugar

(The Lite version has all the sodium and potassium but only 5g of sugar.)

Contrary to the marketing hype, only elite athletes need to worry about electrolytes.

Electrolytes are minerals in your blood.  You lose some when you sweat.  That’s the hook sports drinks producers use to reel you in: They say it is important to replace those lost electrolytes.

According to noted nutritionist Marion Nestle, however, unless you are vigorously exercising for an hour or more, you won’t even notice a loss of electrolytes.  Everyone has plenty.

Even if you are training for a marathon, sports drinks don’t do a lot more for you than plain old food and water.

• One medium banana has around 400mg of potassium. 
• A carrot has around 25mg of sodium.

Why train your kids to need a salt-supplemented, sugary drink when they workout?  

Instead, teach them to consume real food and water.  It’ll pay off, not just on the soccer field, but in the dining room too.

~ Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits. ~

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Source: http://www.gatorade.com/default.aspx#product?s=gatorade-g, accessed March 2, 20101; Nestle, M., 2006. What to Eat. New York: North Point Press. Pp. 421-422; Bricklin, Mark. 1993. Nutrition Advisor: The Ultimate Guide to the Health-Boosting and Health-Harming Factors in Your Diet. Rodale Press.

Is "Yogurt-Covered" Really Yogurt?

Yogurt-covered raisins, pretzels, fruit snacks, almonds... The list goes on.

Manufacturers coat lots of different kinds of food in yogurt, hoping to give them the “yogurt-effect”  -- the appearance that they are healthy, natural and good for you.  But are they?

Yogurt coatings are some combination of partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, whey powder, yogurt powder and sugar. YUM!

Let’s take a look at Sun-Maid Vanilla Yogurt Raisins.

Ingredients: Natural California Raisins, Yogurt Coating (Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Nonfat Milk Powder, Yogurt Powder, Whey, Titanium Dioxide, Soy Lecithin, Vanilla, Confectioners Glaze, Corn Syrup, Dextrin, and Maltodextrin.

Manufacturers are required to list ingredients by proportion so we know these raisins contain more sugar and oil than yogurt powder.  DOUBLE YUM!

Compared to raisins, yogurt-covered raisins are nutritional losers.  

Let’s say your child eats 1 small box of each.  This is what she’ll consume:

Calories:

• Plain Raisins - 90
• Yogurt-Covered Raisins – 120

Fat

• Plain Raisins – 0g
• Yogurt-Covered Raisins – 4.5 (4g saturated)

Sodium

• Plain Raisins – 5mg
• Yogurt-Covered Raisins – 20mg

Fiber

• Plain Raisins - 2g
• Yogurt-Covered Raisins -1g

Sugar

• Plain Raisins – 20g
• Yogurt-Covered Raisins – 18g

Before you get excited that the yogurt-covered raisins have less sugar than the plain ones, consider this:

There are 25-30% more raisins in the plain box because the yogurt-covered raisins are bulkier. The fact that the two boxes contain roughly the same amount of sugar means raisin-for-raisin, the yogurt raisins are much sweeter - due to the added sugar and corn syrup.  The plain raisins, on the other hand, are sweet because they grow that way.

More importantly, yogurt-covered (or really, oil-covered) raisins teach your kids that both raisins and yogurt should look and taste like candy.

And aren’t raisins kind of like candy already?  

Give your kids yogurt-covered foods occasionally.  When you do, teach them to think of them as the treats that they are, not the healthy foods they are claiming to be.

And if you want your kids to reap the benefits of yogurt, give them the real stuff - preferably in plain.  See Yogurt vs. Coke.

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits. ~

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Source: http://www.zeer.com/Food-Products/Sun-Maid-Vanilla-Yogurt-Raisins/000032022; http://www.sunmaid.com/en/products/products_raisins.html#raisins_3; http://www.sunmaid.com/en/products/products_yogurt.html (accessed March 2, 2010)