Water vs. Punch and Soda

Two studies, same results: Serving water at meals and snacks makes kids more likely to eat vegetables!

Study 1: 

• Take a bunch of 3-5 year olds.
• Offer the kids a snack of carrot sticks and slices of red pepper. 
• One day offer the children Hawaiian punch to drink with their snack. 
• Another day offer the kids some water with their snack. 

What happened?

The children ate a larger portion of vegetables on the water day than on the Hawaiian Punch day.

And get this: the researchers noted that even after consuming only a small amount of the sweetened drink, the children were relatively disinterested in eating vegetables. 

Study 2: Take a bunch of college students and ask them how well soda goes with pizza, fries and vegetables. Then, ask the students to say how well water goes with these same foods.

On a scale of 1-5 where food/drink pairings DO NOT GO WELL=1 and food/drink pairings GO WELL=5. 

• Raw vegetables such as carrot or celery sticks go well with:
  • Tap water or plain bottled water: Average score=4.15
  • A cola beverage: Average score=1.83

•  Steamed vegetables, such as asparagus and broccoli, go well with:
  • Tap water or plain bottled water: Average score=3.20
  • A cola beverage: Average score= 1.93

In other words, if you’re drinking a cola beverage, you’re not going to think of eating vegetables.

Not surprisingly, the students thought that both French fries and pizza go well with soda: French fries average score=4.20, Pizza average score=4.17.

With water? French fries average score=2.86, Pizza average score=3.51.

Some explanations:

• Sweet flavors may not "sit well" with the less sweet taste of the vegetables.  Or...

• People come to expect certain food combinations like pizza with soda or punch. 

There are so many reasons not to teach your kids the habit of drinking sweetened beverages.

(And, in my opinion, juice should also be on the list. Read Coke Beats Juice.)

• Sugary soft drinks are the No. 1 source of calories in the American diet.  We get more calories from sodas and sugary drinks than any other individual food, including cake, cookies, and pizza.  Read this New York Times article. 

• When taste preferences for sugar, salt and fat are developed early in life, the stage is set for diets high in calories and low in nutrients.   Some research even shows these foods can be addictive.  Read Are “Child-Friendly” Foods Really Gateway Drugs?

 And now there's one more reason: Your kids will eat more vegetables. 

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

Source: Cornwell, T. B. and A. R. McAlister. 2012. “Contingent Choice: Exploring the Relationship Between Sweetened Beverages and Vegetable Consumption.” Appetite  doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2012.05.001.

Kid Eats Q&A: What's a Soccer Mom to Do About Snacks?

Thanks to Katie who sent me this question:

My son (almost 5) is playing soccer for the first time this year.  I just got an email from the coach that the parents need to chip in even more money so that she can provide popsicles for the kids after all the practices and games.

WHAT?  Now, I do love popsicles, but I'm not so keen on my kid feeling that an hour of exercise deserves a sweet/colourful/completely devoid of nutrition "treat".  I know my kid and after about 3 weeks the soccer/popsicle connection will be cemented in his brain.

Am I being way too uptight? Should I put up a stink?  Offer to bring fruit?  Talk to my son about it and let him have at the popsicles? 

From a habits perspective I hate the idea that kids are being taught to consume junk with athletics.

So Katie, I'm with you. I feel your pain.  And no, I don't think you're being way too uptight.

You can try to convince the coach that she shouldn’t serve popsicles—Read my friend Sally’s success story for inspiration.—but it's not the only thing you should do.

In addition, I say use this opportunity to begin teaching your son about how to navigate the food world he lives in.  Read When School Nutrition Stinks, but here's the general plan: You figure out how much, your son figures out when.

1. Talk to your son about how to fit sweets and treats into his diet so that fruits, vegetables and other real foods dominate his day.
2. Teach your son to plan for popsicles by moderating his intake of sweets and treats on soccer days.  When possible, allow your son to do this for himself: “You can have this cookie now or you can have a popsicle after soccer.”
3. Bring fruit for your son to eat, and enough fruit to share, but don’t bring so much that you take over snack time—not because you might step on some toes, which you probably will—but because being the one who always brings the healthy snacks is both a financial and an emotional burden.
4. Allow for some wiggle room, those times when your son will have had his treat before soccer but wants another one after the game. Remember, it's the longterm lesson you're after.

Most parents I know worry that their children will feel excluded if they aren’t allowed to eat the same food (and I use the term food liberally here) as everyone else. 

To this I say:

• Possibly. and
• It depends on how you handle it. and
• Sometimes it's worth the risk because there are important lessons at stake here.

Here are some points I think are worth considering: 

1) If children have adequate access to sweets and treats they won’t feel DEPRIVED in the sense of, “Kids hoard candy if they’re not allowed to indulge." Your child might feel a little deprived, but we're talking limits, not total restriction. One of the most valuable lessons you can teach your son is that he doesn't have to eat sweets and treats every time they're offered. He also doesn't have to have sweets and treats just because they're being offered.

2) Although children believe it’s not “fair” when other kids are allowed to eat sweets and they aren’t, parents don’t have to reinforce this belief.  Instead, parents can teach their children that when it comes to sweets and treats, “fair” is eating what is right for your body, not more than what’s right, and not what's right for someone else. "Maybe Jimmy didn't already have a donut today. This is his time for a treat. You already chose to have yours. Remember?"

3) Even when kids resist limits, limits are good. Put another way, if limits were always eliminated because kids didn't like them, where would we be?

4)  When children are allowed to choose when they have their sweets and treats they’re more comfortable accepting limits because they've been part of setting those limits. 

5) It’s easier to accept being different when you don’t feel deprived.  (See point #1.)

To be fair to the coach, she’s probably thinking that popsicles aren’t that bad because she thinks::

• Popsicles are primarily water —and kids have to rehydrate. Actually they don’t need to rehydrate as much as you think. Read Soccer Moms, BEWARE!

• Popsicles have sugar, but nothing compared to ice cream.  Actually, sugar varies widely in popsicles. One Popsicle brand grape popsicle has 8 grams of sugar, one Dreyers All Natural Grape Fruit Bar has 18 grams of sugar.  In comparison, ½ cup of Dreyers chocolate ice cream has 15 grams of sugar.

• Some popsicles contain actual fruit.  Some do, though none of them contain the range of nutrients found in real fruit: one Dreyer’s Grape bar has 25% of Vitamin C—all of it added— but none of the Vitamin A, calcium, iron or fiber found in actual grapes.

On the other hand, this coach clearly isn't thinking about long term habits.

But, Katie, I'm glad you are.  It will help you navigate successfully past this soccer snack situation so you can teach your son the skills he will need for a lifetime of happy sports and healthy snacking.

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

Translating Nutrition into Behavior

How many times have you strongarmed your kids into a car seat?

I'm guessing...zillions.

I call this the strongarm stage of learning new habits: The period before your kids willing (even happily) comply with the rules.  It's the time before the habit has taken hold when your kids often need a little, shall we say, a little extra encouragement.

Of course, teaching kids good eating habits is more challenging than getting kids in the habit of riding in a car seat.

You can't really throw manpower--mompower?--at the problem during the strongarm stage.  (Though I've known a few parents to try!)

Since you can't force your kids to eat, the only thing you can do is create an environment that is conducive to the outcome you're after: Veggie eating, trying new foods, pleasant dinners...

So I've put together my Top 10 Tips for Translating Nutrition into Behavior so your kids will eat the way you want them to.

 1. Taste preferences are more nurture than nature. Read Food Culture and What It Means to be “Child-Friendly.”

2. Don’t serve marginal foods or use questionable strategies to get nutrients into your kids. It’ll ruin both their short- and long-term eating habits.  Read The Ten Most “Dangerous” Foods and The Two-More Bites Tango and How YOU Can Take the Lead

3. Never ask children to eat new foods. Ask them to taste a pea-sized sample and describe what they’ve tasted instead. Read Why Some Kids Should Spit and Nix the Negativity.) 

4. Commit to The Rotation Rule: Don’t serve the same item two days in a row and deliberately rotate through different tastes and textures. Read End Picky Eating with The Rotation Rule)

5. Serve a fruit and/or a vegetable at every meal and every snack—every darned day.  And be satisfied with one Happy Bite.  Read Fruits and Vegetables at Every Meal and Every Snack—Every Darned Day and The Happy Bite

6. Stop pressuring your kids to eat and start serving smaller portions.  Read When Less is More.

7. Improve the quality of your kids’ snacks.  It will improve how your kids eat and it will change YOUR life.  Read 10 Ways Improving Your Kids’ Snacking Will Improve YOUR Life.

8. Talk to your kids about eating behavior more than you talk to them about nutrition. See the world of food and eating through your kids’ eyes.   Read Eating, Seen Through Your Child’s Eyes.

9. Clearly delineate eating and non-eating times. Don’t let your toddler eat on demand. Don't be afraid to let your child feel some hunger. Read What To Do About Snacks and Do Kids Need to Snack? 

10. It’s just as important to teach your kids why, when and how much to eat as it is teach them what to eat.  Don’t feed your kids when they’re bored, sad or lonely (or because you need to buy some quiet time).  10 Habits MORE Important than Vegetable Eating and Soul Food for Kids.

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~