Use Ice Cream to Teach Your Kids to Eat Right

It's Memorial Day weekend and that means summer.  And summer means Ice Cream!!!

Hurray.  I love ice cream.  Most kids I know love it too.

And most parents I know go back and forth between trying to regulate their kids' consumption of ice cream over the summer and, well, just letting it go.

I'm going to suggest something radical: This summer use ice cream to teach your kids to eat right.

Half the battle of eating right is knowing how to fit sweets and treats into your diet in a way that works.

That's why I was disappointed when I picked up the current issue of Nutrition Action Healthletter, published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and read their tips for choosing the best ice cream.

I love this newsletter. I really do.  But, come on!

This article advocates eating a rational amount of ice cream—as opposed to digging into a bowl that's bigger than your body— a proposition I support.

But it also advocates...

1) Substituting the dessert of your dreams with a lower fat (and sometimes totally fake) version of the real deal. Artic Zero? Really?

I say, let your kids eat the ice cream they love.

2) Trying to reduce (or eliminate) the sugar rush you receive by choosing ice creams with the least amount of added sugar.

I say, let your kids eat the ice cream they love.

3) Maximizing the protein and calcium content of your cone.  Most premium ice creams contain 4-5 grams of protein per half cup, but Ciao Bella Adonia Greek Frozen Yogurt packs a 9 gram protein punch.

I say, let your kids eat the ice cream they love.  Ice cream shouldn't be your good nutrition "go-to." 

Lesson 1: It's better to fit REAL ice cream into your diet in a way that works than to look for the "healthiest" ice cream out there.

Yes, I know that the folks at the Center for Science in the Public Interest would advocate both—moderating your intake of the most nutritious ice cream out there—but that's not the way most people work.  Especially people who are kids.

Lesson 2: Let treats be treats.

The idea that we can expect things to be what they are not—ice cream that's packed with protein, cookies with as much fiber as a bowl of oatmeal—is a byproduct of the nutrition mentality (mixed with a healthy dose of manufacturing magic).

But here's the irony: It's harder to teach kids to treat ice cream as a treat if you "health-ify" it.

When you blur the boundaries between healthy food and treats, it's hard to:

• Convince your kids to limit their intake of treats.  
• Teach your kids the importance of eating healthy foods.

Lesson 3: Eat foods in proportion to their healthful benefits.

That means eating green beans more frequently than gelato and spinach more often than sorbet.

And then, teach your kids to indulge in ice cream as an occasional indulgence.

These are the lessons they will need for a lifetime of healthy (ice cream) eating.

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

Source: Hurley, J. & B. Liebman. 2012. "Ice Cream: What's Hot in the Deep Freeze?" Nutrition Action Healthletter.  Center for Science in the Public Interest. June. pp. 13-15. 

Top 10 Healthy Food Lists: Ditch 'Em

I hate food lists. They're misleading and misused.

Here's one that showed up in my inbox recently:

Read the rest of the list.

Food lists that are geared towards parents of toddlers are especially misleading.

They make parents feel like there are special foods for toddlers. Items little kids are supposed to eat.  That's a myth.  Toddlers can (and should) eat what you eat—as long as what you eat is healthy— with three small concessions. Read more.

But I hate food lists for other reasons too: 

• People get overly focused on a small set of foods.
• People are encouraged to feed list foods to their kids over other, equally beneficial foods. Oranges didn't make this particular list, for instance, but I suspect it's still good for your kids to eat one ocassionally.
• People feel free to overfeed their kids list foods.
• Parents often end up contorting themselves to get list foods into their kids, i.e., bribing, begging, and ironically, compromising the quality of food they feed (sweetened yogurt anyone?).

This is how nutritious food lists end up teaching kids bad eating habits.

Most parents use foods lists incorrectly.

In my experience, parents: 

1. Scan the list.
2. Find a couple of foods that their kids will willingly eat.
3. Feed their kids these same foods every single day, confident that they're doing the right thing.

But I never met a nutritionist who would recommend parents use food lists this way.  

• From a nutrition perspective, kids need variety. 
• From a habits perspective, kids need variety. 

Don't be surprised if your kids reject new foods if you feed them a monotonous diet. You've got to mix things up—a lot. Read End Picky Eating with The Rotation Rule.

All food lists are basically the same.

The difference is in the details: Which healthy foods they feature.  True, some lists emphasize blueberries while others are all about apples, but all lists recommend some assortment of real food.

(It’s hard to find Goldfish crackers, chicken nuggets, chocolate milk, apple juice or any "child-friendly" food on a healthy eating list.)

You only need to know three things to teach your kids to eat right.

1. Feed your children more fresh, natural foods than any kind of processed food. (Proportion)
2. Don't get stuck feeding your kids the same foods over and over. (Variety)
3. Only feed your kids when they're hungry, stop feeding them when they're full—and resist the urge to feed kids when they're bored, sad or lonely. (Moderation)

So ditch the lists.  

It'll save you time, and free up valuable brain power.  Focus on teaching your kids a style of eating that will maximize the chances that you'll teach your kids the habits they need for a lifetime of healthy eating.

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

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.