June 21, 2011 Why Kids Have Bad Eating Habits
I offer apologies to the woman I saw feeding her grandson at Panera last week, but what I’m gonna say ain’t pretty.
If you want to know why America’s children have such bad eating habits you only have to look at what this well-intentioned woman taught her 4 year-old grandson about food and eating. Then multiply what I observed by the millions of kids in country.
All over the America, in the name of good nutrition, adults are:
- Pushing kids to eat high fat, high sugar, and high sodium foods.
- Teaching kids to think unhealthy foods are healthy.
- Encouraging kids to snarf down extra calories, and cheering them on when they overeat.
No wonder the obesity rate among the nation’s preschoolers has doubled in recent years.
When I tell you what this woman did you’re going to think I’m crazy. It’s going to seem benign.
She: (1) ordered macaroni and cheese with a blueberry yogurt for her grandson’s lunch; and then (2) told the boy he could have a cookie if he finished his pasta. He chose a Flower Cookie. And skipped the yogurt.
I’m not saying the boy shouldn’t have eaten this meal. I don't want to live in a world without mac 'n cheese! But if we're going to feed our kids this kind of crap, we should be a little more conscious (and honest) about the lessons we're teaching.
Lesson 1: To prefer high fat, high sugar, and high sodium foods.
In one meal this active 4 year old consumed:
- 100% of his daily sugar
- 86% of his daily fat
- 79% of his daily sodium
Don’t think it’s the cookie that’s messing up these numbers. By itself, the macaroni and cheese provides:
- 18% of the boy’s daily sugar (Not bad.)
- 51% of his daily fat (Really?)
- 66% of his daily sodium (OMG!)
There is mounting evidence that "hyperpalatable foods" -- those with just the right amount of sugar, fat and or/salt – stimulate our appetites and can be addictive.
Lesson 2: Unhealthy foods are healthy.
By offering the cookie as the reward for eating the macaroni, this grandmother was positioning the pasta as a healthy dish—a claim that’s hard to justify.
Compared to the Flower Cookie, Panera’s mac ‘n cheese has:
- 50 more calories
- 9 more grams of fat
- 860 more mg of sodium
And even though the macaroni and cheese has 13 more grams of protein, and a lot more calcium than the cookie, it’s hardly a healthy dish.
It would have been better to tell the boy that both the macaroni and the cookie were treats.
Lesson 3: Snarf down extra calories.
We can never know for sure if this boy would have finished the macaroni without a little encouragement, but I doubt it...otherwise, why would he have needed the incentive?
Calories consumed: 890 or 59% of a 4 year-old’s daily allotment
- Macaroni and Cheese - 490 calories
- Cookie - Approximately 400 of 440 calories (The boy left a few bites)
After the meal the boy called his mother to brag: He'd eaten all his macaroni and earned a cookie.
Lessons clearly learned!
~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~
P. S. Don't think that leaving the yogurt behind was the nutritional mistake. In 2 meager ounces, the Organic Kids Yogurt Blueberry Flavor packs a 10 gram, 60 calorie punch. Read Yogurt vs. Coke.
============================================
Sources: Computations based on USDA Intake Pattern Levels for moderately active/active 4 year old boy (1520 calories per day); Panera Bread Product Nutrition Information accessed 6/17/2001
Kessler, D. A., MD, 2009. The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite. New York, NY: Rodale; Nestle, Marion. 2011. http://www.foodpolitics.com/2011/06/sedentary-work-and-obesity-another-view/. Accessed June 17, 2011;
Reader Comments (8)
This is interesting info - thank you for sharing. I would love it if you would post links at the end of these articles to healthier alternatives to these habits - I know you have them on your site! :)
Janet,
I usually do try to post links at the end (and throughout) to alternatives, but sometimes--as with this one--it doesn't happen. The alternative in this case, which I do say, is to let the child have both the macaroni and the cookie but to tell him that both are treats. Then, which I didn't say but should have, is to let the child eat as much (or as little) of either as he wishes. I never recommend bribing kids with one food to eat another food, but in this case since neither is "healthy" there really is no pay off.
Thanks for your comment.
Dina
You are absolutely right. The boy got three treats and there is nothing wrong with that in itself - life is good and treats are a part of it that I find of utter importance. The problem is the bribing and portraying one treat as real food. Though there is this problem with fast food. Yes is is a treat, but a lot of the time it gets to fill the function of a real meal. Like this weekend we got delayed and stuck in traffic and were facing a two hour drive home at dinner time (rapidly turning into melt down time aka bed time) and the packed food (including treats!) were gone. The kids needed to eat and there were those golden arches... So there we were passing junk food off as a meal and urging our kids to please just eat it! Not that the the two-year-old did, but anyway. If you would have seen us you would totally have judged us too.
I recently came across this blog, and I like your philosophy when it comes to food. I share it and have since long before I had a kid. I've always tried to offer mostly healthy, unprocessed foods, let her eat them when she is hungry, and let her stop when she is full - listening to her own satiety cues. She loves vegetables. Occasionally she gets treats. My 26 month old is happy, extremely smart, extremely active, way ahead of most milestones, and is never sick. My problem, however, is that she does not gain weight - she's been stuck at a very, very low weight for her age for the last 7 months. Her pediatrician is concerned and wants me to give her drinks like Pediasure, which I do not consider healthy. Especially because the only thing I see "wrong" with her is her weight - everything else about her is better than expected for her age.
So I've been trying to feed her higher calorie, albeit healthy foods (nut/seed butters, avocados....), and she eats them, but in very small quantity. I make her higher calorie beverages that have things like the aforementioned nut/seed butters and avocados in them, but again she doesn't drink much. I think "fruit" is her least favorite food group, and she won't drink fruit smoothies (whole fruit only, no juice), which is the number one thing people recommend I give her with higher calorie things mixed in. I don't want to bribe her or force her to eat past her own comfort level, but I find myself beginning to "encourage" her to eat more after she has told me she is all done, something I never would have considered before her weight started to stagnate. I'd be fine if she was just tiny, but it isn't just that - she's tiny AND she isn't growing (well, her height and head circumference continue to increase, it's just her weight). I'm comforted to know that genetics probably plays a role in her case, her dad is extremely thin (he struggles to keep his BMI in the healthy range above 18.5), and MIL tells me he was a slow weight-gainer as a kid too. But I still think she should be putting on weight, that's part of childhood!
PS She likes falafel at breakfast too, but will only eat 1/2 of one before declaring she is "all done."
To EAW-
Don't force the calories. Do check to make sure that she does not have a malabsorption problem. My daughter had/has similar issues. Loves a salad for dinner, would like to pass on pizza please. Was told by nutrionists to add oil to her applesauce, butter to her rice, sweet breads at meals, etc. She didn't/doesn't like it and none of it worked anyway. When she was younger (15 months or so), we used the Pediasure. She liked that and would eat nothing else (pediasuraholic declared the GI doc). Had to discontinue it.
We finally discovered that she had Celiac Disease. After being gluten free for about 2 years, she feels much better and is growing taller but her weight is in the 1st percentile. My husband is also a skinny guy and I am fairly small. I am not going back to the concern from the past about weight. She is now healthy, active, and bright.
Turns out my oldest also has Celiac. Had whole family tested because it is genetically based. He had no symptoms. 95%ile for height but low on the weight end. Was extremely active. He has put on about 10 pounds since going gluten free. Every child is different. Eliminate the possibility of medical causes (at 26 months, bloodwork for Celiac will probably be accurate) Then trust your gut!
CLP:
You have quite a story. I'm glad you discovered why your daughter wasn't gaining weight. And I agree with your advice to EAW not to force the calories. In my experience, the more pressure parents apply to kids to eat, the less they eat.
Dina
EAW,
I agree with CLP that you shouldn't force the calories (it usually backfires) and that you should have your daughter checked for medical absorption issues. If she's eating consistently, and consuming a variety of items, then that's all you can ask for from food. There's probably something else going on. Try estimating the number of calories she takes in every day. It will give you a lot of information. The standard is to consume around 1000 calories per day at her age.
Good luck,
Dina