Healthy Eating for the Holidays

Here’s a healthy eating tip to get you and your toddlers through the holidays:

Teach your kids to problem solve.  And while you’re at it, teach them to plan ahead, self-soothe and delay gratification too.

I know it sounds far-fetched, but studies show these skills are related to healthy eating because they lead to what researchers call “effortful control.”  That’s a mouthful, right?

Effortful control: the ability to thoughtfully process information, to systematically make decisions and to regulate impulse and emotion.  Sounds like your toddler.  No?

Actually, toddlers are hard-wired—literally—to be impulsive.  They want what they want NOW. I’m sure you won’t be surprised that research shows that impulsivity doesn’t lead to healthy eating.  Rather, it leads to snack and junk-food consumption.

Now you understand why toddlers—and maybe even spouses— want to eat the way they do! But you can teach them—kids, maybe not spouses— to do better.

Teaching your kids to do better might just save your sanity. OK, since Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away it might be a tall order for this year. But teach your kids these skills and next year will definitely go a lot smoother. (It's good to have a goal!)

Impulsivity and reasoning come from two different places in the brain.

Although children develop their reactive impulse during infancy, their ability to reason starts to develop during the preschool years.  That’s why 4 year olds make so much more sense than 3 year olds. 

But—and here’s a big but—researchers have discovered that you can help children develop their reasoning and self-regulation skills as early as age 3. 

Why bother? 

• One study recently found that children with poor delay of gratification at age 4 had an increased risk of becoming overweight by the time they were 11. 

• Another study found that children with lower self-regulation skills gained weight more rapidly between 3-11 than children who had better regulatory skills.

In other words, the more self-control your young children exhibit, the better off they’ll be in later years. Read Marshmallows Make You Smart!

The more you transfer decision-making to your children, the more ably they’ll make decisions, and the better they'll eat. 

Toddlers aren’t known for patience, thinking ahead, planning for the future.  But it’s only through the exercise of having to consider future consequences that children learn to delay gratification and to be forward thinkers.

Consider this: The next time your children demand cookies and it’s the day before a big party, instead of telling them “no” explain your rationale.  Then, start giving your children choices between getting that goodie now and indulging in a (potentially better) treat later.  This will teach your kids how to plan ahead and the benefits of delayed gratification.

You can teach your kids other important skills too.  Think like a researcher! Start giving your children plenty of opportunities for problem solving, and exposure to tasks with increasingly complex rules. (Consider asking your children to sort cards based on color, then to sort them based on color and shape, etc.) In other words, you don't have to dumb everything down. On the contrary, expect your kids to rise to the occasion. They will—especially with practice.

Believe it or not, these skills will translate into better eating because they teach your kids better self-regulation.

The holidays are a perfect time to start teaching your kids skills like self-control and delayed gratification.

You know there will be plenty of opportunities! You might as well use them to your advantage.

 ~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

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Sources:

Isasi, C. R. and T. A. Wills. 2011. “Behavioral Self-Regulation and Weight-Related Behaviors in Inner-City Adolescents: a Model of Direct and Indirect Effects.” Childhood Obesity 7(4): 306-15.

Dowsett, S. M. and D. J. Livesey. 2000. “The Development of Inhibitory Control in Preschool Children: Effects of "Executive Skills" Training.” Developmental Psychobiology 36: 161-74.

Riggs, N. R., M. T. Greenberg, C. A. Kusche, and M. A. Pentz. 2006. “The Mediational Role of Neurocognition in the Behavioral Outcomes of a Social-Emotional Prevention Program in Elementary School Students: Effects of the Paths Curriculum.” Prevention Science 7(1): 91-102.

Take a Walk on the Wild Side: A New Way to Introduce New Foods

If your kids are resistant to new foods you're selling the wrong stuff.

Try any (or all) of these techniques and watch your kids clamor for new foods.

• Let your child pick out a new treat at the grocery store at least once a month.  No restrictions.
• Go to the ice cream store but insist that everyone in the family try something new.
• Buy a box of Dunkin’ Donuts Munchkins and do a blind tasting.
• Let your child dig into a bag of candy...blindfolded.
• Have each member of your family choose a treat, and then have everyone pass their treat to the family member on their right.  Take a bite.  Pass to the right again.

FYI: I'm not suggesting you add more crap to your kids' diets.  I'm suggesting you use the crap they already eat a little more strategically.  Remember, it doesn't matter what your kids eat. What matters is how often they eat it.

I can hear you saying, “I have no problems introducing new cookies.  It’s new real foods my kid won’t touch.”

Let's face it, being open to new foods is a state of mind.  Read Mind Over Matter.

Most kids willingly eat new junk but parents don’t call a new flavor of ice cream new, so it falls under the radar. When parents do call something new, it’s usually healthy and boring. So kids get it into their heads that new foods are bad and boring, that they're more like broccoli than brownies.  No wonder kids are resistant.

Toddlers get it right.  I always canvass parents at workshops to see what new foods they recently offered.  The list usually looks something like this:  vegetable, chicken, fish...

But new cookies, cakes, ice cream and candy are just as new as any new vegetable.  See where I’m going?

Get your toddler used to the idea that new foods are amazing, delicious, awesome and worth the risk, and eventually you’ll have no problem selling other new foods too. 

Don’t be afraid to take a walk on the wild side. Then, when you do start introducing real foods set the right mood:

• Make sure new foods are tasty.  Read You Catch More Flies with Honey and When the Less Nutritious Choice is Right.
• Don't encourage your kids to eat new foods; ask them to taste and tell.  Read Nix the Negativity.
• Allow your kids to spit out foods.  Read Why Some Kids Should Spit; What "I don't like it" and "I'm not hungry" Really Means.
• Don't stifle your kids.  Read Onion Soup? No Way! Mac and Cheese? OK!
• Use familiar foods and flavors to link to new foods.  Read The Magic of Yogurt.

 ~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

Feeding Future Adults

When you shoot your kids from the cannon, what eating trajectory will they be on?

• If your kids have the same eating habits as adults as they have today, will you think they have learned to eat right?  Or
• Do you hope your kids change how they eat as they get older?

You know how Oprah talks about "Aha Moments?" Well here's one to consider: I once asked a friend why she doled out carrots (or other veggies) with lunch every day. She said it was because she wanted to teach her kids the habit of daily vegetable-eating.  Why, I asked her, did she also give them chips every day?  I saw the lightbulb go off.  

We start teaching lifetime habits in childhood. Your kids aren't actually kids. They're really future adults.

Of course, the job isn’t just about the future; we’ve got to take care of the little buggers today too.  But if you think about it, the parenting imperative is really to teach kids the stuff they’ll need to survive, if not actually thrive, when we launch them into the worlds on their own. 

If you have been thinking that it doesn’t matter so much what your toddler eats because there’s time for improvement, I’ve got news for you: bad eating habits don’t get better. 

The news is grim. A recent study of 2-18 year olds found that close to 40% of the calories consumed by kids come from empty calories. In other words, our kids are consuming a lot of foods that have virtually no nutritional value. 

Half of those empty calories come from just 6 foods:

• Soda
• Sugary Fruit Drinks
• Grain desserts, such as cake, cookies and donuts
• Dairy desserts, such as ice cream
• Pizza
• Whole milk

I  know it is hard to think of milk calories as empty. It is milk, after all.  But compared to skim, whole milk is loaded with fat (and not the good kind of fat either).  Read When Calories Don't Count.  Also check out Coke Beats Juice.

If anything, eating habits get worse.

Look at how Whole Milk and Fruit Juice turn into Soda and Pizza as the top 2 sources of calories:

• Children age 2-3 —  #1 Source=Whole Milk; #2 Source=100% Fruit Juice
• Children age 4-8 —   #1 Source=Grain Desserts; #2 Source=Yeast Breads
• Children age 9-13 — #1 Source=Grain Desserts; #2 Source=Pizza
• Children age 14-18 — #1 Source=Soda; #2 Source=Pizza

The researchers also discovered...

• 2-3 year olds get 13% of their calories from added sugars, and kids 4 and up get almost one fifth (18%) of their calories from added sugars.
• 2-3 year olds get most of their fat from milk and meat, but 14-18 year olds get most of theirs from pizza and pie (and cookies, cakes and other grain desserts).

These habits carry on into adulthood.  Read Why Adults Eat Poorly.

The solution is simple: THINK BIG!

It's hard to imagine that changing the way you think will change the way your kids eat, but it will.  Ask yourself what eating habits you want your children to have when they're grown and then feed accordingly.

Kids who start out consuming empty calories, tend to stay the course.  After all, change is hard to achieve. 

Read Think Big! Habits for a Lifetime. 

It is easy to lose sight of the future when it comes to feeding kids because immediate nourishment is so important.

Plus, no one really expects kids to eat right.  (Even pediatricians frequently tell parents to wait it out.)

Taste preferences and food choices, though, are more nurture than nature. How else can we explain the simple truth that Indian kids like curry and American kids like chicken nuggets?

The foods your kids eat early in life have a long-term influence on their eating habits. Do your kids a favor: Feed them the way you hope they'll eat when they're grown... and save them from a future struggle. 

~ Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits. ~

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Source: Reedy, J. and S. Krebs-Smith. 2010. “Dietary Sources of Energy, Solid Fats, and Added Sugars Among Children and Adolescents in the United States.” Journal of the American Dietetic Association 110(10): 1477-84.