Making Healthy Food Choices
Real Savvy Moms had a webcast earlier this week entitled Serving Up Good Nutrition for Kids. In the webcast Pediatric Gastroentologist Dr. Yinka Davies answered questions about feeding kids healthy foods. The webcast was geared towards parents of younger kids, but there was a lot of good information that applies to kids of all ages (including adults).
First Dr. Davies stated the problem she sees most often in her practice is constipation. Kids get constipated because they don’t get enough fiber in their diets, aren’t drinking enough water and they are more sedentary. As parents we need to get our kids off the couch and outside playing games. We need to make sure they are drinking enough liquids. And we need to make sure they are eating the right foods.
Kids needs to be eating foods filled with the “building blocks” of nutrition. This includes protein (the basic building block), fats (for brain growth), and carbohydrates (for energy). You get protein from beans and meats. You get fats from fruits, beans, pasta and rice. And you get carbohydrates from things like oils and avocados.
So what can we do now that our kids are older and may not like vegetables or prefer McDonalds as their dinner of choice? Well it’s never too late to make changes.
- First we need to lead by example.
- Make it a family goal and change everybody’s eating habits.
- Remove foods with a lot of preservatives.
- And start to retrain the palate.
- Also, make sure you are reading the labels. Avoid foods high in sugar and high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup is high in calories and has no nutritional benefit. However, companies use it a lot because it is cheap, has a sweet taste and is easy to add to food.
So how can you get your kid to eat healthy foods?
- Dr. Davies says it’s okay to sneak foods in to their diets. I was really glad to hear this because I love the book Sneaky Chef
, but it gets some slack for encouraging parents to sneak food in to their kids’ foods rather than just teaching them healthy habits. The problem is sometimes kids (especially strong willed teens) need us to be sneaky.
- Make homemade pizza together and let your kids add the veggies to the top of the pizza. When they are involved in the preparation they will want to eat their concoction.
- Use avocado instead of butter. Puree the avocado and spread it on bread.
- Put blueberries on cereal or make blueberry pancakes. Blueberries are an antioxidant which heps boost the immune system.
- Puree vegetables and put them in sauces or ketchup.
- Make smoothies. Who doesn’t love a smoothie?
- Add whole fruit to juice.
- Make fruit pops.
- Make sure kids stay hydrated throughout the day. The foods we eat have water in them, but you can also send a bottle of water to school with your child. Make sure they have liquids before school and after school as well.
What about juice? Many middle school and high school kids think they have outgrown juice. Instead they want to move on to soda (most of which have lots of sugar and caffeine in them). But juice can be a healthy alternative (as well as water and milk). But make sure they aren’t drinking too much juice; around 12 ounces a day is good for an older kid. And make sure they are drinking the right kind of juice. Juice drinks are not juice and may contain as little as 10% of actual juice. When buying juice look for the following:
- 100% pure juice (like Juicy Juice)
- “Natural” may be misleading. “Natural” may also contain very little actual juice in the drink.
- No additives.
- No preservatives.
- No high fructose corn syrup.
Making good food choices starts at home so encourage your teen to eat better foods. These are lessons your kids will carrying on with them to adulthood.
This is a Blogtoberfest Sponsored Post. If you would like to enter for a chance to win the surprise gift behind this blog post, please leave a comment. Prize and Winner will be announced within a week. Check back to see if you’re the lucky winner and what you’ve won!
You also have lots of chances to win great Blogtoberfest prizes! Today, October 10th, your chances (and prizes) are hiding at the following blogs: A Child Chosen, All Holiday Café, Babylune, Blog Fabulous, Career & Kids, Cooking Gadgets, Declutter It, Foodie Obsessed, Jewelry and Beading, Kettle and Cup, One Book Two Book, Quilting and Patchwork, and Supernanny Rules. Visit them all and leave a comment – you may win even more!
I am sort of guilty of hiding foods. My kids get either Juicy Juice Healthy Harvest, or V8 fusion. Both my 12 yo and my 21 mo like veggies and I don’t have difficulty getting them to eat, but I doubt I serve enough veggies consistently. Sometimes I’m in too big of a hurry to make sure their diets are as balanced as they should be.
I know, bad mommy. Bad, bad mommy.
I don’t have junk in our house so it’s not something they can ask for or want to it, we do go out for a treat once in a while. As for school they don’t sell soda anymore and the menu is somewhat healthy, no more fries.
I’ll try avocado spread on bread … thanks for the tips.
The worst problem for me is that empty foods are the easiest and least expensive foods. We only buy soda for Christmas and chips are for New Year’s Eve, but stuff like mac ‘n cheese is always being served.
I like the smoothie idea. These are good ideas to reinforce when possible, I know it is hard with busy schedules, eating on the go and the fact that teenagers eat a lot of their meals away from mom and dad! Thanks!
We’ve let our kids try all kinds of fruits and vegetables–and we don’t mind if they want to try something and then don’t like it and we have to waste some. Our kids have found enough fruits and vegetables that they like that we can get a variety in them on a regular basis. And we have a rule that snacks have to be healthful foods–but we do have desert a couple times a week!
We’ve been trying to eat healthier. We’re vegetarians and that has helped us make healthier choices over all. We don’t drink juice in our house, but we don’t drink soda either. I think we are setting good examples for our son. Hopefully he will follow them.
I encourage them to drink water and instead of high calorie, high sugar content juices I will sometimes make drinks like Crystal Light which have almost no calories and are primarily water.
When I was young (yes, eons ago) soft drinks were a special treat, so they posed little threat to health. Now they seem to take the place of all the healthy drinks, like milk, and juice, and even water.
dlcwin[at]gmail[dot]com
Thanks so much for the tips – I’m always looking for ways to make sure my kid eats well. I’m always bolstered by the fact that my pediatrician encourages me to look at his diet over the whole week instead of just a single day – that usually helps me realize that he really doesn’t eat ALL junk!
I try to cook from scratch as often as I can. I also involve my daughter in helping with cooking. Sometimes she will try foods just because she helped make them. Beans are a great choice for kids…especially if you introduce them very early. My 3 year old daughter loves all types, from green beans to kidney and even lima!
As much as I sometimes wanted it, I think my parents were right not to keep the junk around the house. I don’t have kids of my own yet, but I try to encourage healthy habits in the kids I babysit – it’s easier with some families than with others.
When I was little, I HAD to have a glass of milk before I could have anything else. And my sister — who has a five year old, a four year old, an almost three year old, and a nine or ten month old — has all sorts of recipes and stuff she uses to make sure the kids eat well.
my girls love the ocean spray 100% juice grapefuit juice (it has other juice than just grapefruit), it is surprisingly not very tart but really refreshing.
Given the ‘theme’ of this trail I thought you and your readers may be interested in a new blog we have built (sponsored by McCain Foods) that focuses on school food. The site also features a questionnaire that can be completed by parents. Obesity is endemic in the USA and yet, often, school food is part of the problem. The blog is only going to be up for a short while and it would be great if your readers could have a look and add some comments.
The site is managed by me, Jeff Peel, and I’m an independent market researcher. I’ll read every comment personally.
I’m sure you will agree that the foods that your children are fed in school will have an impact on their well-being. We’re really keen to hear your views.
Jeff Peel
Quadriga Consulting Ltd
for http://mccainfoodsbetterforyou.com/
I am fortunate. My kids eat about anything.
I fight with this all the time. My kids don’t eat much at all. They drink milk a bit and two glasses of juice a day but no veggies. I eat veggies every day and they see me but will only take one bite and thats it. UGG!
My kids will eat anything. Thank goodness
I have one healthy eater and one picky/junk food lover. I am trying to limit the chocolate milk with that one!
We eat vegetarian at home as well.
For kids to eat healthy foods means that the parents should be eating healthy foods too and be good role models in that regard. Also, I think that children, when first learning about eating food, should be introduced mainly to vegetables instead of many fruits to start — helps curb their “sweet tooth” later because they’ll appreciate the different hearty flavors of the vegetables in good meals too.
I tried a “guacamole sandwich”. It was delish!
Fortunately for me, my kids will eat lots of fruits and veggies. “Junk” snacks around our home is very limited which my daughter doesn’t think is right but as long as I keep their fav fruits/veggies stocked up they will eat those.
each child has different tastes-that can complicate things
I have 5 small kids who have very varying tastes, so its a challenge…my hubby is diabetic so I plan alot of meals around that. I’ve found lots of great recipes that are healthy and, surpisingly, very tastey! I love Jessica Seinfeld’s book, Deceptively Delicious! Thanks for the entry!
this is great information.
they have sevveal of these Webcast to watch n demand or to downliad to your PDA.
that’s Real Savvy!