EATING HEALTHY AND WHOLESOME

MOST PARENTS MOVE INTO THIS AREA BECAUSE THEY WANT A HEALTHY WHOLESOME ENVIRONMENT FOR THEIR CHILD. OFFERING A HEALTHY AND WHOLESOME WAY FOR YOUR CHILD TO GROW UP INVOLVES EVERYTHING FROM YOUR ATTITUDES ABOUT APPROPRIATE ACTIVITIES, SCHOOLING, EATING, SLEEPING, SAFETY, EXPOSURE TO MEDIA, AND TRYING TO HELP YOUR FAMILY TO AVOID GROWING UP IN THE FAST LANE. MERR

Do children have an innate ability to control their caloric intake?
The evidence that’s available says that they do. Babies have a great ability to know when they need food and when they don’t. In non-coercive settings, preschoolers also show this ability. However, there’s a great deal of variability among individuals in this area, and parents have the potential, from day one, to influence whether children obey their internal cues about hunger.

What can parents do to reinforce a child’s ability to follow internal cues?
The simple answer is when a child says “I’m hungry”, feed him or her, and when a child says “I’m full” stop feeding. Example: if your child comes up to you at 5:00 and says “I’m hungry” and you say “you can’t have anything now because we are going to have dinner in an hour”, it tells the child that the way they feel about their hunger in not as important as the time on the clock. Instead of ignoring the child’s hunger cue, you could give him or her an appetizer course. This response reinforces the child’s appetite cues, provides a nutritious snack, and allows the parent to continue preparing a family meal.

How do parents find a balance between letting kids follow their own desires and imposing control to ensure variety?
Again, many wrongly assume that children are incapable of regulating their food intake, that children don’t know the difference between hungry and full. Does the child know he needs some peas? No. Does a child now how much he wants to eat? Yes. Thus the responsibility of parents is to provide the variety of foods children need and then allow them to obey their internal cues and eat as much or as little as they want. Also, if we’re beginning to err in any direction, it’s making eating into an issue of individual foods and individual nutrients. We’re getting too micro-oriented when, in fact, eating is not just about food. Eating occasions aren’t only about limiting fat or getting enough of a certain vitamin. They also include talking about your day, engaging in discourse with people you like. If parents can focus on some of the pleasant things about eating, some of the food struggles may diminish.

What about kids who seem to want to eat all the time?
Parents need to discriminate between a child who’s possibly bored and one who’s really hungry. Set some limits on what foods you’ll offer and when. If a child is hungry, offer something like a banana or raisins, even a cookie. If he or she doesn’t want what you offer, say “Well that’s what we’re having” and explain it will be a while before the next meal. A hungry child will eat. A bored child may just skip what’s offered and wait until mealtime.

What about providing a child a sweet snack?
It seems that today eating has become a black and white issue with “good” and “bad” food. But that’s not the way it works. There are decisions to be made, limits to be set, and limits to be negotiated. Is it always inappropriate to give a child a cookie? No. But it’s not always appropriate either. Again, the parent has the responsibility to provide a variety of selections so that a sweet treat is just one of many foods offered in a day. Never letting children have sweet treats or using them as a reward, invests those foods with too much significance, which can cause problems later on.

How are children influenced by their parents’ control over their own eating?
In a study it was found that parents who could not control their eating, who didn’t stop when they were no longer hungry, had children who also had problems controlling the amount they ate. It isn’t sure whether modeling parents’ behavior or genetic reasons exist for the similarities. In addition, we found that mothers who were dieting had daughters who were less likely to be able to regulate their intake. The opposite was true for boys. It may be that the sex of the child influences a mother’s child-feeding practices.

It is suspected but lacks data that there is a link between the composition of children’s diets and chronic illness later in life. The primary focus therefore is to provide diets that optimally promote growth and development. So have a large variety of foods that are healthy to offer your child. Children love choices and the control that comes with it. If you eat sweets, it’s best to eat them as dessert after a main meal instead of several times a day between meals.

Snacks Involve children in the planning and shopping for snacks and for meals. Discourage eating while watching TV. We are now a nation of people who are in the habit of eating everytime the TV is on. Juices are not generally nutritionally very good. Except for orange juice that is fortified with calcium most juices no longer have the vitamins that whole fruit has.

Breakfasts
Studies have shown that eating breakfast is associated with improved strength and endurance during the late morning, along with a better attitude toward school or work. Breakfast helps to replenish blood glucose levels, which is important since the brain itself has no reserves of glucose, its main energy source, and constantly must be replenished.