Amy Pleimling's Blog, page 2

Getting Kids to Try New Foods

 

As a dietitian, I get comments and questions about picky eaters all the time from parents. There are many things you can do to help open your child’s mind to new foods (and the topic can’t be covered entirely in a short blog), but the first one that comes to my mind is role-modeling.  In my book, Don’t Yuck My Yum, a dad is telling his boy Riley to eat his beans, but Riley notices that dad is not eating his beans and he thinks “how is that fair?”  It isn’t.

Parents need to be eating the healthy foods that they are encouraging their kids to eat.  I know this is not always easy, because parents can be picky eaters too! I talk to many adults who don’t like certain fruits or veggies. Taste preferences do come into play here but much of this is eating habits were formed a long time ago.  Adults and kids need to remember that taste preferences are always changing. If you don’t like tomatoes now (or if you didn’t like tomatoes when you were 10) doesn’t mean you still don’t like tomatoes 1 year later (or now that you are 40).  Families who are presenting a variety of healthy foods make a HUGE impact on kids eating habits - which are forming now and will last a long time. Consider the negative impact you are having on your child when he or she hears you say you don’t like peas or sees you not eating yours.  Now think about the positive impact you are having when a variety of fruits, veggies and other healthy food choices are presented regularly, eaten by the parents and spoken about in a positive way.  Kids may not be sold on the idea at first, but if you continue these eating behaviors they will be much more likely to try the healthy foods. Not only that, but they will be more likely to form healthy habits that will last a lifetime!

 

Prevention is the reason

I gave a short talk to a group of young women the other day about Don’t Yuck My Yum and was explaining to them why I feel it is so important that we teach our children healthy habits. I was emphasizing the importance of prevention by way of small, repeated healthy efforts while they are young so we can make an impact on their health later.

I have the opportunity to work as a dietitian on both sides – the prevention side and the treatment side. Because I actually work in a hospital now and see all of the complications that can arise from unhealthy habits, I am even more so determined to stick with my mission of promoting prevention by starting with our children. I found a great resource and website that is full of information – anything you want to know about how obesity affects our country, both health-wise and financially.  F as in Fat -  How Obesity Threatens America’s Future is a project of the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It is definitely worth checking out if the topic interests you – http://www.fasinfat.org/.

Obesity is one of the biggest drivers of preventable chronic diseases and healthcare costs in the United States.  But have a look at this:

Half of what makes us healthy people is our healthy behaviors. Yet only 4 % of the money that we spend on actually being healthy comes from teaching those healthy behaviors to people. I would assume prevention efforts, diet education, supporting people in achieving their health goals is amongst that 4%. Doesn’t quite match up does it.