What if they emphasized... taste?!

[sarahmichigan]

Sandy again has a great post about how programs to fight the so-called "obesity epidemic" through getting kids to eat more fruits and veggies tend to be dismal failures. On the whole, children already know that they should be eating 5 fruits and veggies a day, and the most rigorous studies show that these interventions -at best- get kids eating a whole whopping half a fruit or veggie more per day after months of propaganda. As the article notes, the kids hear this propaganda over and over and eventually just tune it out.

As I was reading, I couldn't help wonder if  hammering home health lessons was the wrong approach. What if they actually taught ways to make cooking and baking with fruits and veggies more fun and flavorful and emphasized how good these foods can taste?

Oh no, we couldn't have kids thinking you ever eat food because it tastes good. You should ONLY eat food that makes you healthy, no matter what it tastes like.

Comments

[theal8r.livejournal.com]

Honestly, we have a lot of bad food habits and hang ups (as a culture, whatever). My kids LOVE fruits and veggies, although Bryn doesn't like berries of any sort. Bryn is a salad freak and will often choose to have salad over peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Another thing is that we don't have a lot of junk food in the house. In fact, we still have HALLOWEEN CANDY (and Yule candy) that the kids haven't eaten.

We eat what we like even bad stuff, but we try to make sure that "bad stuff" portion sizes are reasonable. Ice cream? Check. Soda (yup, the kids drink cherry 7-up and root beer because they love it, but no more than one a day (and usually not even that much) because it is a treat, not a staple) and juice? Check

Favorite veggies? asparagus, brocolli and sweet potatoes.

Also, Both children have their own cookbooks that they can choose recipes to help make. That and we did hang up the food pyramid on the fridge for a long time to teach them what they need... And us, too.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

I can't tell if you're agreeing or disagreeing with me or just ruminating on kids and food. :)

I don't think our culture has as many "bad food habits" as some people want us to think we have. I mostly think there's a moral panic about food and anything that makes food taste good (sugar, fat, salt) is unfairly demonized. Sure, we could all use some additional fruits and veggies in our diets and less processed food, but the hysteria has to stop. If our diets are so crappy, why are we healthier than ever before (statistically speaking)?

[theal8r.livejournal.com]

ruminating on kids and food. A lot of moms on "mom forums" I read now and then wonder why their kids eat like crap and hate everything but never look at what it is that they have in the house or the habits they teach the kids in the first place.

But Brian and I believe in moderation in all things. Living will eventually kill you, after all :)