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

[stacycat69.livejournal.com]

I read something about how they were encouraging food stamp recipients to eat more fruits and vegetables. After the intervention, they were eating more fruits and vegetables per day, but then the nutritionist said something like "they were eating more fruits and vegetables, but they did not reduce their intake of other foods, thus leading to an 300 calorie increase, which could be problematic." argh!

I fully agree with you, even if I dont eat lots of fruits and vegetables :) The entire emphasis is on eating for health, because god forbid we ever eat for pleasure! That would ruin things and create a rift in the space time continuum :)