Educating kids on nutrition

[fortyfeetunder]

I am in a battle with the spouse about bringing sugary crap cereal home.

So today, since the kid was home sick today, thinking I could provide a bit of maternal influence, I propped a box of sugar and a box of his favorite stuff on the table.

Showed him how much sugar was in a teaspoon, and how many grams it was. Then I showed him how many grams of sugar were in a cup of his favorite stuff, then did some simple division to show there were almost 4 teaspoons of sugar in that cup of his stuff. Then we measured out the sugar and I said, would you eat all of this for breakfast?

His answer: "I only eat the wet ones (pieces of cereal)"

[SW FL Dem]

1. Good Luck - I've been trying for years

My son is overweight, and we don't have any junk food in the house (except when I bake during the holidays). He gets the junk at school and at his friend's house. In middle school they serve pizza and fries EVERY DAY! If you want salad, you have to stand in a separate line to get it. I think he is finally getting it at 13 because of a class he is taking at school. I also let him watch Supersize Me.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

2. I've been having problems getting my 2 year old to

eat fruits and veggies. I think maybe there is too much chewing involved in eating them for him. I gave him some pineapple chunks last week, and he sucked on them for a good long time, but he never ate them. He won't eat corn either. He'll eat stuff like bread, cheese, yogurt, pasta, and finely chopped/ground meat pretty easily. Do you think it is the consistency that bothers him? I know he used to he the veggies and fruits pureed as babyfood. He still likes to eat apple sauce, but not apple pieces. Does anyone have suggestions on some good starter fruits and veggies for a toddler? I'm trying to get him to eat more adult foods, but he seems to be very lazy about chewing.

[trotsky]

4. What if you bake the apples?

Or steam the veggies until they're good and soft? If the chewing/texture thing is bothering him, softening things up might help. Our son wants soft carrots, while our daughter prefers crunchy. And woe be unto mom or dad when we get them mixed up!

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

5. I'll have to try the cooked carrots.

He might like those, especially since they are a little sweet. Baked apples is a good idea too. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

9. I came up with a plan to introduce my son to more foods

and food textures, mainly fruits and veggies. For fruit, I'll give him some fruit to eat. I'll give him about 30 minutes to eat it. If he isn't making any progress towards eating the fruit in that period of time, I'll take the fruit and blend in it with some yogurt in the blender. My son likes the taste of the fruits, but he doesn't want to chew them yet (even though he chews other foods like bread, pasta, and soft meats). He loves yogurt, so he'll defintely eat the fruit once it is pureed and mixed with the yogurt. I figure I'll just keep on giving him the opportunity to eat the small fruit pieces. One day he'll actually do it. He'll still be eating the fruit (and not wasting any food) if I puree it and mix it in with yogurt.

I have a similar idea for the veggies. I'll give him about thirty minutes to try the veggies, and if he hasn't made significant progress towards eating the veggies in that time frame, I'll blend the veggies up and mix it in with some pasta and tomato sauce (or spaghettios). Spaghetti is his one of his favorite foods too.


I tried both of these ideas today and it worked. He ate fruit cocktail blended in with yogurt and he ate spaghetti with pureed peas mixed in it. He wouldn't, of course eat the peas or the fruit when I just gave it to him as is. He just played with and sucked on a few the fruit pieces. The same thing for the peas. He also seems to not eat these things so well because he has trouble spooning these foods. He's very interested in using a spoon lately. He doesn't want to eat with his hands if he can avoid it. The spaghetti and yogurt he has no problems eating with a spoon.

[trotsky]

3. Choose your battles.

I & my siblings practically grew up on sugared cereals, but none of us ended up overweight or in poor health. (And I still have all my teeth!)

Just try to steer them towards the "better" sweetened ones, like Honey Nut Cheerios or Berry Berry Kix.

By far the greater danger to kids health today is shaping up to be fast food and lack of activity - fight on those two fronts instead, and let them have the cereals!

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

6. Yeah, you can get cereals that are slightly sweetened.

I've noticed some brands are selling sweetened cereal with reduced sugar content now.

[trotsky]

7. Be careful with those.

Reduced sugar content means they replace some of it with the artificial sweetener Splenda. I consume Splenda in diet drinks now & then and I'm pretty sure it's safe but I don't want to give it to my kids just in case.

[rbnyc]

8. LOL

Something that impressed me when I was a kid: Our teacher had us all bring a baby tooth to school. We put it in a glass of cola with our name on it and kept track of how very quickly it went to rot. After that, I rarely drank soda and thought of it as a special treat, not a thirst quencher.

Good Luck!