Making Fresh Food Fun!

by Victoria Holthaus

 Have you seen the Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli commercial where the grocery store clerk is signaled not to tell the child there are vegetables in the mix?  It is disappointing to know that if the child had been told there were a full serving of vegetables in the ravioli, he likely would not have eaten it. 

As a dietetics student, I am curious to know what exactly would decode the unappealing stigma that vegetables hold in the eyes of children.  So I went straight to the source and questioned my third-grade brother what it would take for him and his friends to eat fresh foods.  Sadly, he replied, “I’d eat them if they were dipped in chocolate.”

While it is disheartening that some kids feel this way, it’s good to know that members of the American Dietetic Association are hard at work to change this.  The ADA’s Kids Eat Right initiative and National Nutrition Month campaign support efforts for children to incorporate more healthy choices into their meals each day. 

According to MyPyramid.gov, it is recommended that kids (age 8) consume at least 2 ½ cups of vegetables and 1 ½ cups of fruit per day. 

Here are four fun ways you can encourage children to “eat right with color.”

Go shopping.  If you have an extra hour to spare, take your kids to the grocery store or farmers market and let them pick out what they’d like to eat.  Kids will feel proud when eating the food when they feel a part of the process of choosing what they eat.

Pick new foods. Do you see a plantain or starfruit?  Have you ever tried fava beans or kohlrabi?  Let your child select some foods not normally chosen and enjoy trying something new!

Play with your food.  Whoever said that you couldn’t play with your food was wrong!  Allow your child to have fun with food by using bite-sized fruits, vegetables, and toothpicks to create sculptures.  The young one will have fun making a unique creation—and may perhaps eat a few pieces along the way!

Be a food critic.  Tell your child to pretend to be the food evaluator on television shows like Top Chef or The Next Food Network Star.  Set one small portion of four or five new foods on the plate and have your child judge the tastes, textures, and overall eating quality of the foods. 

With these four tips, your child might soon discover that eating fresh foods can be exciting.  And you will be able to rest assured knowing that your little one is not only receiving optimal nutrition, but is enjoying it too. 

To find out more information regarding healthy eating for kids, please visit http://www.kidseatright.org.

Victoria Holthaus is a junior at The Ohio State University studying Human Nutrition/Dietetics.   She is a member of Ohio State’s Sport and Wellness Scholars, the Food and Nutrition Forum, and serves as a Student Council Liaison to the American Dietetic Association.  You can follow her on Twitter @ToriHolthaus or read more at www.healthyglowandgo.wordpress.com

The End of National Nutrition Month is just the Beginning...

This week marks the end of National Nutrition Month 2011 and what an exciting month it's been!

The internet has been ablaze with color as dietitians highlighted the health benefits of eating foods from black & white to yellow & purple and people shared photographs of their plates piled high with fruit and vegetables in every shade of the rainbow!

This is one of MY colorful meals!

This years theme "Eat Right with Color" was particularly conducive to capturing the imagination of children and there have been countless articles, games and recipes aimed at getting kids cooking, teaching them about healthy eating & increasing fruit & vegetable intake amongst children. These sites provide amazing resources for kids, parents & teachers alike.
In addition, The American Dietetic Association Kids Eat Right website provides a host of information from nutrition information to shopping tips for all ages throughout the year.

With thanks to Dietitians-Online.com

Adding to the excitement this month and raising awareness of the work Dietitians do, the American Dietetic Association were invited to ring the NASDAQ closing bell and nutrition messages appeared on several occasions on the adverts in Times Square New York!

Personally, this has been an exciting month for me as I have met some wonderful Dietitians through National Nutrition Month social media campaigns & I have liaised with several students who will become the next generation of dietitians!  I also had fun with my efforts to further increase the color of my family's meals!
I hope you have embraced the message of National Nutrition Month 2011 and found exciting ways to add color to your diet. I encourage you to see this as the beginning of the next step in improving your health by maintaining your increased intake of these eye-catching & nutritious foods!

Nutrition for the U

by Carlene Helble

        Going to college is a time of freedom and growth. A student gets to decide whom they eat with, when they will eat, and what their dining choice is each day. For a while, it may be the siren song of daily pizza or double Twinkies, but don’t fret! The novelty of on demand pizza will wear off, and college kids will look for options that help fuel their study sessions the right way.

Here are a few tips to help you or your student eat right for semesters to come.

-Know your options:

        Choice is a beautiful thing, but it can be overwhelming if you’re not prepared! I remember feeling dumbfounded as a freshman with the sheer number of options presented. We had more than ten dining buildings and at least 5 options within each. Where do you even start?

        Instead of settling for what you can see, take a look at the school’s dining website and get an idea of the lay of the land. Building one may have pizza, burgers, and a taco bar, but find the diamond in the rough. Can you order a vegetable burger with a whole-wheat bun at the burger bar? Can you get a side salad with your pizza?

-Ask and ye shall receive:

        Just like in a restaurant, you can request alterations to the standard order. Be polite when you request small changes to dinner that will balance your nutrition intake for the day. ‘Would it be possible to have extra veggies instead of fries?’ or ‘Please hold the mayo.’ are not a burden when done with class and a smile.

-Buy impulse fruits:

        Marketing research shows that customers are likely to buy items presented to them in the check out line. In grocery stores, this is often candy and magazines, but in more universities, fruit is being offered in large baskets at the exit. Be tempted! Pick up that orange to balance out your meal; if you’re not hungry now, save it for later.

-Squash the snack attacks:

        There’s nothing worse than being stuck in class with no time to go to the dining hall. It may seem like your only option is high sugar and sodium vending, but plan ahead and squash that snack attack. Keep a Lara bar or dried fruit and nuts in your bag during the week. Or how about that orange you picked up at lunch? When your body is sending you the ‘starving’ signal, you’ll be glad you have the right fuel already with you.

-Don’t stress for perfection:

        The time will arise when mac and cheese with a cookie dessert is the only thing that will do that day. Be in touch with your body and let yourself enjoy what you crave. Don’t beat yourself up over an indulgent meal; just use the rest of the day to help balance. Mac and cheese for lunch is the perfect opportunity for a big salad with Mexican black beans and other veggies at dinner.

As I prepare to graduate in May the best advice is this: Enjoy each day and savor every meal. College will fly by before you know it!

Carlene Helble is a senior Dietetics major and Family Studies minor at James Madison University. She is the president of JMU's student dietetic association and Student Council Liaison to the ADA. Carlene has applied to the 2011 spring match for dietetic internships where she hopes to continue into private practice and working with nutrition and social media. You can follow Carlene on Twitter @CarleneFutureRD or read more on her blog www.CarlenesFigments.wordpress.com 

5 Ways to Help a Picky Eater - starting today!

March is National Nutrition Month and the nutrition and dietetics world is buzzing with great articles about "Eat with Color" and interesting recipes to increase fruit and vegetable intake.

But if you are the mother of a picky eater you are probably feeling like all this information is irrelevant to you as your child won't even eat cereal or toast never mind mango or pomegranate!

I want to reassure you that you are not alone and the situation can get better! Picky eaters can learn to Eat with Color


 Here are 5 ways you can start helping your child become less picky, starting today!

1) Relax.
Easy to say not so easy to do?  Often a vicious cycle starts up:  your child won't eat and as a Mom you know they need nourishment so you start stressing about mealtimes and putting pressure on your child to eat.  The anxiety level is high leading up to mealtimes and is off the scale by the time a difficult mealtime is over!  Take a deep breathe, children pick up on your stress and anxiety and if you are more relaxed going into a meal they will be too.

2) Involve children in meal preparation.
Children are often busy playing and being called for a meal can come as an unwelcome surprise for them.  Let them know it's getting near mealtime and give them the 'important job' of setting the table or getting the drinks or going around telling the rest of the family that dinner is nearly ready.  Let them feel involved by giving them choices.  Choose 2 meal suggestions that you are happy with and then ask them to choose.  "Would you like a sandwich or pasta?"  If possible eat as a family, switch the TV off and keep conversation light.  Talk about your day, ask about their day, tell a funny story anything but fixating on the meal and how much is or isn't getting eaten.

3) Set them up for success.
If you know your child is only going to eat 2 bites  of food, then serve them just 2 bites of food.  It takes the pressure off you feeling you have to say "just one more bite" and it takes the pressure off them feeling overwhelmed by what they see as a 'mountain of food'. When they have eaten it you can make a big celebratory fuss!  Positive praise means so much to children and often they will ask for more to see if they can get the same reaction.  If they don't ask for more, that's ok, you've still taken the first step towards making mealtimes more relaxed and enjoyable for them.

 4) Don't sabotage meals with snacks. 
Children's stomachs are small and a glass of milk, a couple of cookies or some other snack eaten within an hour or two of a meal can be enough to take the edge off their appetite so they have no desire to eat.  Adults who are trying to lose weight are often advised to drink a glass of water 30 minutes before a meal to curb their appetite - the same thing happens to children.  They need the feeling of an empty tummy to give them that desire to eat.  I have worked with many parents who were frantic that their child would last days without food but on closer questioning parents realized their children had free access to milk or juice and were drinking constantly throughout the day.  Their tummy's therefore felt full and they had no interest in eating. On the other hand, don't give your child a snack such as cookies, candy or chips after a meal has not been eaten.  This gives them the wrong message that if they hold out long enough, they'll get a treat instead of dinner.  If they come looking for food once the meal is over either offer them the same meal again or fruit as their only choices.

5) Make every mouth full count.
I advise speaking to your Pediatrician about your child's eating.  They may be able to reassure you about their growth which in turn can help you relax and reduce the mealtime pressure.  If your child is only eating small amounts, make sure everything you offer is as nutritious as possible.  Offering a dip along with vegetables or pouring cheese sauce over fish, for example, not only adds extra taste and makes the food more moist in their mouth but also adds extra calories too which are often needed when only small portions are eaten.   Use supplements to provide daily vitamins and minerals while you work on improving their food choices.

Make mealtimes fun!  Let them help you cut their sandwiches into interesting shapes with cookie cutters,  add their own colorful toppings to make a pizza face and press the button on the mixer to whizz up a colorful  fruit smoothie!  As a Mom, although the days may seem long, the years are short and this is the time to relax, have fun with your children and teach them the good eating habits you want them to use throughout their lives!

Pancake Day!

Today is "Pancake Day" which is the day before the start of Christian Lent (the weeks before Easter) when historically, people would use up the ingredients they had in their pantry in preparation for the fasting and prayer associated with Lent.   Fat, sugar and eggs were used up on this day (to make pancakes!) as intake of these foods was restricted during Lent.
So this morning I made pancakes for breakfast and I have to say it is one of the easiest breakfasts to make and they are always eaten by my whole family!
Using basic ingredients you can whip up delicious pancakes quicker than you can open "boxed pancakes".

Recipe:
1 egg
1 cup of milk
1 cup of self rising flour (I use 1/2 cup self rising + 1/2 cup wholewheat flour)
pinch of salt

Preparation:
crack the egg into a bowl
sieve the flour into the bowl
add a pinch of salt
add a cup of milk
whisk together

To Cook:
~ heat a non-stick griddle/frying pan on medium to high
~ scoop out 1/4 cup of mixture and add to the pan
~ after a couple of minutes you see bubbles starting to pop on top of the pancake

Ready to turn when bubbles pop

~ flip it over using a spatula and cook for another 1-2 minutes
                                     

Cook approx. 2 minutes each side

~ Makes about a dozen pancakes
~ Serving size 2 pancakes - any extra can be frozen for another day!

Makes a dozen - serving size 2 pancakes!

To enjoy:
~ experiment with healthy toppings
~ I added fruit, Greek yogurt & maple syrup

Princess & Hello Kitty plates optional!

We had bananas and blueberries on ours!  What will you have on yours?

National Nutrition Month - Eat with Color!

March is National Nutrition Month and for me this means a great time to be adventurous and try new foods!  This year's theme is Eat with Color so why not challenge yourself and your family to see how many different colored foods you can eat each day this month?  Aim for as many colors of the rainbow daily as you can.  Just one thing though - they must be naturally colored foods NOT artificial coloring so hit the store and explore that fruit and veg section!

Different color foods provide us with different vitamins, minerals and other nutrients to help keep our bodies healthy so eating a variety of colors each day really is important.

Making  food fun for children is a great way to get them to accept new foods.  Here are some fun ways to focus on fruit and vegetables with your children:

~ Shopping with children can be a stressful experience (believe me I know) but giving them a task helps to keep them interested.  Give each child the task of finding a particular color fruit or vegetable and see what new items they come up with!  If they bring you something you've never tried before, such as, green kale, purple aubergine, yellow star fruit or red pomegranate agree to try it!!  Check out the internet for recipes and ideas on how to prepare and use it.

~ Create a list or colored chart of all the fruit and vegetables you can think of then play 'bingo' as you cross off each one as it gets eaten!


~ The American Dietetic Association talk about "eating a rainbow" and this image can be so appealing to children!  Have them eat a fruit or vegetable then draw it or cut a picture from a magazine and glue it on the matching color on a picture of a rainbow.

Children really do learn by example so be sure to let them see you eating fruit and vegetables for meals and snacks!

For more information please visit The American Dietetic Association www.eatright.org/nnm