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

Nutritional content versus nutritional value

Following my recent post "Value for Money" about making the nutritional content of your calories count, I was interested to read this article by Dr David Katz M.D. about the concept of labeling food with a nutritional score rather than stating the calories, fat etc. http://huff.to/gyVmhJ
Makes interesting reading and I'd like to hear your comments.

5 ways to put the New Guidelines into Action

My previous post gave the main points of the new dietary guidelines but now lets put them into practice!

1) Enjoy your food but reduce portions
Food should be enjoyed!   When eating at home choose a smaller plate than you usually do - this will automatically reduce your portion size without you feeling your plate looks too empty.
2) Avoid oversize portions
Often restaurants tempt us with "for only a dollar more" you can have a bigger portion.   While we all love a bargain, this is one offer we should resist or if you do choose the larger portion share it with others or take some home to make another meal out of it the next day.
3)Make half your plate fruit and veg
 Most of us know fruit and vegetables are good for our health but how many of us honestly eat around 7 portions every day?  By keeping this guideline in mind when serving our meals it will help increase intake of these wonderful foods.  Frozen and canned fruit and veg count too - try to buy those canned in water or natural juice.
4) Switch to low fat milk
If you currently drink full fat milk and feel that switching to fat free milk is too big a step at first, change to 2% initially.  This will still  reduce your fat intake and over time you can try and reduce it further by using 1% or fat free milk.  Store brand milks are often cheaper than other brands but are nutritionally the same.
5) Reduce sodium intake
 In store: read labels and choose the lowest sodium content item; look for products that are labeled low sodium
At home: reduce your intake of processed food and use simple recipes to cook at home which gives you control over how much sodium you add; trying adding salt when cooking OR at the table but not both.

New Guidelines, New Year, new YOU!  Which of these steps will you try first ?

Dietary Guidelines 2010

New Dietary Guidelines for Americans released today:

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/DietaryGuidelines/2010/PolicyDoc/ExecSumm.pdf

Balancing Calories

• Enjoy your food but reduce portion size
• Avoid oversized portions.  

Foods to Increase

• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
• Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.

Foods to Reduce

• Compare sodium on food labels and choose the foods with lowest sodium.
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

Value for money

People have always wanted value for money and never more so than these days.  But what about value for our calories? 


Food is our body's fuel just as gas fuels our cars - if we're paying three or four dollars for gas we want to be sure we're getting good mileage from the fuel!  So why not demand good mileage from the food we fuel our bodies with?

Grocery store shelves are filled with 'snack size' packs of cookies, candies and chips all boasting that they provide 'only 100 calories'.  But what nutrition are you actually getting for your 100 calories?  Often just sugar, fat and salt.

If you want to get the most nutrition for your 100 calorie snack and the most value for money then you can't beat fruit & vegetables as a snack choice! Make your dollar go further by choosing items which are in season; mix frozen fruit with plain or Greek yogurt; carrots are relatively inexpensive, widely available and can be paired with a low calorie dip or hummus for a filling snack that packs a punch in the nutrition department!

One banana, for example, provides 100 calories, is low in fat and sodium yet provides fiber, potassium, calcium, magnesium plus a whole range of the B vitamins to name a few.  That's a whole lot of nutrition for your 100 calories!

Make it your mission to not only find ways to make every dollar go further but make every calorie go further too!