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June 11, 2008
 Sources say that over one-third of children and teens in the U.S. are overweight or on the brink of becoming that way. If you do the math, that is roughly 25 million children. With the influx of video games and the infinite number of channels on your TV, your kids are exercising less and less. It’s time to revolutionize the way they snack to compensate for the lack of activity. Check out our list of healthy snacks to get you out of your food rut.
By Brie Gatchalian
Experts say it’s a good idea to get your children used to eating only foods with nutritional value. “If adults make and serve unhealthy food choices, then the children are more likely to make those same choices as they grow up,” says Whitney Orth, a registered dietician and nutritionist in the Department of Clinical Nutrition at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. “It is important to start making good diet choices from the beginning and set a good example.” Instead of giving your kids chips, cookies and ice cream, consider these healthy snacks.
Something Sweet
Stacy Roberts, a registered dietician from South Florida suggests making fruit kabobs for your children – it’s one of her favorite snacks. “You can use an apple, a banana, grapes and pineapple,” she explains. Just cut the fruits into bite-size pieces and place them on a wood skewer. Then, dip the skewer of fruit in yogurt and top with shredded coconut.
Something Salty
“Another fun idea,” Roberts points out, “are mini pizza bagels.” Get whole wheat bagels, top them with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. You can add diced vegetables like tomatoes, peppers or onions, and bake. “Your kids can help you prepare these healthful snacks, too” she says.
Something Fun
Molly Morgan, owner of Creative Nutrition who’s certified in Pediatric & Adolescent Weight Management, suggests something she calls “Monster Pizza.” To make, use half of a whole wheat English muffin. Top it with a light spread of peanut butter, raisins (to make a mouth), shredded lettuce or carrots (for hair), and grapes slice in half (for eyes). The ingredients sound a tad strange, but it’s delicious and healthy.
Revolutionize Breakfast
You can combine cereal and yogurt creatively, says Morgan. That way, eating cereal everyday can be more fun and interesting for junior. Make a cereal parfait for your little one. Just take a single serving with low fat yogurt, topped with a quarter cup off whole grain cereal (like Cheerios). Add sliced fruit like strawberries to the top.
All-Natural and Effortless
Tara DelloIacono, a registered dietitian and nutritional strategist for Clif Bar & Company, suggests organic snacks like CLIF Kid ZBaRs. These baked, whole grain energy bars were created with growing, active kids in mind. They’re made with whole oats, and contain 12 vitamins and minerals, and provide sustained energy with the right combination of protein, carbohydrates and fiber. Just chose from Apple Cinnamon and Blueberry, or Twisted Fruit Pineapple and Grape.
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April 21, 2008
by Joanne Kimes
Some parents have it lucky. They give birth to miraculous kids that sleep through the night, don’t have tantrums and eat anything you put in front of them. And then there’s my kid.
A child that’s so exhausting to deal with, the closest thing she’ll ever have to a sibling is her pet goldfish. When it comes to her finicky eating habits, it’s a wonder she gets enough nutrients in her to survive through the day.
If you have a picky eater too, you know firsthand how frustrating it is to get them to eat a variety of foods instead of just a steady diet of mac n’ cheese and some kind of nugget. But there is hope. With a few kitchen gadgets, and a few deceptive tactics far greater than any used in the military, your kid will be chowing down on something that may actually be good for him (although you don’t need to tell him that!).
- Hide the good stuff. Long before there were cookbooks (and later lawsuits) by women such as Jerry Seinfeld’s wife, moms were hiding healthy foods in vessels like sauces, baked goods, and casseroles. My personal favorite hiding place: pancake batter. If lack of protein is your issue, use two egg whites to replace one whole egg and substitute half soy milk for cow’s milk. If lack of fiber is the problem, use less flour (or pancake mix) and add flax seed meal, a great source of fiber and omega-3. No matter what you’re hiding, add a splash of vanilla extract to the batter to pump up the flavor so it’s less noticeable.
- Make food fun. You think kids would eat celery with peanut butter and raisons if it weren’t called “Ants On A Log”? Give food a silly name or make it more kid friendly, and your child will be gobbling it up faster than sand at the playground! Add a few drops of food color to turn a boring breakfast into “green eggs and ham.” If your child doesn’t like milk, add a few drops of blue to create “Blue’s Clues Milk.” A once-forbidden slice of whole wheat bread will quickly become a favorite if you toast it, cut it into a circle with a large biscuit cutter, scrape off eyes and a smile and present it as “Tubbie Toast”!
- Make food plain. Finicky kids like things simple and texture free. Strain pulp from orange juice, put canned sauce in a blender to get rid of all those yucky chunks and don’t even think about adding “grass” (finicky-eater kid lingo for any kind of herb).
- Have your kids help out in the kitchen. If you can get your child to help make their meals, you’ll stand a much better chance of getting them to eat it.
- Use chicken stock as a secret weapon. Any food will have a lot more flavor if it’s cooked in stock instead of water. Use it to steam veggies (especially broccoli) and add some to pasta water (they’ll even eat whole wheat pasta!).
- Use peer pressure. This same influence that may one day lead to smoking and wearing those low-ride jeans where their underwear hangs out, can actually work in your favor now. If your child sees his friend eating something healthy, there’s a greater chance your kid will eat it too.
Although your child will probably never outgrow his fondness for all things pizza and ice cream (I never did), hopefully you can use these tips to get some healthy food in him so you won’t worry so much about the other junk he’s putting in his mouth. Except for that playground sand because that’s just gross.
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March 16, 2008
Mary Fetzer
“Every family has a kid who won’t eat.” This line from one of the most memorable scenes in the beloved movie “A Christmas Story” says it all about finicky little eaters … and the moms who will do just about anything to get some food down their throats. Perhaps you were that kid growing up. Or it was your little brother or sister who made mealtime so challenging. How does this come to be?
Obsessing about food
We’re not talking about someone with an eating disorder here. Frankly, it’s the parents, not the child, who are obsessed with what (and when and how much) their babies eat. And it’s your right and responsibility as a parent to be completely “consumed” with every ounce your child ingests.
Remember when your infant was an ambitious nurser? You sleepily bragged that she had kept you up at all hours of the night because she couldn’t get enough of your nutritious breastmilk? “Just look how she’s grown.”
Then, when it was time for baby food and spoons, you couldn’t wait to introduce each item. Your little one eagerly ate every new food you put in front of her: pureed spinach, ground-up meats, mashed bananas. “See how healthy she is?”
It wasn’t long before you had fun experimenting with Cheerios, teething biscuits and those wonderful little finger foods that your toddler so sweetly put into her mouth. “Such coordination!” Admit it: you were keeping a mental log of every single bite.
The rebellion
Suddenly, this eager eater wants only chicken nuggets. For breakfast. Every day. What happened?
Wendy Hersick is a registered dietician and mom of Zachary and Sophia. “I remember when Zachary would eat anything … even plain tofu,” says Hersick. When Zachary turned 2-1/2, however, he became increasingly particular. Hersick believes that much of Zachary’s finicky behavior has less to do with food and more to do with his growing need for independence.
Rather than get into a power struggle about food with a two-year-old, Hersick presents opportunities for Zachary to make decisions about what he eats. “If Zachary wants another serving of white rice instead of his broccoli, I’ll agree to let him have the rice if he agrees to eat a few bites of the broccoli first.” Keep the options healthful so that whatever choice your child makes, you’ll both feel good about it.
One-year-old Chloe’s mom, Stephanie Bourgeois, agrees “Give them choices, but healthy ones you know are good for them.” So what is good for them? A balanced diet, of course: fruits, vegetables, dairy – you know the pyramid. Don’t separate food into grown-up fare and kid fare. Hersick believes that it is realistic to expect your child to taste and swallow at least one bite of the food that you serve. She does not prepare different foods for each member of the family. Hersick disagrees with friends who feed their kids earlier in the evening so that they can have adult time – and adult food – after hours.
“The children would have buttered noodles at 5 o’clock. At 9 o’clock, the parents would sit down to a gourmet meal, without the kids. The kids are now 10 years old and still don’t eat anything except buttered noodles.” Like most experts, she recommends that families make an attempt to eat together. “It’s important for kids to see their parents eating,” she says. Children like to imitate adults, and eating is no exception.
Since it can be difficult for working families to have regular dinners together, pick another meal to share if you must. “Make breakfast the meal you eat as a family. Serve fresh fruit, V8, eggs,” or any combination of healthful foods to make it a sharing and learning experience.
No need to force feed
Megan Wagner loves to cook, but her kids – Haley, Payton and Jack – don’t always want to eat. So Wagner gets sneaky. “I chop up raw veggies beyond any recognition, mix them with shredded cheese and ranch dressing, roll the mixture up in crescent rolls, and bake for 20 minutes. Wouldn’t you know it? They ate more than I did! I don’t know what it is about those darned, fattening crescent rolls, but they disguise anything that might be good for you.”
Bourgeois agrees in the covert culinary approach. “Do whatever it takes to get your children to eat fruits and vegetables. Serve them with dips. Puree them and sneak them into your kid’s food, if necessary, until they develop a taste for them.”
Many toddlers don’t eat three square meals a day. They tend to keep up their energy by grazing, which means they snack all day long. Bourgeois suggests making a plate for a meal and leaving it in the fridge. Rather than offer your child snacks when he’s hungry, feed him from the meal plate all afternoon. This fills nutritional needs as well as the need to spread out the calories for sustained energy. And your child won’t fill up on junk.
The bottom line
So it’s the fifth day in a row that your child has eaten peanut butter and jelly for lunch? Don’t sweat it. Somehow, children end up getting what they need to grow and be healthy. Bourgeois reminds us that kids don’t fill their nutritional needs daily like adults do, but rather over a week or two. If they eat fruit only one week and meat the next, it eventually balances out.
Hersick says it best: “Children eat well enough over time to do well.”
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February 18, 2008
Michele Thompson, MS
Bonding over breakfast is a great way to start the day with your children. Here, some recipes your own “Chef Kid” will love…
Cantaloupe Canoes with Cottage Cheese
Serves 4
While you are cutting the cantaloupe, explain division to your kids. Then let them practice it by dividing the cottage cheese and granola or nuts among the canoes. This recipe can also teach them cooking measurements – 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/4 cup, and more.
Ingredients:
1 medium-sized cantaloupe
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup granola or finely chopped nuts
Ground cinnamon
Directions:
Scrub outside of cantaloupe under running water to remove any grit. Pat dry and slice cantaloupe in half lengthwise. Remove seeds and cut each half lengthwise to make a total of four wedges. Using a small ice cream scoop or a spoon, scoop out the center of each wedge of cantaloupe to make a “canoe.” Spoon 1/4 cup cottage cheese into each canoe and sprinkle each with 2 tablespoons of granola or nuts. Dust with ground cinnamon.
Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits
Serves 2
Parfaits are a perfect way to teach your kids the importance – and fun – of eating a variety of foods. Use a different combination of fruit, flavored yogurts and cereals every time you make this breakfast “dessert.”
Ingredients:
1 cup mixed berries or other favorite fruit
1 cup yogurt
1/2 cup crunchy cereal
Directions:
Fill the bottom of two tall glasses with 1/4 cup fruit. Top each with 1/4 cup yogurt and 2 tablespoons cereal. Repeat with fruit, yogurt and cereal.
French Toast Art
Serves 4
Let your kids practice their egg-breaking and whisking skills. They will love using their fingers to dip their slices of bread. Depending on their skill level, teach them how to use a spatula, allowing them flip the toast. Encourage their creativity and comfort with food by letting them decorate their toast with dried and fresh fruit, nuts, yogurt, jams or syrups.
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 slices of whole grain bread
Dried and fresh fruit, sliced or diced
Assortment of whole and chopped nuts
Yogurt
Different jams and jellies
Maple or berry flavored syrups
Directions:
Preheat nonstick griddle or nonstick skillet over medium heat. In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla. Pour egg mixture into a shallow square baking dish. Spray griddle or skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Dip bread in baking dish, generously coating both sides of each slice. Cook on griddle or skillet for 3 minutes or until bottom of bread is golden and egg mixture is cooked. Use a wide spatula to flip and cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. Serve and decorate with toppings.
Yummy reading
Amazon.com has hundreds of cookbooks for kids. These are a few of my favorite.
 Betty Crocker’s Kids Cook!
By Betty Crocker Editors (Betty Crocker, 2007)
The Six O’Clock in the Morning… Kid’s Breakfast Cookbook
By Peter Engel (Silverback Books, 2007)
Chicken Soup for the Soul Kids in the Kitchen: Tasty Recipes and Fun Activities for Budding Chefs
By Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Chef Antonio Frontera (HCI, 2007)
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Michele Thompson, MS
Do you remember helping mom or dad in the kitchen – measuring chocolate chips for cookies, stirring the batter for brownies, or frosting a freshly baked cake? Childhood cooking memories are often punctuated with the making of desserts. But what about breakfast – shouldn’t the most important meal of the day be the most important meal to cook with your kids?
 B
Busy schedules, ubiquitous drive-throughs and corner convenience stores have quashed the custom of breakfast. Children today are often fed in the car en route to school or opt to nonchalantly skip the morning meal. These kids are going to grow up without an appreciation for homemade dishes and will likely continue their drive-through or meal-skipping habits into adulthood.
Breakfast bonding
Cooking breakfast with your children not only instills a healthy habit, it gives you the opportunity to spend quality time teaching them a skill that will keep them well-fed for decades to come. Cooking breakfast together nurtures their cooking curiosities and, most important, it can nourish a loving parent-child relationship.
In addition, there are other benefits associated with the most important meal of the day. Research has shown that children who eat breakfast are more inclined to do better at school – they are not preoccupied with a growling tummy or the effects of low blood sugar. Children who start the day with a healthy meal are more likely to have better social interactions because they are less likely to be irritable and moody. As important, especially in the increasing midst of overweight kids, eating breakfast can prevent overeating and decrease the consumption of junk food.
Another benefit – this one more for you – is that once your children have mastered a few recipes, they may likely want to show off their cooking prowess. This means you will get the luxury of breakfast in bed (ideally with another adult supervising) or at the very least a sit-down morning meal made especially for – not by – you.
Tips for yummy breakfast success
1. Be patient and take your time. Patience is truly a virtue, especially when eggs get crushed on the counter, cereal generously dumps on the floor, and the smoke detector goes off because the toaster was turned up too high. Be accepting of the inevitable messes – taking them in stride will set a positive tone to your children’s learning experiences in the kitchen. It might be challenging for you to restrain from doing all of the cooking yourself but opt to go slow with your teaching and allow your children to actually learn.
2. Make it educational from the beginning. Decide on a recipe or a menu and have all the ingredients, measuring tools, appliances and cookware set out. Before you commence in food prep, teach your children about all the things they will be using. Let them practice their reading and vocabulary skills by reading recipes aloud. Let them guess the names and uses of the utensils, cookware, and appliances. As you prepare the recipes, reinforce their math skills – have them figure out the amounts of adding up ingredients, dividing ingredients in half, or the number of tablespoons in a cup. As important, teach your children about the benefits of eating a healthy breakfast.
3. Assign cooking tasks. Children often gravitate toward particular tasks they have seen done by adults. Ask them what they want to do and then tell them it is their “job.” “The key for parents is to let their children learn what they like doing,” recommends cookbook author Chef Jernard Wells, father of eight, from Ringo, Georgia. “If your child likes to stir, let him stir, then introduce other utensils and their uses when he has mastered the task he likes.” Every week or two, he will have mastered a new skill.
4. Make it fun. Add levity to your time in the kitchen. Rename breakfast foods with amusing monikers – banana smoothies can be Ape Shakes, waffles can become Butter and Syrup Rafts. Rally their breakfast spirit by celebrating Breakfast Holidays. Give them cookbooks written specifically for kids – these are usually more entertaining than standard cookbooks. When your children associate fun with cooking, they will likely develop a desire to cook for themselves, now and into adulthood.
5. Designate specific cooking times. Kids get excited about cooking and may always want to be in the kitchen. “I have to hide our cookbooks from my daughter because she begs to cook with me, even if its not meal time,” says Lori Clyde, mother of three and owner of Little Loved Ones Daycare in Bozeman, Montana. The key is to designate set “cook times.” For example, make Wednesday and Saturday mornings “cook times” – your children will know they get to help in the kitchen and that on other days, mom or dad are the chefs.
Though these tips can be applied to any meal you cook with your children, you might find that your children are in better spirits and more inclined to learn in the mornings. Later in the day, being tired can sap the fun out of any activity.
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