The myth of healthy eating: 3 principles to help children develop better eating pattern

We parent always feel obligated to provide food that’s best for our kids not only good for their current well-being, but also hoping to shape their future dietary pattern.   As a mother of an infant and a toddler, I often wonder what lies beneath those colorful and cheerful baby food labels, even if when I have already switched to 100% organic food.

In an article published in New York Time, “Another Approach to Raising Healthy Eaters”, Jane E. Brody pointed out that parents are the biggest influencers on children’s preference of food and attitude toward eating.  A nutrition centric approach of food filtering does not guarantee a healthy intake.  Also, simply restricting children’s accessibility to unhealthy food may stimulate greater craving.  The principles parents should follow are “proportion, variety and moderation”.

Furthermore, it might not be the best idea to always go for products claimed to be “healthy”. A recent article, "Foods Labeled ‘Healthy’ Might Actually Be Making People Fat” by Mike Pomranz  at Food and Wine.com reveals a research result stating that people have a higher tendency of overeating when the food is portrayed as “healthy”.  People end up ordering greater quantities of food because they either feel less filler or believe they have the green light to consume more when the food has such label.  No matter the food itself is actually healthier or not, the outcome from overdose is still undesirable weight gain.

In order to help our children develop healthy dietary patterns, we should:

• Not forcing children to eat food by threatening or exchanging for sweets – our attitude determines how children feel about eating later on.  Many studies show that bribing or threatening all lead to high possibility of overeating.  Children will only continue eating food they feel positive, not the ones being associated with negative memory.
• Read beyond labels – A lot of food being labeled “Fat Free”, “Low Fat” or “Sugar Free” are generally considered healthy.  However, they tend to be high in other ingredients to make up the missing flavor such as high sodium or substitute which has been proved to cause other healthy problems.
• Provide food that’s been as least processed as possible – most of the nutrients are lost during process.  Most of the highly processed food, such as candy, cake, and chips, contains elements pushing your body to consume more.

Only when parents carry out these rules, will we be able to truly educate our children by setting good examples.  Children learn from what we demonstrate to them, not what we tell them.  If we cannot be healthy eaters ourselves, we cannot expect our mini me to behave anything differently.

My name is Claudia Peng.  I am wearing multiple hats like most of the career women, jogging for a work, family and personal live balance.  Cooking and swimming are my therapies and secret tools to achieve that goal.  Encouraged by friends, I have started to share my homemade goodies with people who appreciate and value healthy indulgence.  If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to message me at House of Mei Mei Sheep page.