While a Quick Bite will not give this topic justice, it is important to discuss because body image issues and eating disorders are becoming more prevalent among younger and younger children.  As early as the first grade, children are voicing concern about weight and body shape.   And, with today’s widespread use and reach of technology, the media and cultural influences have an even greater effect on this generation than for older generations.  For example, a quick Google search easily locates numerous websites and youtube videos on how to become anorexic.  Furthermore, with so many messages in the media about food, what to eat, what not to eat, and how your body should look, it is easy for parents and children alike to become confused and food phobic.

Here are four things that parents can do to help their children develop a healthy, happy relationship with food.

1. Model a healthy relationship with food to your children.  The act of cooking or spending mealtimes together should be enjoyable. Food itself however should not be attached to emotions or benefits beyond solving hunger pains.   
2. Listen to your children.  If your child makes a negative comment about their body, start a discussion.  Try not to underestimate casually made statements about peers, including comments about seeking acceptance and approval.
3. Teach your child to be a critical consumer of media and to be immune to the steady stream of media messages.  Cancel subscriptions to fashion magazines. 
4. Be aware of “harmless” comments that may add to your child’s concerns and misconceptions.  Be careful not to complain about your own weight.  Instead promote healthy lifestyle through physical activity and healthy eating habits.

Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain bars have launched a new flavor of their popular snack bars, called “Superfruit Fusion Cherry Pomegrante”.  With a name like this in addition to images of cherries and pomegranate and an attention-grabbing claim of “Antioxidants & hearty whole grain texture” splattered over the front of the box, you might think that this bar is a healthy choice.  Sneaky Kellogg’s strikes again.

If you look closely, you can read that in fine print, the bars are only Superfruit Fusion flavored bars.  And, the cherry and pomegranate comes from only natural & artificial flavoring.    As you continue on reading the nutrition label, you will find that the boasted antioxidant content comes just from the vitamin C and E that Kellogg’s added to the bars.  Other not so healthy additions include high fructose corn syrup, which is in larger quantity in the bars than cherry puree concentrate. 

This sneak attack is not uncommon, especially among cereal bars.  Many so-called cereal bars contain much more sugar (hidden in the ingredients as evaporated cane juice, molasses, or tapioca syrup) than fruit.  So, what can you do when facing the cereal bar aisle at the grocery store?  Read closely and rely less on the flashy photos and claims that adorn most food products these days.

Life is busy.  During the school year, evenings are quickly filled with work and sports schedules, games, homework, friends and ever-present chores.  While it can be hard to get the family together at the same time for dinner, the importance of a family meal is consistently demonstrated in research studies.  As summarized by Nancy Gibbs from Time Magazine, “studies show that the more often families eat together, the less likely kids are to smoke, drink, do drugs, get depressed, develop eating disorders and consider suicide, and the more likely they are to do well in school, delay having sex, eat their vegetables, learn big words and know which fork to use.”  Sounds pretty good.

If you are not already in the habit of sitting down together for at least one meal every day, start now.  Be flexible about mealtime – perhaps breakfast works best for your family’s schedule.  Pick a quick and easy meal.  It helps to plan a week’s menu in advance when grocery shopping to prevent last minute scrambles to get something together and to ensure that all necessary ingredients are on hand.  Encourage everyone in the family to help get the meal together so the labor does not fall on just one person.  Even young children can help with age-appropriate tasks such as putting silverware on the table.  Create conversation at meal time by having everyone share the best and worst part of their day.  And most importantly, turn off the television.

    Change is hard for the majority of people.  This is why obesity, diabetes, eating disorders, and other health problems are on the rise despite continued education and prevention efforts.  Why do people continue to make unhealthy choices?
    Part of the problem is that the solution is not as easy as simply taking a pill, avoiding a food, or following a diet for two weeks.  A person making unhealthy choices often has a relationship with food that is like a length of yarn that has grown tangled and snarled with each unhealthy choice, assumption, action, or observation that person has made over their lifetime. Trying to untangle the ball all at once is near to impossible and many people don’t have the confidence or motivation to slowly untangle the knots one by one.
    Children start their lives with a clear length of yarn and they deserve the right to reach adulthood with the same untangled piece of yarn. However, each time they experience unhealthy behaviors such as hearing cheers when they cleaned their plate or being scolded when they did not, watching someone mindlessly eating in front of the television, hearing someone complaining about their body, or being rewarded with food or given food for some reason other than hunger, a twist, a kink, a knot appears in their yarn.  The more often this happens, the more snarled and dysfunctional their own ball of yarn becomes.    Ultimately, they will find themselves an adult with a huge knotted ball of yarn that they can painstakingly work to unravel or can ignore and become buried under.
    Think about your own relationship with your diet, your weight, and your health.  Is it what you want for your child?  Or, are you willing to slowly untangle one knot at a time and send your child into the world without their own snarl of yarn to trip them up?

Breakfast is only one meal of the day but in fact, it may be the most important meal of the day. Eating something early in the morning jump-starts the body’s metabolism, which promotes a healthier weight over time.  Eating breakfast can also help at school – boosting attention, making kids more alert and possibly behaving better during the day.  Some studies have even shown that kids that eat breakfast scored higher on tests. 

Unfortunately, 10% of kids and 30% of teens skip breakfast every day.  If your children fall into this group, here are a few tips to help make breakfast possible. 

• Reset the alarm.  Give a few extra minutes to grab something to eat at home or arrive at school early enough for a school breakfast.
• Plan ahead.  Set out something for breakfast the night before along with the backpack, lunch, gym shoes.
• Have a grab-and-go available for those days when time seems to fly by.  Some healthy and fast breakfast ideas might be hard-boiled eggs, string cheese, yogurt, low fat granola bar, instant breakfast drink with skim milk, or a tortilla wrapped around a banana and some peanut butter.

 I recently saw an advertisement which showed a large picture of a sad looking child’s face.  Above the child’s head were the words, “Wipe that ‘I hate fractions’ look off his face in less than 15 minutes” and at the bottom of the page, was a recipe for chocolate chip cookies.  The message behind that advertisement, that parents should offer cookies or food in general to cheer up a child having trouble with schoolwork, is one of the major reasons many children and adults have a dysfunctional relationship with food.  

Eating should be an enjoyable experience but only used to solve hunger-related problems.  More and more, people eat to solve emotion-related problems, such as boredom, sadness, anger, worry, etc.  Encourage your child to listen to their body and how it feels when it is hungry or full.  They should eat slowly at meals and stop eating at the point when they think they may be getting full.   Teach your child the apple test – if your child asks for food at a time when you think they may not be hungry, offer them an apple.  Often, they will not be interested in the apple if they are not truly hungry.  Also, parents should avoid using food as a reward or treat.   Doing so teaches children that food is a solution for more than hunger. 

 The next time you see the “I hate fractions” look on your child’s face, be a positive influence on your child and their relationship with food.  Offer to help with their math homework, give a few words of encouragement, or pull them in for a reassuring hug.  Everyone will benefit.

General Mills, the maker of Coco Puff, Lucky Charms, and Trix, just announced that they will be decreasing the sugar content in 10 of their breakfast cereals.  They gave no specifics on how much the sugar will be cut or when the changes will occur but it will likely be sometime over the next two years. 

Even though dropping the sugar content is a step in the right direction, there are still plenty of unhealthy sugary cereals vying for children’s attention.  Consider the sugar content in two of General Mill’s cereals, two which will not be changed – “Boo Berry” and “Franken Berry” cereals.  They each contain 14 grams sugar per serving or, 7 sugar cubes in one cup! 

According to a recent study conducted by the Rudd Center, the cereals most aggressively marketed to children are the often the least healthy cereals.  Make this your breakfast meal topic tomorrow morning and start your child on the path to becoming an educated consumer.

There are a number of core concepts that form the basis of a healthy relationship with food.   The first important rule is that there are no forbidden foods.  Key to be healthy is the frequency with which certain foods are eaten.  Foods range from the absolute most nutritious to the absolute least nutritious.  All foods fall within this range and can be included in the diet.  The more often you and your family choose foods towards the end of most nutritious foods, the healthier the diet will be.  Even though you may cringe at the thought of your child eating certain foods (picture a greasy fried Twinkie at the Addison Fair), reassure yourself that it is the overall quality of the diet that matters.  Also, keep in mind that healthy eating includes the actual foods eaten as well as the emotions tied to the foods eaten or not eaten.  Having certain foods that are forbidden to be eaten can increase the attraction and draw of these foods.