Taken from a mid-week by Shannon Sundberg in 2005Feeding Guide for Young Children

(Serving sizes are listed after the foods)

Bread, pasta, rice, and cereal: 6 servings/ dayBread: ¼ - ½ sliceBuns, bagels, muffins: ¼- ½ sliceDry cereal: ¼- 1/3 cupPlain crackers: 2-3Pasta and rice: ¼ - 1/3 cup

Fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C: 2 servings/ dayChopped, cooked, or canned: 1/3 cup

Dark green/ orange fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin A: 2 ser./ day

Cooked or chopped raw: ¼ cupOther fruits and vegetables (including the potato): 3 servings/ day

Cooked, canned, or chopped raw: ¼ cupWhole: ¼ - ½ piece

Milk, yogurt, and cheese: 3 servings/ dayMilk, yogurt: ½ cupCheese: ½ oz

Meats, poultry, fish, dry beans, and peas, and eggs: 2 servings/ day

Lean meat, fish and poultry: 1-3 Tbsp chopped or 1-2 oz.Eggs: 1 wholeDried beans and peas: 1-3 Tbsp

Fats and oils: 3-4 servings/ dayButter or oil: 1 tsp

A good rule of thumb for serving size is 1 Tbsp for each year of age.

** Children under two years of age should not be on a fat restricted diet and should consume whole milk and whole milk products. After age two, children should be transitioned to low fat milk products.

Sample Menu for 1-3 year olds

Breakfast

Whole milk ( ½ cup)Cream of wheat ( ¼ cup)Banana ( 1/2 )

Mid morning mealOatmeal raisin cookie (1)Orange (1/2 of orange)

LunchWhole milk ( ½ cup)Chicken breast strips (1 ½ oz)Whole wheat bread (1 slice)Butter (1 tsp)Peaches ( ¼ whole)

Mid afternoon snackCheese ( ½ cup)Whole grain crackers (3)Water

DinnerWhole milk ( ½ cup)Spaghetti ( ¼ cup) withMeat sauce (2 Tbsp)Broccoli (2 Tbsp)Butter (1 tsp)Whole wheat dinner roll (1)Applesauce ( ¼ cup)

Evening SnackWhole milk ( ½ cup)Graham crackers (2)

Snacks are an important part of a young child’s diet, since their stomachs can only hold so much at mealtime. Plan snacks to include healthy foods that will help your child get all of the nutrition they need throughout the day.

Child Friendly FoodsGrain GroupCold cereal with < 3gm sugar/servingWhole grain bagelsWhole wheat English MuffinsGraham crackers, animal crackersWhole wheat pita breadRice cakesWhole wheat toastTortillasFig newtonsNoodles

RiceWhole wheat pancakes or waffles

Dairy GroupCheese and string cheeseMilkYogurtPuddingCottage cheeseFrozen yogurt

Vegetable GroupAny raw vegetable cut into thin stripsSteamed vegetables are softer and easier to chewCanned beansFrozen veggies like corn and peasVegetable soupTomato slices and grape tomatoes (halved if worried about choking)

Fruit GroupAny Fresh fruit, cut into small piecesCanned fruit in juice or light syrupFrozen fruitFruit leatherUnsweetened applesauceDried fruit (make sure your child is able to chew without a problem)Protein GroupBeans and lentils- these are great finger foodsHard Boiled eggsTurkey, ham, or chicken cut into cubesTuna or chicken saladBean dip

Feeding Tips Try to eat together: children learn by watching others eat! Make sure you are sitting down to eat during meal and snack time and make

the environment as relaxed as possible. Reward children with attention and affection, not food. Give children the freedom to choose foods (choices made between two

healthy foods- for example “You get to choose what vegetables we have with lunch today. Would you like carrots or cucumbers?”)

Include a variety of textures and colors with each meal and snack. Turn off the TV during meal time. Give kids enough time to eat, don’t rush meals. Avoid being a “short-order cook.” Serve at least one food you know your child

will eat and encourage them to try new foods. Don not make a separate meal for them.

Sometimes kids prefer “plain” foods, so you may want to try not mixing them up (casseroles, soups, etc.) A lot of times kids don’t like foods to touch each other.

Get you kids involved with meal planning, preparation, and grocery shopping. Children often don’t like extreme temperatures. Allow hot foods to cool off

and cold foods to warm up a little. Offer new foods at the start of a meal when kids are the most hungry.

Serve the same food in different forms (raw carrot sticks for lunch one day and steamed carrot coins for dinner the next day).

Try your best to keep to a schedule for meal and snack times. If your child doesn’t eat well at one meal or snack, don’t worry, you will be offering food again in about 3 hours.

Don’t force a child to clean their plate. Encourage them to listen to their own hunger cues. Your job is to offer healthy food. Let your child decide how much they want to eat.

Most important- Don’t give up! It may take a child 17 times of trying a food before they can say whether or not they like it!

Make meal and snack time fun and exciting! Invite a friend over, have a theme meal, make fun shapes out of their foods (cookie cutters are very handy for sandwich shapes, cheese shapes, etc.), decorate the table with something fun..just be creative!

Let you child get a little messy. It is part of the whole food experience for a child to take, touch, and smell the food. It really does help with their development and adjustment to a variety of textures, tastes, and smells.

(End of info from Shannon Sundberg)

Ideas to Sneak in Good Foods(Although this is good for sneaking it in, you really want your child to learn to like the foods you are sneaking in. Add some on the side for them to try. Remember it can take up to 10 times for a child to learn

to like a food.)

Puree in the food processor or blender steamed or roasted veggies. You can mix the pureed foods in anything: muffins, casseroles,Pancakes, smoothies, and even mac n’ cheese.

Muffin recipe:

2 c. flour (try to use whole wheat)2 tsp. baking powder½ tsp. salt¼ c. sugar

1 egg1 c. milk1 ½ c. mashed fruit or vegetable1/3 c. oil or applesauce

Sprinkle it in:Flax seed: Sprinke in yogurt, ice cream, or:

Milled Flax Seed may be used as a Fat Substitute in most recipes. Generally, 3 Tbsp milled flax seed can replace 1 Tbsp. fat or oil. 1 Tbsp. milled falx seed plus 3 tbsp. of water can replace 1 egg.

Insights from Oprah

4 Rules: 1. Nothing is ever off limits: your children should be able to

eat anything in your house. Don’t bring the junk in! 2. Don’t eat in front of the T.V.: we have no awareness

when we eat in front of the T.V.3. Fiber for breakfast: you want 7- 10 grams/ day. The

more fiber we have for breakfast, the fuller your child will feel. This prevents early and bad snacking. Fiber fills, sugar doesn’t!

4. Physical activity: make physical activity a family activity. A good idea: after dinner have the whole family clean up instead of watching T.V.

Insights from Angie(for what it’s worth…)

-I am not good about strict snack times and I admit I am a little lazy about getting food for my kids. I (most of the time) like for food to be available when they are hungry. That said, I only have healthy foods available.

Things I keep in the fridge that are in easy reach: Cut up carrots, celery, cucumbers, and peppers Raisins, apples, sliced peaches and strawberries Bread (whole wheat of course…without the hfcs)

Plain or vanilla Yogurt: this one can be a little messy depending on who gets it out of the fridge

I usually don’t have crackers in my house because that is all they will eat. I know they will still eat dinner if they snack on veggies and fruits, but they won’t eat dinner if they eat a bunch of carbs.

Good Resources:First Meals, by Annabel Karmelwww.drgreene.comhttp://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org

Taken from http://life.familyeducation.com/ :

Picky Eaters: Born or Made?

To Eat or Not to Eat? That Is the QuestionOnce upon a time there lived a storybook badger named Frances, who would only eat bread and jam. Bread and jam for breakfast, bread and jam for lunch, bread and jam for supper. Her mother tried to interest her in eggs, sunny-side up, or a delicious plate of spaghetti and meatballs, all to no avail. Finally, Frances' mom gave up and gave in, serving only bread and jam to her fussy child until one day even Frances was forced to admit that there can indeed be too much of a good thing.

There's good reason why the classic picture book, Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell and Lillian Hoban, has enchanted children for three decades: friendly, furry Frances reminds young readers of themselves. Many children go through stages when they refuse to eat certain foods, or insist on only eating a few favorite things (usually devoid of all nutritional value, or so it seems). Eating is often divorced from hunger in the power struggles and manipulative game-playing that result:

"I won't eat broccoli! It's like eating baby trees!""You must have two bites of salad and one bite of meatloaf to get dessert.""Why do you always make fish when you know I hate it?!""If you drink your milk, I'll play Candy Land with you."

We wonder: Is this our fault? Are all the other children in the neighborhood happily eating salad and meatloaf right now, while our willful, whiny child holds out for chicken nuggets? Are the

other parents who meekly made PB&J in advance, knowing their children would refuse meatloaf and salad, enjoying a happier, quieter supper than we are right now?

But the first question, before we get to "how to make them eat," is, "how to get ourselves off the hook." To find the answer, we surveyed parents from Seattle to Boston, asking them: "Are picky eaters born or made?" Not surprisingly, those with picky eaters believe they came into the world as such. Those whose children eat everything give themselves a big pat on the back. A sampling of the findings:

Andrew, father of Nathan, 18 months: "They're born. We have struggled so much to get this kid to eat. He loves noodles and sweet things, but he likes them better on my plate than on his. He loved American cheese slices for a few days; now he won't touch them. It's not what we're doing, it's that he just keeps changing."

Sam, father of Peter, four years: "They're made. We've never made special meals for him, always insisted that he try new foods, and as a result he eats everything. He loves fruits and vegetables."

Amy, mother of Michaela, five years, and Lily, three years: "It's both. It's personality, temperament. They're born that way and it just gets made worse, or not. When Michaela was a baby she would eat everything, then at two she wouldn't, and now she's starting to branch out again. Lily has always been more particular. She looks at a food first, asks a lot of questions before she'll try it. But let's face it, this is almost always about the parent, not the kid!"

True, perhaps, but since establishing parental guilt or innocence will not get us where we want to go, let's now move beyond bread and jam and look for solutions.

Beyond Bread and JamThe good news is, what is true for a storybook badger is also true for children. In other words: This too shall pass. Most kids won't starve, since much of this conflict has nothing to do with actual

hunger or intake of food, anyway! Picky eating often represents a child's desire to exert control (which is why we see so much of it during the toddler years). There are simple things we can do to encourage good eating habits, but only if we are willing to stop micro-managing the intake of every morsel. A few simple suggestions:

1. Don't barter, plead, or make deals involving food. Drawing connections between eating and good or bad behavior ("Good girls who eat their carrots get ice cream") sets up a dynamic that can prove to be disastrous in adulthood ("I'm entitled to eat this entire bag of cookies because I won the new account" or conversely, "because I'm feeling anxious or unloved.")

2. Limit or ban the amount of junk food and sweets kept in the house. New York Times' health columnist, Jane Brody writes that she never kept candy, chips, soda, or ice cream at home when her kids were growing up. Instead, she gave them money once a week to go out and buy their own goodies. This had the effect of restricting their access to foods void of nutrition, but without complete deprivation. Similarly, you can cross frozen fries (loaded with hydrogenated oils!) off your shopping list, but build in a visit to a fast-food emporium instead.

3. Choices, choices, choices. Since picky eating is often a power play-- "I refuse to eat what you say I must" -- you can increase the chances that kids will make healthy food choices by spreading the dining room table with a myriad options. Instead of meatloaf, for instance, serve "make your own" tacos and let kids "build" their own dinner, choosing whether or not to add cheese, tomatoes, or lettuce. Replace a single salad with a colorful platter of cut-up veggies, including baby carrots, pea pods, celery, and red and yellow peppers, perhaps with a selection of dipping sauces (nothing fancy, dressing out of a few bottles with do!) Fondue, now back in vogue as a chic dinner-party option, is great fun for kids because eating becomes an engaging activity.

4. Read labels. Think that six-pack of applesauce is a healthy snack choice? Chances are it's low fat or fat-free, but most likely packed with sugar and utterly devoid of nutrients. Then again, juice boxes that seem surprisingly devoid of vitamin C may have

added calcium. With heavily processed foods, it's impossible to make assumptions. Check the ingredients.

5. Be realistic about portions, mindful of hunger. Two-year-olds, for example, should get one-quarter to one-third of an adult's food portion. That's not a lot, and yet another reason not to force-feed by demanding "four more bites." Kids need to learn to eat in response to hunger cues, not because you say so.

6. Be sneaky. There's something to be said for "what they don't know won't hurt them." Soft tofu or cooked vegetables can be pureed and added to tomato sauce. Finely chopped spinach or broccoli can be mixed into ricotta cheese when stuffing shells. Add unsweetened applesauce or shredded carrots to muffins.

7. Be patient. Good eating habits are built over time. Nutritionists and pediatricians say you should consider your child's nutritional intake over the course of a week, not a day. Leaving aside economic variables, most children with access to enough food will get enough of what they need to be healthy.

Taken from www.drgreene.com

Healthy Eating, Part I - How important is good nutrition?

With all that we know about tobacco, how can people still smoke? Easy. They're enticed by big business; they enjoy it; it's cool; and it's very, very habit forming. Now for the shock--poor nutritional choices cause every bit as much cancer, death, disability, and chronic disease as cigarettes do. The modern American diet is public health threat number one (American Journal of Preventive Medicine, March-April 1995). With all that we know about junk food, how can people still eat it? Easy. They're enticed by big business; they enjoy it; it's cool; and it's very, very habit forming.

When I was growing up, my father grew tomatoes in our backyard. These vine-ripened tomatoes were absolutely delicious--far better than any others I can remember having. As plants grow, the new growth is built from materials taken from the soil. Nothing can be incorporated into plants unless it is present in the soil. Plants grown in depleted soils are just not the same. Commercial fertilizers can put the basic required

minerals back into the ground, but this simplified soil is not as rich as organically maintained soil. Plants do the best they can with whatever materials are available.

When my daughter was born, she weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces. Today, as I write, she is 8 years old and weighs over 50 pounds. All of the materials for this dramatic increase in size have come from the food she has eaten. Like the tomato plant, Claire's body does the best it can with available materials.

When I look at my children playing football in the park, I am looking at structures built from the food they have eaten, the composition depending on the nutrients that were available at the time. When you begin to really see this, you begin to feel differently about hot dogs...

Getting children to eat well is far easier said than done. For the next 5 days--the first full week of the New Year--I'll give you some tips for making delicious and healthy changes. We'll start today with the foundation principle. This won't solve the challenges by itself, but without this principle, other tips won't work well in the long run.

Sometime around 9 months of age, many babies begin to think that smooshed baby foods are not where it's at. They develop an intense desire to eat whatever it is that you are eating. This is a critical part of child development because your child will begin to strongly imprint your health patterns. Eating junk food while offering our children vegetables just doesn't work.

I can remember the brave little face of my son. Daddy was drinking a cup of coffee. My boy kept asking for a sip. I declined by saying that it tastes yucky to kids and making a face. He persisted, and I gave him a little sip. His face combined shock, disgust, and disappointment. His eyes got big and watered. Then he smiled and said, "More." It reminded me of the time I smoked a cigar offered to me by an older boy on a scouting trip. Kids' desire to imitate at this stage is a deep, powerful force. Tap into it.

Many of us have unhealthy habits that we've accumulated over the years. The miracle of having a child is often our best opportunity to shed those habits that don't serve us and to develop new ones that do. Our parenting instincts make it easier to do something for our children that we would not do for ourselves alone. These changes, of course, directly benefit our children as they follow our examples. They also benefit our children by giving them healthy, energetic parents, both now and in the years to come. They add freshness to our marriages or

adult relationships. And of course, they are what our own bodies are crying out for.

So when your child begins wanting food from your plate, let it be fresh fruits and vegetables plus whole grains. When he or she wants to taste what you are drinking, let it be something you would be happy for your child to drink. Don't let your baby's foray into the world of adult foods be potato chips, French fries, or sugary treats.

Of course, budding toddlers will want some foods that you don't eat. They won't take all the ones that you do. Still, don't miss out on the power of imitation to make healthy eating habits natural for your child. And remember, we can't give something that we don't have.

When you give children good nutrition, you are giving them the nutrient building blocks that literally become the eyes you look into; the knees that get scraped; the bones that support their growing bodies; their inquisitive, curious brains; and the hearts that pump quietly night and day down through the years.

Healthy Eating, Part II - What foods do children need? What foods should be avoided?

When my son Kevin was about 3 years old, he spied a green pea. He picked it up between his fingers and rolled it over. It looked good! He then pushed the pea up his nose. Interesting. Vegetables are fun! He used another pea to push the first one up higher. Then another. Yet another pea followed the first three into Kevin's nose--and it was not the last! Kev was not satisfied until he had enjoyed five peas--in his nose! Later, in the emergency room, after they'd removed the peas, Kev's older brother Garrett, with a sweet twinkle in his eye, called Kevin a pea-brain!!! When I say that kids need vegetables, I mean they need to eat vegetables -- by mouth.

It's hard to compete against fast-food kids' meals--salty, fatty food, served quickly, in a bright, exciting place--and they come with toys! It’s no wonder trips to fast-food restaurants have become the pinnacle of gastronomic delight for most preschool children in the United States. But here, in these fast-food restaurants, children miss out on important nutrients and fill their tummies (and arteries) with things they don't need. We need to be very clear about what they need and what they don't in order to avoid being knocked over by the junk food current.

Children do need whole grains. They do need fresh fruits and fresh vegetables. They do need a source of calcium for their growing bones. They do need healthy sources of proteins, either from fish, poultry, eggs, and meat, or from plant sources. These foods give them the vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients they need to build high-quality bodies.

Children do not need to eat large amounts of sugar. In the 1800s, the average American consumed 12 pounds of sugar per year. By 1975, however, after the overwhelming success of the refined-food industry, the 12 pounds had jumped to a world-leading 118 pounds per year, and jumped again to 137.5 pounds per capita (for every man, woman, and child) by 1990. (Food Consumption, Prices and Expenditures, United States Department of Agriculture, 1991).

The effect of sugar intake on children's behavior is a hotly debated topic in pediatrics. Parents and educators often contend that sugar and other carbohydrate ingestion can dramatically impact children's behavior, particularly their activity levels. Physicians, on the other hand, have looked at controlled studies of sugar intake and have not found hypoglycemia or other blood sugar abnormalities in children who are consuming large amounts of sugar.

An interesting article appears in the February 1996 edition of the Journal of Pediatrics. In contrast with other research teams, William Tamborlane, MD, et al of Yale University, leaders in child nutrition, reported a more pronounced response to a glucose load in children than in adults.

It is commonly acknowledged that as blood glucose levels fall, a compensatory release of adrenaline occurs. When the blood glucose level falls below normal, the resulting situation is called hypoglycemia. Signs and symptoms that accompany this include shakiness, sweating, and altered thinking and behavior.

Tamborlane and his colleagues demonstrated that this adrenaline release occurs at higher glucose levels in children than it does in adults. In children, it occurs at a blood sugar level that would not be considered hypoglycemic. The peak of this adrenaline surge comes about 4 hours after eating. The authors reason that the problem is not sugar, per se, but highly refined sugars and carbohydrates, which enter the bloodstream quickly and produce more rapid fluctuations in blood glucose levels.

Giving your child a breakfast that contains fiber (such as oatmeal, shredded wheat, berries, bananas, or whole-grain pancakes) should

keep adrenaline levels more constant and make the school day a more wondrous experience. Packing her or his lunch box with delicious, fiber-containing treats (such as whole-grain breads, peaches, grapes, or a myriad of other fresh fruits) may turn afternoons at home into a delight.

Refined sugars also affect insulin control, which decides how much fat they will store for the rest of their lives. As a child, I had HoHos, Twinkies, and Ding Dongs as regular parts of my meals because my mother, like so many of that era, wanted to give her children a nice treat. We both shudder now to think of it.

Sugar is not just found in sweets or junk cereal. It's in almost everything. When you look at labels, you find sugar, sucrose, glucose, dextrose, sorbitol, or corn syrup on almost every label. The more simple meals from whole foods contain much less sugar.

Fruit juices contain lots of simple sugar without much fiber. Many people think of juices as health foods. This simply isn't true. In small quantities they are fine, but they are mainly a way to get many of the calories and some of the nutrients from a substance, without getting as full and without getting the needed fiber. And children who drink more than 12 ounces of fruit juice per day are shorter and fatter than those who don't.

Fruits contain lots of sugar, but it's in a form that's intended for the body to use. Instead of sugar-coated breakfast cereal, try cereal with berries. Most kids like this. They enjoy the treat, and it stays healthy.

Children do not need large amounts of refined white flour. Again, in this century, white flour has become a major part of our diets. This simple carbohydrate acts in our bodies much like white sugar--empty calories that disrupt energy levels and insulin levels and increase body fat. The risk for diabetes increases with consumption of white bread, white rice, mashed potatoes, and French-fried potatoes (Journal of the American Medical Association, February 12, 1997). White flour can easily be replaced with whole-grain flours. Whole-grain cereals can replace breakfast cereals made from white flour. Which are whole-grain cereals? Special K? Product 19? Corn Flakes? Cream of Wheat? No. No. No. But the following are: Cheerios, Raisin Bran, Total, Wheaties, Spoon-Size Shredded Wheat, Grape Nuts, and oatmeal. When selecting among whole-grain cereals, try to minimize sugar and chemical additives.

Children do need fiber. They need their age plus 5 to 10 grams of fiber per day (that is, 3-year-olds need 8 to 13 grams per day; 18-year-olds

need 23 to 28 grams per day; adults over 18 years need 25 to 35 grams per day). Dietary fiber is essential for optimum health (Pediatrics, 1995 supplement). Most children in the United States get far less than they need. White-flour snacks, breads, and cereals are major culprits . Fiber is found in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.

Don't let the names of products fool you. Names like Pepperidge Farm Hearty Slices Seven Grain, Multigrain Cheerios, and Arnold Bran'ola Nutty Grains Bread sound like they would be made mostly from whole-grain flour. Nope. Arnold Country Wheat and Pepperidge Farm Natural Whole Grains Crunch Grains breads are, however. Nabisco Reduced Fat Triscuits and Wheat Thins are primarily whole wheat. Wheatsworth crackers are not!

Check the first ingredient on the ingredients lists of breads and crackers. It should say "whole wheat" or some other whole grain, such as oats. "Wheat flour" or "enriched wheat flour" are not what you are looking for--they are essentially plain white flour.

If the front label says, "Made with whole wheat" or "Made with whole grain," get suspicious! Usually the product is mostly refined white flour with a touch of whole grain thrown in to fool you! Front labels can easily deceive. These breads are made with mostly refined flours:

Cracked wheat Multi-grain Oat bran Oatmeal Pumpernickel Rye Seven bran (or twelve bran) Seven grain (or nine grain) Stoned wheat Wheat Wheatberry Whole bran (bran is just the outer part of the grain kernel)

(Source: Nutrition Action Healthletter, The Center for Science in the Public Interest, March 1997) Some of these names are enough to make you think that the manufacturers are trying to fool us into thinking that their products are healthy when they are not.

Children do not need large amounts of fat--although fat by itself isn't quite the culprit that most people think. Fat in combination with simple carbohydrates (such as sugar, white flour, white rice, or potatoes) is far more dangerous than fat alone because the fat is handled by the body

so differently. French fries, potato chips, cheeseburgers on white-flour buns, donuts, candy bars, and the like are particularly bad. Butter on vegetables is much better for us than butter on white toast. Children do not need partially hydrogenated anything. These artificial fats, so commonly found in items on grocery store shelves, are not found anywhere in nature. It pays to take an honest look at what your children are eating. Here's a great tip for getting a handle on what they actually consume: Lifeform, by Fitnesoft, is a powerful, easy-to-use computer program for analyzing the diet. And you can try it for free! It has a database of more than 13,000 of the most common foods. As you begin to type in what your child ate at a meal, a menu appears for you to select the food with the click of a mouse. The database contains brand names (such as Big Mac or Jell-O Pudding). Enter everything your child eats for a few days. At the touch of a button, the program will perform a nutritional analysis and quickly identify what nutrients are lacking (and what is in overabundance). You can download the program for a free 30-day trial at http://www.fitnesoft.com/. Now that we have our sights set on what foods to choose, tomorrow we will continue this five-part series with how to make these choices enticing.

Healthy Eating, Part III - The five greatest motivators for preschool children to eat healthy foods.

Let's get practical. The five greatest motivators for preschool children to eat healthy foods are:

1) Imitation. If the foods in the house are healthy, kids will pick their favorites from among healthy choices.

2) Tasty choices. Often kids' fruit alternatives are restricted to apples and bananas, and maybe grapes or oranges. Many kids love peaches, tangerines, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, plums, pears, watermelon, and pineapple. Try Spoon-Sized Shredded Wheat, corn bran, or oatmeal with fresh berries. Try bran crispbread as a snack instead of crackers or toast made from white flour. Whole-grain pancakes can be a hit. The younger you start, the quicker they will develop their tastes in these directions. During the preschool years, make butter a treat for vegetables. Butter on green beans makes them a lot tastier. Because of the "crunch," many kids like raw carrot sticks all by themselves.

3) Fun presentation. When feeding your kids, you are competing against multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns. Children's TV has many commercials for sweetened breakfast cereals ("part of this nutritious breakfast"--which would be far more nutritious without the sweetened breakfast cereal!). Where are the commercials for fresh

veggies? They'll have to come from us. Preschool children often love food that is shaped like something interesting--a face, a clown, a dinosaur, a favorite hero, etc. Processed macaroni is manufactured this way because it sells. In this environment we need to make healthy food as appealing as the empty or harmful alternatives. Try a whole-grain pancake with a strawberry for a nose, kiwi slices for eyes, and banana for the mouth. Brush its teeth with the fork before eating (since after eating it won't have any teeth left!). Try corn on the cob served standing up (it's a rocket ship), or lying down with a toothpick stuck in the side (it's a submarine--the toothpick is the periscope).

4) When all else fails, sneak it in. Make zucchini bread, carrot muffins. Add shaved vegetables or pieces of fruit to virtually any baked good. Dried cranberries can be a hit (while dried fruit is high in sugar, it is also high in fiber). A great way to hide fruit and vegetables is in whole-food smoothies and juices. High-speed blenders, such as the models manufactured by Vita-Mix (not juice extractors that take the pulp and fiber--and many nutrients--out) can turn fresh oranges, carrots, and yogurt into a delicious treat.

5) Give a daily multivitamin as a safety net in this processed-food world. Vitamins are, by definition, compounds necessary in trace amounts for the normal functioning of the human body.

We need vitamins in order to see the world around us, to grow, to make bones and connective tissue, to fight infections and cancer, to heal wounds, to stop from bleeding to death, and to keep our teeth from falling out.

We are not self-sufficient. We depend on a steady supply from outside sources for these vital compounds. Vitamins cannot be manufactured in sufficient amounts by the body and must be taken in from the environment. They occur naturally in many foods (vitamin D is manufactured by the body in response to sunlight exposure--15 minutes a week is all that is needed). Vitamins are also available as commercial nutritional supplements.

While I have great respect for the results of modern nutritional analysis, I have greater respect for the longstanding relationship between humans and their natural foods. By eating whole foods (fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, whole grains, etc.), your child can get the necessary vitamins in the healthiest way. Vitamins occur in foods in forms that are the easiest for the body to use and are accompanied by important related compounds.

Toddlers and preschoolers are often picky eaters. As children grow, their tastes change, and over time they should begin to eat a more well-rounded diet. A vitamin "safety net" takes the pressure off feeding issues during the early years. Without pressure or worry, you can be free to be creative about increasing whole foods in your child's diet, knowing that vitamins are present to help your child grow strong and healthy.

This isn't to suggest that the battle is an easy one. Recently on Dateline NBC (an American television show), host Jane Pauley casually mentioned not liking vegetables as a child. While this phenomenon is as current as today's news, it is also as perennial as our oldest nutritional records. I've heard it said that the ancient Greeks defined children as short humans who don't like vegetables. :^) Now that we have mass advertising, children's fun meals, and peer pressure, the battle is all the harder. But the battle is worthwhile, and it can certainly be fun. The battle should never be with your kids. Never push. Entice them, persuade them, teach them. Battle bad nutrition.

Healthy Eating, Part IV - Motivators for school age children and adolescents

During school years, the phenomenon of peer pressure begins to become a very powerful force. Children see what's packed in each other's lunches. And, yes, it's not unusual for your darling to trade the apple for potato chips or the carrot for a candy bar. If they don't bring their own lunches, the choices available at the schools usually get broader (and less healthy) as the years go by.

Peer pressure can be turned to your advantage in three ways.

1) Kids are interested in health. They can learn the difference between healthy food and junk food. They can learn to read labels. They can learn to avoid harmful ingredients. Encourage your children's teachers to teach the class at least a little about good nutrition at the beginning of each year. If eating well is confirmed by this outside authority and is tied in with success at school, it will help. Encourage this when you eat out by trying to identify (together) the most healthy and least healthy choices on a menu.

2) Connect with the parents of your child's class about how important peer pressure is at this age. Make a list of the kinds of foods that would be great in lunches and the kinds of foods to avoid. Encourage the parents to band together to help healthy food be the norm for that class. What's cool in a particular classroom is more important to kids than what's cool nationally.

3) Make your kids' lunches the coolest. Use a wide variety of foods your child likes. Don't let them get boring. You could use a different fruit everyday for a month! Make it an event (guess the fruit--no peeking!). You could even send clues along about tomorrow's fruit, so everyone is trying to guess. Another month, carve faces into some carrot sticks. They can name the carved carrots and eat the best one last. Or try fortune vegetables--instead of fortune cookies. I can remember being told, "Don't play with your food." I'm telling you the opposite. Learn to play with your children's food. You'll have a great time and make a big difference for them.

A promising trial called the CATCH Study (Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health) was completed a few years ago. Over 5,000 third graders at 28 schools scattered across the country participated. In 40 schools, no interventions were made. In the study schools, nutrition was added to the curriculum, and the school lunches themselves were made healthier. The kids were followed up through third, fourth, and fifth grades. Complete dietary assessments showed that, in the study schools, the amount of fat in the diet decreased significantly from 39% to 32%, whereas in the 40 schools in which no changes were made, the amount of fat intake did not change. Eating well can be learned Journal of the American Medical Association, March 13, 1996.

The best way to sustain good nutrition throughout adolescence and adult life is to learn it while we are young.

Adolescent nutrition

By the teenage years, many habits have already been set. "See ya," your teen tells you as she heads out of the house. By this time, most of her eating habits have been established. If they are bad ones, this is not a good time to enter a conflict about the issue. Later in life she may be ready to revisit this issue, as some of you are now, but as an adolescent, there are many more pressing issues.

About 20% of adult height and 50% of adult weight are gained during adolescence. Most boys double their lean body mass between the ages of 10 and 17 years. Because growth and change is so rapid during this period, the requirements for all nutrients increase. This is especially true of calcium and iron.

Adolescents need to take in at least 1200 mg of calcium per day during the adolescent growth spurt to build strong bones to last a lifetime. Almost half (45%) of the bone mass they will have for the rest of their lives is added during adolescence.

Calcium is found in milk, yogurt, dark-green vegetables (such as collard greens, spinach, turnip greens, and kale), cheese, pudding, sesame seeds, tofu, bok choi (Chinese cabbage), canned non-boneless salmon and sardines, and cottage cheese. Some brands of orange juice are fortified with calcium. Calcium is also available in dietary supplements.

Adequate calcium intake during adolescence results in fewer teenage broken bones. More importantly, it increases maximum bone density, reducing the risk for osteoporosis later in life, especially in postmenopausal women. People reach maximal bone density while they are adolescents or young adults and then gradually lose bone the rest of their lives. The more they start with, the more they will end up with. The amount of calcium consumed during adolescence correlates directly with the total bone mineral content measured on adolescent X-rays Journal of Pediatrics, April 1995.

Most teens consume less than 1,000 mg of calcium per day. Those who do nothing more than take a 500-mg calcium supplement boost their intake from 80% to 110% of the RDA. This results in a significant, measurable increase in bone density and bone mineral content of the spine (Journal of the American Medical Association, August 18, 1993), but these benefits disappear within 18 months if teens return to poor calcium intake AAP News, February 1997.

Teens who consume 1200 mg of calcium per day are also measurably stronger than those who don't. A study of 162 Icelandic girls found their grip strength (an estimate of total body strength) to correlate well with their calcium intake Journal of Internal Medicine, October 1994.

Some teens I know drink diet colas as if they were water. You've heard of chain smoking--these kids do chain soda drinking. One can pops open almost before the previous one is empty. I have even heard of teens that pride themselves in drinking a 2-liter bottle of diet soda instead of eating lunch! A high consumption of carbonated cola beverages reduces bone mineralization and makes teenage girls almost four times as likely to break a bone than their male counterparts Journal of Adolescent Health, May 1994.

Rob, one of the adolescent boys in my practice, loved to compete in track and field. His running times in his sophomore year of high school were excellent, but try as he might, his times began to fall off during his junior year. The harder he trained, the poorer his times got. A blood test during his physical showed him to be anemic--not enough oxygen-carrying red blood cells. The anemia came from iron deficiency.

Anemia is common among adolescents, regardless of their level of physical activity. Iron deficiency is the most common cause. An inadequate diet is the chief reason for this problem. Junk food diets can easily lead to iron deficiency. Teens on a weight-loss diet are especially at risk, as are girls with heavy periods. Iron deficiency is sometimes made worse by intense and lengthy physical training and by the use of pain medications, which irritate the lining of the stomach.

Iron supplementation significantly improves learning, memory, and cognitive test performance in iron-deficient adolescents (even if they are not deficient enough to become anemic) (Pediatric News, January 1997). Iron supplementation also measurably improves the performance of iron-deficient, anemic athletes American Journal of Diseases of Children, October 1992.

Rob made changes in his diet and also took an iron supplement for a while. His performance improved steadily. (By the way, iron supplements do not improve the performance of non-anemic athletes).

To make dietary changes, information should be presented about short-term consequences, particularly related to appearance, athletic ability, popularity, and enjoyment of life, because these are more important to most teens than long-term health. For instance, adolescents can be told, "Calcium will help you grow taller during your growth spurt. It also makes you measurably stronger. Iron will help you do better on tests and stay up later without being as tired. Carrots will make you a better driver, and will make me more comfortable lending you my car," and so on.

When you do speak of long-term consequences, link them to the things that teens care about--particularly body image. For instance, "Have you ever seen old men and women that are bent over when they walk? Have you seen old men and women that are strong and active? One of the biggest differences was how much calcium they got every day when they were your age..." Teach, but don't nag.

Again, make good food fun for your teen. This doesn't mean you should make mouse ears out of zucchini slices; instead, have their friends over for a healthy cookout. I can remember when I was younger we had a vegetable party. Different vegetables were on numbered plates spread throughout the house. Each guest had a score card, on which they tried to identify the vegetables (some were quite unusual). There was a taste test (vegetables were rated for appearance, aroma, texture, and flavor), and awards were given to the best (and worst) vegetables. We also tried to pick which person (celebrity or acquaintance) most reminded us of each vegetable and why. The

evening was a blast--although I was skeptical at first--I had as much fun as I'd had at any dance (well, almost any dance...:^)

Healthy Eating, Part V - Good news for vegetable haters everywhere!

Given the opportunity, starting your baby off with good eating habits is a great way to go. Even if it's too late for that now, an important lesson from the first feedings still applies: New tastes can be acquired! This is good news for vegetable-haters everywhere.

If you drink coffee, you probably remember the first time you took a taste. It was horrible! How could anyone like that disgusting stuff! Many baby foods that we consider very bland have the same impact on children. Children have extremely sensitive taste buds. Their vision may have slightly soft focus, but their senses of taste and smell are much sharper than ours. When it comes to introducing new foods, breast-fed babies have an advantage because the taste of mom's milk varies depending on what she has eaten. Formula-fed babies get the exact same taste every time they drink a bottle, and the introduction of new foods can be more difficult for them. Whichever milk they are fed, new tastes can be acquired.

"My baby hates peas!"

I can't tell you how many times I've heard it.

In an exciting study of babies with a demonstrated dislike for peas (perhaps you can picture the expressive faces of the babies enrolled in the study), each was fed peas as the first bite of solid food for the day. If the baby made a disgusted face or spewed the peas, the peas were not continued that day, in favor of other foods the baby liked. The peas were not force-fed. By the end of only 10 days, 85% of the pea-haters had become pea-lovers! They literally giggled at the sight of peas! Take the time early on to give your bundle of joy a delight in peas, green beans, carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes.

The best way to get your infant to eat any new food is to desensitize him or her to the taste. You can accomplish this by using the new food for the first bite of solids each day for 10 days straight.

Never force a child to eat more of a new food than she or he is ready for, but always be ready to scoop up more if the child is still interested! Some new tastes take longer to acquire than others, but continuing to expose your child to small amounts of healthy foods (that the adults in your family eat) will pave the way for good eating habits in the years to come.