Monday, June 23rd, 2008...9:32 pm
The Sneak Attack…or not
by Stacey
Parents of picky eaters may be tempted to hide veggies in their kids’ food, but some experts say this approach to healthy eating may actually backfire. According to this article in the LA Times, the problem is that kids fail to learn good eating habits when the veggies are hidden.
Some nutritionists and public health experts wonder if parents these days are relying too much on the sneak attack. They doubt if kids will ever develop a taste for vegetables in all their leafy glory if they are hidden in smoothies and macaroni and cheese. Some say this well-intentioned sneaking could produce kids less likely — not more — to eat greens.
“Children should learn to make healthy choices,” says Pat Crawford, co-director of the Center for Weight and Health at UC Berkeley. “It really comes down to whether we are feeding our children for nutrients, or for the potential development of healthy patterns that are lifelong.”
Back when I was kid, mothers didn’t hide the veggies. But bestselling cookbooks such as Jessica Seinfeld’s “Deceptively Delicious” and Missy Chase Lapine’s “The Sneaky Chef” suggest kid-friendly recipes with hidden vegetable and fruit purées in such items as pizza and pasta.
The government says kids are supposed to eat 2 1/2 cups of vegetables and 1 1/2 cups of fruit a day. But a 1997 survey of kids’ eating habits found most get only about a half-cup each of fruit and vegetables a day.
So what’s a mom of a picky eater to do? Here are some pointers from veteran food behavior researcher Leann Birch of Pennsylvania State University thanks to this article in the LA Times.
* Be persistent. Birch’s studies have found that kids need repeated exposures to food to develop a taste for them — in one landmark experiment she conducted with preschoolers, it took at least 10 exposures over a period of several weeks. Don’t give up.
* Set a good example by eating the vegetable yourself. “You need to let them see you eating it and liking it,” Birch says.
* Be matter-of-fact. Many parents unwittingly short-circuit their efforts, appearing shocked when kids eat the vegetables on their plate and making comments such as, “That’s amazing! I can’t believe you ate that.” This makes kids feel like they did something weird.
* Don’t punish kids for not finishing the vegetables on their plate. It simply reinforces a negative association with vegetables.
* Don’t offer rewards such as ice cream or television for finishing vegetables — it makes kids believe that vegetables are something that must be endured, not enjoyed.
My kids are actually pretty good about eating vegetables and a variety of food in general, but we tell my older son that he can’t have dessert if he doesn’t eat the healthy food he’s been served for dinner. We don’t make him finish everything on his plate, but he does have to eat a good amount of it.
How do you all handle balancing healthy food and treats? Do you hide the veggies?
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4 Comments
June 24th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Nope, we don’t hide the veggies. My kids fight over who’s going to eat the broccoli, love peas and green beans from the garden, and rave over sweet corn. Carrots are also a favorite. We’ve never made food a battle, but there are veggies at EVERY meal (except breakfast). It’s never been an issue here.
June 24th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I think this becomes an issue for people whose kids will only eat crackers and pasta. It’s hard to imagine they’ll be able to grow right on that diet.
June 25th, 2008 at 6:49 am
We don’t hide the veggies either. We spend what cooking time we have making dishes we hope the whole family will like–no separate meals for the kids of any sort. The thing that doesn’t seem to work for us is the advice, which I’ve read many times too, not to tell your kids they have to eat their veggies if they want their ice cream. Because although my kids are good vegetable eaters, in particular my 4 year old often would skip dinner and go straight to dessert if we let her. So we’re constantly breaking that advice by saying no dessert until you’ve eaten some of your dinner (including veggies). I must think that that advice only works if you don’t have dessert–which is another piece of nutrition advice I read that I discussed with my husband one night but that he was unwilling to implement because the culture in our families is to have dessert–and in general, looking at our families– that hasn’t resulted in major problems with weight. So far, I don’t think that the message of eating dinner before dessert has made veggies seem like something to be endured, but I don’t know how to get around the–not quite nightly, but recurring– admonition that if you’re not hungry enough to eat dinner, you can’t have dessert.
June 25th, 2008 at 8:15 am
We say the same thing, if you’re too full to eat your dinner, then you’re too full for dessert. My four-year old always seems to find some room left in his belly. I think the advice about not bribing kids to eat veggies in order to get sweets must be more for people who really trapped in a power struggle with their kids over food. If that’s not the case, it seems like common sense to say you can’t have the treat until you eat the food that’s more nourishing.
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