WASHINGTON 鈥� Afternoon ice cream cones and late-night swim meets are now a distant memory.聽The start of the school year means the return of routines 鈥� from family dinners to earlier bedtimes. And for many, re-establishing healthy eating habits is a major part of the September reset.
Stocking your kitchen with fruits, vegetables and whole grains is a great place to start, but it takes more than supplying healthy food options to raise a healthy eater.
鈥淲e all need to take a deep breath and have a longer-term perspective about feeding our children well,鈥� says , senior director of healthy eating at .
Gremont, who is also the founder of the nonprofit , has some tips for parents on how to instill healthy habits that will last your kids a lifetime 鈥� and not just through lunch.
How is your belly feeling?
Recognizing the difference between feeling hungry and wanting food because you鈥檙e bored or you spot a tasty treat is one of the most important skills parents can teach children.
Overfeeding an infant is impossible, Gremont says. Babies stop eating when they鈥檙e full. But as children get older, they lose touch with this natural sensation and begin to eat for other reasons, such as boredom and temptation.
That is why Gremont says it鈥檚 important to check in with your kids and talk to them about how their bodies feel before you agree to a serving snack or an extra helping of dinner. At mealtime ask, 鈥淗ow is your belly feeling?鈥� rather than, 鈥淎re you full?鈥�
鈥淥ur goal shouldn鈥檛 be to eat until we鈥檙e full; our goal should be to eat until we鈥檙e no longer hungry,鈥� Gremont says.
Teaching little ones to be mindful and listen to their bodies sets the foundation for a lifetime of healthy eating habits.
Scale back on the snacks 聽
Rummage through any mother鈥檚 purse and chances are, you鈥檒l find a bag of broken Cheerios or a pack of crushed Goldfish. Snacking has become a national pastime, especially when it comes to our children.
It鈥檚 not uncommon for kids to be fed a snack at school, when they鈥檙e picked up from school, at an after school activity and then again after dinner. But all this snacking is unnecessary, Gremont says.
鈥淚 think we鈥檝e become very familiar with using food as a distraction and entertainment, and we鈥檝e forgotten what it鈥檚 for,鈥� she says.
Handing over a package of crackers every time your child is strapped in the car seat makes it easy for him to forget the purpose of food, too.
鈥淜ids are no longer remembering that we eat when we鈥檙e hungry and we eat to fuel our bodies. They鈥檙e just eating because they鈥檙e bored.鈥�
To get control over your kids鈥� snacking, Gremont suggests sitting down with your family and setting some guidelines. Discuss how many times a day they can expect a snack; define what a snack should consist of (for Gremont and her family, a snack contains something that鈥檚 fresh); and get your kids鈥� input on the types of foods they like to eat at snack time.
Most importantly, space snacks out so that they don鈥檛 interfere with meals.
鈥淢ake sure that there鈥檚 a break between so that your kids are getting a snack and then coming to mealtime ready to eat,鈥� Gremont says.
Ditch dessert as a motivator and serve your meals family-style
If you鈥檙e tired of the back-and-forth bargaining over how many peas need to disappear from the dinner plate before your kids can have dessert, you鈥檙e not alone. Many parents are in the same sinking ship.
However, there is a way to cut out this extra stress at mealtime: Take away dessert as the motivator.
The age-old concept of saving dessert for the end of a meal fails for a number of reasons, Gremont says. For starters, it teaches kids that the broccoli on their plate must taste so bad that the only way they can bear to eat it is if there is a reward.
鈥淲hat kids learn from that is, 鈥業鈥檓 never going to eat my broccoli unless there鈥檚 a cookie waiting for me,鈥欌�� Gremont says.
Holding dessert for the end of a meal also reverses the 鈥渆at until you鈥檙e no longer hungry鈥� rule. Instead, it teaches kids to keep eating until they are full, and then they can eat some more.
Gremont has a solution 鈥� and it鈥檚 a bit unconventional, but she urges parents to give it a try: Serve dinner family-style and include small portions of dessert in the spread.
Yes, put the chocolate pudding right next to the potatoes and the peas.
鈥淭ell the kids that they can eat dinner in whatever order they want, and really let them,鈥� Gremont says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the other thing: You have to really just be OK with it if they start with the cookie.鈥�
It鈥檚 a difficult concept to swallow, but it works for a number of reasons. For starters, it teaches kids to moderate their own food intake. The world is full of candy, cookies and cakes, and learning how to incorporate small servings of these treats into a balanced diet without overeating is a life skill.
鈥淥ur goal should never be to completely eliminate [sweets],鈥� Gremont says. 鈥淚t should be to teach our children how to manage that in a real-world environment. Let them start with the pudding or start with the cake, and trust that once they鈥檙e done with that, they鈥檒l still be hungry and they鈥檒l move on to some of the other things.鈥�
Allowing kids to serve themselves at the dinner table also increases the likelihood that they won鈥檛 overeat. Gremont says all too often, parents think they know the right portions for their children, but too much food piled on a plate can be overwhelming for young kids and can turn them off, completely.
鈥淚t just becomes daunting. If you let them serve themselves, they will take portions that are right for their own hunger level,鈥� Gremont says.
Giving kids ownership over their own plate also increases the likelihood that they鈥檒l eat the broccoli because they put it there.
Gremont鈥檚 best piece of advice for parents willing to test out the family-style approach is to be patient. The kids might be overexcited about the idea of eating dessert first, but the long-term gains are well worth a period of adjustment.
鈥淟ike with everything in parenting, it鈥檚 is a degree of trust. You have to trust your kids and you have to also understand that these are habits that we teach over a long period of time,鈥� Gremont says. 鈥淢aybe in the beginning they just eat the cake, but you have to just believe in the long-term that you鈥檙e teaching them habits that will last a lifetime.鈥�
Test out new foods in stress-free environments
Introducing kids to new foods is important: it opens their palates and their minds to a variety of flavors, textures and cuisines. But Gremont says there鈥檚 a time and a place to introduce new foods 鈥� and often, it鈥檚 not at the dinner table.
By dinner time, kids are more likely to be tired and cranky from a long day at school. It鈥檚 no surprise, then, that they aren鈥檛 too enthusiastic about your new zucchini recipe. To avoid a mealtime meltdown, Gremont suggests introducing new foods in small doses at 鈥渓ess threatening鈥� times, such as on the weekend or at snack time.
If you鈥檙e giving your kid zucchini for the first time, make the introduction into a fun taste-testing game. Prepare the vegetable three different ways, and ask your kid to vote for his favorite. Then when that favorite recipe makes an appearance on the dinner table, your kids will already be familiar.
Another suggestion is to use your child鈥檚 favorite food as a vehicle for introducing new ingredients. If that food is pizza, for example, make a new pizza each week. Test out various sauces and toppings, and think beyond just pepperoni and cheese. Try figs with prosciutto or pair artichokes with olives. Your kids鈥� taste preferences聽just might surprise you.
However, keep in mind that no matter how hard you try and no matter how attractive you make a dish look, there will be times when your child does not like a dish and will not eat it. When this happens, don鈥檛 fret. Gremont says an obstacle at one meal is not going to hurt your overall progress.
鈥淲e need to stop focusing so much on the food and on the nutrients and the individual meals and instead start thinking about healthy eating as a habit,鈥� she says.
Like learning to read and write, healthy eating is a skill that takes years to master, but stays with you for many more to come.
鈥淚t takes time. You haven鈥檛 failed if your kids don鈥檛 like vegetables. You need to trust them and believe in them and give it some time 鈥� just like with every other skill we have to teach our kids 鈥� and believe that it will happen.鈥�
