AFTER READING BRUCE BRADLEY’S POST ABOUT tricks of the food industry trade, I promptly freaked out over the fact that I’d been eating calf stomach – rennet – in my cheese. After maniacally checking the labels of all the cheese in the house, I calmed down enough to turn to my best defense when I’m faced with a food crisis – looking for answers.

1. What is a Paleo diet? How is it different than a raw diet?

When you follow a Paleo diet approach you pretty much eat lean meats, vegetables, some fruit, and healthy fats from nuts, olive oil, coconut oil, etc.  The quality of the food you eat matters, so many people eating the Paleo way try to eat grass fed meat, free range chicken/eggs, and wild caught fish (as opposed to farm-raised).  You avoid grains, dairy, and legumes as well as processed foods and sugary food.

Robb Wolf, one of the Paleo lifestyle authorities, has a ton of great information on his website and in his book.

I am not too familiar with the Raw Diet, but from what I have seen you don’t eat meat and you eat a bunch of vegetables.  I like vegetables, but could not do without meat!

2. How long have you been following a Paleo diet and why did you start?

I started trying to try to dial in my eating about two years ago after I read “The Primal Blueprint” by Mark Sisson.  I got nice results following his method (which is similar to the Paleo Diet), but decided to get more serious with the Paleo approach at the end of last summer.

I started to see more people involved in CrossFit giving it a shot and getting great results (better body composition, more energy, better mood, better performance in the gym) so I wanted to give it a try.  My gym (CrossFit Generation) had a 30 Day “Paleo Challenge” and after that went really well, I was convinced it was the answer for me.  I got lean, had more energy, and just generally felt great.

3. What is an example of a day of meals for you?

Breakfast is usually a few eggs and some sausage or bacon (but not every day) and black coffee or espresso.  Other days I might just eat some leftover chicken or steak.  No more Kashi or puffed wheat for me!

For lunch I have a “big salad” with spinach, lettuce, chicken, onions, carrots, hard-boiled eggs, etc. with olive oil and some balsamic vinegar.

Dinner is usually some meat and vegetables.

After workouts I have some coconut water and a piece of meat.

Before I used to snack much more but now I eat around three meals a day and don’t need to snack since I am not as hungry as I was when I had grains in my diet.

4. I don’t know if I could commit completely to this diet, but are there small changes I could make in this direction to improve my eating habits?

Absolutely.  The best thing you could do, or anyone for that matter, is to eliminate gluten or grains from your diet.  If you cannot eliminate them, then try to limit them the best you can.  Gluten has been linked to so many autoimmune diseases and other health problems.

It is amazing how much better people feel when they eliminate or reduce grains from their diet.  I know that my health has improved significantly (e.g. I don’t get colds like I used to, I rarely have stomach aches, feel more energetic all day long, etc.).

Another thing you can do more generally is to reduce the amount of carbohydrates you take in.  A lot of people take in way too many carbohydrates from sugar, grains and other processed foods and this contributes to weight gain and its related health issues.

The bottom line: Really, following a Paleo approach is not all that difficult.  You are pretty much eating some meat, eggs, vegetables and a bit of fruit and nuts.  If you can kick the bread and grains and focus on eating real food you might just be “Paleo” before you know it!

A FEW DAYS AGO, A CTF FACEBOOK FOLLOWER ASKED A REALLY GOOD QUESTION: WHAT IS A REALLY GOOD PRETZEL?

Well, I don’t have the answer to that.

But I can explain how I choose a pretzel and share what brands I buy. It is hard to find a good pretzel. There are a lot of brands to sort through which means lots of ingredients labels to read. So where to start?

While I don’t make homemade pretzels, I look for a pretzel with a short list of ingredients of only things I would have in my kitchen. I have to admit, I haven’t found anything I’m wildly crazy about, but here are the two I typically buy:

Snyders

In a conventional food store, I buy Snyders pretzels, but only the sticks or waffles. The twists have additional ingredients for some reason. The ingredients are:

Unbleached wheat flour, water, canola oil, malt, salt, yeast, soda.

These are all things I either have in my house or would be able and willing to purchase for baking.

365 Brand

In Whole Foods, I buy the 365 Brand. Typically I buy the non-organic (GASP!) to save money. We don’t eat so many pretzels, so I feel okay about that decision. The ingredients are:

Unbleached enriched wheat flour, malted barley, salt, soybean oil, yeast.

I wouldn’t buy or cook with soybean oil, and I try to be aware of how much soy we eat through additives, so I don’t like these as much as the Snyder’s.

Annies Organic Honey Wheat Pretzel Bunnies

I don’t buy these.

The ingredients are:

Organic wheat flour, organic expeller pressed vegetable oil, organic honey, organic cane sugar, sea salt, organic barley malt.

Because they have honey and sugar, they have three times the sugar as the other two brands. It’s only three grams, but my kids get enough sugar from things they can recognize as treats without getting extra in their afternoon snack. I’d rather have my kids get sugar in something where they can taste it, like a cookie or ice cream, than as an additive in something they don’t recognize as sweet.

Also, if you know me you know I don’t care for kid-specific products on a regular basis. Seriously, who is saying “Oh, I have such a terrible time getting my kids to eat pretzels. Maybe if I spend extra to buy these bunny-shaped ones they will finally eat them.”

I think there are better organic pretzel options, such as 365 Brand or Newman’s Own. (I like Newman’s Own but I don’t buy them because they cost more than I’m willing to pay.)

The bottom line:

No processed snack food is perfect. It’s a processed snack food, for goodness sake! Decide what you can live with, read the ingredients, and enjoy occasionally.

One question I hear over and over again when talking to people about eating fewer processed foods is “How do I start?” It got me thinking back to how I started changing my families eating habits, how overwhelming it seemed, and what small first steps I took. The result is this three-part series of posts about three simple things you can do to start eating healthier.

GOAL: Increase the amount of produce in your shopping cart by using the money saved from buying fewer snacks and soft drinks.

WHY: The obvious answer is because eating more fruits and veggies is healthier. But also because fruits and veggies are more filling than snack foods, sodas, or juices and eating more of the good stuff creates a habit that, hopefully, your kids will find hard to break when they are on their own.

My kids got in the habit of expecting fruit or veggies with every snack or meal. Once they even “tricked” me into giving them dessert by asking for apples. “Ha ha! The apples are dessert!” Oh, yes, they got me with that one.

HOW: The way you approach this one depends on how you handle your grocery budget. Some people follow a loose budget and some people count up every penny.

My approach was to remove any budget restrictions on produce. It became the one grocery store department where I bought whatever I wanted without looking at price – with one caveat: if I bought it, we had to eat it.

The result: Because I freed myself from thinking too much about cost, I bought whatever produce looked tasty and interesting. Because I bought it, we had to eat it or it went to waste. Because we had to eat it, I served more fruits and veg with every meal and snack. Because we ate more fruits and veg, we were more satisfied and less likely to munch on snack foods in between meals. And because we ate less snack foods, I could buy less snack foods and more produce.

If the no-budget plan doesn’t work for you, here are some easy substitutions to help you get started.

$3.99 = 17 oz bag of Doritos OR 2 lb bag of carrots
$3.99 = 6 pack of Gatorade OR ~6 bananas
$3.00 = 64 oz bottle of apple juice OR ~5 apples
$1.33 = 2 liter bottle of Diet Coke OR 1 bunch of celery
$8.49 = 33.5 oz box of Goldfish OR a box of clementines
$3.50 = 11oz bag of Lay’s Potato Chips OR ~1 lb of grapes.
$2.29 = 12 Pop-Tarts OR a container of strawberries (in season)
$2.00 = 10 Fruit Roll Ups OR 1 cantaloupe

(Price Source: Peapod.com and my grocery store receipt)

You get the idea. Start substituting one or two of these things each week and you’ll see how you can shift your budget. If you have older kids, you might be buying a few bags of chips or bottles of soda/juice/etc. every week. You can switch one or two out for easy to eat fruits like apples or clementines and not see a huge impact on your budget.

THE BOTTOM LINE: I’m not going to say it’s easy (it’s not), or that produce isn’t expensive (it is), but by substituting produce for some of the snack foods and soft drinks on your list you can up your family’s consumption of fruits and veggies without blowing your budget.

Remember: I’m not a health or medical professional and this is not meant to be medical advice. Speak to your physician if you have questions about diet and nutrition.

One question I hear over and over again when talking to people about eating fewer processed foods is “How do I start?” It got me thinking back to how I started changing my families eating habits, how overwhelming it seemed, and what small first steps I took. The result is this three-part series of posts about three simple things you can do to start eating healthier.

GOAL: Eat less “snack foods” and more food for snacks.

WHY: Making snack time into a mini meal is more satisfying, lessens consumption of processed snack foods, and passes on the skill of putting together food for a snack, rather than grabbing “snack food.”

“Snack is a time, not a food” Dr. Dina Rose

Most people, especially kids, need a little something to make it from one meal to the next. But snack time shouldn’t be just chips, crackers, fruit leathers, or cereal bars.

It’s time to break out of the box and redefine what a snack is.

The majority of traditional snack foods include additives, colors, high sodium but don’t pack very much of a nutritional punch. Even so-called healthy options (organic cereal bars, cheese sticks, pretzels, etc.) don’t make good stand alone snacks.

It’s better to make a mini-meal that includes at least two different things, one of them being a fruit or vegetable. It’s healthier and more filling with less food — and you don’t have to worry about kids “ruining” their appetite for the next real meal because the snack was a real meal.

HOW: Changing snack time can seem almost impossible, but it can be done! Here are some practical tips for making some real change in the way your kids snack, based on things that worked in my house.

• Think of each snack as a mini-meal, and always include fruits or vegetables.
• Stop buying the worst snack foods currently in your pantry. If they aren’t there, no one can eat them. I went cold turkey with the Goldfish crackers, and when they weren’t there, we found something else to eat instead.
• Serve snacks on plate. This gives kids a visual guide to what an appropriate amount of food is for a snack. This also limits mindless munching out of bags or boxes.
• Mix up the snack “menu.” Limit each type of traditional snack food (like chips or crackers) to once a week and make sure to serve fruit or veg with it.
• Keep fruits and vegetables handy and visible, a proven way to increase kids consumption of them.
• Be creative. Snack can be a peanut butter and banana sandwich, homemade cookies with milk, veggies and hummus, a yogurt and fruit parfait, or homemade smoothies – so much more than a bowl of chips or a bag of animal-shaped graham crackers.
• Don’t stress if your kids have a hard time at first. I always try to remember this gem from Michael Pollan’s Food Rules: “If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, you’re not hungry.” And remember, snack time is optional. If your kids don’t eat it, it’s okay.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Changing snacks into mini meals made up of food will lessen the amount of processed food your family eats and cut your spending in the chip and cracker aisle. Your kids will be healthier, feel better, and will learn how to snack – an important food skill.

Remember: I’m not a health or medical professional and this is not meant to be medical advice. Speak to your physician if you have questions about diet and nutrition.

One question I hear over and over again when talking to people about eating fewer processed foods is “How do I start?” It got me thinking back to how I started changing my families eating habits, how overwhelming it seemed, and what small first steps I took. The result is this three-part series of posts about three simple things you can do to start eating healthier.

GOAL: Have kids drink only water or milk for everyday consumption. Relegate juices, sodas, sweet teas, sports drinks to the realm of special occasions.

WHY: Juices, sodas, sweetened teas, sports drinks, any sweet drinks add extra calories – and extra sugar and/or additives – to kid’s diets. Training kid’s palates to prefer the ultra-sweet taste of sweetened drinks (especially artificially sweetened drinks) will make them averse to the less sweet taste of fruits and other “real” foods.

What about 100% juices? They’re healthy, right?
One hundred percent fruit juices can be fine in limited quantities, but most kids drink way too much. They are filling, meaning kids eat less actual food. Even if the package says the juice is equal to a serving of fruit, juice isn’t like eating fruit – it has less fiber, it’s less satisfying, and it packs less of a nutritional punch. Making juice an everyday drink teaches kids that juice is an acceptable substitute for fruit.

What about Gatorade for kids who play sports?
The vast majority of kids do not need electrolyte replacement after exercise. Sports drinks just add extra sugar and calories (not to mention dyes and other chemical additives) to kid’s diets. Water hydrates best (link) and sports drinks should be for occasional consumption.

What about diet sodas? The have no sugar or calories.
It’s true that dies sodas have no sugar or calories but that doesn’t mean they should be offered in unlimited quantities. Artificial sweeteners and other chemicals in sodas such as benzoates are potentially harmful. Diet soda has also been linked to weight gain. If kids are sucking down the soda, they aren’t eating other healthier foods or drinking water, which bodies need for optimal health. Save the soda for special occasions.

Older kids who have their own money may still buy their own sweet drinks when they have the chance. But if these drinks aren’t readily available at home, then having an occasional soda, sweetened tea, etc. out won’t matter as much.

The thing with sweet drinks is they create a cycle. Once kids drink them, they want more of them. Reverse the cycle! Limited consumption of sweet drinks will retrain kids’ palates to prefer less sweet drinks.

HOW: It’s not always practical to cut out the juice, soda, or other beverages cold turkey. Here are some real life steps you can use.

• Decide how often you think sweet drinks should be consumed, such as once a day, once a week, only on weekends, or special occasions only. Maybe you will have different answers for different drinks (For example, a small glass of juice is okay each day, but soda is for special occasions only.)
• Stop buying beverages other than milk and water as regular shopping list items. Instead, buy them once in a while or just for special occasions. If they aren’t in the house, people can’t drink them.
• If needed, use a phase out strategy: limit to once a day, then once a week, then just special occasions.
• Explain to your kids what the plan is and why. They will be more open to it and they will be more likely to internalize the change. Learning to limit intake of sweet beverages is important. Older kids can understand about nutrition and that bodies need nutrients and vitamins to function properly. Even young kids can understand basics like “juice will fill you up too much to eat your dinner” and “soda is a treat.”

THE BOTTOM LINE: Getting kids to drink mostly water and milk is healthier for them. Learning to regulate consumption of sweet drinks is important. It sets kids up for making good choices when you aren’t around. Kids will appreciate sweet drinks more when they are offered as treats and – bonus! – you will save some money at the grocery store.

Remember: I’m not a health or medical professional and this is not meant to be medical advice. Speak to your physician if you have questions about diet and nutrition.

Dr. Dina Rose is a food sociologist and mother who writes It’s Not About Nutrition, a blog about the “Art & Science of Teaching Kids to Eat Right.”  In this special post, Dr. Rose answers questions which were submitted by readers of CTF.

QUESTION 1
I know I should be eating (and serving) more whole foods, but how do I break the processed food habit? Cold turkey? I don’t think anyone in my home could handle it, we’re big on crackers and tortilla chips here. Is there a baby step approach?

Focus on variety. Don’t serve the same food either: a) two days in a row or b) more than once a day.  Once you’ve established this foundation, add a fruit or vegetable to every snack and every meal.  Eventually, use foods that seem the same (crackers and chips for instance) as if they are the same (i.e. no crackers or chips two days in a row…) Read House Building 101.

QUESTION 2
You have written so much about emotional eating in our kids and making sure we foster a healthy REALTIONSHIP with food. This concern really plagues me as the mom to a nut-allergic kid, and two others who are dairy, sugar and gluten sensitive (so much so that these foods are contributing to symptoms of chronic illness.) My oldest is 7, and my other two are 2 and 4.

Combine our avoiding the above foods, along with trying to eat organic, non-toxic, healthful, whole foods… and my kids have become a little obsessed with the “sugary treat” they get to choose every day (usually 2-3 “organic” sandwich cookies or a bowl of sorbet.)

Here’s the question: At what point do I need to be truly concerned with how “obsessed” my kids are with sweets?

I don’t know how much is too much “obsession,” or when you should start worrying about it, but it does seem as if there are so many necessary food restrictions in your home that asking your kids to be mindful of sweets and treats might just be one restriction too many.

You’re right to be worried about the impact of restriction on eating habits, though, because the research shows that it can lead to overeating.  The key is to make your kids feel like they have more control.  Here’s a four-pronged approach to keep the treat monster at bay:

My first suggestion is that you ease up a little on your organic-only goal, not because there’s anything wrong with eating organic, but because it adds another rule to your kids’ eating.  Your kids may not understand the difference between organic and non-organic food at this stage, but they certainly know that most foods are off limits. Then, I suggest you add more variety to the treat menu.  Not only will this make allowable foods seem more plentiful, but cycling through foods (even treat foods) will help set the foundation for new food acceptance.  Next, try giving your kids complete control over when they have their treats, even if when they want them is first thing in the morning.  Finally, once a week or so host a treat party: put out a pile of treats and let your kids go at them.  There’s one caveat: Your kids have to sit at the table while they eat—no games, no TV, no wandering around.

You’re used to holding a tight rein on food consumption, and this may be necessary for health reasons.  But broadening your food world a little, and transferring more control to your kids should calm your kids’ craving for sweets… a lot.  Read To Restrict or Not, That is the Question.

QUESTION 3
My child often eats large meals. He isn’t overweight, and we eat mostly healthy foods. Should I worry that he is over-eating and may end up being overweight?

One of the difficulties of parenting is that we have absolutely no way of knowing how much food our children need to eat.  There’s no way to gauge their hunger, their growth rate or their energy expenditure. (If only there were!)  Sadly, that means you can only do three things: 1) Teach your child to eat proportionally.  That means tipping meals (and snacks) in favor of fruits and vegetables, not pasta, steak or sweets. 2) Talk to your child about the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger, making sure you don’t cue your child to eat for emotional reasons.  3) Encourage your child to pause before second helpings to allow the brain to catch up with the body.  Read How Much Should Your Kids Eat?, Using Sweets to Soothe the Soul, and The Power of the Pregnant Pause.

QUESTION 4
My daughter doesn’t like to eat any vegetables except carrots. She will eat fruit, though, so I often end up serving fruit with or instead of vegetables with dinner. Should I be encouraging her to eat more vegetables? If so, how do I start?

Stop worrying so much about vegetable consumption and focus more on laying the foundation for (and eventually introducing) new foods.  In practice, this means shifting your daughter’s overall diet in favor of fresh foods instead of processed ones, and consciously rotating through the foods she already likes. Then, look for ways you inadvertently give vegetables a bad rap. These two steps will probably increase your child’s interest in new foods.  When that happens, start asking your daughter to taste, but NOT EAT, some vegetables. Read 10 Ways Kids Learn to Hate Veggies, Unleash Your Toddler’s Inner Food Critic and Nix the Negativity.

QUESTION 5
I see what you are saying about nutrition labels, but what about things like cereal? Shouldn’t I be checking for vitamins, fiber, and sugar content?

Cereal seems like an exception to the no-label-reading rule, but it doesn’t have to be.  If your goal is to teach your children to eat real food, then all you have to do is select foods that look and taste like where they came from.  Cereals that look like their natural state generally have more fiber than cereals that don’t.  And the more cereals are processed, the further away from the real deal they are.  Steal cut oats look more like oats than quick-cooking ones, which look more like oats than instant.  Flakes have more fiber than puffs.  When it comes to sugar, the goal is to train your kids’ taste buds to enjoy flavors other than sweet, so choose cereals that don’t taste sweet – regardless of how much sugar they have.

If you still want to read cereal nutrition labels, then check one thing: that the first ingredient is whole grains.  Read Slackers Rule.

QUESTION 6
I’d like to get my kids away from typical snack foods, but I’m not sure where to start. Any tips? And what do your kids eat for snacks?

Snack is a time of day, not a type of food.  Anything can be a snack, but the best foods are fruits and vegetables.  If you set the intention of serving fruits and vegetables at every snack, and then allow your kids to have snacks foods when other people offer them, they’ll probably eat these foods in the right amount.  Plus, you’ll win points as the good mother.  Read: It Doesn’t Matter WHAT Your Kids Eat and Todd’s Law or The Guilt-Free Way to Say “YES” to Sweets.

Sometimes my daughter eats pretzels, sometimes carrots, sometimes cake, sometimes mango, sometimes popcorn, sometimes applesauce, sometimes cookies.  You get the point.

QUESTION 7
What is dinner like at your house? One of my kids won’t eat anything except grilled cheese sandwiches and yogurt smoothies. If I serve something else, she just doesn’t eat, and then I worry about whether she’s getting enough food. Should I force her to eat what I serve, give in to her grilled cheese sandwich demands, or let her go hungry?

Your child has an emotional chokehold on you.  She knows you’ll give in, so she holds out for her favorites. You reinforce the system by giving in.  The next time, your daughter holds out. Then you give in. And so it goes.  You can’t solve this problem until you know why your daughter is so particular about what she eats: Is she afraid new foods will taste bad? Does she have a sensory sensitivity? Is she in a control struggle?  Read It’s Gross and You Can’t Make Me Eat It! Overcoming Resistance of New Foods and You Can’t Feed Your Way Out of a Picky-Eating Problem.

Once you know more about why your daughter eats the way she does: a) make sure you rotate foods for all meals and snacks, not just dinner. b) Include at least one food at dinner that you know your daughter likes. c) Serve your daughter a very small serving (1 bite of chicken and 3 peas). Make it clear that she can have more if she desires.  d) Discontinue after-dinner snacks and talk to your daughter about the relationship between her choice not to eat dinner and hunger.  Finally, recognize that there really is an upside to hunger.  Read When Less is More and The Upside of Hunger.

QUESTION 8
In The Ingredients Game, you say to “group processed foods together” and limit them. That makes sense, but how much should I battle my kids over not eating processed foods? Should I risk them not eating because they don’t get what they want?

If you want your kids to eat fewer processed foods, don’t buy them. That doesn’t mean you have to cook from scratch.  If you want cooking short cuts buy prepared foods that look like what they are such as rotisserie chicken and bagged salad.  Then, let your kids have processed foods whenever they’re offered outside the home.  Talk to your kids about proportion (eating more fresh, natural foods than processed foods) not nutrition and health.

Will your kids go hungry?  Read the answer to question 7 above.

QUESTION 9
I try to serve fruits and/or vegetables at every meal, but they don’t always get eaten. What do you think about “hiding” nutritious food inside other foods, for example, garbanzo beans in cookies or squash in mac and cheese?

Hiding nutritious food inside other foods is a great technique for YOU if it calms your fears about nutrition, but it won’t do much for your kids.  In fact, this is a technique that can make matters worse. (What will your kids think about nutritious foods when they find out what you’ve been up to?)  If you want your kids to eat more fruits and vegetables try serving them more frequently: not just at every meal (including breakfast) but at every snack too.  The more frequently your kids see these foods the more likely they are to eat them.  Plus, one or two bites a few times over the course of the day add up, probably to more than your kids will eat if fruits and vegetables are relegated to dinner.  Then, place fruits and vegetables prominently in the house and “hide” the junk where it’s not visible.  Read 10 Ways Kids Learn to Love Vegetables and Feng Shui for Food.

QUESTION 10
My husband and I are fairly adventurous eaters, but we both have several people in our families that are “picky eaters.” Now that we have children, we want them to grow up eating a wide variety of foods rather than be limited. Do you think being “picky” is genetic? What is the number one thing we should do to raise adventurous eaters?

ALWAYS serve foods you and your husband like and don’t freak out when your kids don’t eat as much as you would like. Read How Cottage Cheese Changed My Life and Using Restaurants Right!

BONUS QUESTION!
If I was going to make one change to improve my children’s eating habits, what should I do?

Pay attention to how often you give your children the same experience —same flavor (sweet), same texture (crunchy), same look (beige)—and then vary it. Don’t overlook drinks in your analysis.  Read The Variety Masquerade.

The bottom line: For more practical and non-crazy-making eating tips, visit It’s Not About Nutrition where Dr. Rose continues to change the conversation from nutrition to habits.

By Dr. Dina Rose

A big thank you to Dr. Dina Rose for giving CTF permission to re-post this fabulous piece about ingredients. Dr. Rose is a food sociologist who writes It’s Not About Nutrition, a blog about the “Art & Science of Teaching Kids to Eat Right.”

SEE IF YOU CAN MATCH UP THE INGREDIENT LISTS with the following foods.

- Thomas’ Hearty Grains Double Fiber English Muffins
- Entenmann’s Softees Mini Donuts
- Nabisco Barnum’s Animal Crackers

It’s pretty hard to do.  Right?

That’s because we’re used to identifying foods from their labels – when we’re at the mercy of the manufacturers’ marketing professionals — not their ingredients.

If you turn things around, the products  all look basically the same because they’re made from essentially the same ingredients: refined flour, oil and sugar.

And, as Jane E. Brody points out in today’s New York Times article Rules Worth Following, For Everyone’s Sake, once refined flour gets into your body, it’s essentially the same as sugar.  That means all three products are really just sugar — with some oil and sugar.

Here’s the answer to the game:

1. Entenmann’s Softees Mini Donuts
2. Thomas’ Hearty Grains Double Fiber English Muffins
3. Nabisco Barnum’s Animal Crackers

Here’s another test.  Match up these ingredients with their foods.

Enough said!

Instead of wasting your time reading ingredient lists or nutrition labels, think proportion.

1) Group processed foods together and then make sure these “gems” don’t dominate your kids’ diets.  Instead…

2) Feed your kids real foods most of the time.  Because…

When it comes to teaching kids to eat right, what matters most is the ratio of fresh, natural foods to processed foods that your kids consume.

Although there are some nutritional differences between processed products, what they have in common is way more important for shaping how your kids eat. .

- Processed foods all have essentially the same taste, texture, aroma and appearance and none of them are at all like broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms, melon, apples, or pears.

It’s what your kids get used to that dictates what other foods they’ll accept.  It’s all about their habits.

~ Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits. ~

=============================================================

Note: I wish I could say I thought this game up, but I pilfered (and modified) it from the folks at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.   If you aren’t familiar with this group, and you are interested in nutrition, the politics of the food industry and the truth, you should check them out. You can find them atwww.cpsi.org.  I subscribe to their wonderful, bimonthly newsletter NutritionAction.

Sources: Product Labels; Center for Science in the Public Interest. “Name that Food.” Nutrition Action Healthletter. January/February, 2010. pp. 10-11; Brody, Jane E. “Rules Worth Following, For Everyone’s Sake.” New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/health/02brod.html?ref=science accessed 2/2/2010.

By Dr. Dina Rose

A big thank you to Dr. Dina Rose for giving CTF permission to re-post this fabulous piece about nutrition labels. Dr. Rose is a food sociologist who writes It’s Not About Nutrition, a wildly informative blog about teaching kids to eat right.

EVEN THOUGH PARENTS TALK A LOT ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF good nutrition, recent research suggests that what matters most to shoppers is

- Saving money
- Saving time
- Accommodating our kids’ taste preferences

Want to get through the grocery store quickly – and with the most nutritious food you can buy? Here’s a radical idea:  Forget about reading nutrition labels.  Why?

First of all, nutrition labels can be a waste of time.

Nutrition labels unnecessarily complicate your shopping experience.   If you are going to use them properly, you have to sift through a ton of information, remember what to look for, and compare the nutrition labels across all similar products.  Only then can you pick the best food for your family.

Maybe that’s why most people don’t read them anyway.  And those of us who do read them, don’t consider the full range of information.  Instead we tend to track only certain nutrients, such as sugar or fat. But this strategy can be misleading: lots of low fat foods, for example, are extremely high in sugar and lots of reduced sugar items have limited amounts of fiber.

Second, nutrition labels can lead you astray.

Finding the best nutrition label on your kids’ favorite foods – macaroni and cheese for instance – gives you a false sense of security because even the best box is probably not that good for you.

Nutrition labels are only useful for choosing foods when it comes to buying processed foods and processed foods are almost always less-than-optimal.  After all, it’s not like you need a nutrition label to assess the quality of the broccoli you buy.

Third, nutrition labels can wreck your kids’ eating habits.

Eating lots of processed foods – the only items in the grocery store that you can’t automatically know how healthy they are just by looking at them – pulls your kids’ taste buds away from the fresh fruits and vegetables you want them to eat and moves them towards the junky stuff you’re trying to get them to avoid.

So, give yourself a break, and shop in a way that makes the labels unnecessary.

Adopt a strategy of buying mostly unprocessed foods and then it won’t really matter whether you buy slightly (or extremely) inferior processed foods.  They won’t be a significant part of your kids’ diet.  And the added bonus?  Your kids will learn to eat their veggies.  It’s kind of like having your cake and eating it too.

~ Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits. ~

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Sources: Maubach, N., J. Hoek, and T. McCreanor. 2009. “An Exploration of Parents’ Food Purchasing Behaviors.” Appetite 53:297-302; Feunekes, G. I. J., I. A. Gortemaker, A. A. Willems, R. Lion, and M. van den Kommer. 2008. “Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling: Testing, Effectiveness of Different Nutrition Labelling Formats Front-of-Pack in Four European Countries.” Appetite 50: 57-70.