Posts in category: Toddler Nutrition

When I think about Chinese New Year in the past, many of my memories involve food. Cooking with my Mom, buying homemade cookies, preparing deep-fried spring rolls and sipping sugary-sweetened beverages or fake alcoholic drinks.

No matter what your Chinese New Year traditions are, food is always a huge part of the celebration. That’s why I think it’s important to put all weight loss goals on hold, give yourself a break and enjoy holiday foods without feeling guilty. I also think it’s important, as parents, to let our children enjoy holiday foods too — without being a food police and monitored our children’s diet for  24/7.

The Chinese New Year, in fact, present a great opportunity for our children to learn about moderation and mindfulness, if we give them the chance.

TOP FIVE TIPS FOR HOW TO MANAGE INDULGENT HOLIDAY FOODS WITH YOUR CHILDREN 

1. Have a healthy breakfast 

If there is one meal that should be non-negotiable, it’s breakfast. Children are hungry in the morning, so it’s a great opportunity to take advantage of their rumbly tummies and serve your children a balanced meal. We know that eating breakfast offers a wide range of benefits, but when protein (such as yogurt, milk, nuts, meat, eggs etc.) is included, it can tame the cookie monster later on by helping to control appetite and blood sugar levels. Breakfast is often the only meal that we can rely on timing-wise during the holidays (and even this can be random), so try to maximize nutrition here.

2. Throw your timetable out the window 

Without completely disregarding the time and allowing a food-free-for-all, try to be flexible when it comes to meal and snack timing during the holidays. Although you should ultimately maintain your role as the feeder (deciding what, when and where your child eats), it’s ok to relax a little during the holidays and go with the flow. Meals are often served earlier or later than usual, and snacking tends to be more frequent. When you do have some control over what is served (I focus on breakfast), try to include a nutritious variety of food, with milk or water to drink, and let the rest unfold as it will — holiday eating is random and fun and everyone (including children) should enjoy it.

3. Let your children decide 

At family gatherings, there will be platters of delicious foods that everyone is going to want to try (including your children). If there is a buffet, let your children explore different foods by guiding them through and allowing them to choose what they would like to try (not what you want them to eat). Try not to steer them towards healthy foods, but instead give them control over what goes on their plate. Allowing them to explore different foods that aren’t offered at home on a regular basis will help to widen their palate and give them a sense of independence and confidence when it comes to food.  Children will often choose some nutritious foods and some dessert foods–this is ok (and normal)! If you can, wait to visit the dessert table after your child has filled up on mealtime foods (or if you can’t avoid it the first round, visit it last). Sweet foods like chocolate, candy and cookies will almost always be gobbled up prior to nutritious mealtime foods, so children are more likely to fill up on them if given the chance.

Encourage balanced eating and mindfulness by modelling. Try to include veggies and fruits, lean protein-rich foods and some indulgent delicious foods too. Eat slowly and enjoy every bite. Leave foods that you don’t love (or that you’re too full to eat), behind, and have seconds of foods that you love and are hungry for. Modelling mindful, normal eating (regardless of what time of year), will benefit your child greatly, because they view how you eat as “normal”.

4. Don’t restrict treats and sweets 

The holidays present a great opportunity to teach your children about moderation and handling easy-to-love indulgent foods in a mindful way. After all, there will come a time when they’re exposed to unlimited amounts of these foods, and you want to prepare them for that. The idea is to raise children who are relaxed around indulgent foods; who make mindful, matter-of-fact decisions about when and how much they indulge (long term). Evidence shows that children who are restricted in their indulgent food intake eat more of them when they get the chance and are more overweight than they might be otherwise!

But how do parents teach their children about moderation?

Ellyn Satter, who is a leader in the field of child nutrition and feeding (and the master-mind behind the “Division of Responsibility in Feeding“), suggests including some savoury, high-fat foods like chips or fries at a meal sometimes (along with nutritious foods), and if dessert is offered, including a small serving for everyone who wants it (allowing everyone to decide when to eat it–before, during or after a meal). The reason she suggests limiting desserts to one serving at a meal is because children will take the easy way out and fill up on dessert otherwise. To counteract this scarcity created at mealtime however, Satter suggests periodically letting kids have unlimited access to sweets at a sit-down snack time, where they aren’t competing with other mealtime foods. For example, putting out a plate of cookies and a glass of milk, and letting your children eat as much as they’d like. When children feel that treats are limited or forbidden, they’re more likely to go crazy on them. And snack time presents a good opportunity to let them have unlimited access (periodically), and naturally learn about moderation.

It’s true, children will often go crazy at first (which is normal), but the novelty will wear off and they will tend to eat less and less. Try doing this not only during the holidays, but throughout the rest of the year too. Satter suggests offering nutritious sweets when you can, such as oatmeal cookies or banana bread, which will make it easier for you to trust the process!

5. Focus on family time, not food

Instead of fighting with your children to sit down to the table to eat dinner, let them know that they don’t have to eat if they don’t want to (after all, they have likely filled up on yummy snacks all afternoon with their siblings, friends or cousins) but that they do need to sit down at the table with everyone to visit, laugh and catch up. When you take the pressure off of children to eat, they are often more open to trying foods and being less “picky” with their choices. You may be surprised at how much your children end up eating, and even if they don’t, it’s OK. You will enjoy yourself so much more if you resist telling them to have “three more bites” and focus instead on creating happy holiday memories.

Happy holidays from my family to yours!

If you enjoy this post, you might also interested in reading about how to get your kids back into routine after Chinese New Year. 

Halloween is here! As parents most of us will have to face that large pillow-sack full of treats or candies that makes its way onto our kitchen table or living room floor, whether it is this year or in years to come. The question is, how will you deal with it as a parent? Do you let your children have a candy free-for-all so that it disappears quicker, or do you allow only one or two treats per day so that it lasts until Christmas? Do you make it disappear in other ways like by getting your children to trade it in for non-candy alternatives or donating it?

Last year, my son was young enough that he didn’t really know what’s going on. He hadn’t quite reached the stage where candy was the main attraction for Halloween. He was excited to get into his “Superman” costume and head out trick-or-treating.

How you choose to deal with Halloween candies as a parent is a personal thing and there isn’t one right way to go about it. Why should we be worried about our children consuming a lot of candy? If sugar-rich foods like candy are consumed too often and in large amounts, it can contribute to poor dental health, displacement of other nutrient-dense foods, and unhealthy weight gain.

So, how do we teach our children about “treats” in general?

As a dietitian and mom, I take the approach that there are NO BAD FOODS, JUST BAD DIETS approach. What you do between Halloween this year and next year is relevant, what happens on October 31 is irrelevant.  Fun-foods like candy and chocolate are delicious (come on, let’s be honest!) and shouldn’t be limited too much, or else you or your children will desire them even more.

This year, my son kind of knows what Halloween is. As much as I feel the need to put my “dietitian hat” and play “Treats Police”, I try not too. I don’t want to take the joy out of Halloween from my son. Instead, take this opportunity to teach my son how to manage his treat intake on his own (now and in the future), and not feel the need to sneak, hide or gorge on treats. I want to take the advantage of this fun holiday to build my son’s healthy relationship with foods.

Here’s what I’ve done when my son is at the stage where candy takes priority over cute costumes.

LAST MINUTE BUYER 

Grocery stores are clever, they like to position those huge piles of Halloween candy conveniently when you first walk into the grocery store and your cart is empty AND where you can’t help but stare at them when you’re waiting at the check-out lane. Therefore, make sure to wait until the day before (or a week before) to buy Halloween candy, so that you and your kids don’t have to deal with the “SEE-FOOD SYNDROME“. Also, I always buy my least favourite treats to hand out – lollipop, gummy candies, smarties, etc. If I were to buy anything chocolate, that would be a different story.

If your favourite candies/treats are in the house, it’s more likely that you and your family will eat it ALL. Remember: Out of sight, out of mind; In your sight, in your mind. 

FULE UP BEFORE TRICK-OR-TREATING

Start the day with a wholesome, filling breakfast; encourage a healthy lunch, and be sure to serve healthy and balanced dinner to fill their tummies before heading out trick-or-treating. This way, you can prevent your kids become “candy monster” by the time they come home.

POUR IT OUT AND SORT IT OUT 

Using small bucket/bag and limiting number of houses your kids visit so that their candy-collection is smaller to begin with. When you arrive home with your child’s little sack full of goodies, before you do anything, pour it out and sort it out. Get them to separate “the favourites” and “the least favourite”, and ask if they will share with you. This is a good opportunity to teach them to be “picky”. Observe how much they consume without making any comments or rules since you might be surprised how many kids can self-regulate and eat only a few pieces.

SWITCH WITCH 

Children can choose a few of their favourite candies and then leave the rest out for the “Switch Witch” who takes it away and replaces it with a desired toy or non-food gift ( movie tickets, books, crayons or cash for older kids). Also, some parents have their kids actually donate it to a local food bank or a dental office.

LET THEM ENJOY

On Halloween night, I let my son pick two to three candies to try out. For older children, you can also allow your child to eat as much as he/she wants.

Forbidding them from having any candy may just increase their desire for it.

Trust me, your child might surprise you by having a few and then deciding to save the rest or gorging on them and eating until they feel sick. Enjoying fun-foods like candy and chocolate once in a while (even if that means a little everyday) is normal and it’s important that they don’t label these foods as “bad” foods. It also decreases the chances of your children sneaking candy or over-indulging when you’re not there.

And I promise you, one night of gorging on treats will not effect he/her long-term nutritional status or weight. Most of the time, the children seem to grow bored with their candy after a few days if it’s not restricted and rationed like crazy.

BOTTOM LINE

How do you make sure Halloween isn’t a nightmare for you or your children? Think of it as a great opportunity to teach your children about moderation, balance, and healthful indulging.

Happy Halloween !!

Did you know that I offer personalized nutrition counselling for children and families? If this is something you’d like to learn more about, check out my service here.