I hear this too often from people who are either currently on a diet or have been on one in the past. Since their kids eat “kid food” like nuggets, fries, lasagna, fast food, or pizza, they have to prepare boiled chicken and asparagus to eat on the side.

Despite knowing that yo-yo dieting is a bad idea, millions try it every year. Besides being a completely unsustainable approach to nutrition, there are far-reaching consequences to these behaviors.

It may not seem obvious, but your kids are tuned into your unhealthy habits.

Big Impressions on Small Ears

Children are incredibly influenced by how their parents talk about food.

According to research by Damiano and colleagues, “Adolescent girls are more likely to engage in weight loss attempts when their mothers engaged in extreme and presumably more observable weight loss behaviors rather than moderate weight watching and body dissatisfaction.”¹ The research isn’t as clear regarding boys, but it does show that the father plays a big role in how boys perceive body image.

Children pick up on these behaviors as early as preschool. Results from one study² show that if a parent is neutral toward food, meaning not too pushy to eat healthy or unhealthy, children tended to be normal weight. Conversely, excessive control by the parent lead to over-eating by the child.

Understand How Social Pressures Impact Your Kids

As someone without kids, I am in no position to give advice on parenting styles. However, this is beyond parenting styles. Our entire future adult population is growing up with incredible social pressure to have the “ideal” body. Social media, television, models, sports, and peers influence the way kids think about body image, dieting, and health.

It’s more important than ever for kids to learn proper weight control and reasonable body image. This message must come from the home, but unfortunately this is where most problems begin.

Kids notice when parents cook different food, and they associate those foods with what mom or dad eats to lose weight. And so, kids grow up thinking that vegetables are a diet food. The irony is, these parents are generally amazing people who would do anything for their children. In fact, a lot of their motivation to diet is not only for looks, but also for longevity to see their kids grow up.

As a parent, it’s perfectly fine to want to lose weight, gain muscle, or have any other health goal that involves food. However, if you need to eat different foods from your family to accomplish this, what the heck is your family eating in the first place?

Get Your Kids Involved in the Kitchen

I understand that kids can be picky. To alleviate some of the mealtime struggle, make your kids a part of the process. Have them choose a few recipes each week that include vegetables. At the grocery store, let them pick out produce that looks fun. When kids take ownership of their decisions, they are more likely to try eating something new.

Frozen chicken nuggets, spinach, and fries are fine to eat on occasion. But when you do eat a more nutritious meal, make a big deal out of it. Point out that vegetables make you strong and healthy, not just something to eat leading up to bikini season. Pass down cooking skills, teach them what well-rounded meals look like, and model healthy food habits yourself. Everything you do regarding food can and will be imitated. Give your kids the tools to make better decisions.

Eating together is a fading tradition. I recently watched a family sit for a meal and not one of them looked up from their phones the entire time. I can only imagine that at home they rarely eat as a family. While it may not be realistic to eat every meal together, it should become a priority. Even if you stop dieting and make healthy choices, your kids won’t learn if they aren’t around to see your changes.

When you kids are involved in the food-making process, they are more likely to make healthy choices.

Be a Model of Good Behavior

If you want one reason to stop the dieting cycle, do it for your kids. Food practices and perceived body images are learned through the parents at a very young age. It’s hard to go back and change habits once the impressions are made, and these unhealthy mindsets carry into adulthood.

A poor relationship with food begins early, and it is sad to see. But it’s not too late to make a lasting change. Food is a source of nourishment, a vehicle for making memories, and something to look forward to and enjoy. Let’s give that gift to the future generation.

You’ll Also Enjoy:

• A Healthy Nation Must Start at School
• 3 Steps to Improving Your Child’s Eating Habits
• The Best Tactics for Teaching Your Child to Eat Well
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

References:

1. Damiano, Stephanie R., Karen J. Gregg, Emma C. Spiel, Siân A. Mclean, Eleanor H. Wertheim, and Susan J. Paxton, “Relationships between Body Size Attitudes and Body Image of 4-year-old Boys and Girls, and Attitudes of Their Fathers and Mothers,” Journal of Eating Disorders, 3(2015). Accessed April 7, 2016. doi:10.1186/s40337-015-0048-0.

2. Bergmeier, H., H. Skouteris, and M. Hetherington, “Systematic Research Review of Observational Approaches Used to Evaluate Mother-child Mealtime Interactions during Preschool Years,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 101(2014): 7-15. doi:10.3945/ajcn.114.092114.

Photo 1 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Photo 2 courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Quit Dieting: Your Kids Are Watching appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Vegetables Don’t Have to Be Boring

For some reason, parents have determined eating vegetables means the veggies must be presented in as bland and unappealing a manner as possible. But who in their right mind actually wants to eat cauliflower that has been boiled in unsalted water for ten minutes, then plopped on the upper left quadrant of the plate like some sort of mass from outer space?

“By preparing in advance and relaxing your ideas of what vegetables are supposed to taste like, you will open up a whole new world of possibilities for the simple vegetable.”

We as parents spend so much time making intricate and sexy main dishes (usually the protein-heavy portion of our meal), that by the time we get to the side dishes, we have little time and energy left to spare. I understand, too. After a long day of work, afternoon activities, and everything else that goes on during the day, sometimes you just don’t have the time to think creatively. But trust me, it’s not that hard.

Here are some hints before we begin

• Involve your kids in the preparation as much as you can. As I mentioned in a previous article, when you let them in on the creative process, they’ll want to sample what they produce. Let them cut, chop, manipulate switches, or do whatever else it is they can safely do to get involved.
• Use spices, herbs, and judicious amounts of other ingredients. Does it mask the real flavor? Of course it does. But so does adding salt and pepper to your beef, or Thai chili sauce to your chicken.

So let’s tackle a few recipes, shall we? Try some of the following recipes and ideas to get your kids eating their veggies, and perhaps even asking for more.

RELATED: 6 Tips on Making Healthy Eating for Kids Not So Difficult

Avocado Chocolate Pudding

This one is devious. I mean, avocado? In dessert? Yep, and best of all, it can make for an awesome pudding. Avocado is rich in vitamins and healthy fats. These fats are the perfect emollient for whipping into a pudding. Now, this isn’t low calorie, and if you are carb-conscious you’re going to have to use some sort of sugar substitute. However, it is an easy and tasty way to get vegetables and vitamins into a diet.

Enjoying avocado chocolate pudding.

To prepare, take one or two dark chocolate bars and melt them down with a hint of butter. I’ve used different ratios of cocoa and sweetener to avocado, so experiment to find your own preference. Once your chocolate is all melted into a beautiful shiny syrup, blend it together with one avocado and a pinch of cinnamon in your blender or food processor for about thirty seconds. Put it in your refrigerator for about an hour, and presto-chango, delicious pudding!

• The Vegan Version: For a vegan option, you can substitute out the butter and chocolate bars and use cocoa powder, coconut milk, and the sweetener of your choice to taste.
• The Bodybuilder Version: Throw in your favorite protein powder, but beware the gritty texture.

Oven-Roasted Squash

When most kids think of squash, grimaces are not far behind. However, many of the members of the squash family make delicious sweet bites when they are roasted. Two of my favorites are kabocha pumpkin squash and butternut squash.

“Involve your kids in the preparation as much as you can… [W]hen you let them in on the creative process, they’ll want to sample what they produce.”

To prepare, thoroughly clean out the insides of your gourd, then cut into chunks about half-inch square. I try to remove the flesh from the outer shells, although here in Japan, you can find the shells attached through all sorts of preparations, including frying, roasting, boiling, and stewing. For children however, I have found that shell-less roasted gourd goes over a lot better than shell-on.

To cook, lightly salt the squash squares and roast in a 375-degree oven until they begin to caramelize on the edges.

My students preparing squash for roasting.

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Smoothies

This one lends itself to not only the sweet-toothed of us, but also the lazy. I will admit to having used pre-packaged pumpkin for this recipe. But before you light your torches and sharpen your pitchforks, be aware that it was organic pumpkin, with nothing else added. Since that first time, I have also re-made this recipe using more commonly available commercial canned pumpkin (think the stuff you might use in a pumpkin pie for the office Thanksgiving potluck) and using roasted, blended, and mashed kabocha pumpkins.

“Adding vegetables into our children’s diets is of utmost importance. But as these recipes show, we don’t have to sacrifice flavor in the pursuit of healthy variety.”

To make the smoothies, take a few spoonfuls of mashed pumpkin (however you obtained it), and blend it with other smoothie ingredients. As I have no problems with dairy products, I use semi-frozen milk, along with honey and cinnamon. To make it thicker, I tend to add more pumpkin, although that does play with the flavor.

I’ve also seen people use coconut milk, almond milk, goat milk, and just about every other milk under the sun, with good results. One athlete I was working with who was trying to add weight used half-and-half with protein powder, but I personally disliked the texture and found it too heavy in my stomach.

Give It a Shot

Adding vegetables into our children’s diets is of utmost importance. But as these recipes show, we don’t have to sacrifice flavor in the pursuit of healthy variety. In fact, by preparing in advance and relaxing your ideas of what vegetables are supposed to taste like, you will open up a whole new world of possibilities for the simple vegetable.

Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photos 2 and 3 courtesy of David Varnes.

The post 3 Recipes to Get Your Kids Excited About Vegetables appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Researchers interviewed the parents of 174 Mexican American children. While the parents were interviewed, their children were weighed and measured. Then the results were tabulated and researchers began to make connections between the parents’ feeding practices and whether their children were overweight. The study revealed four factors that were correlated with healthier children:

1. First, positive involvement from the parents was a critical necessity for healthy children. Parents with healthier children actively monitored their children’s diets and restricted high-calorie foods. Involvement from the mother was particularly important compared to the father.
2. Next, children were generally healthier when parents pressured them to eat. This is somewhat counter-intuitive. The study’s authors theorize that perhaps children who are pressured to eat perceive food as less desirable and therefore do not overeat.
3. Next, when parents used food to control behavior, children were healthier. This effect was particularly strong when enacted by fathers.
4. Finally, restricting the amount of food children were allowed to eat resulted in more overweight children. This is consistent with other research we have seen recently. Apparently restricting access to food has the opposite of its intended effect. Parents in other studies had better results from giving unlimited access to healthy foods.

Childhood obesity is a growing problem with many tangled factors. Perhaps with further research on best practices, parents will be better equipped to raise healthy children. Are you a parent with healthy children? What have been some of your keys to success?

Refences:

1. Jeanne Tschann, et. al. Parental feeding practices in Mexican American families: initial test of an expanded measure. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2013, 10:6. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-10-6

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post 4 Factors That Help Your Child Eat Healthier appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The study examined 133 children from 86 families. It measured the eating habits of the children at baseline and then again after an intervention of education and dietary coaching for the parents. Parents logged what tactics they chose to use and researchers compared the results of each method.

What tactics improved a child’s diet? First, parents who perceived a direct responsibility for their child’s diet enacted the most positive change. Without taking responsibility for the food served to their children, little positive change was possible. Next, role modeling was particularly important. Children sought to model their parents, even in eating habits. Making food more available while simultaneously restricting access to bad foods was also important. Finally, greater nutritional knowledge in parents resulted in better eating in children.

Some parental behavior also promoted poor eating. Restricting access to food seemed to have the opposite of its intended effect, as children consumed fewer healthy foods in greater quantities whenever restrictions were lifted. Also, pressuring children to eat resulted in overeating.

This study gives parents some practical tools to promote healthy eating. Most of the tools are intuitive: take responsibility, educate yourself, and restrict access to bad foods. But some aren’t so intuitive. The age old mantra of “clean your plate” may do more harm than good. Making food available to children at all times rather than just specified meals may also be beneficial.

One caveat with this study: It defined “healthy eating” as lowering saturated fat intake from dairy products. Most strength and conditioning professionals no longer subscribe to the “saturated fat is always bad” fallacy. But however misguided the specifics of the study, the parenting tools it examined would be equally applicable to any dietary change. Parents can start their children on the right dietary path by implementing some of these simple tactics. Unfortunately, simple does not always mean easy.

References:

1. Gilly Hendrie, et. al. Change in the family food environment is associated with positive dietary change in children. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2013. 10:4. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-10-4

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post The Best Tactics for Teaching Your Child to Eat Well appeared first on Breaking Muscle.