Healthy Family, Happy Family (7 page)

Yesterday I made two mistakes even before 8a.m. I chopped up a carrot for my nine-year-old daughter’s lunch box and discussed how she would like it to be prepared (mistake number 1: don’t ask how their food should be prepared). Ayva wanted the carrot cut into two thick sticks and I made the unforgivable error of cutting it into three (mistake number 2). She screamed so much you would have thought I had just beheaded Troy from
High School Musical.
She point blank refused to let me put the carrots into her lunch box. Then I mentioned the Wishing Plate. I said, ‘Hey, why don’t I pop them briefly onto the Wishing Plate, then you can make a silent wish as you eat them at school?’ Her serious face uncrumpled and broke into a smirk, and the carrots became a prized addition to her lunch box.

Don’t become slack—keep on marketing healthy foods to your child. Studies show the marketing effect wears off after time so you need to keep talking to your child about healthy foods on a regular basis. This is why this chapter gives you plenty of healthy ways to get your child eating vegies and other nutritious foods, not just one.

1. Be seen eating healthy foods. A study published in the
Journal of Human Nutrition & Dietetics
revealed that children are more likely to eat fruit and vegetables if they see their parents enjoying these foods on a daily basis. So grab that carrot stick off the Wishing Plate and say ‘Mmm...’[1]

2. Dine at the dinner table. Eating regular meals at the family dinner table is one of the easiest ways to get your child enjoying healthy foods. It increases their intake of dark leafy greens and other vegetables and they’re more likely to continue these healthy eating patterns when they pack their bags and leave home for college.[2] They’re also less likely to fill up on unhealthy items such as soft drink.[3] Dining at the dinner table can also have some surprising positive effects on your child: It could bump up your child’s school results and decrease their risk of being a substance abuser according to researchers from the National Center on Addiction and Substance abuse (CASA), at Columbia University in the United States. They found that teenagers who consume fewer than three dinners each week with their family, more than double their chances of doing poorly at school.[4] Not eating at the dinner table also means your adolescent is more than four times likelier to become a cigarette smoker. And there is a two and a half times greater chance they’ll drink alcohol. Not scared yet? Twelve- and thirteen-year-olds who have infrequent family dinners seated together are six times more likely to experiment with marijuana.[5] Something as basic as serving dinner at the dinner table could not only increase your child’s chances of eating fruits and vegetables, it could also help them make wiser lifestyle choices in future. Why? Maybe table talk helps them to feel loved and understood so they don’t seek unhealthy ways to get that ‘okay’ feeling outside the family home. Don’t forget the power of table talk.

3.
Switch off the television during meals. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australians watch an average of three hours of television per day.[6] That’s 1095 hours each year, and if you live to 65 you will have spent more than six years of your adult life sitting in front of the box. Studies show that children who eat while watching TV are less likely to feast on fruits and vegetables.[7] They’re more likely to want junk food, which means they risk being in the firing line of fat taunts in the playground if they become overweight. You don’t have to drop the plasma into the dumpster, however. Just turn off the telly during tucker time. Then sit around the dinner table so you can promote the peas and chat about your child’s favourite hobbies.

4. Tell them about healthy foods. According to a study conducted with six- to twelve-year-olds, basic health education—being told how much they should be eating and why—influences a child’s eating habits.[8] So talk about healthy foods with your child, give them some facts about how much wholegrains to eat and how many vegies they should have daily. (See Chapter 1, ‘Nutrition in a nutshell’ for all the handy nutrition facts.)

5. Make it fun. In one UK study, children from three primary schools in England and Wales were observed and their fruit and vegetable intakes measured. Then for sixteen days the children watched a video showing fun cartoon characters enjoying fruit and vegetables. When the children ate some fruit or vegetables they were rewarded with a sticker. If they ate the whole serving, they got a bigger reward such as a pen. The parents of the children also recorded how much fruit and vegetables was consumed at home during this time. And guess what? The kids hoed into the leafy stuff—all because they had been educated and rewarded for their efforts. Children aged between four and seven years ate 153 grams (51⁄2oz) more fruit and vegetables (the equivalent of 2.54 portions) than before the education and reward part of the study. The seven- to eleven-year-olds had a further 131 grams (4 1⁄2oz/2.18 portions) each day, including salads and cooked vegetables.[9]

Kids love rewards and you can use tools such as My Reward Chart to promote healthy eating, the fun way. You don’t need to reward them with every mouthful, however (let’s not go nuts). Make a reward chart where they have to eat a new food ten times before they get a reward, such as a diary, small toy or fun family activity.

6.
Keep marketing healthy foods to your child. The study conducted with the primary school children from England and Wales also revealed that once the classroom marketing of healthy food ceased, the children ate fewer fruits and vegetables.[10] This may be why junk food manufacturers continue to advertise daily—because they know that the marketing effect wears off eventually. It’s a case of out of sight, out of mind. So you need to be consistent. Talk to your child on a regular basis about the grand benefits of vegetables, wholegrains and that fruit salad you’ve lobbed into their lunch box.

7. According to a study published in the
Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine,
preschoolers prefer the taste of carrots when packaged in a McDonald’s bag. The ‘brandless’ carrots just didn’t taste as good. Neither did the brand-free French fries, hamburger and chicken nuggets, even though they were genuine McDonald’s products simply served in a plain bag without the big ‘m’ present.[11] However, don’t start serving cucumbers draped in corporate logos. Simply be aware that marketing works and take the time to market your meals to your family. Talk up the fresh ingredients and make positive comments about the flavours. ‘Wow, that’s the best tasting carrot
ever.
’

8. A US experiment found that even a single exposure to a TV advertisement influenced preschool children’s brand preference.[12] And the foods they’re lunching on are more likely to be the same ones frequently advertised on television.[13] This is great news for advertisers but not so good for us. To counteract this influence, take the time to talk to your child about fruits, vegetables, fish and wholegrains.