Wednesday, October 3, 2012

The case of the missing veggies: a (mild) wednesday rant




But there are a few things about food and kids in our society that irk me and YES, I'm using my own space to mention them.

Recently, we were out to eat and I ordered a buffalo burger plain with a side of roasted veggies for Avi. It came with french fries. "They all do," the waiter said. We took the burger and veggies and sent the fries back. "It's included in the price, you can keep them. It's not an extra charge." he insisted. I felt bad for this guy -- just trying to do his job and calm my fears of an extra charge on the bill. Poor bugger hadn't a clue that I couldn't give a shit about the money. He had no idea that this brief exchange got my blood boiling on a societal level. Why are raising kids parents to believe that kids will only eat french fries (or chicken nuggets or everything dipped in ketchup).

What I -- Jenn and I -- have noticed about children's menus at most restaurants (even healthier minded places - and we have lots of those in Boulder) they have two common denominators: fried and cheese. Really? (Didn't I read in the news that even the worst of the worst, McDonalds, has added veggie sticks to their happy meals)? 

Further, I'm a bit disgusted saddened disgusted that many children's books that I come across insinuate that children don't like veggies. Whether it's blatantly saying it or showing it in the illustration with a character's tongue sticking out. And these are books with otherwise pretty forward thinking messages.

Sharing Broccoli with his cow friend.
Snap peas and blueberry snack in the sandbox.
Helping make dinner :: spinning the salad. 
Enjoying the aroma of a fresh picked tomato :: he didn't eat this one.

A chat about cucumbers with our lovely neighbor Sahand.
Now, anytime we make smoothies, he reminds me we have to add kale and avocado. 
Carrots to share with the goats, but since there weren't any takers on this day, Avi ate them himself. 

I love that our boy loves his veggies. Carrots, cabbage, kale, broccoli, peas, tomatoes picked from the vine, purple beans, lemon cucumbers, and many many more. We have raised him eating a variety of foods and that doesn't mean he likes everyone of them all the time. But we keep re-introducing him to veggies in a variety of ways -- Steamed, roasted, mashed, baked (into a chip - think kale chips), fresh, or mixed into soups, smoothies, casseroles, rice, eggs, etc. -- and he keeps trying them, eating them.

And at our neighborhood picnic this past weekend, I was chatting with a neighbor from up the street. "Well, you know what it's like," he (the Dad of a three year old) said. I was happy to reply,  "No, [I don't know what it's like to have a kid that only will eat chicken nuggets and ketchup]. Avi's never had either."

I leave you with a statistic: "Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese." source


And I ask you: What choices are you making to help your kidlet eat healthier? What have you avoided? What have you caved in on? What do you keep re-introducing? What do other's say/think about your choices?


22 comments:

  1. ahhh, I LOVE this!!!!! Rant away Mama!!!

    My food choices have been a HUGE battle with my extended family. It makes me soooo mad. Why do I have to justify eating healthy, whole foods and people eating junk are considered normal?! The majority of illnesses are caused by poor diet. They are completely preventable, and curable!, by eating healthy. I finally had to stop eating out. We don't have any restaurants that are remotely healthy - everything is fried, smothered in butter, and gross. The kids have learned that we don't eat at fast food places. Going by McD's or any other place you hear "ewwww" coming from the back of the car.

    The best thing I ever did to get my kids excited about veggies is planting a garden. I always let them help plant, too. They love watching everything grow. Once it's time to harvest, that's where they spend their days. Eating tomatoes like an apple, snap and snow peas as they pick them. That is often how they have their lunch - standing around in the garden eating the foods they just picked. And smoothies - they would have them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I let them.

    It's not a battle with my kids. But it is a battle with everyone else. And it's one I'm happy to fight and defend. :)

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    1. Amanda, before my son was born my nephews would visit and they would ask to go to McD's... it wasn't long before they were reminding each other that "Aunt Sissy doesn't go to McD's". :)

      and yes... getting kids back in touch (literally) with their food via the garden. We love the connect it has given Avi.

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  2. Thanks for this post, Jules. Here in the mid-west, I often feel like I am fighting a never ending battle when it comes to food choices. It doesn't help that I married a junk-food junkie (he's slowly coming around, especially now that we have children, but still, it's one more battle...). I'm horrified by the children's menus everywhere we go. We never order off of them because they never contain anything remotely healthy.

    Like Amanda noted, I find my biggest battles with extended family and even on occasion, friends. I don't let the kids eat anything with high fructose corn syrup, or additives, or dyes, or... you get the idea. The grandparents, in particular, seem to think they need to feed them "kid food," or that they won't eat anything... even though that isn't the case in our home. I keep on them, but it is one area I have caved on occasion, and I always feel guilty about it.

    Yikes, now I'm on a rant ;) Still, it's such an important topic, and one worth fighting for. I planted my first garden this year and Eli loves helping with it AND eating food straight out of it. Nothing makes me happier...

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I love your blog!

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    1. I hear ya Stacy... and why do we teach kids that things need to be in the shape of a dinosaurs in order to be appealing. ugh. The garden... yes yes yes!!! Avi too... tasting everything... even the weeds!

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  3. Rant away! I wish more people had this attitude. I find it very sad that people are surprised to see that my teenagers are healthy, slender young men without an ounce of fat...some of it is genetics, some of it is diet and some of it is activity levels...but I actually had a pediatrician tell me it was a joy to see a muscular teenager. How sad is that?!?!

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    1. It's funny... I know a woman who asked her pediatrician how to get her kids to eat green things. The suggestion that came back was put green food coloring into foods they already like... then they will slowly shift to trying other green things. UGH!!!

      but yes Melissa... healthy kiddos need to be the norm again!

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  4. right on! i feel the same way. i truly believe that kids will eat alot of different things if you just give them the chance to try stuff out. i do have a couple picky eaters, but they do try new stuff, even if they don't always like it all.

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    1. YES... just because a kid is a picky eater doesn't mean that we have to stick with the same old same old... letting kids expand their picky palettes is just as important... even if they spit it back out!

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  5. Yes! I feel the same way. Grilled cheese or a quesadilla? Are those really 2 different options? I do have to admit that as Owen gets older, he's becoming less and less fond of his veggies, but we keep trying, and he's (almost) always willing to take a bite. Makes me feel sad when he says "don't like that" about delicious foods, but that doesn't mean we turn to chicken nuggets and french fries and say "oh well". We just keep trying - and like most 2 year olds, he's fickle. What he hates today, he'll chow down on tomorrow (and vice versa).

    I've found it helps to connect the food to someone. Like the kale we got from his friend Thomas' garden, or Farmer Veronica who grows our CSA food. The garden helps encourage new choices, too - but he's a people person, so a "someone" always adds a fun element to eating.

    Time for lunch! Sending hugs to all!

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    1. Karen... I know what you mean. One week avi doesn't like or doesn't want Avocados and the next week he does. The sad thing is I think many people do give up and say "oh well". It's not always easy to when you've spent time cooking a meal that doesn't get eaten.. but you hit the nail on the head... "most 2 year olds [are] fickle"!

      and yes... connecting the food to someone is great. The other thing we do is get Avi's help in the kitchen. It's easier to get him to gobble his meal he's spent time in the kitchen making it.

      hugs and love right back at ya!

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  6. Well you know how I feel about this, my friend. U to the gh, Ugh! We face our biggest battles when eating out as well. Even Lark Burger serves the child burger without tomato and lettuce. It's just maddening. Rant on girl, rant on!

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    1. and we were recently gifted a set of bibs and one of them says something about "i don't like pees" and one of our favorite Sandra Boynton books has a similar phrase about peas. Really!? Why is this being encouraged?? I change it to "And I especially like peas!"

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    2. When did have peas in the garden in the spring I wasn't able to bring them into the house as Sofia would eat every pod before it got to the door! She loves peas straight from the vine, but for some reason won't eat them cooked anymore?

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    3. Lisa...

      We too change the words to books. One says something about having to eat your brussel sprouts if you want to get a kiss from mama.... and I always change it to "you can't wait to eat your delicious brussel sprouts" (we don't hold back on the kisses at this house regardless). And the one with the character sticking out their tongue at peas... I tell avi he's licking his lips because they are so delicious.

      but if people are feeding their kids canned peas then maybe that is why it's being encouraged. Fresh from the vine... we too didn't get any into our house KC... they got eaten while we did garden work.

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  7. It's totally ok to rant! This is your space! I must say I caved on ketchup. We buy organic ketchup when I can't ferment my own. But S loves the stuff and will dip all her veggies in it. When I started giving solids it was only veggies I gave both my girls. They both loved them. But then slowly S started not liking certain things anymore like really dark greens and oddly enough peas. What I do though is I server her a portion of whatever we are eating and always put the veggies on her plate. I tell her that she has to eat all of the colors everyday so she must try everything once.

    I have a hard time with the sugar issue as my husband likes a sweet after dinner and so he has transferred that on to S and V. I make sure we have things that a very low suger and make from natural sugars like honey or sucanat.

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    1. Thanks KC. I would love your ketchup recipe. Back when Avi was just starting solids, i told Jenn that if Avi's going to be eating ketchup then we have to make it. I haven't yet made any... so he's never had it. I like the idea of reminding kids from an early age to eat the rainbow. I may start doing that with Avi.

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    2. did you see my energy ball recipe? it's a sweet treat that is also great. I got inspired from Kim (mothering with mindfulness and your green baby). Click on my recipe tab above to get it. I think your hubby might like them too!

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  8. You are an incredible parent and these pictures fill my heart with such happiness. We have plans to raise our Izzy the same way, eating plenty of veggies and fruits and unprocessed foods and I already anticipate how it will be to deal with not only society, but our own families. So crazy that a child eating broccoli and beans would be looked at as abnormal while it's totally acceptable for one to be munching on nuggets and fries. So absurd.

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    1. Sara,
      thanks. I appreciate your kind words. I'm sure your Izzy will love her veggies too! But in the meantime, feed yourself well so that she can start to enjoy all that goodness now!!!!

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  9. AMEN!!!! You know exactly where I stand on this, I completely agree with you. We don't eat out often, but when we do we limit where we go based on what is available for Reece to eat, because as you said children's menus suck, big time.

    I think another good statistic to add to your post is the fact that this generation of children will be the first not to out live their parents. A very sad fact indeed and due only to life style choices (what children eat, what children do (activity) and how much screen time children have). It breaks my heart.

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    1. Kim, your statistic is SHOCKING! It breaks my heart too -- especially that our society is perpetuating it.

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  10. Thank you all for chiming in!!! I love all your thoughts and comments!!!

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