Where food is concerned, everything in moderation is best for kids

Submitted by Dr. Gwenn Is In

At the movies the other day, I saw an odd sight. A mom and her two young kids sat down near us before the movies. The mom was carrying one large popcorn and a very large drink which I learned from the kids’ clamoring was lemonade. The mom was barely in her seat with the popcorn and drink on the table before the kids began to claw at each other to gain control over the snacks. I’ve never seen kids eat popcorn or swig down lemonade so fast in my life! I could think of only one likely explanation for this food behavior: these kids likely don’t get such snacks very often.

Many parents these days have funny views of what it means to “eat healthy”. Instead of teaching kids to eat a balanced diet that includes some treats and snacks, they actually create more of a problem by banning many foods at home so that when the kids do have the banned items - at the movies or at a party - they begin to gorge themselves. That’s what I witnessed these kids doing at the movies the other day. And, I’ve seen similar behaviors in parties my kids have been invited to. Contrary to what many parents want to believe, helping kids learn to eat sweets and junk as part of a normal diet keeps them more healthy overall. It is when a food is banned that problems often develop when kids are away from home.

The key is moderation and helping kids understand portion control and exercise are part of preventing the few sweets we eat from making a dent in our waist lines. So, in addition to helping kids figure out how many fruits and veggies they can eat a day, we also have to help them figure out the junk food world, too. Here’s my strategy for helping kids incorporate the more sinful food items into an overall healthy diet:

1. No food should ever be banned. All foods are ok in moderation.
2. Don’t make your home sugar free or junk food free. Again, moderation.
3. Teach kids portion control so when they have the food in front of them, they don’t gorge
4. Find some sweet foods kids can have that don’t have a lot of calories. Low sugar cookies, frozen yogurt, adding low-sugar or low-fat whipped cream to berries.
5. Allow a “real” dessert during the week once in a while but control the portion size - one cookie or one brownie after a healthy meal
6. Make sure kids are exercising routinely so any sweet they have will not have an impact on their health and weight in the big picture
7. If you have a part coming up where the food won’t be the healthiest, help kids eat extra healthy for a couple days leading up to the party
8. Have movie nights at home with microwave popcorn and flavored water or sugar-free soda as a treat (caffeine-free) so kids are used to the taste and don’t gorge at the real movies

In many ways, we need to teach kids that food is food - for all foods. But, that we can eat some foods in bigger quantities and more often than other foods. It can be done - one bite at a time - and it has to start at home.

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