Let's talk childhood obesity....

[EmilytheStrange]

Originally Posted by JennTheMomma But prechewing food doesn't make it into a puree. Purees are all 1 texture, slime, prechewing is just chewed enough for baby. So there is still some texture as well as closer to the real taste than baby food. Pureed baby food bananas do not taste like real bananas, for example.

Technicality, really. Since the post I quoted said babies generally breastfed until they could just take bites off mom's plate. And my point is that moms have traditionally altered the state of food for babies.

I'm a fan of BLW, but I'm not under the impression that it was the normal way pre-Gerber.

Thinking about another post that said organic carrots are not healthier than non-organic carrots, I don't know about that either. We switched to organic carrots and they have the most vibrant, potent juice. It practically stains the fingers while I cut it. There's definitely a difference and I'm sure it potentially adds up to more of something and probably certain nutrients.

But that's neither here nor there. Getting people to eat more carrots would be a success, organic or not.

[Arabesque]

Originally Posted by MamaNae And this whole concept of 'kid food'...the media has American parents soooooo duped that kids can't eat anything besides frozen chicken nuggets, boxed mac & cheese and canned spaghetti-os in the shapes of Disney characters. That isn't 'kid food' it's garbage. How many cook books out there are advertised for 'kid friendly meals' why do we need 'kid friendly meals' Can't they just eat food? Or 'the sneaky chef' hiding fruits and vegetables in kids' food. I adamantly refuse to do that and it pisses me off when people do. If you want your kid to eat squash, freaking serve squash and insist they eat it, don't hide it in the mac & cheese. If you want your kid to eat green beans freaking cook green beans (frozen or fresh, not canned) and serve it. How hard is that? We have a huge serving of various fruits or vegetables with every meal and my kids eat it. Nine times out of 10 they eat the 'sides' (brown rice, vegetables (green beans, carrots, corn, broccoli, squash, etc) and leave the main dish. I'm perfectly okay with this usually LOL It's even written on my CVV from WIC something about "Sometimes it's hard to get kids to try new fruits or vegetables, keep offering." WTF? Why would it be hard to get a kid to eat fruits & vegetables unless they've been 'ruined' with thinking french fries are a vegetable (here WIC doesn't permit white potatoes)

I truly used to feel this way, but then DS turned 1 and suddenly became the pickiest eater ever. He used to eat anything and everything without complaint (and we did BLW). It's only been recently that he has eaten meat without being coerced to. Vegetables are still lacking.

He would literally not eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner some days. It's awful. After a while I got tired of cooking and throwing everything out.

So, no I don't think you can make a child eat broccoli without forcing it down their throat, and I'm just not willing to take that step.

[MamaNae]

Originally Posted by Arabesque I truly used to feel this way, but then DS turned 1 and suddenly became the pickiest eater ever. He used to eat anything and everything without complaint (and we did BLW). It's only been recently that he has eaten meat without being coerced to. Vegetables are still lacking. He would literally not eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner some days. It's awful. After a while I got tired of cooking and throwing everything out. So, no I don't think you can make a child eat broccoli without forcing it down their throat, and I'm just not willing to take that step.

My kids have all gone through picky phases where I was 99% sure they were gleaning calories off of oxygen . I just kept providing the same foods...they ate or they didn't. Eventually they ate...get hungry enough and you'll eat anything. My oldest went nearly a week where he ate only oatmeal, toast and orange juice (breakfast) in a 24 hour period. Eventually he ate food again LOL

[monkeymama07]

Originally Posted by MamaNae My kids have all gone through picky phases where I was 99% sure they were gleaning calories off of oxygen . I just kept providing the same foods...they ate or they didn't. Eventually they ate...get hungry enough and you'll eat anything. My oldest went nearly a week where he ate only oatmeal, toast and orange juice (breakfast) in a 24 hour period. Eventually he ate food again LOL

That may be true for your child but some kids will just not eat and not care.

[soonerfan]

No kid is ever going to starve themselves to death. Kids survived the picky phases long before McCrap and goldfish crackers.

I don't intend to sound mean (and by all means, do what works for you), but just because a kid is going through a picky phase doesn't mean they need nutritionally inferior food to get by. Trust me, I've been there with all four kids. I've even been there with a stepchild would did get to eat McDonald's every day with his mom. He never starved or even went hungry at our house, and we didn't resort to just giving him junk.

With all of our kids, we just continued to offer the same healthy food as always, and they would pick what they wanted. Usually at the next meal (or the next day), they made up the missed calories with more healthy options.

Kid pickiness is a phase, but our culture caters to it. It hasn't always been that way, and indeed it is not that way in other cultures that I've been exposed to.

[DesertRat]

Originally Posted by EmilytheStrange Technicality, really. Since the post I quoted said babies generally breastfed until they could just take bites off mom's plate. And my point is that moms have traditionally altered the state of food for babies. I'm a fan of BLW, but I'm not under the impression that it was the normal way pre-Gerber. Thinking about another post that said organic carrots are not healthier than non-organic carrots, I don't know about that either. We switched to organic carrots and they have the most vibrant, potent juice. It practically stains the fingers while I cut it. There's definitely a difference and I'm sure it potentially adds up to more of something and probably certain nutrients. But that's neither here nor there. Getting people to eat more carrots would be a success, organic or not.

The bigger point that I was trying to make is that we don't have to start out on rice cereals and then carefully add one fruit or vegetable at a time. (unless you have reason to suspect allergies, which is different) Parents have become dependent on Gerber. We don't have to feed our babies the commercially prepared "baby foods" like that's our only option. Lots of people are surprised I make my own baby food. It tastes more like "real" food we're eating. It's got a thicker texture to it. And while prechewing a baby's food is altering it for the baby's needs, it's likely to be whatever the rest of the family is eating anyway. In our society babies start out on baby food and get duped into this idea that babies have to eat something different from the rest of our family. Then we think our toddlers need toddler food. And our kids need kid-friendly food. And it's not true. It's what baby food companies want you to believe, but it's not true.

Also, about the organic vs regular-- I have heard that in general our vegetables don't have the same nutrient levels from years ago because our soil has been depleted of it's nutrients.

[DesertRat]

Originally Posted by monkeymama07 That may be true for your child but some kids will just not eat and not care.

I don't believe kids will starve themselves though. My kids will sometimes turn their noses up at dinner and I tell them they don't have to eat it, but they aren't getting anything else. They've only completely skipped dinner once or twice. No kid is going to starve missing a meal here or there. And I don't think it's just luck that my kids eat a wonderful variety of things now, despite all having gone through picky stages.

That being said, I used to babysit a kid who was very, very picky. He refused to eat fruits and vegetables altogether. If it didn't come out of a package, he automatically refused it. (his diet was very different at home as they ate a lot of processed stuff) It was pretty stressful to me as his DCP because I could tell he would go hungry during the day knowing his mom would show up with pop tarts and crackers in the car. The stress of it is part of the reason I quit babysitting him. I felt bad letting him go hungry, but I wasn't going to start feeding my kids processed junk just so he would eat with us.

[momtojande]

Originally Posted by elizabeth.scalf Thank you! Totally agree. People here keep saying ' 100 calories of apple is the same as 100 of Cheetos.' Its not. Apples have nutrients and enzymes that help you digest and absorb those nutrients, they give you energy, and you process those 100 calories differently than Cheetos. Cheetos just go to your thighs.

Since I was the one who mentioned 100 calories of apple versus whatever, I did not mean that it is the same as 100 calories of junk. Just that either option, if you've already eaten what you need for the day, is 100 calories too much.

Go backward 50 years. No obesity epidemic yet. The average American ate plenty of fatty meats, canned veggies & fruit, and white bread. Look at a cookbook from 1950 or so - the food people were eating did not resemble what modern nutritionists would call a healthy diet. Not as bad as some people today, but far from ideal. But they ate smaller portions than we do now, and moved around a lot more.

[Arabesque]

Originally Posted by soonerfan No kid is ever going to starve themselves to death. Kids survived the picky phases long before McCrap and goldfish crackers. I don't intend to sound mean (and by all means, do what works for you), but just because a kid is going through a picky phase doesn't mean they need nutritionally inferior food to get by. Trust me, I've been there with all four kids. I've even been there with a stepchild would did get to eat McDonald's every day with his mom. He never starved or even went hungry at our house, and we didn't resort to just giving him junk. With all of our kids, we just continued to offer the same healthy food as always, and they would pick what they wanted. Usually at the next meal (or the next day), they made up the missed calories with more healthy options. Kid pickiness is a phase, but our culture caters to it. It hasn't always been that way, and indeed it is not that way in other cultures that I've been exposed to.

Actually, I would've jumped for joy if DS had a bite of a McDonalds hamburger. I'm not exaggerating when I say that DS would not eat for days at a time, or only eat a handful of Cheerios and a piece of fruit. This was beyond normal pickiness, and even led to arguments between DH and I.

Like I said, he is getting better, but after two years of making (and throwing away) nutritious food, I fully admit that I burnt out and just gave him boxed mac n cheese. Even then, he often didn't eat it.

[PBAki]

Originally Posted by soonerfan Lack of education is a poor excuse, and if someone is so ignorant as to legitimately believe that potato chips or fruit snacks are healthy, then I honestly believe they never should have reproduced and passed on those genes to begin with.

I used to think like this for many years but it's so hard in this country for people to really learn nutrition when majority of the people just follow what the government tells them through basic information and nutrition. And it's not so much that people don't know, they just don't know how to or changing that habit is so difficult.

FDA/USDA's guideline including how nutrition is taught in the country is beyond a fail system. But I won't even get into that.

Comparing country like France maybe extreme but they love to eat but also cook over there. They appreciate fine ingredients and could be very snobby about it but we don't have that kind of mentality here other than cook things that are simple. Cooking everyday at home isn't a cultural thing here either and that picture is drastically changing today.

And we're overworked to begin with if not simple/fast food is a getaway to most peoples' emotional needs.

I don't think people are dumb in that sense, they KNOW healthy foods exist and need to eat healthy but lack of such habit and information growing up only goes back to comfort. I think that's why all these extreme diets start to become popular for people in their late 20's and above because suddenly they are gaining weight really fast as their metabolism slow down.