Getting kids to eat healthy

When I opened my Yahoo! mail today, I saw a trending topic come up on the top of the screen. It said “Rachael Ray”. Being a big fan of hers, I decided to click it and I thought I would come across articles about a new show she was coming up with or perhaps a new cookbook that would be hitting the bookshelves. I was wrong. The link showed me several news articles talking about her joining the advocacy towards getting kids to eat healthier by encouraging them to cook and giving them healthier food to eat in school in order to battle childhood obesity.

This got me to thinking about how different school baon’s or snacks have become. When I was younger, I remember always having sandwiches and home-made lunches in my lunch box. I used to bring a Coleman of water, too. Once or twice a week, instead of water, I’d be allowed to have iced tea instead.

Nowadays, however, pre-packaged goodies are a dime a dozen. It is a convenient and hassle-free way of preparing snacks for kids. Plus, it’s almost a sure winner!

In my many years of teaching children, I have opened all sorts of juice boxes and seen all sorts of snacks or baon in their lunch boxes. I’ve seen all shapes and sizes of these juices and all colors and flavors of biscuits, cookies and more.

However, it is very rare for me to see healthy snacks in these boxes. Before I’d still see sandwiches, be it peanut butter or cheese sandwiches but nowadays, even that is rare. The most common things I see are as follows:

1. Cupcakes (Mini-cakes, inipit, etc.).
2. Cookies (Plain, creme filled, etc.)
3. Hotdogs and rice
4. Chicken Nuggets
5. Doughnuts

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge parents for giving their kids these. I probably would be doing the same if I was a mom. My point in this article is not to criticize the kinds of baon parents send, but perhaps to encourage adding something healthy to the lunch box, or perhaps choosing a healthier option.

For example, things parents can do to make their snacks healthier can include the following:

• Send milk instead of juice drinks that are not really made of fresh fruit or are sugar-filled
• Alternate sandwiches to the cookies, cupcakes, etc.
• Try oatmeal cookies or oat-based snacks
• Send lots of water!!!
• Give them yogurt or pudding
• Try fruit cups or better still: cut-up fresh fruit

Eating healthy is a life-long process. I obviously didn’t learn very well from my early childhood experiences in choosing the right food to eat! I think though that to get kids to eat healthy, it should start young and be supported by the school and the parents. I applaud schools that maintain “no junk food” policies and those that don’t sell soft drinks on campus. This may not be enough to eradicate these food items from a child’s diet, but it does lessen it, even just a little. Also, adding fruits and vegetables to school lunches can also be a good way to encourage healthier eating. An example of change  in Philippine snacking nowadays is that of the frozen yogurt craze. Before, I would never see kids or teens eating yogurt, even the frozen type but today, everybody loves it. Even though it is topped by chocolate or what not from time to time, at least it is a healthier alternative.

I also believe, however, that moderation is key. Withholding all the yummy food from kids will not be an effective way of getting them to develop a healthy eating regimen because this will only leave them feeling deprived.

Now, if we’re dealing with a picky eater here, I’d have to say, good luck I know that that’s one of the most difficult battles parents face and getting them to eat their vegetables is not necessarily the easiest thing on earth! Next time I’ll try to write a post about how we can get kids to like vegetables more

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