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Food & Eating

Nov 08
Love0
fat child with lolly

Protecting our children from obesity

By children's health, Food & Eating, fun for children

There’s plenty parents can do to encourage children to enjoy eating a balanced diet filled with healthy foods. Here, children’s cookery book author and Cook School co-founder Amanda Grant shares her top tips for getting children into the kitchen and making healthy eating fun.

As a children’s food writer, mum and step mum, I know first-hand how hard it can be to get children to eat healthily. Asking them to step out of their comfort zone and try new foods can be really challenging, and even if you succeed, their likes and dislikes seem to change day-to-day – sometimes minute-to-minute!

Teaching children about healthy eating and how to make balanced meals that include a variety of fruit and vegetables is the best way to protect their future health.

At Cook School, we work with schools across the UK, through in-person and digital courses, helping children to understand food and teaching them how to make simple, healthy vegetarian meals for themselves and their families.

It’s a project we’re really passionate about. With a better understanding of where food comes from and how to prepare and eat it, children feel more confident helping out at home, and are happier to eat healthier dishes at mealtimes, too.

Luckily, I’ve got a few tricks you can use that will encourage children of all ages to enjoy a better diet and help you out in the kitchen.

1. Help them to understand food
Offering children a ‘behind the scenes’ look at food helps them to understand it better, and encourages them to make different, and hopefully healthier, choices. This could mean anything from visiting at a friend’s allotment or going to a pick-your-own, to simply letting them help you with the weekly food shop.

Even if they turn their nose up at most fruit and vegetables, take them along to your local supermarket and give them time to get familiar with the fruit and vegetable aisles. Ask what they’d like to buy to help them feel more confident about trying new things, and to give them some control over what they’re eating.

You could also make a game of looking for unusual items they’ve never seen or heard of before, or talk about what’s in season right now.

2. Enjoy the benefits of all types of vegetable
The price of fresh fruit and vegetables has sky-rocketed lately – but canned and frozen vegetables are cheaper and more convenient than fresh, and still packed with nutrients. Ask children to help you choose the ones they like the look of, to help you use vegetables to make your meals healthier and more filling. For example, you could stir some frozen spinach into an omelette, throw mixed peas and carrots into pasta water whilst cooking, or top ice cream with frozen berries.

Asking them for their own ideas will really boost their enthusiasm, and if you introduce new foods alongside ones they already know and love, it will encourage them to explore new flavours. Try to serve a portion of vegetables with every dinner, too, as the more familiar a vegetable becomes, the more likely children are to eat it.

3. Ask them to help you in the kitchen
Getting children involved in the kitchen can help keep them occupied, give you valuable time together and help generate a life-long interest in food. Children are much more likely to try new foods they’ve helped to make, while sampling new foods in the kitchen adds less pressure than trying them at the dinner table.

At Cook School, children learn how to prepare food independently, with very little help from an adult. Over 90% of all children who take part in our classes go on to cook what they’ve learnt at home, which is a great first step towards teaching them how to make the right choices for their growing bodies.

4. Teach them the basics
To start with, keep things simple – dishes that don’t require cooking, such as overnight oats or simple toast toppings are ideal practice dishes for younger or less-confident children. They can help you prepare them by taking on tasks like peeling, stirring and grating.

Even making a basic snack can help them learn new skills, boost their confidence and get them used to eating new nutritious foods – think apple slices with peanut butter, hummus and vegetables or crackers with cheese.

Older children who are more confident can be taught how to use knives safely to chop and slice vegetables, and to cook quick, easy dinners – like a basic pasta dish, leftover veg-topped pizza or a tomato rice bowl. You don’t need loads of fancy equipment, either – just the basics will do to start with.

5. Keep up the conversation
Allowing children to help you with shopping and cooking is a great way to start conversations about where our food comes from, what makes a healthy meal and how to reduce food waste.

Using up your leftovers is an eco-friendly money saver, so ask them for their ideas on what to do with anything you don’t use right away – for example, leftover bolognese makes a great topping for baked potatoes. This will not only teach them about the importance of not wasting food, but give you some great ideas for your next healthy meal.

Cook School is a not-for-profit organisation that teaches children across the UK how to prepare simple, healthy meat-free meals for themselves and their families. To date, over 200,000 children have cooked with us and been provided with vital information and access to affordable, healthy recipes.

If you’d like Cook School at your school, find out more at www.cookschool.club

 

Nov 03
Love0
family food in kitchen

Food for thought

By baby health, Food & Eating

by Sally-Ann Makin
Potter’s Houses Nursery settings and Makin Connections – Family Consultancy

Growing up I had a very tricky relationship with food. It still isn’t great now but I’m aware of it and I know my mind and body well enough to know when I’m making poor choices. I grew up in the midst of “There are starving children around the world” and a wooden spoon punishment if you didn’t finish your dinner. Many people my age had the exact same consequences to not eating. Sadly, it was the norm.

We know better now but I find many parents and practitioners that I meet through the nursery still use threats and negative language at mealtimes with children and I’m curious as to why I can’t seem to find any training on the adverse affects of the ‘sandwiches first’ attitude. Speaking to another parent Jamie-Leigh Nicholls, a child nutrition enthusiast, confirmed there was very little coverage on this – so here we are.

My relationship with food was something I never even acknowledged was a problem until I started a job as a nanny for a wonderful family and my employer just happened to be Dr Anna from ITV’s This Morning. At that time she wasn’t yet doing TV but she was still very much a Clinical Psychologist, primarily for children with eating disorders. I’d never even considered children would suffer from eating disorders but sadly it’s happening all around the world and some of the causes and issues stem from the language and attitude parents have towards food. Anna taught me to think differently when addressing my eating habits and slowly I began to find other coping mechanisms for anxiety than controlling myself with food.

I contact Anna for all manner of advice and regardless of how busy she is, she consistently makes time to support me because she is so incredibly passionate about children accessing a naturally healthy lifestyle. Some things I have learned from Dr Anna are: Children need to SEE us eating healthily and HEAR us speaking positively about food, they need to have access to a wide range of options and they need to be involved with preparing meals and see that cooking and eating can be so much fun. They need us to model healthy eating habits – children naturally mimic what they see us do and say, so showing them that you make good choices with food will encourage them to do the same. “Inconvenient truth” says Anna on her platform, “You can’t make your kids eat. You can’t force them to love fruit and vegetables and relish fruit. All you can do is model a good relationship with food, create an environment where food and eating are stress free, and meals are times of happiness, connection and bonding. The rest will come.”

Anna speaks about the deprivation effect on her Instagram – the deprivation effect is one of the main causes of cravings leading to eating disorders. Because you want what you can’t have, removing certain foods from your diet or your child’s diet has the opposite affect and instead of disallowing ‘bad’ foods, it encourages impulsive eating. An example of this is saying ‘no more sweets’ to yourself and to them.

Using food as a reward can be really detrimental to a child’s thoughts surrounding food and choices. Rewarding them with sweet treats for good behaviour, even rewarding ourselves with a glass of something at the end of a hard day, gives food moral value and makes us use food and drink to manage our emotions which was my issue and can be quite harmful. Children who grow up linking food with behaviour become adults who reward or punish themselves with food.

I think what we need to really be thinking about is our language towards food during family mealtimes. There is no such thing as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ food and labelling foods as ‘negative’ or ‘positive’ can give children a complex about their behaviour if they eat it.

In educational settings, hearing staff tell children to eat sandwiches first because they need the ‘good’ food before they are allowed to eat the ‘bad’ food can confuse children and cause them to question why their parent would give them ‘bad’ food. Allowing children a variety of foods to choose from and empowering them to make good choices promotes a healthier lifestyle for them and also inspire them to take a deeper interest in food and cooking. When this is then passed on through the generations, it can only be a wonderful thing. Surely better than passing the wooden spoon baton, right?

Jamie-Leigh says “We have an opportunity to create a generation of children and young people who have an amazing relationship with food.” She’s right; it is our duty as parents and practitioners to educate ourselves on the psychology behind how our thoughts and feelings towards food develop and not pass on the poor habits from our own upbringing.

If this has given you food for thought, do the research online, follow Dr Anna Colton on Instagram, talk to your friends and your parents and give some time to learning about the connection between our brain and our body and how we can support our children to be as healthy as possible.

Sally-Ann runs Makin Connections, Garden of Eden Preschool, Potters House Preschool and Blossom and Bloom Day Nursery.
For more information please contact her at sallyann@makinconnections.co.uk or call 07939 620934

 

Aug 15
Love0
piglets at a farm

Beyond the barn doors – a day in the life of a livestock worker

By Education, environment, Exercise, Family Farms, Food & Eating, Forest School, fun for children, Green, Mental health, Uncategorized
by Nicola Henderson
Godstone Farm

Amongst the hustle and bustle of a busy attraction, there’s often work behind the scenes that visitors don’t see or appreciate. Welcome to a world where hard work can indeed be fun, where the welfare of animals reigns supreme and the bond between human and animal is fascinating.

Contrary to popular belief, the life of a livestock worker is not merely about mucking out, getting muddy and driving around in a tractor. It is about forging connections – building trust with our four-legged friends and fostering an environment where they thrive. Every stroke of the brush, every scoop of feed, is an opportunity to nurture this bond, reminding us of the huge part we play in the lives of these creatures.

Let’s go down on the farm and take a look at a typical day:

7.30am: As the sun climbs overhead, and the animals are waking up, the first shift of workers arrive at the farm – this assumes it’s a ‘quiet’ time of the year, and there’s no lambing or other babies due to be born. First job of the day is to open all enclosures, cages, hutches and sheds. The animals are locked away safely at night due to the continual threat of hungry foxes.

8.30am: The hungry animals receive breakfast, fresh water and a visual check. The visual check ensures the animals are acting as they should, have no cuts or abrasions and are moving around well. This time is a chance for the animals to familiarise themselves with their care givers once again and build on previously built trust. Many of the smaller animals will be handled regularly to ensure they are comfortable should any first aid or medicine need to be administered in the future. Larger animals are handled too but often with four feet still on the ground, and with two or more workers to ensure everyone’s safety.

10am: The cleaning starts! Some animals will get a spot clean, others will be due for a full muck out – it’s not hard to guess that the smelliest of all are the pigs! Mucking out isn’t just to ensure the enclosure is clean to look at and smells fresh, it also ensures the welfare of the animals. A dirty environment can contribute towards skin conditions, foot issues and spread of infectious diseases. After removing all soiled straw, pens are disinfected, and then new bedding is laid. You’ll often see the animals return to a clean bed and have a good sniff or roll around, it’s their sign of appreciation! This time spent mucking out is another opportunity to strengthen the bond between human and animal, inquisitive characters will often want to ‘help’ and it’s not unusual to see a pig steal a broom or a pony with its head in the wheelbarrow.

As the team make their way around the farm cleaning and caring for livestock, they also need to ensure the customer facing areas of the farm are ready. Customer facing areas include those where up-close interactions happen, where a trail can be followed and where bespoke experiences take place.

11.30am: The hay run! With bags piled high with hay the tractor embarks on a journey to those harder to reach areas, the further afield fields, where sheep, cows, goats and horses graze. It’s a fun part of the job, using a vehicle to get around but it can be a challenge in wet weather when the fields get muddy.

1pm: After the wheelbarrows are emptied, the paths are swept, and the buckets are washed its finally time for lunch! This is the human’s lunch time, most animals don’t get lunch, only breakfast and dinner, unless they are on medication or have a very special diet. With such physical exertion the livestock team will enjoy a hearty lunch, often microwaving leftovers and filling up on treats bought by the management team. They are particularly partial to a donut or cupcake, and it can’t be denied that they burn off the calories!

1.30pm: It’s time to get ready for any behind the scenes experiences that day – this might be the chance for budding young farmers to work with the team, or for grown-ups to feed the meerkats. For example, if the meerkats are being fed by special visitors, then a gourmet snack will be prepared, this will be tasty grubs and worms. The visitors will get to sit inside the enclosure and feed the meerkats via tongs (just in case of any fingers that look remarkably like worms). Whilst a farm will prioritise its animals living as nature intended, in genuine habitats and won’t want all its animals to be tame, some experiences do help ensure that the animals aren’t fearful of human contact. This is especially helpful if they are taken unwell. Have you ever tried to catch a wild meerkat?!

4pm: After time spent imparting knowledge and engaging with customers, it’s back to the heavy and dirty work. Most of the animals require an evening feed. This is an opportunity for a further visual check (in depth health checks are done routinely as well) and water will be replenished. Unless it’s a particularly hot evening each animal will be put to bed after their dinner, but only once their bed has been checked for extra comfiness. Animals are kept for many reasons, but generally a lot of the animals in a farm attraction will be pets and everyone will have their favourites of course!

5-6pm: Depending on the time of year the livestock workers finish their day and head home for a well-deserved bath and rest. It all starts again tomorrow. Animals need caring for 24/7, 365 days a year so taking on a farm, smallholding or even a family pet is a decision to be well considered.

Godstone Farm enjoys welcoming customers to visit their many animals with engagement and education at its heart. The farm often recruits for roles working with the livestock team but can also offer advice for anyone lookingto keep an animal as a pet. www.godstonefarm.co.uk

Mar 02
Love0
happy food

The importance of early nutrition

By Food & Eating, Health
by Monica Price
Nutritional Therapist

Giving your child the best start in life starts with understanding the importance of a healthy, nutritious and varied diet.

As a new parent or with a child that’s growing up, all you want to do is make sure you are feeding your child the best foods for their development. But it can be a minefield. Often parents will tell me that their weaning babies and up to two years, will eat everything they give them with gusto and joy. But suddenly they hit age two and up – and what used to be their favourite meal will no longer be eaten – and there begins the battle with the food. Often children will be seen as fussy eaters and then every meal time becomes a challenge. This is not uncommon and you’re not alone.

Having an understanding about the types of foods that are essential for a growing child puts you as a parent back in charge, and gives you the confidence to explore a healthy and balanced diet. What you are essentially doing is laying down the foundations of healthy eating habits, that they will carry with them throughout their life.

Take control
As a parent you decide the food you buy, the meal and snack times, and how much food you give them. My golden rule is to only buy the nutritious foods. If the sugary highly processed foods are not in the fridge or cupboard – then they are not there to eat. This is so important for a baby and up to five years, because of the need for essential vitamins and minerals to aid their growth and development. As your child gets older involve them in cooking and meal times and this will encourage them to try new recipes and ideas. Make sure you are not giving your child too much food on their plate, take control of the portion sizes, it’s not the same as an adult portion – it’s a lot smaller than you think! Whilst at university I was taught an excellent way of judging what is a child’s food portion. Simply cup the child’s hand, and what fits inside their palm, is a portion. If you do this, you will find that they will most likely eat everything on the plate. Overfeeding your child can lead to childhood obesity, which in turn significantly increases the risk of heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure and diabetes in later life.

Be a role model
Be a role model for your children and eat a healthy varied diet yourself. Have a fruit bowl on the table, offer healthy snacks of vegetables and drink plenty of water. If you can eat at the table together as a family then do, and make meal times as stress free as you can. I know this can be difficult, but if you have taken control of the food that you are buying, then you are less likely to have problems. Food is often used as a reward for children, so try and give praise and hugs instead of offering food. This will help you as they become older not to see food as a tool to get what they want.

Foods for a growing child
Children grow fast and from the ages of two to twelve need the right sources of protein, calcium, iron, vitamins and minerals to ensure their growth and development. Without them children can develop nutritional deficiencies that could lead growth problems, obesity, tooth decay and diseases. The good news is that everything that your child needs can be found in food. So make sure that your child is having foods from all the UK’s Eatwell Guide main groups.

• Fruit and vegetables – eat five portions of these every day. Berries are packed with vitamin C and antioxidants – blueberries are particularly good. Go for the green vegetables every day, like broccoli, green beans, cabbage, kale and spinach. All contain fibre and antioxidants to support the immune and digestive system. Go for brightly coloured fruit and vegetables as these are high in beta carotene – essential for good skin and vision, growth and repair of the body tissues.
• Potatoes, bread, rice and pasta and other starchy carbohydrates. Choose wholegrain versions of these as the fibre in them aids good digestive health and prevents constipation.
• Beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins. Eggs are high in protein and choline – an essential nutrient that aids brain development. Whilst meat is packed with protein and iron, also excellent for brain development and function, and it supports the immune system. Fish will help build healthy bones and muscles too, particularly oily fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardines, as they contain omega-3 fatty acids, which are excellent for brain, eye and nerve development.
• Dairy and alternatives. Cow’s milk, goats milk and cheese are good sources of calcium and phosphorous which are important for building bones and muscles.
• Oils and spreads – good choices are olive oil, rapeseed oil and sunflower oil.

Keeping your child active and eating healthily is the best way to ensure that they not only maintain a healthy weight, but as they grow they have an understanding of why nutrition is so important.

Monica Price is a qualified Nutritional Therapist, Writer and Broadcaster. She is the go-to expert for health and wellbeing on national television and radio stations across the UK.

www.monica-price.co.uk

 

Jun 29
Love0
The Star Pub, Whitley

Cheers to The Star

By family, Food & Eating, parties

The Star in Witley, Surrey is an ideal pub for meeting friends and family, for a get-together in their picturesque, expansive south-facing garden over good, fresh and ‘interesting’ food. Set in central Surrey, on the Petworth Road, The Star is easy to get to and easy to park, so it is great for all the family.

When we visited, they had their GOAT pop-up in collaboration with Cabrito Goat Meat, set-up in the garden which is serving up delicious, sustainable goat dishes all summer long.

We all tried goat for the first time, so you could say The Star is great for a ‘goat’ together as well! We couldn’t say ‘kids’ without cracking up, but it didn’t stop everyone wolfing down the delicious goat burgers and taco’s!

When we visited, the garden was bathed in sunshine throughout the afternoon and with well-placed bench tables and umbrellas as well as the surrounding trees, there was plenty of shade and seating for everyone. Alternatively, the bar and restaurant area indoors offers a cooler option to the garden glare, and inside this gorgeous 17th century dwelling, a more traditional cuisine is available from their award-winning chefs. We stuck to goat that afternoon, but I urge you to visit The Star where their exquisite, locally sourced offerings such as cheese and truffle arancini, kiln smoked Caesar salad or slow cooked venison ragu pappardelle, as well as a variety of tantalizing vegetarian options may well win you over.

Outside, the busy pop-up barbecue kitchen and bar made service swift and easy and the beer, wine and cocktail selection was well considered to match the fascinating and delicious goat cuisine. Who can resist a refreshing Rosé piscine or a chilled local IPA to refresh on a lovely sunny day out?

Very child-friendly, the fenced garden allowed the family to relax, have fun and indulge themselves, and so we unhesitatingly recommend The Star, Whitley to everyone – whether it’s for a family luncheon, a birthday party or a special night out.

Visit: The Star, Witley, GU8 5LU

Web: www.thestarwitley.co.uk

Telephone: 01483 355 046

Apr 28
Love0
handhold

Love thy neighbour

By Finance, Food & Eating, Mental health, Special support needs
by Sally-Ann Potter
Blossom and Bloom Day Nursery

The word ‘struggle’ is by definiton to ‘make forceful efforts to get free of restraint or constriction’. So really, using the word ‘struggle’ to describe the financial difficulties so many are facing isn’t too dramatic when you think about it. The rising cost of living has seen children being stripped of ‘luxuries’ that were previously a standard part of their childhood. Swimming lessons, language lessons, playdates, day trips – all the things you enjoy doing with your children that were potentially taken for granted before our energy prices rose, and paying £400 per month for your electricity meant you perhaps could no longer afford these extra curricular activities.

Working so closely with a wide variety of families, some who know financial struggle and live hand-to-mouth and some who don’t, it has become apparent that there isn’t anyone who isn’t negatively affected by the cost of living crisis.

I’ve spoken to families who are broken; who are coming into nursery and saying they’re on their last nappy and won’t be paid for another few days, who have run out of baby milk for their newborn or because their electric meter has been cut off and it’s freezing cold.

Some days it feels as though we are living in a really depressing feature film. The damage the pandemic did to people’s mental health seems minimal compared to the pressure to keep a roof over your head and provide for your family.

So, what can we do to help each other out? Where are we able to be a bit more selfless and make a difference? Little ripples of kindess could turn into big waves and be the change we need. Maybe something as small as putting a tin of beans in the food bank at the supermarket is the most you can manage. Have you ever opened a packet of nappies, used one and realised they’re the wrong size and you can’t return them? Perhaps you could pass them onto a friend or your nursery? If you’re not able to offer any financial support, maybe you have some clothes you can donate to a clothing bank? It might seem like it isn’t significant but it is. Sometimes we don’t see the benefit of our kindness and that’s OK. It’s OK to do something to help someone without knowing if it ever did help. It probably did and that’s enough.

I live in a community that regularly sees overwhelming acts of kindness. For example, there is a house down the road which has put a shed up in their front garden that offers food that struggling families can go and help themsleves to. People maybe don’t take advantage of it, but it’s respected and appreciated and lots of people donate in order to help each other out.

We have recently opened a baby bank at our nursery. Parents can discreetly go and help themselves to anything in there that they might need. They have a code to help themselves at any time. We reached out to our local community for donations and had an amazing response. We have donations of formula, nappies, baby wipes, baby clothes and toys.

As a setting, we have taken the decision to freeze our prices, offer two meals a day for free and introduce a policy that we only charge paying parents for the hours they are using, meaning they no longer have to pay childcare fees when their child is poorly and they have to take an unpaid day from work to care for them.

What if every single person did something small to help a stranger? What would the world look like then?

For more information please contact Sally-Ann at sallyann@pottershousepreschool.co.uk or call 07939 620934 www.pottershousepreschool.co.uk www.blossomandbloomdaynursery.co.uk

 

Mar 24
Love0
fat school child

Data reveals over 200,000 Year 6 children are classed as overweight or obese

By baby health, children's health, Food & Eating

Public Health England has recently revealed that tackling obesity is one of the greatest long-term health challenges currently facing England, as one in three children leaving primary school are overweight or living with obesity and one in five are obese.

According to these figures, a staggering 227,314 children aged 10-11 were classified as overweight or obese in 2021/22, a figure that has risen by 30% since the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019/20, 172,831 Year 6 children were classed as overweight or obese before records were skewed during the 2020/21 Covid-crisis.

According to eating disorder experts at UKAT, (the UK Addiction Treatment Group) the number of children overweight or obese in 2021/22 was the highest count of overweight or obese children age 10-11 ever recorded, with figures going back as far as 2006/07.

Analysis of the new data by UKAT also reveals that the number of children in reception, those aged just four to five years old, classed as overweight and including obese rose from 91,723 in 2019/20 to 126,701 in 2021/22, a 38% rise since the pandemic. Those in Year 6 who are classed solely as ‘severely obese’ has risen drastically too. In 2019/20, 22,885 children age 10-11 were classed as severely obese. This rose to 34,818 in 2021/22 – a 52% rise.

There is concern about the rise of childhood obesity and the implications of obesity persisting into adulthood. The risk of obesity in adulthood and risk of future obesity-related ill health are greater as children get older. Around two-thirds (63%) of adults are above a healthy weight, and of these half are living with obesity.

Obesity prevalence is highest amongst the most deprived groups in society. Children resident in the most deprived parts of the country are more than twice as likely to be living with obesity than those in the least deprived areas.

Nuno Albuquerque, Head of Treatment for the UKAT Group comments; “Our concern is for the physical and mental wellbeing of children who are overweight or living with obesity. The health consequences of childhood obesity include type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and exacerbation of conditions like asthma, to name a few. But the psychological problems that come with obesity at such a young age include social isolation, low self-esteem and bullying, all factors that go hand in hand with the development of an eating disorder. We treat people aged 16 and over for eating disorders, and the vast majority of those began their unhealthy relationship with food during their childhood. For some, over-eating is not a choice, it is a progressive illness that worsens over time and can be extremely dangerous. These figures clearly show that children’s eating habits worsened during the global pandemic and as a society, we need to tackle this head on as a priority.”

For population monitoring purposes, children are classified as overweight (including obesity) if their body mass index (BMI) is on or above the 85th centile of the British 1990 growth reference (UK90) according to age and sex. For population monitoring purposes children are classified as living with severe obesity if their body mass index (BMI) is on or above the 99.6th centile of the British 1990 growth reference (UK90) according to age and sex.

For further information and 24/7 confidential help and support with understanding eating disorders please visit www.ukat.co.uk

Mar 18
Love0
fussy child

How to tackle food fussiness

By Education, family, Food & Eating
by Dr Lucy Cooke, research psychologist specialising in children’s eating behaviour and expert advisor on the non-profit children’s online game Teach Your Monster: Adventurous Eating

Getting children to eat healthily is, for many families, a daily struggle. Parents can end up cooking the same meals over and over again because their children won’t try anything new. Any attempt to serve an unfamiliar food may be met with a flat refusal and mealtimes can become a battle of wills which is stressful for everyone.

Many parents believe that everyone else’s children are eating five fruit and vegetables a day, but research tells us otherwise. In fact, less than 20% of young children meet these guidelines. Fussy or picky eating is incredibly common among young children, especially with regard to new or unfamiliar foods, and fruits and vegetables are the most likely to be rejected. Familiarity is a key driver of food intake, so the key is to make the foods we want children to eat more familiar.

One of the challenges here is that the increased consumption of ultra-processed and processed foods that are high in fat, sugar, and salt, has altered our interactions with food. As a result, some children may not even recognise ‘every day’ fruit and vegetables in their natural state.

Implementing sustainable changes can make an enormous difference to children and their families, but in practice it’s very difficult to get children to eat five fruit and vegetables a day. However, parents play a key role in increasing their child’s knowledge, awareness, and willingness to try new foods, and there are many easy-to-implement techniques and strategies that can help.

Engage your child in food preparation activities – from helping picking vegetables at the supermarket, and choosing which ones to have for dinner, to weighing, peeling, and even serving.

Eat meals together with your child whenever possible because the more a child sees parents eat and enjoy fruits and vegetables, the more likely they are to follow suit. However, avoid showing it if you don’t like fruit and vegetables as this dislike can be contagious! Try to instil calm at meal times and avoid developing a sense of expectation as that creates a stressful environment for everyone involved.

Focus on the delicious taste of fruits and vegetables rather than their healthiness. To a child, healthy food often means ‘yucky’ food so telling your child how much you enjoy fruit and vegetables is more important than saying they need it to grow fit and strong.

Persevere in the face of refusal. Offer only very small quantities of new foods at first and repeat daily for up to 10 days. Research shows this can change dislike to like.

A multi-sensory approach
If a child eats a limited range of foods and won’t even try the smallest amount of new foods, using a sensory approach to exploring foods can help lay the foundations for children to develop a better, healthier relationship with food.

Essentially, get more creative and fun with food, turn it into a game, and take it beyond the dinner table. Using all five senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste is an effective way to make new food less intimidating and more familiar. Keep in mind, it’s not necessarily about eating but experiencing each one in different ways, such as:
• Look at different varieties of tomatoes and get your child to talk about the different colours, patterns, or shapes, and the difference in appearance between the inside and outside.
• Listen to the distinctive sounds created when preparing carrots using several methods such as grating, chopping, or simply biting and chewing a raw carrot.
• Touch a fruit such as an orange and feel the contrasting textures between the bumpy rind, the spongy pith, and the juicy fruit itself.
• Smell something with a strong odour such as a lemon and compare with something with little or no smell like a potato. Ask your child to describe the different smells.
• Taste a small selection of green fruit and vegetables, for instance, grapes, kiwis, cucumber, or broccoli. Cut into very small pieces and talk about whether they are sweet, or bitter, and which taste they prefer and why.

There are many such activities that parents and children can undertake together outside of meal times. For free resources try the charity TastEd (www.tasteeducation.com) which has a range of activities and videos for parents around how to use the five senses to explore food, while non-profit Teach Your Monster (www.teachyourmonster.org) has a free online game, Teach Your Monster: Adventurous Eating, which encourages children to explore food in a fun, exciting way.

Children can discover and experiment with food using all five senses, and importantly, this approach can be tailored for children of all abilities and ages. Multi-sensory interaction with food is a good way to start to tackle food fussiness, awakening curiosity, and excitement around food, and helping to inspire a generation of adventurous eaters.

Dr Lucy Cooke, psychologist specialising in children’s eating behaviour and expert advisor to Teach Your Monster: Adventurous Eating, (www.teachyourmonster,org) and to TastEd (www.tasteducation.com)
Jul 04
Love0

Get out of the classroom and into the kitchen to make learning fun!

By Education, environment, Food & Eating
by Kate Doran
www.veggienauts.com

Cooking with small children can be chaotic to say the least. But if you can embrace a little mess and allow them some autonomy, in amongst the madness there are so many exciting opportunities to learn.

This summer, keep your children entertained and teach them important life skills with these kitchen classroom favourites.

Reading
From shopping lists to recipe instructions, reading is an essential skill when it comes to cooking. Younger cooks will enjoy identifying letters – like ‘C is for carrot’ – or being read aloud to, whilst older children can gain real confidence by reading and following instructions by themselves.

Writing
Writing out and/or drawing steps for a favourite recipe is a great activity for little learners of all ages. Make shopping lists, jot down observations, or why not encourage your little cook to create their own recipe book as a record of what they’ve enjoyed making this summer?

Maths
Maths is everywhere you look in the kitchen, from measuring out ingredients to setting a timer. Younger cooks can get involved by counting scoops or spoonfuls out loud or identifying single numbers on packaging or scales.

Science
What makes cakes rise? Volume vs weight. Liquids vs solids. Science is a cook’s best friend and the kitchen is a brilliant place to experiment, often with delicious results. Why not set up a blind taste test and use smell, touch and finally taste to identify a rainbow of foods, recording your results for maximum science skills?

Art
If cooking is a science, there’s also a place in the kitchen for art. Decorating cupcakes, preparing a beautiful vegetable platter or simply laying the table and folding napkins are all opportunities for children to express their creative side.

History and culture
Every ingredient has a history. Encourage your child’s natural curiosity by talking about where an ingredient comes from or experiment with different world cuisines – a family meal themed to a different world cuisine each week is a great way to do this with so much scope to get creative with playlists, decorations and more.

Nutrition
Cooking together can provide the perfect opportunity to talk about the benefits of individual ingredients with your child. Orange foods give you super sight. Red foods keep your heart strong. Maybe runner beans help you run faster?!

Organisation
Not a topic you’ll find on the curriculum but one we could all do with more of. Portioning out equal quantities of dough for cookies, stacking bowls or loading the dishwasher are all examples of tasks that engage your child’s frontal lobe.

Confidence and independence
Understanding food, how to shop for, prepare and make their own recipes are skills that set children up for life. It can be stressful letting small children take the reins and often easier to do it yourself, but try to let your child have as much autonomy in the kitchen as possible and they’ll really reap the benefits in the long term.

Safety
Which brings us nicely to our final lesson, safety. With open flames, ovens, sharp knives, blenders, graters and more, the kitchen is a potentially dangerous place for small children. But with the right discussions they can learn important life lessons. Talk about the safe way to handle certain implements, the importance of staying away from the oven or maybe even write up a list of kitchen safety rules to stick on the fridge.

Small children are naturally curious. Getting them away from screens and into the kitchen is a brilliant way to make lasting family memories, learn life skills and try new things. Yes, cooking with children can be messy, but the rewards are endless.

Who knows, maybe by the end of the summer your little cooking companion will have learnt enough for you to be putting your feet up whilst they take control of the kitchen?

Kate Doran is a cookbook author, mum of three young children and founder of The Veggienauts Club,

a monthly vegetable discovery subscription box for children age 3 – 8.

To find out more and join the club visit www.veggienauts.com

Mar 15
Love0
body-confident girl

How to raise body-confident children in a social media obsessed society

By Food & Eating, Mental health
www.wearetheempowered.com

Growing up in a world consumed by social media, it is quite possible that our current young generation will stand a higher chance of having a negative relationship with their body as they grow up. Studies show that 87% of females and 65% of males compare themselves and their bodies to ones they see on social media.

Whilst it may now be trendy to share ‘real’, unedited photos online, a lot of the damage has already been done. As soon as a young, impressionable individual sees a certain body type being deemed as the ‘ideal’, it is only natural that they will begin to compare themselves to it. However, there are ways, as a parent, you can help to combat this issue.

Here, Chaneen Saliee shares how to raise body-confident children in a social media obsessed society:

• Be the role model
Children imitate their parents. Therefore, it’s extremely important to learn to love yourself so your child can model their beliefs and attitudes on the way to speak to and treat your own body.

• Media consumption
Surround your children with positive, inclusive and diverse imagery. If children idolise a certain book character who speaks positively about bodies and self-love, they are likely to adopt a similar mindset. The films and art that your children are exposed to, have a huge subconscious impact on their forming beliefs and attitudes.

• Trend management
Pay attention to the trends your child may be seeing in school or on social media. If your children are slightly older, be ready to deliver compassionate advice about how to navigate these trends whilst remaining confident in themselves.

• Using affirmations
“I am beautiful, my body is strong, I am grateful for my health.” Positive affirmations may seem awkward at first, but our brains rewire themselves with more repetition, meaning we eventually begin to genuinely believe these statements.

• Talk positively about all body types
Celebrate all bodies! Teach your child that it’s important to be loving and accepting of everyone, regardless of what they look like. They should refrain from judging individuals based on their body.

 

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