This post will continue my discussion on picky eating. Specifically, this post will look at some nutrition basics that have somehow been lost in the shuffle. In case you are wondering, I have a master's degree in family and consumer science. Therefore, I just might know a hair bit more about nutrition than the average bear. Actually, some of my knowledge comes from two years of home economics in high school in the 1980s. A great portion of my knowledge on nutrition comes from teaching my own children health using the A Beka Book curriculum. That curriculum was actually almost as comprehensive as my graduate school work in the caliber of the information provided.
It's All About Politics
Even though a good percentage of childcare providers participate in the USDA food program, many of them do not really understand nutrition. Yearly training is required to participate in the food program, but if you really look at the menus that qualify for "nutritious," you might think something fishy is going on here. My home economics teacher would have taken the food program to absolute task over those menus. Why would a program that boasts building nutritious meals actually allow very non-nutritious meals? The answer to that is the same as why a tomato is legally a vegetable but scientifically a fruit - politics. Money and politics make the world go round and affect everything our government touches. To not understand that is to be duped into believing a whole lot of untruths.
Portion Control
Before I tear into the menus provided by the USDA, let me say that the food training does one thing very, very right. Every year at these trainings, the trainers break out the measuring tools and drill on portion sizes. In America, this is one of the best lessons we can teach the children. When children consistently see appropriate portion sizes, it makes a difference in their expectations of what they need. This will have impact as they grow older. Therefore, I say to the food trainers, "Keep breaking out those measuring tools!"
What Is a True Vegetable?
Now, let us get to the menu planning. Rule number one: Potatoes and Corn are carbohydrates not true vegetables. My high school home economics teacher drilled this into our heads. When we menu planned for her class, potatoes did not count as a vegetable and only yellow corn would count but only if we used it once per week. If we had tried to pass off french fries and tater tots as a vegetable, she would have laughed at us like we were crazy. Now, look at a USDA menu for the food program and see how many times potatoes are listed as a vegetable (with that mostly being french fries and tater tots) and whether corn is included more than once per week. While we are on the subject of nonvegetables, beans and peas are not vegetables either. They are protein and count like a meat. Baked beans and pork and beans are not vegetables even though I have seen them listed that way many times. When you remove all the nonvegetables from the USDA menu, you will not find very many true vegetables at all. Now I understand that vegetables are a very touchy subject with children, but do not claim to be nutritious in my presence with a menu that looks like that.
Protein for Breakfast
Rule number two: Children need protein for breakfast. I do not understand why the USDA does not require a protein component for breakfast when the research behind a child's need for protein in the morning has been documented for decades. The only reasoning I can see is that the compensation rate for breakfast is less than lunch, and therefore needs less components. However, children need protein in the morning to be able to maintain until lunch. It helps them think better. It stabilizes their mood all morning. Any childcare provider with any nutritional training understands that providing protein in the morning whether you are compensated for it or not gives a return that is well worth the extra expense. This can be accomplished with scrambled eggs, which is not terribly expensive. By the way, eggs just might be the world's most perfect food especially for children. Eggs contain more vitamins and minerals per serving than just about anything else.
The Need for Whole Foods
Rule number three: Whole foods over processed foods. This is where I really have issues with the USDA menus. If I had tried to pull off bologna as a nutritious component of a meal in home economics in high school, she would have flunked me. Do not even get me started about pop tarts. Really people. The more processed the food the less nutritional value it has. This is a simple nutritional fact that has been around since we started processing more and more of our food. Processed foods make for hyper children. If no one has ever told you that, then let me be the first. If you want to calm down your children, then serve foods that are as close to their natural form as possible. Fresh over all else. Frozen when you cannot do fresh. Canned only when you cannot find it any other way and only sparingly. Now I understand that fresh and even frozen is more expensive than cans. However, think of it as an investment in your own sanity. Better foods do equal better behaved children overall.
The Vitamin A Rule
Rule number four: Children need a source of vitamin A at two different meals each day. This particular rule is not widely known. However, vitamin A plays an important part in a child's overall wellbeing. Synthetic forms of vitamin A found in vitamin pills and vitamin drinks are not as easily absorbed by the body as natural forms. (This is true of all vitamins and minerals.) Therefore, having a source of vitamin A at two different meals will help children have healthy skin and hair among other benefits. Remember when I talked about the television program that showed simulations of what children would look like as adults when you factored in their nutrition habits? One of the biggest shocks for those parents was the hair loss. Guess what caused that hair loss - vitamin A deficiency. What are sources of vitamin A? The best sources of vitamin A are dark green leafy vegetables and deep yellow and orange vegetables. Before you get excited, lettuce unless it is the dark green leafy kind does not have vitamin A. Yellow corn and green beans have a little but will need to be coupled with another source for them to count. Apricots are a good source but peaches only have a little and must be coupled with another source. Egg yolks, red meat, and real butter are other sources of vitamin A. Margarine does not have it. In this society you can almost count it as a given that children will not get a source of vitamin A at home. Therefore, when you menu plan, you will need to make sure you are serving 2 good servings of vitamin A per day. This is where the USDA food program menus really do not measure up. Fruits are good for children but only a few contain vitamin A. Substituting fruits for vegetables at meals because children like fruit better will still cause them to be vitamin A deficient.
Bright Colors
Rule number five: It's all about bright colors. Foods that have deep color naturally are better for you than foods that do not. One of the best ways to determine if you are serving nutritious meals is to look at the vibrancy of the color of your plate. If most of the food is brown and white, your menu planning needs a lot of work. Do you serve food that is deep red like beets or dark cherries? Do you serve food that is blue or purple like blueberries or eggplant? Do you serve food that is orange like carrots and sweet potatoes? A well planned plate will have a variety of vibrant colors. The only brown you should see is from whole wheat breads and cereals. Of course, artificial colors absolutely do not count.
In this post I have only covered the nutrition basics. Getting children to eat this type of food is an entirely different matter, and will be the subject of the next several posts.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
Check out Natalie's children's books at: https://www.amazon.com/author/nataliewade7457
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