Try, try again.

Yes, I know you hear/read this all the time, but do TRY, TRY AGAIN. Especially when introducing children to new foods or even getting adults to expand/improve their eating habits.

While on vacation this summer, I carried a fruit, nuts and water with us to the beach each day. We were camping there, but it kept us from running back and forth to the tent. Anyway, all the fruit was gone and my son was still hungry. I asked like I always do "how about some nuts?" No is always his automatic reply. I reminded him that Nutella is made partially from hazelnuts and that I'm nut sure which one is a hazelnut, but recommended we have a taste test. He was hungry, so he did. Turns out his favorite of all the nuts was a walnut! They aren't my favorites, so I hardly ever buy them except in mixed nuts or for recipes. So now, when I ask if he wants nuts he answers "yes, but just the walnuts." Win. Win.

My point is - just like adults, sometimes kids shun foods because they know there's something "better" if they keep saying no. Perhaps they haven't tried the food in a while and need a little reminder. Or their best friend at school said "I don't like (insert food) because it is dumb/stinky/for babies." Or maybe they're not even really hungry but bored or thirsty instead. So TRY, TRY AGAIN.


Action Item: You guessed it. Put those Brussels Sprouts back on the table. Pull out the hummus again. Or re-try any food that wasn't a hit the first time. Serve it with something your child really likes "to prime the pump" as my husband says. Our sons is more likely to try something new if there's other food on his plate that he enjoys eating.

Your thoughts?: How do you work news foods into your family members' diets?

For Further Reading: Six Food Mistakes Parents Make, How to Get Kids to Try New Foods,
Encouraging Children to Try New Foods, Kids and Food: 10 Tips for Parents

Omega 3s for me, please.

We've probably all heard how important it is to consume Omega 3 fatty acids in our diet for lowering triglycerides and blood pressure. Omega-3s are essential fatty acids; we need them for our bodies to work properly. One of their most important benefits is that they seem to have an anti-inflammatory effect. And there are studies, reports WebMD, showing that omega-3 fatty acids may help with other conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, depression, and many more.

Are you getting enough in your diet?

According to experts, probably not. And most people you know – your spouse, your toddler, and your mom – probably aren’t either.

 

“Pretty much everybody’s diet is deficient in omega-3s,” says David C. Leopold, MD, director of integrative medical education at the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine in San Diego. (from WebMD)

What foods, beside wild salmon, contain Omega 3s? Check out Your Omega-3 Family Shopping List.

Early research is showing that infants, children and teens can benefits from Omega-3s for cognitive development, growth, ADHD and asthma (read the article below for more information.)

 

How do you get your child to eat more Omega 3s?

Parents magazine offers some tips:

• Introduce fish to your baby during the first year, to help her develop a taste for it. Then serve it often.
• Be creative: Grill fish on skewers, sauté fish cakes, make fish tacos, or mix it into pasta sauce.
• Buy DHA-fortified milk, soy milk, eggs, and orange juice when possible.
• Get into the habit of cooking with canola, flax, hemp or soy oil.
• Bake chia, hemp or ground flaxseeds into muffins, pancakes and crepes, and sprinkle them over yogurt or cereal.
• Give your bigger children omega-rich walnuts to snack on.

Just like any other important nutrient, mineral or food – don't over do it and don't leave it out. Incorporate omega-3s into a varied, healthy diet.

 

 

Action Item: Seek out ways to incorporate fish into your meals. And keep eating those leafy greens! Check out allrecipes.com for salmon or tuna recipes that interest you.

 

For Further Reading: Omega-3 Fatty Acid Fact Sheet, Omega-3 and Brain Health, and Who Needs Omega-3s?

Nutri Ventures

If you have a cartoon-watching child, introduce them to Nutri Ventures. At the moment, it's our son's favorite show and the only one he has watched since being introduced to it. He watches it on Hulu Kids.

Here's the story:

The heroes of the story, Theo, Lena, Ben and little Nina, live in a grey city, where food doesn’t exist. 30 years ago, Alex Grand, the terrible villain, ordered his army of G-Squads to destroy all the foods so his people would be forced to eat only Genex-100, a high calorie compound manufactured at the Grand Corporation of which he is the owner.

Before Alex could wipe out all the foods, Nexus, a wise nutritionist, told his seven most trusted scientists to escape, with the help of their Gugas, to a faraway place so that they could each preserve a food group. They became the Nutri- Guardians. Up until now they have lived in isolation in their far-off kingdoms where they have conserved the foods they were entrusted with.

Theo, Lena, Ben and Nina have the exciting mission of discovering these fantastic kingdoms and returning to the world the food variety which Alex had destroyed. During their adventures they will taste unknown foods, experience their incredible Nutri-Powers and engage in hard-won battles, always accompanied by their Guga!

Nutri Ventures Corp., which produces the series, has entered into partnerships with ministries of education and health around the world, as well as with the World Health Organization, with which it offers educational content for free to public education systems.

Parents can learn more, without watching all the episodes, at the website listed below. The Kingdoms do include meat and dairy, so this show may not work for everyone.


Action Item: If this interests you, let your child give it a try on Hulu Kids.  I'm not saying this is the perfect series (partly because I haven't watched them all), but we definitely appreciate the focus on healthy eating and the effort to teach children in a fun way. Nutri Ventures is an excellent alternative to the many mind-numbing cartoons that abound!

For Further Reading: http://www.nutri-ventures.com/pais/en/parents/