Some of the contents of today's blog comes from a book by Leo Galland, MD. When I was studying to become a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, his book gave me a lot of insight into feeding little children a healthy diet.
As parents, we know that a healthy diet is important for our children's growth. But our children are bombarded by media messages daily that encourage them to eat for entertainment, not nourishment. And food manufacturers spend large amounts of money trying to convince us that processed foods contain healthy ingredients. They use labelling with colorful pictures and healthy-sounding words to lure you and your children to their packages on the shelf.
What's a parent to do? How do parents keep up with the times, but still feed their children healthy foods? And how important is it (really) that children eat natural foods? After all, the fast food companies tell us every day that they offer us the components of a well-balanced diet...
Ages One to Five: The Super-Nourished Toddler
There is one basic principle to remember when your toddler says no to food: You control what she eats, and she controls how much she eats. This means that it isn't productive to tell a toddler that she won't get cookies unless she finishes everything on her plate. It may be tempting to say this when she refuses to eat her carrots but, if you give way to the temptation, the end result will be that she will think cookies are one of the most important things in life, while eating carrots is pure punishment.
Here are two possible ways to deal with this situation:
1) You decide what's on the menu. Your toddler is entitled to everything on the menu. If she doesn't eat her carrots, she will still get her cookie (they aren't tied to one another). This way you won't set up a war over carrots and, next time you serve carrots, she may give them another chance.
2) Make desserts as nutritious as possible so that, when your toddler eats them, she is eating much more than refined sugar and non-essential fat.
These years may be the last time you will have almost complete control over your child's diet. Contrary to popular belief, well-nourished toddlers do not crave sweets, and will normally not stuff themselves with candy or ice-cream. A palate that's been formed on low-salt, low fat cooking will find most manufactured foods too salty and too greasy.
...more to come later...
