Strategies for Picky Eaters

Ciao Nutrinutters!!

This week we had a “bring your kids to work” day and I was asked to host a little nutrition session with the kids and teach them about eating fruits and veggies. Needless to say that by the end of the day I felt like I had lived 3 days instead of 1, haha.

At first I panicked since I had no idea how many kids were going to show up and their ages. Also, I had never met these kids, meaning I knew nothing about their likes and eating habits. Not having kids myself also challenged me further since other than “Frozen” and Sponge Bob (because let’s face it, Sponge Bob never gets old, haha), I have no clue what is actually trending. But having volunteered at a daycare as a nutritionist for a few months help me relate to the struggles that moms have with picky eaters.

In the end of the day everything worked out! We had many fruits for the kids so they could create fruit kabobs and all in all, I felt that is was successful since all the kids ate at least one kind of fruit. But the day got me thinking once again on moms with picky eaters. I’ve studied and read many articles, books and blogs and even in theory it seems like mission impossible, especially if the kids are yours...which is why I wanted to share some of the good ideas I find to be helpful and hopefully one of these works for you.

If your kid is refusing to eat what you made, don’t force them or make something different. Simply put everything away and when they are hungry heat up the food he previously refused. I have quite a few friends that have tried this one and say this one was quite effective. When they realize that they are not getting their way, they will end up caving and eating.

Another good strategy is letting your kids have a say in what they eat. But not giving them the full reigns on this one…simply by giving them healthy options. “Would you prefer broccoli or spinach tonight for dinner?”

This next one is a big one! Kids that constantly eat foods advertised for kids is usually having high amounts of sugar, fat and salt because these foods have their flavor enhanced with these ingredients to appeal more to kids. I don’t know where to start with this one and I could probably write an entire blog post about it, but what I wanted to point out is that these kids’ palates get altered and they start having preference for only these foods and all else is not as good. Limiting these foods is a good first step to getting your kids to eat and embrace their fruits and veggies!

Lastly, you are your kids’ heroes. They want to grow up to be just like you and they will follow your lead. If you want your kids to eat their fruits and veggies, eat them too…also, if you don’t want them drinking soda, don’t drink soda yourself. Think of this one as a push for you to eat healthy too!

Let me know if any of these worked for you...I’d love to hear some of your stories

-The Nutrinut-

The exceptional Vitamin E!

Ciao Nutrinutters!!!

Did you know that when we talk about vitamin E we are not only referring to 1 nutrient?

This vitamin includes 8 different nutrients, four tocopherols and four tocotrienols. However, alpha-tocopherol is the only form that is recognized to meet our requirements and the amount found in the body depends greatly on the liver, which takes up all of the forms of vitamin E but release to the body mainly alpha-tocopherol.

Here’s another fun fact, today’s vitamin is also known as a tocopherol from the Greek meaning “to bring forth offspring” because it was found in the 20’s that rats lost their reproductive ability when deprived of foods containing vitamin E. Neat right? I love investigating the meaning behind names!

But moving on to the good stuff, let’s investigate a little the benefits of this vitamin...

You might be already familiar with what vitamin E is mainly associated with – its antioxidant qualities! Meaning that it protects cells from damage caused by free, active oxygen. Interestingly enough, this quality is exactly what makes vitamin E a useful food preservative keeping foods from being oxidized and turning rancid.

Being a powerful antioxidant, it helps in the prevention of cancer and heart disease. If those reasons are not good enough to get you excited about increasing foods rich in vitamin E, it also helps preventing signs of aging…a fountain of youth? Sign me up for that!

Many foods are good sources of vitamin E including nuts, seeds, vegetable oils and green leafy vegetables. Here are some foods you can incorporate to your day-to-day and increase your vitamin E:

¼ cup of sunflower seeds has about 80% of the daily recommendation

¼ cup of almonds has about 40% of the daily recommendation

1 cup of spinach, swiss chard, turnip greens and asparagus have about 20% of the daily recommendation

The recommendation for vitamin E for male and female adults is 15 mg (22.4 IU) per day and interestingly enough, the average American consumes only half of that. Although this vitamin is a fat soluble vitamin (stored in fat tissue), the tolerable upper intake level for this vitamin is rather high at 1,000 mg (1,500 IU); however, a couple of studies found controversial results while supplementing with 400 IU of vitamin E per day. This applies mostly to people taking vitamin E supplements since, like the previous nutrients we've discussed, reaching high levels through foods is extremely challenging.

I hope everyone has an amazing week!!

-The Nutrinut-

New Smoothie Video! :)

Hey Nutrinutters!

If you liked the last smoothie video, make sure to check this one out too!

Are you feeling Peachy today? :)