As a parent, I know what healthy foods I should be offering my daughter. The problem is she won’t eat them. She is a very picky eater and she will only eat a handful of stuff. She used to eat everything until she turned about 2.5 years old. It is so bad that I actually have to bring meals for her to family functions because she won’t eat anything. And actually getting her to try anything is impossible. I put one pea on her plate once and she began a full on, world is going to end, crying battle.
So you know that I was extremely excited when I heard about the book, Food Fights: Winning the Nutritional Challenges of Parenthood Armed With Insight, Humor and a Bottle of Ketchup, 2nd Edition, by Laura A. Jana, MD, FAAP and Jennifer Shu, MD, FAAP.
I found this book to be very useful as it provides information from infant to young child. I think this is a great for any parents dealing with picky eaters. Hopefully I can really bring “peas and harmony” to our table with the tips and tricks that I found in this book.
About: Bring “peas and harmony” to the family table with Food Fights, 2nd edition! Knowing what to feed children is one thing. Getting them to eat it is quite another! In Food Fights, 2nd edition, the authors tastefully blend the science of nutrition and pediatrics with the practical insights of parents who have been in your shoes―offering simple solutions for your daily nutritional challenges. Whether you’ve got an infant, toddler, or young child, Food Fights promises entertaining, reality-based advice on:
- How to pick your battles (and arm yourself accordingly)
- Whining and dining, throwing food, and other dietary distractions
- Heaping helpings, TV dinners, fast food, and other nutritional minefields
- Eating out, grocery shopping, and travel
- The 5-second rule
- Drinking and dozing, juice, soda pop, and other classic drinking problems
- Sick kids, vitamins, body weight, allergies, constipation, spitting up…and so much more!
Check out the following excerpt from Food Fights:
WHAT’S LACKING IN SNACKING
What’s Not Lacking in Snacking
One of the biggest problems with snacks is, quite simply, that they typically consist of high-calorie, unhealthy foods rather than nutrient-dense, healthy foods. With fresh fruit all too frequently replaced by juice and other sugary drinks, more candy, less milk, and the prize for the largest increase in snack foods over the past 30 years going to chips and crackers, what’s clearly not lacking in snacking is salt, sugar, and fat.
Smart Snacking
So now that you know what not to serve for snacks, we wanted to make sure to impress on you the fact that snacking can and still should play an important role in your child’s daily diet. Simply put, the right approach to snacking can help keep kids from getting hungry and cranky while also giving them added energy and (if you plan it right) added nutrients. By following simple, smart snacking advice like the tips below, you can ultimately help your child grow better, think better, and stay active throughout the day and throughout childhood.
- Snacks should not be the exception to the rule that food, in general, should have nutritional value. Make sure you commit to applying the same noble goals in choosing your snacks as you (hopefully) do for your child’s meals.
- Keep finger foods on hand. Finding foods that are quick and easy to grab and serve is actually quite easy. Simply cut up some fresh fruits or veggies; keep whole grain crackers, pretzels, or ready-to-eat (and preferably low-sugar/high-fiber) cereals on hand; and then let your toddler or older child handle the feeding part independently.
- Don’t be fooled by packaging. Labels on snack foods for kids, along with sugary children’s cereals, seem to be the most commonly misleading when it comes to nutrition. Don’t let creative labeling such as “fruit snacks” or “low-fat” lead you to believe that sugary treats are necessarily healthy.
- Figure out some “free foods” that your child can eat at any time. It’s entirely appropriate to agree on some healthy “free foods” (such as fruits, vegetables, yogurt, or hard-boiled eggs, for example) that your child can sit down and eat whenever he’s hungry. Remembering that your ultimate goal is to help your child learn to eat when he’s hungry and refrain when he’s not, your role is to simply make very sure that the criteria you use for creating this list is based squarely on the food’s nutritional value.
- Keep junk food out of sight and out of mind. This means not only limiting the amount of junk food you buy and allow into your pantry, but also the amount of television your child is allowed to watch. With literally thousands of television ads designed specifically to make your child’s mouth water over unhealthy snacks and cereals, turning off the television—not just when you’re eating but keeping it turned off throughout the day— can go a long way toward preventing unhealthy eating habits.
Where To Buy: Amazon, Barnes & Noble
GIVEAWAY:
One lucky Snag A Bargain reader will win a copy of the amazing Food Fights book
How To Enter: Mandatory entry required, then up to 9 additional entries. Make sure to leave a separate comment for each entry!
Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment with your favorite tip or trick when it comes to dealing with picky eaters.
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Details: Make sure to leave a separate comment for each entry! All entries will be verified. If it cannot be verified, it will not count. If the Mandatory entry is not done, all other entries will not count. This giveaway is open to US residents 18 years or older and will end on April 15, 2012 at 11:59pm EST. One winner will be selected randomly and will have 48 hours to claim the prize or another winner will be randomly selected.
GOOD LUCK TO ALL!
Disclosure: A free sample of this product was sent to me for review purposes. This had no bearing on the review. All opinions are my own and are not influenced by anyone or anything.
