Keep Your Promise Kids - Eat What You Asked For

Usually when you I do reader polls I get a variety of answers because family meal dynamics are so different for each family.   I was shocked when I gave moms a chance to complain about their biggest feeding the family obstacle and the vast majority of complaints were along the same vein.  Kids complain about much of what is served, even when it's stuff they've requested.

This is a maddening experience for any home cook. You can't please them even when you give them what they want.

To be eligible to win the Meal Makeover Mom's cookbook No Whine With Dinner, I gave moms a chance to whine.  I asked them,

What's your number one complaint about cooking for kids?

This entry came in this morning.

My biggest complaint is that my girls (3 and 6) often won't eat meals that they CLAIM to like! We will let them each choose a meal for dinner some weeks, and more often than not, they end up not eating what they requested.

Promises Kept
Dinner requests are a great time to illustrate the value of making and keeping promises to young children.  Our brains are fickle.  Humans change their minds all the time.  It's a tough lesson to learn that each being can't get everything they want all the time.  Choices matter.  Once you make a choice and it is acted on, that's it.  See your choice through.  Meals are a perfect window of opportunity to illustrate the power of choice.  Because we eat three times a day, if their choice backfires on them it's only a few hours until they get a chance for a redo.  How many choices that you make as an adult have that kind of flexibility?  Adult decisions often have no opportunity for a redo, or if a redo is possible it is days, weeks, months or years before you can redo your choice.  What happens if you change your mind about your major in college?  Or your choice of employer?  Or your choice of neighborhood? 

Kids can have all the desires and preferences they want, they do need to learn that just because they want something doesn't mean it's possible for their care-givers to give it to them. Resources are always constrained.  Sometimes there aren't enough hands on deck to pacify each desire, sometimes money is a constraint, and let's not forget time.  Who has time to prepare a special order meal for each family member at the table?  

Make a Promise, Keep a Promise
If you ask your child what they want for dinner, and you prepare their suggestion, it's on them to keep their promise and eat it.  You can do this in a loving way, nurturing, guiding way.  You don't have to shove the food in their face and say "you asked for it, now eat it,"

Remind your child that you gave them a chance to choose dinner and you cooked to their request.  Tell them you did your part.  You promised you'd make what they asked for.  Set the expectation that they do what they said they'd do.  The child's part is eat what they asked for.  Let them know that choosing dinner is a privilege given to kids who keep promises.  When mom knows kiddo will keep their promise to eat, then mom is more likely to continue to take suggestions and recommendations from kids on what's for dinner.  When kids show mom that they won't keep their promise and eat what they asked for, then mom can go back to being the decision maker about what's for dinner.

When giving this lesson verbally isn't effective and you still get complaints, the next step is to remove the privilege.  To the child who complains about the food they asked for say "I understand that you changed your mind about dinner.  You asked me to make spaghetti and I kept my promise.  Since you are not able to keep your promise and eat it, I will be deciding what we have for dinner for the next X days/meals.  I will give you another chance to choose dinner  in X days/meals.  You can show me that you know how to keep your promise and then you can choose what's for dinner again."   For a younger child, do less meals/days.  For an older child do more meals/days.

Don't Forget to Keep Your Promise
If you set a consequence, follow through with it.  Kids are learning rules and exceptions every day.  If you teach them that mom is making an exception to the consequence by allowing your child to choose food before the consequence time is over, you are showing your child that exceptions to this rule are allowed.  They will learn that under certain circumstances it is OK to complain about a requested dinner. 

Kids need to understand that dinner resources (time to prepare, ingredient inventory, cost of food) aren't unlimited.  The family meal can not reasonably be a buffet each time you sit down.  Kids don't always get to eat exactly what they want.  They will be OK if they eat something that doesn't match their fickle food wanter. Kids can get nourished by eating what's available, and there's always another meal later that may be more appealing. 

To read the whole lot of whining from moms, check out this post.  It's not too late to enter for a chance to win the cookbook No Whine with Dinner.

No Whine with Dinner - Cookbook Review and Giveaway

I think I tweeted across Liz Weiss during my very first week on Twitter a couple years ago.  Flash forward a couple years and she and co-author Janice Newell Bissex have released their second cook-book, No Whine With Dinner.

The Meal Makeover Moms involved their readers in the book.  Brilliant!  They polled readers about the obstacles that come between healthy food and kids and learned that complaints about what's for dinner was the top concern.  Then they asked readers how they solved that problems at their kitchen tables.  What resulted was 150 make-over recipes featuring the sage advice of a diverse group of home cooks who, after years of serving up dinner had figured out a few tips and tricks to get more dinner down the hatch, and less whining at the table.

Janice and Liz  lined up 12 of their favorite mom bloggers to contribute a recipe.  Yours truly can be found on page 192 with a recipe for a family favorite One Pot Sausage, Potato and Green Beans.


What I like most about No Whine with Dinner is the inclusion of real world tips from different families.  Each mom-kid dynamic is different.  What works for one family might crash and burn for another.  With lots of sage advice from been-there-done-that moms every parent is sure to walk away with a handful of actionable strategies to get more wholesome food to disappear. 

Why does it have to be so hard to get a kid to eat something they don't want to?  Kids don't want to clean up.  They don't want to go to bed on time.  They don't always want to do their homework.  That's why they have parents.  To make sure they are doing the things they need to do in order to grow up healthy and literate.  Growing a good eater is one of the most important gifts you can give your child.  No Whine with Dinner can help you accomplish that goal.

The other bonus?  Some cookbooks are either too sophisticated for most home-cook's skill level in the kitchen, or they are way far down a path that many home cooks are just beginning.  I'm guilty of that myself.  I swear by local produce and pastured animals.  My recipes feature mostly things I can find locally at the market.  I know most people don't cook like I do.  The Meal Makeover Moms do plenty of every-day classic cuisine all healthed up a bit by more wholesome ingredients.  Their recipes are accessible to parents who haven't been cooking since childhood.  They are written out step by step so even a kitchen novice can follow. They are neither fussy, nor needlessly ambitious. They are delicious meals you can reasonably get on your table in betwixt school, work, baseball and playdates.  They are meals kids can learn to eat.

I'm bummed I didn't get to write this review as I planned it.  I was to pick out three or four recipes, make them with my kids, shoot pictures then publish one recipe, gushing about the results.  That's the perfect review and giveaway that may never see the light of day.  This is the gettin' 'er done review and giveaway. (Sheepishly, I'm more than six months over-due with publishing!)

You guys still get your chance to win a copy.  I just didn't get a chance to share my experience cooking my way through some of the pages of No Whine with Dinner.  Boohoo.

I can tell you the recipes that made my short list.  When I do find time to play around in the kitchen, these are the ones I want to try.  I've never roasted leeks.  They are in season in Houston now.  Maybe next week!

Piping-Hot Peanut Butter Soup
Coconut Chicken Fingers
Greek Chicken and Chickpea Stew
Roasted Cauliflower with Crispy Leek Rings

For a chance to win the cookbook, No Whine with Dinner, leave a comment with your email address and the answer to this question.

Your turn to whine. What's your number one complaint about cooking for kids?

For an additional chances to win,
1) "like" me on Facebook and tell me you did so in the comment section.
2) like Meal Makeover Moms on Facebook and tell me you did so in the comments.

The fine print
Only separate comment entries will be counted for extra entries. If you want more than one chance, leave more than one comment. The contest closes at midnight CST May 25thm 2011. I will draw a winner and notify the winner via email. The winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize by responding to the email. Your email address should be in this format. jenna AT foodwithkidappeal DOT com.

I received a free copy of the cookbook No Whine with Dinner in order to perform this review.  The opinions expressed here are my own.

Eat to Learn - Feed Your Brain Apples, Cucumbers, Grapes and Spinach

This is a round up post for all the Eat to Learn morning announcements I've posted thus far on Food with Kid Appeal.  During the course of Eat to Learn, 20 different foods found on the Spring Branch ISD school lunch menu were featured.  Each week nutrients and micronutrients in these food items were linked to brain function to illustrate to students that food fuels their brain.

Students read the announcements which were broadcast in each classroom most mornings from October 2010-April 2011.

Do Eating Habits Change When Kids Hear Nutrition Education at school?
We have limited data, but the data does indicate that kids are choosing more fruits and vegetables from the cafeteria line.  Fresh fruit acceptance rose by 14% and raw broccoli acceptance rose by 80%!  From what parents tell me, it's working.  I've heard about kids who are now happily munching carrots, celery and spinach at home.  Parents claim these are new fruit and vegetable eating habits for their children. One child told his mom "Cucumbers taste a little bit like watermelon."  Sometimes kids just need to have a mental barrier lowered to empower them to taste a new food.  Once they taste it, most realize it's not so bad, and maybe even, delicious.

Eat to Learn: Apples
Eat to Learn:  Spinach
Eat to Learn: Grapes

Eat to Learn : Cucumbers

Day 1  Cucumbers contain Vitamin C.  Vitamin C enters into brain cells easily. Once Vitamin C is in your brain it protects brain cells.  Vitamin C protects neurotransmitters from bad oxygen (oxidation).  Cucumbers are a defense shield for your brain.

Day 2  Eating fiber helps to remove toxins from your body.  Your brain doesn’t work well when toxins build up.  Cucumbers are a good source of fiber.  All fruits and vegetables contain fiber.

Day 3  Magnesium is a mineral in cucumbers. Magnesium is needed in every cell in your body.  Magnesium helps your brain in a special way.  Magnesium helps your brain focus and pay attention. 

Day 4  Cucumbers contain Potassium.  Potassium channels are key elements which control and shape electrical activity in the brain and determine memory and learning.  To learn and remember a lot of facts, eat sliced cucumbers plain or in your salad so your can get lots of potassium to your brain.

Day 5  Sliced cucumbers are on the menu today.  Grab some on your tray and feed your brain. 

Here’s the wrap on cucumbers:

• Vitamin C in cukes gives your brain a defense shield
•  Potassium in cukes makes your brain learn and remember facts.
• Magnesium in cukes makes your brain focus and pay attention
• Fiber in cukes helps move toxins out of your body so your brain doesn't get foggy.

So, what do you think?  Will kids eat vegetables when they know veggies make them smart?

This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday.

School Food Reform 101

Chicken patty, bun, chocolate milk and "Sour Chery Natural Cooler." A healthy lunch according to USDA school lunch regulations. Elementary students in SBISD can choose a hot sandwich and chocolate milk every day if they want to.

[Ed Note:  Update May 16th, 2011, I have updated this page to include Dana Woldow's new website, PEACHSF.org.  If you work in Coordinated School Health or are on your district's Student Health Advisory Council (SHAC), or hope to make a difference in the health of school kids, you'll want to be familiar with Dana's work.]

This is post is for anyone new to school food reform.  First let me say warmly,

welcome to the cause.  

You are very much needed.  Kids in every school district need you to advocate for them.  They come to school ready to learn and before they even hit the classroom, breakfast - whether at home or at school is wreaking havoc inside their body.  Lunch is often no better.  The typical school and home breakfast and lunch made up of processed foods with additives and sugar do not support a student's brain for a day of learning.  Processed foods are not the kind of fuel a student who is about to attack literacy or algebra needs floating around in his blood stream.

Before you make "to-be" suggestions, understand the "as-is"
In order to be effective in your efforts to reform school food, you'll need a good understanding of the school food "as-is."  You'll need to understand how the school food service group in your district operates, what regulations/contract language it's required to follow, and how the average school food program got to the heat-and-serve model.  Once you wrap your brain around the as-is, you can work with other parents to call your campus, district, school board and school food director to action.

I've been focused on school food reform for a year.  Most of my "free" time is spent reading studies, research, books on the topic and scouring the web for case studies of schools districts that have successfully implemented meaningful school food reform.  You will not learn everything you need to know this week, or this month.  Next year, you will still be learning things.  There will be times you look in the mirror and think:,  

• why am I doing this, 
• why this is so hard, 
• I wish I was a better negotiator, 
• a more skilled public speaker, 
• I'm not even sure better food for kids will ever result.   

Keep plodding along.  It's true that there might be folks out there with skills that would enable them to influence school board members better than you, but if they aren't on the team, you are better than no one doing the advocating.  Keep at it, you'll get better as you learn.

Remember, the kids need you.  They deserve an advocate.  They deserve a chance to live a fulfilled life as a well adult.  I liken wellness through a real food diet to literacy.  We would not expect a child to go far without literacy, the basic building blocks for earning a living.  Yet we don't expect the same with health.  Too many people assume they can feed kids garbage and health won't suffer.  Without good health, kids can't learn up to their potential.

Please, become a nation builder.  Advocate for more real food for students in your school, district or community.  This is a good use of your time.

Where Do I Start?
The subject of school food is complicated.  It is not as simple as “change the menu to include healthier items”.  Many factors including budget, resources, equipment, feasibility, reimbursement regulations, nutrition standards,  commodity items, acceptability (if the kids will eat it) and participation (do kids buy vs brown bag) all make it very challenging to make changes that fit constraints, are implementable, meet regulations and are accepted by kids.

Resources and Recommended Reading
Here are some resources I recommended to my district's newly formed School Food Reform subcommittee to our District Student Health Advisory Council. 

Don’t worry if you don’t have time to learn all this today, this week, this year.  Bookmark this page and come back to it when you have time to dig in.  I’ve been focused on school food reform for eighteen months and I’m still learning! 

Parents Educators and Advocates Connection For Healthy School Food (aka PEACHSF)

Dana Woldow of San Francisco USD's Student Nutrition and Physical Activity Committee has documented her journey to better school food on the committee's website.   In the spring of 2011 Dana released a new website, which for is a roadmap for parents, educators and advocates to guide folks helping students get healthier to get some much needed changes on campus.  Follow Dana's advice and you'll learn how to stir the pot productively with as few set-backs as possible.   Follow PEACHSF on Facebook, you can like their page by following this link.


She has been generous with her time to direct me via email on how to initiate programs both at a campus level, with our Child Nutrition Services group, as well as advice on how to get the attention of our School Board.  In the future, I will share her counsel on this blog for your reference.  I appreciate her "continuum" perspective.  She has a good "as-is" and "to-be" frame of reference, is a realist, and knows that the journey from A to B takes time.  She celebrates the milestones toward the to-be, while taking the next step along the continuum.  Here is a power point she uses to demonstrate accomplishments and upcoming initiatives to tackle.   For a good chuckle, see how Dana hold schools accountable for adhering to the wellness policy.  See her Shame On You report.

Dana's how-to guide to "Making Friends With Your Nutrition Services Director" is a must read for anyone who expects to do anything but make noise about how bad school food is.

 

Better School Food
Better School Food is a non-profit organization of parents, educators and health professionals that bring awareness to the connection between good food, good health, and a student's ability learn effectively.  Founder Dr. Susan Rubin (of Two Angry Moms) has been advocating for better school food for more than a decade.  She's learned some lessons and is a leader and authority when it comes to overcoming obstacles that stand in the way of school food improvements.

Dr. SuRu has an Action Plan for parents who want to get involved.    I particularly like her counsel to "improve food IQ" as a starting point in the journey of better school food for kids.  Although her counsel that improvements could take 10 years or longer are very sobering, it may in fact be reality.  Doesn't that suck for students just entering grade school?  They will be almost done with school before they have decent food that doesn't harm their health at school.   Why must it take 10 years to get more real food and less chemical additives in school food?  Why must another generation of kids suffer potential life-long ill health?

Parents who send brown bags need a higher Food IQ too.

The Lunch Tray

The Lunch Tray is a School Food Blog written by a Houston ISD parent,  Parent Advisory Committee

and Student Health Advisory Council member, Bettina Elias Siegel.  Their management of their school 

food program is outsourced to Aramark.

This link has a collection of articles and a book list for those “new to school food reform.” 

Here is a TLT interview with a school food consultant providing an answer to the question “can self operated schools really serve scratch made meals on the same tiny budget  for processed food”

If you are active in your school's PTA/PTO, Student Health Advisory Committee or a member of school food reform initiatives, you should subscribe to her blog.  Bettina publishes 1-2 articles daily, and saves me a bundle of time having to go chase down relevant information about new legislation, studies, and case-studies of schools who are making school food improvements. 

The Slow Cook

Ed Burske is a journalist. On his blog, The Slow Cook, he has written reports on three districts that have

successfully made meaningful school food reform (at least two of these schools used Kate, the expert in 

the lunch tray interview).  In addition to the case studies for Boulder, Berkeley and DC, he also 

publishes articles relevant to school food reform legislation, and student health.  I also recommend 

subscribing to his blog to keep school food reform issues on your radar.

Boulder’s story here  

Berkeley’s story here 

DC’s story here

Myth-Busting; Elementary Students Do Like Vegetables
Sherwood Elementary offered 9 vegetables and fruits to 400 students.  Guess what?  82% of them tasted all 9 kinds of produce.  48% preferred a vegetable over a fruit.  25% preferred a green vegetable over carrots, oranges and pears.  This is a great way to raise the food IQ at your school.  Hold a campus wide tasting event, and let students prove school food service folks wrong about the "acceptability" of fruits and vegetables.  It didn't cost that much either.  $400 will buy enough produce and supplies to feed 400 kids 9 kinds of produce.  Read about Sherwood's Taste-Off competition here.

More Resources?
If you blog about school food reform, or are a member of a council or committee who has been working on school food reform and been successful with meaningful school food reform and I have left you out of my resource list, please leave a comment and details.  I'd be happy to include more resources and success stories on this page.

Share Your Story
Guest articles on the topic of school food reform are always welcome here on Food with Kid Appeal.  Contact me at jenna@foodwithkidappeal dot com with your story.  Let's tell stories of how kids do get healthier in the public school system.  Let's bolster everyone's confidence that when you give a kid an apple, he will eat it.

Best wishes in your journey towards school food reform.  Keep me posted on your progress.  Nothing steels the resolve of a school food reformer like hearing about another school's success.

Smiley Star Omelet Recipe

[Ed Note:  This is a guest post recipe from Food with Kid Appeal Facebook fan Karen.  See how she turned around her daugther's sudden refusal of eggs.]

I'm Karen... I've followed your Facebook page and blog for 2 months now (or maybe more) and I love them!  I also live in Houston. I have a 4 year old daughter. She goes to preschool and I prepare her lunch every day. Thank God she's not a picky eater!
 
I admit it can be difficult to find the inspiration to cook everyday.

Smiley Star Omelet Recipe
 ingredients
one beaten egg (salt and pepper to taste)
one slice of tomato
green beans sauteed in olive oil with onions
a sheet of nori seaweed, cut into heart shapes.
ketchup

directions
Heat a skillet over medium heat.  Place pancake mold in pan.  Add beaten egg to the mold and cook until the egg sets.  Remove mold and place star omelet on a plate  Using a craft punch out, make heart shaped seaweed eyes.  Place eyes on star omelet and draw a smile with ketchup.  Serve with sliced tomato and sauteed green beans.

Kid Appeal Tip  One day my daughter decided she didn't like eggs anymore, except in cakes and crepes "because they are in the batter." I found this idea online and it did the trick.(stay tuned for link to inspiration recipe).

Check an international or asian market for the seaweed.  It's called Nori or sushi wrappers and looks like this.


Do you have a simple fun way to plate food that gets real healthy food down the hatch?  Share with the Food with Kid Appeal gang.  Send your photo and recipe to me at jenna@foodwithkidappeal.com. 





This post is participating in Kelly the Kitchen Kop's Real Food Wednesday.

Real Food for Dummies - Getting Started (Q & A)

I get questions on my Facebook wall from fans on a regular basis.  If you're not new to Food with Kid Appeal, you know I often have major problems keeping my commentary short and sweet.   I could get an advanced degree in the priciples of being concise, and I would probably still suck at it, sigh.  My propensity to ramble is an issue on Facebook where status updates have a word limit (I hit them at least once a week!)  When that happens I move the question/answer to the Food with Kid Appeal Facebook discussion tab.

Often the question bears repeating on the blog, so here is Jaci's question, and my answer.  I know I didn't think of everything, so if you have tips to share on how you get your transition to healthier, real food started, share some advice in the comments.

Question:  I'm a working mom of 2 boys (5 and 2) on a tight budget. Our eating habits aren't out of control but they definitely are not where I want them to be. I just don't know where to start... it all seems so daunting. Can you point me to the 'healthy eating for dummies' section ?? :)

Jenna's Answer:
1. Take a deep breath. Implementing a change from the standard american diet to a real food diet involves a lot of moving parts. There is much work to be done, but you will do the work one step at a time. Don't focus on what you haven't gotten to yet.  Take one step at a time.  In one year you will have made a lot of progress.

2. Make a list of the changes you want to make. Put them in priority order. Determine how frequently you can implement a new change. If you work and have young children, you might be able to manage one change per 1-2 months. If your kids are older and you work inside the home, you might be able to take on three changes a week. Be kind to yourself. You will make progress in the time you have available. You can't go faster than is humanly possible. There is a list of some of my kitchen goals in this post (scroll to the bottom).

3. Be committed to the process. It will require effort. It will have a huge payoff. There will be complaints and obstacles along the way. Just remember, you are doing the right thing. Convenience food will damage your family's health. They are used to eating their current diet, but they will in time appreciate the way real food tastes. Education and nutrition (wellness) are the two biggest gifts parents can give to their kids. It makes a whole lot of sense to spend time in these two areas, even if you often don't think you know what you're doing! You have plenty of time to learn. In other words, don't give up on your family's wellness when you hit an obstacle. Dig deeper, get over the obstacle and move forward. Set backs are temporary if you get up and continue.

4. Where to start?  Proteins, fats, grains, fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds oh my.
Fats and proteins are very important nutrients for your family. Most of the fats and proteins you can find at the conventional grocery store are tainted with hormones, antibiotics and come from animals who eat a diet that makes them sick (animal meat, dairy) or are overly processed and essentially dead by the time you consume them (fat, conventional milk). These two food groups support normal brain function (education, mood, behavior) and support all the major organs in the body. Get fats and protein straight first.  Farm eggs top my list.  They are relatively affordable, usually accepted by kids and quick to prepare.  They are very nutrient dense and easy to digest.  We eat eggs almost every day.  Next would be milk.  Buy organic to avoid hormones, antibiotics and GMO feed.  If you can find low temp pasteurized go for that. 
Clean water is key. It should be toxin free and contain minerals. Invest in a water filter when it fits in your budget. 
Do produce next.  Herbicides and pesticides are used to grow mass produced fruits and veggies you can find in a big box grocery store.  On top of that, the soil these crops are grown in are stripped of many of the vital minerals your cells need to function.  Buying organic is good, but getting produce from a farmer's market, from a farmer that uses sustainable or organic farming principals is best. Here's a thread on FB more about what to buy at a farmer's market . 

Grains are hardest for most people to digest and for some people they cause more harm than good. I would work on reducing the frequency of grains, but when you do serve grains, make sure the majority of them are as whole, organic, and unrefined as possible. At dinner I focus more on organic, non-gluten grains like rice than gluten grains like wheat. Wheat is so easy to consume in our food culture.  Things like  breads, pizza, crackers, pasta, baked goods etc, are hard to avoid at a party or restaurant. Why repeat that nutrient at dinner, especially when it doesn't add that much value to your overall health?
5.  Find a reliable source of recipes.  I have over 100 free real food recipes on Food with Kid Appeal.  My cooking style may not suit your fancy.  No worries, there are tons of good real food recipe sources online.  Find a blog or site you like and subscribe via email so you don't miss newly published recipes.  To subscribe to Food with Kid Appeal recipes, click here.  That link will get you an RSS or email subscription.

Hope this helps! Come back if you hit an obstacle. That's what the Food with Kid Appeal community is for. Support for you during your transition to serving your family more real food.  Leave a question on the Facebook wall or leave a comment on a blog post.  I'll answer as soon as I can. 

Alright peanut gallery, it's your turn to chime in.  How did you kick off your transition to real food?  What advice would you give to someone about to start that journey?  What's one thing a newbie with time and budget constraints should do, and one thing they shouldn't do?  Leave a comment, help a fellow home cook.

Chewing Gum - Dye Free, Chemical Free

After my Natural Easter post, I got several inquiries about the artificial dye free, chemical free, additive free gum the Easter Bunny brought for the boys. 

Here are the deets.  I bought two kinds from the online Natural Candy Store.  Wee Glee Gum and Tree Hugger Gum Natural Bubble Gumballs. The boys liked them both, neither had a preference for one over the other.

I confess.  I was a Chiclets Gum addict as a child.  At least part of every dollar I was given or earned as a child went towards a Chicklet Gum purchase.  Tiny size Chiclets were my favorite.  I would dump out the packages.  Sort by color.  Experiment with flavors.  Do they taste better all mixed up, or a mouthful of pink together?    I had an old margarine tub I used to keep my opened uneaten gum in.

It was funny to watch the boys do the same thing at 6a on Easter morning.  Must be some kind of childhood instinct.  Dump out the little pieces.  Organize by color.  Ascertain flavor of colors. Taste colors separately and together.  They didn't do that with the Smarties (european M&Ms made without artficial dyes) I bought.  The dump, sort, taste is only appropriate for gum.  Mysteries of the young brain.

Check out the ingredient list for Chiclets.  No mention of chicle included, even though it is the namesake ingredient.  Head scratcher that one is.  List doesn't specify what is in the "gum" base. 

A word of warning.  Natural gum is stickier than modern gum.  I taught both my boys how to chew gum without swallowing and playing with it before their second birthday. Until this year, they have never created a gum mess.  Not a single gum in the hair, gum on the clothes, gum in the car incident.  But with this gum, little boo has gotten it all over his clothes and skin twice!  You'll have to teach your kids to take it out of their mouth using a tissue.  If they touch it with their hands, or pull it out like a string and pop it back in their mouth, it will be a mess.  Tip, rub oil on their skin to wipe it off.  Hubby did the gum laundry, so I don't know how he resolved that mess.

If you end up buying from Natural Candy Store, would you be so kind as to use this link to execute your purchase?  When you do so, I earn a referral coupon for sending you their way.  If you like, set up a friend plan of your own, then you can share the link on your FB page and earn referral coupons too.  It's helps to put a dent in the price of natural candy and shipping costs.  I only buy 2x a year, Easter and Christmas, but still.  If you'd asked me two years ago if I would pay $50 on candy annually, I would have said never, ever, ever.

Non-toxic gum and candy : $50.  Keeping toxins out of kids bloodstream and brain, priceless.

My local natural foods store, Georgia's, sells a brand of gum called Spry.  It is sweetened with Xylitol.  I'm still on the fence about Xylitol.  I don't use it in beverages or baking, and this is the only product I buy that contains it.  It may be safe, I just haven't done my due diligence on it, so I'm (mostly) avoiding it for now.  I like to keep a pack of Spry with me so I have something to offer the boys when they see other people chewing chemicalized gum.  Most parents wouldn't serve their kids diet soda, because they know that artificial sweeteners aren't recommended for kids.  But most people don't think twice before sharing their gum junked up with artificial sweeteners and phenylalanine with kids.  I'm just as guilty as everyone else.  Before this year, I too served chemicalized gum to my kids.  Now I know better so I'm doing better.

I'm working on another post that answers the question : What's the big deal?  It's just a little artificial sweetener, why is that so bad for my child?  Stay tuned. Disclaimer, I have a "post topic" list a few pages long, and an insane work and family schedule at present.  No promises when I can have it ready, but I will get to it.

This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

We Grew Our Own Vegetable! Sugar Snap Peas

Pea plants are sneaky.  They grow and unfurl and attach to themselves and pieces of string.  For weeks they don't get much taller.  They don't blossom when you expect them to.  You expect them to die before they blossom and fruit, and plan how to deliver the sad news to the kids.  But then, they surprise you.  They double their height.

While you weren't looking they blossom.

 

Baby peas begin.

Even a big one with a hat!

Thanks boys for caring about the life-cycle of a plant and remembering to water the herbs and veg!  Thanks Science Night at SBISD!  Thanks Auntie and Uncle for the pea plant survival 101 course!  Thanks hubby for procurement of supplies and repotting!  The Peppers just grew their first veggie ever.  Yum.  Crunch.  Happy day.

Mom Congress on Education and Learning Talks School Lunches

[Ed. Note]  This is a guest post from Melissa Taylor of Imagination Soup.  Melissa reached out to me after she read my post Better School Food - Every child, lunch box or lunch tray, deserves it.   It's encouraging to see that in the education community a conversation about the link between food and learning is underway.  Melissa is a former elementary classroom teacher. Good stuff.  Check out her report on school food talk at Mom Congress.

Mom Congress on Education and Learning hosted by Parenting Magazine and Georgetown University invited one mom-advocate delegate from each of the states and D.C. to talk about educational issues. The conference surprised me with it’s rigor – most meals included speakers even. One of my biggest take-aways was what’s happening with school lunches – from Mrs. Q. and Jamie Oliver.

Mrs. Q.

Do you know about Mrs. Q? She’s the teacher who ate school lunches for a year and blogged about it.  We got to meet her at Mom Congress and listen to her story of average mom to leader-activist. She explained that as a busy mom and teacher, she never had time to make her lunch. So, she ate at school, then decided to blog about it, and as a result, became an activist for improving school lunch in our country.

“It’s actually not just food – it’s everything. It’s the basis of learning,” she told us.

And, the scary thing, that if it’s the majority of what many low-income children eat, their basis for learning sucks. Instead of building brain function on whole-grains, fresh produce, lean proteins, the kids and Mrs. Q. are eating processed, high-sugar, high-saturated fat foods. Not much of a building block for learning.

Mrs. Q.’s Call to Action

1. Educate yourself.

2. Get others to join you.

Eat your school lunch. Invite others to join you for lunch. That will convince other parents more than talking or blogging. Just try it. Watch the kids and what they’re eating and what they’re throwing out.

3. Take a stand for better school lunches.

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution

I’m sure you know about Jamie Oliver and his passion for improving school lunches across America. We were treated with lunch and some words of wisdom from Oliver's staff.

dishing up $.66 per head lunch, photo: Parenting Magazine

Oliver’s chef cooked us a "school lunch" for $.66 a person – and it was delicious. Barbequed chicken thighs or drumsticks, rice and veggies. The point was that it can be done – you can feed large amounts of children fresh, healthy foods without a huge expense.

Personally, I love Oliver for what he’s doing to make changes in school lunch. What never ceases to amaze me is the resistance he’s up against – and not just by the school lunch ladies, but by the parents of students. Really?

But, on his latest episode, he shows parents what the ingredients are in the lunches their kids are eating. Doing so convinces the parents and they join him in rallying for change. You can see it all on his reality show, The Food Revolution, Tuesday’s on ABC.

You can find out more about Oliver and The Food Revolution on his website.

Jamie Oliver’s Call to Action

           
1. Get the facts.  Resources here. Tool Kits here.      
2.  Support the staff.           
3. Mobilize a team.
4. Start with the basics.

School lunches aren’t going to change. Not unless we change them. We as parents must advocate on behalf of all children, children who don’t have a voice, who don’t have lobbyists, who are depending on YOU, ME, US.

The Mom Congress Resource Center

More from my experience at Mom Congress at http://imaginationsoup.net. Search for "mom congress."

Bio: Melissa Taylor writes about education-related topics at her award-winning playful learning blog, Imagination Soup, and for publications such as Scholastic Parent and Child, Babble.com, Colorado Parent Magazine and others. She's the Book Editor-at-Large for Colorado Parent Magazine, writing their book review blog, Bookmarkable and is a certified teacher with a M.A. in Education.

Recovering Picky Eater Challenge - April 2011

If you've been reading for a while, you know that a few months ago, a nutrition instructor used the recovering picky eater challenge with her students as a class project.  I was honored.  My work, as a project in a college class?!?  You just never know what will happen when you evangelize about the benefits of a real food diet and develop tools to help more people get hooked on real food.  To read more about Sally Kuzemchack MS, RD check out her blog, Real Mom Nutrition.

Sally plans to use the challenge at the start of each course.  The intent is to show students the power of a the mind when it comes to food preferences/tolerances.  After all, "food isn't nutritious if it isn't eaten,"  says Brian Wansink in this article.


What a recovering picky eater pledge needs to do
1.  Think about all the foods you've hated forever.
2.  Pick one.  A nutritious one (no, bagels don't count as nutritious).  You will be using your brain and the way you think about food to change your mindset about that food, it's texture, smell, taste.  You will be digging into the "why" it is repulsive to you, and replace the negative thoughts you have about the food with positive ones. 
3.  Eat your challenge food at least once a week.  Keep trying new recipes, preparations until you find one that isn't repulsive.  Mindset shifts take time.  If it doesn't work on the first try, keep trying. Here is some reading that will help you make the mindshift.

• Find A Way to Like  Food You Hate - Actionable Steps to Take
• Bend your Mind, Like a New Food - Create new positive thoughts about a food you hate

4. "Like" the Food with Kid Appeal FB fan page and look for the RPEC status update every Sunday.  You can share your experiences, success, failures and see how others managed to overcome their food aversions.

What counts as "nutritious"?
Fruits, vegetables, nuts/seeds, animal proteins, dairy, healthy fats (coconut oil, olive oil, fats from animal products if the animals eat their natural diet and are raised organically) are all nutritious.  The average American already over consumes soy, corn, wheat, grains, so do your health a favor and don't challenge with one of those items.  Do your health a favor and get organic animal products if budget allows.  If you're not sure if your challenge food is nutritious leave a comment and I'll advise.

Try not to challenge a "reactive" food.  Sometimes we avoid reactive food in childhood because they make us feel bad.  Your brain is smart.  It will protect you even in childhood, if you listen.  Eating reactive foods (also called food in tolerances) causes inflammation in the gut.  You don't want to inflame your gut.  Your gut is the only vehicle you have to nourish your cells, when it's inflamed you can't get nutrients to your cells and organs and they start malfunctioning.  The malfunction may seen benign at first but over time it builds up can cause some annoying disorders like migraines, allergies, asthma, learning/attention disorders, mental health deficiencies, constipation, IBS, diarrhea and more.  So listen to your body.  If your eczema gets itchier, your throat feels scratchy, your nose gets congested or your notice your tummy is roiling after you eat your challenge item, that's a good sign to discontinue it, at least temporarily.  For example, I recently discovered that conventional strawberries are reactive for me.  Organic berries don't make me react, but conventional ones do. I'm guessing the pesticides used during their cultivation are irritants to my immune system and cause nasal congestion and a flare up of eczema.

Most hated foods are not reactive foods
More often than not you have avoided a food in childhood for other reasons that to avoid inflammation and tummy distress.  You avoided a food because you couldn't tolerate the texture, smell or taste.  Or it was introduced to you during some time of distress (health or emotional).  Your brain linked the food with the distress, when really there is no link.  Or you didn't have a real food advocate in your life and so no one ever taught you that yes, indeed you really do need to eat real nutrients to fuel your body or your body can perform and function optimally.  If your parents took the "they'll eat it if they want it" route and never really expected you to eat protein, fat, fruits and vegetables you may have grown up eating on the foods you wanted to eat, instead of the foods that would fuel your body for a well life.  Don't worry, it's never too late to learn to like real food.  Even the pickiest eaters can reform.  I did.  You can too.  The good news is, you can say good bye to annoying conditions like IBS and trouble maintaining weight, just by eating more real food and less processed food. 

Will you Pledge to become a Recovering Picky Eater?
Are you with me?  Are you tired of saying "no tomatoes" to the waiter when ordering a side salad at a restaurant?  Are you ready to leave the hypocrisy bag behind when you serve veggies to your kids but won't eat them yourself?  Are you ready to stop avoiding baked chicken because the bones creep you out?  Are you ready to embrace the mouth feel of raw crunchy carrots or nuts?  Is there a dish your spouse loves that you can stand because it contains onions or a feared vegetable from childhood?  If you are ready to leave your picky eater label behind, leave a comment on this blog post in this format:

Hi, I'm (your name). I pledge to learn to like (disliked food item) in the recovering picky eater challenge.

To leave a comment, scroll down to the bottom of this article, click the comment link that looks like this

Posted by jenna at 5:20 PM 0 comments

Disclaimer :  Forgive typos, kids are ravenous, gotta get started on breakfast, I'm already a week late on this deadline, it's publish now or drop the ball.