Food and nutrition for the younguns

Food and nutrution website that I found some nice information on about feeding kids.http://www.fcs.okstate.edu/food/nutrition/lifecycle/children/youngchild-cont.htm

 

hm, interesting

i'm not really too crazy about some of their snack suggestions: Fruit Fizz made by adding club soda to fruit juice. ugh!! training soda anyone?

kind of a nice start though for someone who's used to using all processed foods and wants to phase out of that mindset gently, i guess. i'm a hardcore foodie though...i'm reallllly picky about some things.

 

Even though this isn't the best food chart I've seen I'm going to use it in my group on Friday. One of my clients today bought Snapple for her two year old. When I saw it on the shopping list I confiscated it. But when I went to get it out of her cabinet I found bottles of open juice in the cabinets. Whoever it belonged to did not have their name on it so I'm not sure who to blame. But I pulled all the bottles out and threw them away. Then I was looking at the other "juice" they had. The "good" ones had 37% fruit juice in them. Most of them had between 10 and 20% juice. I am constantly telling these women that they can only buy 100% juice for their kids. I also tell them no more than 8 ounces of diluted juice per day. But the only juice that was 100% in their cabinets was the juice they get from WIC. They buy something like 20 to 30 bottles of juice for the month. I am so frustrated with these women. Have the drugs so clouded their minds that they can't listen to a word I say? I talked to two of the women tonight before I left the office. They honestly did not know that they could not leave open juice in their cabinets. Then they wonder why their kids are sick all the time. I don't know how I can get through to these guys. I only have 6 months to try to teach them how to take care of their kids. Some of them I think need 6 years. One of the women who honestly did not know that she had to refrigerate the juice after she opened it has been with us over a year.

Okay, enough of a rant. It was not a good day at work today.

Kathi

 

wow, kathi, you must have the patience of a saint!!

around here, the only juice we do comes out of the juicer, and that's a rare occasion! i'd prefer ds to eat the whole fruit so that he gets the fiber too. fruit juice on its own gives too much of a sugar rush and fall. <---this is what i mean when i say i'm realllly picky about foodie issues!!

 

I don't do soda here ver. My mom drinks pepsi and my husbands mom drinks coke so my son knows of those things but luckily he never asks for that stuff. He drinks a lot of juice...orance and apple 100% juice...speaking of he just spilled it...bye!

 

you guys ever hear of water? Try having your kids drink some. Findings show fat kids get fatter from juice just as much as soda.

 

they shouldn't drin pure juice, but 100% juice mixed with at least 50% water, is a better option then soda. Also the natural fruitsugar is a lot better then the refined one in soda. And of course unsweetend tea

 

its kind of silly to assume we haven't heard of water or don't encourage our children to drink it just because we were discussing juice. perhaps i misunderstand but i find your tone to reek of snotty superiority.

 

Unfortunately, Kathi, it's not just recovering addicts that have no clue on how to feed kids. Virginia was at her gramma's house (Tim's mom) I had to work and Tim had a DR appt, so gramma babysat...for the first time. I saw Virginia's lunch left on the table...pudding, jello, crackers, cheese and meat from a lunchable. *shudders*. And her "juice" was a juice flavored sugar drink.
I only let my girls have one juice drink a day. A few cups of milk, and the rest of the time-water. I love hearing my 2yo say "I want waa waa!"

 

Some people just don't ever learn. I've had DYFS workers bring babies to our program with soa in their bottles. These are the people that the state trusts to care for these little ones. I just don't understand it.

I had to laugh when you mentioned your two year old wanting waa waa. Dakota says the same thing. We have a water cooler so he can help himself. He loves to fill up my glass for me. I think it's good that he sees me with a glass of water all the time. We let him drink organic orange juice once or twice a week. And when we eat out he has juice, not soda. Unfortunately he does see us drink soda. He gets these sad puppy dog eyes and says "I like, I like." I always tell him, "You may like it but you're not getting any."

Kathi

 

Hey jamaica, I am superior, but not snotty. Don't be insulting. With 65% of Americans obese, and many of them children (ever stand outside a school lately and see the poor little things waddle out?), I think juice and soda can be done away with completely to the benefit of all.

 

i don't think i was anymore insulting than you were; and no one, my friend, is superior to anyone. you could learn much from those 'less superior' on this earth. no one is arguing the fact that juice is not the best alternative, but to assume we don't give our kids water in the tone you did is rather accusatory. "you guys ever hear of water? Try having your kids drink some. Findings show fat kids get fatter from juice just as much as soda". juice is not the only factor leading to obesity and drinking it in moderation with a balanced lifestyle isn't going to lead to obesity. i think, from reading other posts, the mamas on the board pretty much have this concept down.

 

Kathi, I have to go to our local Dept. of Health every few months for "nutrition" classes because I get WIC. so, the "nutritionist" passed out a paper that had a copy of the front of a breakfast bar box on one side and a copy of a pop tarts box on the other. She asked us which one we would feed our children. I said neither. When she got over the shock of someone actually speaking, she asked me "Well, what do you feed your kids, then?" I said fruit, yogurt, cereal, etc. She then proceeded to tell me "well, I just take my kids through the drive thru and get them a sausage biscuit." She also told us that our babies should drink out of bottles, not training cups,and that the breakfast bar was a good breakfast. I asked her well, what about the partially hydrogenated oils and food coloring, and the high fructose corn syrup that is more than likely in it. She just ignored me and pointed out that it had less calories than the pop tart, so it was better for you. I'd like to know what kind of training theses people actually get because that lady had no clue.

 

I am not too thrilled with their recommendations either. Their bread recommendation should specify wheat rather than white bread. Most ready to eat cereals are pure sugar. I agree with what Dakota's mom said about the fruit juice as well.

 

My mum and me always laugh that if it's not there they never want it!!!

Seems to be the most critical element when it comes to helping kids to learn to eat well!!!

I have also found here that there are a lot of people in positions where they are supposed to be informed about nutrition and such stuff that really have very little idea about it at all...I figure that finding a good wholefood cookbook is a great place to start...I raided my mums 70's hippie ones...plus a load of asian style modern day ones which are super fun to cook from and make wicked tasting food. It takes more work though and I think this might be the critical factor, that in order to eat well and healthily I really have to work at it.
By the way, I find that telling them that some things are for grown ups works just fine and they accept it ok..I don't agree with kids having soft drinks (more from the point of view of preserving my sanity than anything else...I think I will make an exception at birthdays and special occasions in the future though, but if they spaz out on the sugar that will change!!) and I don't drink them myself however I do like the occasional beer and so I have found that just telling my little one that she can't have it as it is for big people has worked just fine and she never asks now...took a few tellings but my stubborness has a lot more experience!!

 

gross

 

Some of these "professionals" just don't have a clue. Have you heard the new commercial for McDonald's? The cure for all that ails a child and for all discipline problems is nuggets. From what I've researched McDonald's does appear to be the healthiest of the fast food places, but it's still fast food. I feel really bad that my 2 year old recognizes the logos for McDonald's, Burger King, and Boston Market. All my dreams for a healthy happy veggie kid when out the window when he discovered "Loaf", (Boston Market meatloaf). We don't have it often, but more often than I would like. Of course it doesn't help that Daddy is a total junk food junky.

Kathi

 

Damn, Kathi, I thought I had a frustrating job! (refering to the open juice in the cabinet post) I had a client when I was a doula who was under the impression that "formula can be kept at room temperature for 12 hours." I kept throwing the formula out, and he kept making 8 oz bottles for a newborn. I tried to explain to him that it was human milk (he insisted he "read it in a book") that could be kept at room temp (although I don't recommend it, unless it is necesary) but not after the baby drank from it. He would just keep the bottle on the counter and give the kid it over and over. I just kept throwing it out. I wonder if that poor kid ended up with food poisoning eventually.

He also didn't understand that the diaper Genie had to be emptied! I don''t know where he thought all those diapers went!

Sigh.

"I like I like" I can relate. When our kids would "want" something they couldn't have I used to say "No one gets to do anything they want.....except Keith Richards, and you aren't him." It is still an in joke in our family.

Back On Topic, I agree, water is the best.

 

Try telling some mamas that Kool-Aid is NOT juice! I see little babies around here with Kool-Aid in their bottles all the time. It doesn't help that some of the grocery stores will sell WIC mamas that Jungle Juice (which is basically, sugar, dye and flavouring in water in a gallon bottle, sells for about $1.25) instead of Juicy Juice, and Kraft processed cheese food slices instead of cheese. These babies' bottles are stained red from all the Kool-Aid sitting in them all the time.

I see the same pregnant teenagers walk past me (I live close to a 7-11 type store) with chips and Slushies several times a day. (And we wonder why pre-eclampsia is so rampant amongst young mothers! ) They all know me because I yell at them to buy an apple or banana with that same money.

Ever get nosy in the check out line at the supermarket? Most people with kids have their carts loaded with sugar coated cereals, (they think instant oatmeal is organic!), boxed mac and cheese, canned raviolis, canned veggies, frozen dinners, hot dogs, and flourescent coloured yogurts. Some people really think that you can get the benefits of yogurt even if it's bright blue and contains more sugar than Jell-O!

 

SHUDDER.

One of my pet peeves is BLUE KoolAid in the bottle. It looks like the baby is taking in antifreeze.