The Eating Season

Some interesting thoughts from the Center for Non-Violent Education and Parenting. This was forwarded to the Beanstalk from the desk of parent, Karen Merchant (thank you Karen!).

"There’s a ton of wonderful research about how the brain responds to various kinds of food, and to various eating habits. Some of the information in this article is derived from a wonderful book called The End of Overeating - Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David Kessler, M.D.

Babies have a pretty good intrinsic sense of when they need to eat, and what they want. Breast milk has all the nutrition babies need, and for most babies, it’s available on tap. After they begin to eat solid food, however, it doesn’t take long before questions about nutrition arise. Is my child getting enough food? Too much food? The right kind of food?

One important thing to know about infants and preschoolers is that they adjust their caloric intake over the course of a day or many days. This is called “compensation” and it’s a normal and healthy way for your child to regulate their intake. It can cause parents a lot of anxiety when our kids don’t eat something we’ve put in front of them. But try to pay attention to what your child is eating over the course of a few days at a time to assess their overall nutrition. Dr. Kessler suggests that we should all eat like two year olds: small portions of healthy food many times throughout the day, eating when we are hungry, abstaining when we aren’t.

Sometimes food is used as a reward for behavior. Like any kind of reward, this is a way of manipulating children. Using food, however, can have other detrimental consequences. When children associate food with behavior, and when love seems closely linked with eating, such dire outcomes as obesity and eating disorders are quite possible.

Not only do we sometimes use food as a reward, we also give rewards and praise for eating. Have you ever heard the phrase “you’re such a good eater?” This kind of message can reinforce some damaging eating habits.

Many activists are working hard to improve the way that children learn about nutrition and get access to healthy food. There are a lot of very good programs looking to address nutrition in schools like Rethinking School Lunch and The Center for Food and Justice at Occidental College.

It’s our responsibility to provide nutrition. AND it’s true that our children have a natural sense of their bodies and their hunger. So fill your homes with nutritious food. Offer your children small portions of a variety of healthy foods, and model healthy eating yourself. Look at those huge piles of candy, and have a moment of self-empathy. We’re in the season of eating, and it’s just beginning.