Peas Pointers by Melanie Silverman

School is back in session and if you've got a picky eater at home check out our Peas Pointer by guest blogger Melanie Silverman of Feeding Philosophies.

If you have a picky eater, I bet the one food they will eat are those prehistoric animal shaped chicken nuggets.
While I tend to believe most foods can be part of a healthy diet, in my opinion, chicken nuggets are over served to kids. If you have a picky eater and you want them to eat a variety of foods, you must offer them. And, as hard as it may be, you cannot fall back on foods your picky eater will eat when they skip a meal or two.  Kids will not starve themselves.
So go ahead.  Roast broccoli.  Grill fish.  Bake sweet potatoes.  Be patient.  Picky eaters will try new foods.  It just takes time. "

Peas,
Melanie

Peas Pointers by Melanie Silverman

We have teamed up with a pediatric registered dietitian who thinks we are doing a great job getting veggies into your kids!  Melanie R. Silverman MS, RD, IBCLC, is not only a pediatric registered dietitian and board certified lactation consultant, she is also the owner of Feeding Philosophies (www.feedingphilosophies.com) and has loads of tips and tricks to help your kids eat the way they should, from infancy through their adolescent years.

Melanie's tips will now be called Peas Pointers and she plans to guest write for our blog every month. Here is her first:

If you have a picky eater, I bet the one food they will eat are those prehistoric animal shaped chicken nuggets. While I tend to believe most foods can be part of a healthy diet, in my opinion, chicken nuggets are grossly over-served to kids. 

If you have a picky eater and you want them to eat a variety of foods, you must offer it to them. And, as hard as it may be, you cannot fall back on foods your picky eater will eat when they skip a meal or two. I have learned through the years that kids will not starve themselves.

So go ahead.  Roast broccoli.  Grill fish.  Bake sweet potatoes.  Be patient.  Picky eaters will try new foods.  It just takes time.   

Peas, Melanie

Peas Pointers by Melanie Silverman

We have teamed up with a pediatric registered dietitian who thinks we are doing a great job getting veggies into your kids! Melanie R. Silverman MS, RD, IBCLC, is not only a pediatric registered dietitian and board certified lactation consultant, she is also the owner of Feeding Philosophies (www.feedingphilosophies.com) and has loads of tips and tricks to help your kids eat the way they should, from infancy through their adolescent years. 

Melanie counsels families with a wide range of nutritional concerns including food allergies, poor weight gain, and weight management.  She treats loads of those picky eaters between the ages of 15 months to 6 years old who have diets that largely consist of chicken nuggets (shaped as prehistoric animals), macaroni and cheese, and no veggies!

With her tried and true picky eater program, Melanie gets kids to eat a well balanced diet while easing the minds of thousands of worried parents she has counseled.

We want to bring some of Melanie's expertise to the Peas family so we have asked her to offer a monthly tip (or Peas Pointer as we call them) to our blog. Thanks so much Melanie!!! We look forward to your first Pointer next month!

Take A Seat

We recently checked in with one of our biggest supporters, Melanie R. Silverman, a Registered Dietitian who specializes in pediatric nutritional care. We asked her what was on her mind these days. Her answer: "meal time" and here is what she had to say about it:

Meal time behavior and manners is probably something you hope your child develops, but let’s be face it, on the big list of what you want for your child, health, happiness and a college education certainly beat good manners at the table.  What if we considered moving the importance of meal time behavior and manners up the list because I am beginning to believe that the health, happiness and college education you want for your child starts at the kitchen table.  Here is how it works…

1) Watch your snacks.  If dinner is at 6:30pm and you gave a few handfuls of cheesy crispy kiddie crackers at 5:00pm to “hold them off”, you are in for it; they are not going to eat and those cheesy crispy kiddie crackers just displaced your dinner.  Spread out your meals and snacks by at least two to three hours so the kids come to the table hungry and do a decent job eating the nutritious food you prepared.

2) Sit together.  Make sure that everyone in the family is seated together at the table. While kid tables are adorable, don’t separate the kids from the adults during meal time.  Gather around the table as a family.  Eat.  Talk.  Laugh.  Meal time should be fun.

3) Correct behavior.  Kids learn by observation.  How will they learn to use a fork, drink from an open cup, cut their food or place a napkin in their laps if you do not show them?  Meal time also gives you an opportunity to spend time with your kids which teaches them how to talk, listen and communicate effectively.

So how do these three tips get your child healthy, happy and into
college?  If your child is coming to the table hungry because you spread the snacking out, the probability goes way up that he or she will actually eat the nutritious food you took time to prepare.   Your child is now healthy!  Research has shown time and time again how valuable the family meal is for children because shared meals can provide a sense of community, love, and support.  Your child is now happy!  Colleges are looking for people with high cognitive abilities that can also relate well to people.  Eating as a family at the table gives your child exposure to both aspects of development.   Your child is going to college!

Pull up a chair to the kitchen table and have your child take a seat. The meals you provide are so much more than just calories.

photo credit: kitchen table from www.thekitchn.com  

Melanie R. Silverman MS, RD, IBCLC is pediatric registered dietitian and lactation consultant in Laguna Beach, California.  You can learn more about her private practice at www.feedingphilosophies.com and what her feeding philosophies are at blog.feedingphilosophies.com

Changes in School Food, Part 2. Get Involved!

We are thrilled about the changes happening to school food menus across the country, like the addition of Veggie Wedgies in place of the deep-fried standard!
 

At the same time, there are more improvements to be made, but what specifically is next? That is the big question. So we turned to our friend and pediatric dietitian, Melanie Silverman, to hear her opinion on the topic and tips on how to keep the momentum going. Here is what she had to say:

On December 13^th, 2010 President Obama signed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.  Believe it or not, there had not been a change in school nutrition standards in 15 years so we were long overdue for change.  The gist of the bill is this: 

1. Schools will receive 6 cents more reimbursement per meal.  
2. Foods offered will have less sodium and fat and more fruits and vegetables.  
3. Policies will be made to help schools send consistent messages about healthy eating, which includes what is available in school vending machines and school stores.  
4. Processes for children who are eligible for school meals will be simplified.  
5. Farm-to-school pilot programs will be started.  

Many say, and I do agree, the bill falls short in terms of reimbursement for meals.  I have heard experts suggest that we need an additional dollar per meal to elevate school lunch to where it needs to be.  Six cents is a long way from a dollar so what are we suppose to do to move the process along?  When my clients complain to me about their kids’ school lunch programs I suggest this to them:  get involved!  

Here is what we can do: 

1. Look at your kids’ school lunch menu. Ask your kids what the problems are and take notes.
2. Talk to other families about their issues with the school lunch program and suggest changes.  Start small.  Simple changes like removing sugary drinks or changing white bread to wheat bread can make a big difference.  
3. Keep in mind, money is the issue so your challenge is to come up with cost conscious changes that the school districts can feasibly do.   
4. Contact the school administrators to set up an appointment to voice your concerns and offer suggestions. 
5.  Write your local papers and officials and let your voice be heard that you want change. 

Recently, I heard an excellent idea from a local mom in my community.  She suggested providing cut up fruit and vegetables trays on the tables for kids during lunch.  The problem was the labor involved to cut those fruits and vegetables.  Food service personnel are busy preparing meals and have little to no time to peel carrots and slice apples.  A super savvy mom came up with the idea that school parents or community volunteers could come in and help with preparing the fruit and vegetable trays and labor would be free.  This is the type of innovating thinking we need in school lunch.

I applaud the efforts in Congress passing the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act, but we cannot sit back and wait for the six cents to become a dollar; we have to put our minds together now and make the change happen ourselves. 

Melanie R. Silverman MS, RD, IBCLC is pediatric registered dietitian and lactation consultant in Laguna Beach, California.  You can learn more about her private practice at www.feedingphilosophies.com and what her feeding philosophies are at blog.feedingphilosophies.com

Those Picky Eaters… Ages 9-12

We get emails from parents all the time, and we love hearing from them! Our favorite customer emails are the success stories, like when a toddler who typically turns his nose up at steamed broccoli florets gobbles down Broccoli Veggie Wedgies, making dinnertime more enjoyable for the whole family. That said, we also really appreciate learning about current eating issues parents are grappling with regarding their kids.


One challenge we've been hearing about from parents lately is how to handle an older picky-eating kid who wants to make their own eating decisions and hasn't yet outgrown their finicky phase. 


Here at Peas, we've found that our Veggie Wedgies and Pizza help parents with kids of all ages (and even adults themselves!) eat more veggies, but we were curious to learn more about these older picky-eaters and how to encourage them to eat more healthfully and adventurously.


We hooked up with Melanie R. Silverman, a Registered Dietitian who specializes in pediatric nutritional care, for her thoughts on the topic. Here's what she had to say:


"I think the best nutrition recommendation I give to my families is to eat a wide variety of foods.  I cannot point to a single supplement, powder or pill that proves to provide all necessary nutrients our bodies need.  So what do you do when your ten year old child will eat six foods and none of them involve a vegetable?


Ah...the good ol’ times.  Remember when that ten year old was ten months old and ate everything you offered?  Your steamed vegetables went down as fast as fruits or desserts did.  So what happened? If your situation is like many families, the change came around eighteen months when kids strive for independence.  Kids this age cannot choose what they wear, when they sleep or where they go, but they can choose how much they eat and if they eat at all.  Panic sets in with parents when children this age begin skipping meals and snacks.  Frustrated and worried, parents start to give their kids what they know their kids will eat.  These actions support picky eating and can persist for years.


So what do you do if its ten years later and you have a picky eater on your hands?  First, stop talking about it.  Chances are, out of love and concern, you make comments to your son or daughter about his or her pickiness hoping they will spontaneously ask you to roast Brussels sprouts and grill salmon for dinner.  Keep quiet; they do not want to hear about it anymore.  Second, you can surely give them a multivitamin for nutritional insurance, but I want them to learn to eat a variety of food, not take supplements.  Prepare to make changes in how and what you feed your children.  Here are three ways to get started:

• Eat as many meals as a family as possible.  In my experience, people underestimate the value of family meals as a tool to expand their child’s repertoire of foods.   Family meals can expose children to a great array of foods and since you are not discussing their picky habits anymore, they may be more inclined to try new foods on their own.

• Plan strategic meals.  I am not asking you to serve tofu, chickpeas and kale for dinner.  What I am asking you to do is extrapolate in your meal planning.  Think about what your child will eat and build your menus from there.  For example, if your child is a white bread-lover, by all means, offer bread.  Offer rosemary olive, asiago cheese or pumpernickel bread with olive oil for dipping and see what happens.  

• Eat out.  Try different restaurants like Indian, Sushi or Thai.  If you child likes Italian prepared pasta dishes, Pad Thai is an option.

If parents begin with the changes I describe above, over time something will likely kick in with these kids and they will try new foods. If you start to notice your child trying and enjoying new foods, do not make a big deal about it in front of him or her.  Go with the flow and take comfort in the fact that you did some great parenting to get your son or daughter to this point."

Melanie R. Silverman MS, RD, IBCLC is pediatric registered dietitian and lactation consultant in Laguna Beach, California.  You can learn more about her private practice at www.feedingphilosophies.com and what her feeding philosophies are at blog.feedingphilosophies.com




Thanks for sharing your expertise with our readers, Melanie!