Curbing your child’s sweet tooth.

I thought we had it good. My daughter loved her veggies and was an even more adventurous eater than her older brother. Fish, chicken, and greens, Japanese-style, Thai or Korean she loved them. But the love for food now extends to sweets. Since school and the birthday party circuit introduced her to the wonderful world of ice cream, candy and cake, it has never been the same.

She thinks I should serve her cookies everyday. She’s now come to crying to me if all I have to offer for desert at home is a piece of fruit. She’ll have the apple or banana eventually… but what is up with the demand for sugary treats? I gathered expert advice on how to help our little sugar junkies.

Don’t Go Cold Turkey

Nutritionists say, if your child is already hooked on the sweet stuff going cold-turkey isn’t wise. Reel it in, but don’t resort to radical changes overnight. A good policy is they can have desert after lunch or dinner. No sweet snacks except on the rare occasion like a children’s party. Cut down portions too. If they complain, simply say they can take the one piece of cookie or have none at all.

Don’t Use Treats As Rewards

Broccoli is never used as reward for a job well done, and neither should a cupcake. Treats should not be made more special than they ought to be, just another part of their diet. It’s also not advisable to bribe a child with some chocolate so they she will empty her plate. This can harm their natural instinct for determining when their stomachs are full — and lead to over eating.

Don’t Go For A Total Ban

Nothing is as tempting as forbidden fruit — or forbidden ice cream. Research suggests that restricting sugar completely can make kids want it more. If children are getting the nutrition they need from healthy daily fare, there’s no reason they can’t enjoy fun, sweet foods for dessert or an occasional sweet snack. Just make sure, sweets are only a small part of a balanced diet.

Model Healthy Eating

If you gorge on sweets, stock up on candy and indulge too often yourself, then it would be unfair to control your child’s own cravings. Display your own power of self control, save sweets for special occasions, keep your pantry as junk food free as possible and your child will have no choice but to eat healthy herself.

Eating out? Get calorie-informed.

Going out for fast food with the kids? Try going to restaurants that list down nutrition information in their menus. According to US researchers, parents who have access to fast-food menus with calorie information tend to choose lower calorie selections for their children.

Study leader Dr. Pooja S. Tandon of Seattle Children’s Research Institute said the study involved 99 parents of children ages 3-6, who sometimes eat in fast-food restaurants with their children. They were presented with sample McDonald’s restaurant menus which included current prices and pictures of items, and asked what they would select for themselves and also for their children as a typical meal.

Half of the parents were given menus that also clearly showed calorie information for each item. Choices included most of the items sold at McDonald’s, including a variety of burgers, sandwiches, salads, dressings, side items, beverages, desserts and “Happy Meals.”

The study, published in The Journal Pediatrics, found parents who were given the calorie information chose 102 fewer calories on average — a calorie reduction of approximately 20 percent — for their children, compared with the group who did not have access to calorie information on their menus.

“Even modest calorie adjustments on a regular basis can avert weight gain and lead to better health over time,” Tandon said in a statement. “Just an extra 100 calories per day may equate to about 10 pounds of weight gain per year.”

With obesity becoming a bigger (excuse the pun) problem among Americans, a news item like this offers a simple step to improving the health of everyone in the family. No need to deprive yourself or your kids a happy meal every now and then. But if you are going to indulge, there’s a way to do it without having to tip the scales. Check the menu for calories and eat wisely.

They’re kids, they need the calories so let them eat what they want is an old, debunked belief that can have dangerous consequences. Children need healthy calories and you also have to keep their sugar and fat intake under control.

Yes, even kids have to watch what they eat.

There’s a United Press International (UPI) Report that claims being obese as early as age 7 may raise a child’s risk for future heart disease and stroke, even in the absence of other risk factors. The story reports on a study undertaken by the Nemours Children’s Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.

I think this story is significant even for parents with babies or toddlers. The sooner we start kids off on healthy eating habits, the better. The threat of future heart disease is just one reason.

Senior study author Dr. Nelly Mauras of the Florida Nemours Clinic says obese children are showing higher levels of clotting factor and inflammation as early as age 7. 
The study, scheduled to be published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, looked at children age 7-18 years old — 115 were obese and 87 were lean controls.

To be eligible for the study, the children had to show normal levels of fasting blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides. In other words, the children could show just one sign of the metabolic syndrome known to raise the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes — increased waist size.

The obese children — versus the controls — had significantly higher levels of the clotting factor fibrinogen as well as 10-fold higher levels of the inflammation marker C-reactive protein. 
”Doctors often do not treat obesity in children now unless they have other features of the metabolic syndrome,” Mauras says in a statement. “This practice should be reconsidered. Further studies are needed to offer more insight into the effects of therapeutic interventions in these children.”

The message to me here is, get kids started early on healthy eating. As soon as your child starts solids is a good time to begin. Expose them early to the tastes of various healthy foods. Get them their taste for greens, grains and fruit. Get them used to liking healthy proteins like chicken and fish. And these don’t have to always be fried to taste good.

If your toddler is a picky eater, hang in there. It takes them several tries before they decide to like certain foods. Easy on the fried stuff and the high sugar foods as well. You may think that’s all they want to eat, but given lots of opportunity to try the healthy stuff, they’ll get around to it! It’s also a challenge to get a little more creative — and sneaky — in the kitchen. I hear lots of kids love vegetable muffins!

Watch it! Television food temptations are bound to be unhealthy.

Tune in on Nickelodeon and pay close attention to the food ads. In case you haven’t already noticed, most of these ads targeted to kids are promoting unhealthy food choices. About 80 percent of food ads on the Nick TV channel feature foods of poor nutritional quality, according to a survey by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) based in Washington.

It’s another challenge to hurdle, trying to get your kids to eat oatmeal for breakfast when those Froot Loops and other sugary cereals look so good on TV!

The CSPI food advocacy group does note a slight improvement. Back in 2005, junk food ads accounted for 90 percent of promotional airtime. Today, ads promote slightly better food fare. The improvement stems from a food industry self-regulatory program undertaken through the Council of Better Business Bureau’s Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative.

But to health advocates, there’s still a long way to go before television and food companies abate their contribution to the childhood obesity problem.

“While industry self-regulation is providing some useful benchmarks, it’s clearly not shielding children from junk food advertising, on Nick and elsewhere,” Margo G. Wootan, director of CSPI nutrition policy said in a statement. “It’s a modest start, but not sufficient to address children’s poor eating habits and the sky-high rates of childhood obesity.”

Under the self-regulatory program, 452 food and beverage products were listed as marketable to children – supposedly acceptable as healthy food choices. The CSPI sees it differently. Upon their own review, they found that 60 percent do not meet nutrition standards for children. Products that didn’t make the grade, but that are still being marketed on TV include:

• General Mills’ Cookie Crisp and Reese’s Puffs cereals
• Kellogg Apple Jacks and Cocoa Krispies cereals
• Kellogg Rice Krispies Treats
• Campbell’s Goldfish crackers Campbell’s SpaghettiOs,
• Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
• Unilever Popsicles

No brand of puddings, cookies or fruit-flavored snacks met CSPI’s nutrition standards.

How about food products that made the grade? 73 percent of yogurts did. Nabisco Teddy Grahams, Kellogs Frosted Mini-Wheats, Kellogs Eggo Waffles and some Kid Cuisine frozen dinners were also considered nutritionally acceptable.

So what’s a mom to do? There are days when my 3-year old wants her Cocoa Crunch… and I do give in. Bad mom! But I try to make myself feel a little better on Cocoa Crunch mornings by mixing in some bananas or strawberries (her favorite fruits) along with some Special K into bowl. I’m just extra thankful for those days when she’ll eat her oatmeal or eggs and toast!