Kitchen Kleen Potatoes - Children's Eating Trends

Children and Eating Trends
How are today's kids eating? Unfortunately, a growing number of American children would earn a grade of "needs improvement." Even though our food supply offers more healthful food than ever, children do not always make the wisest choices. But parents and caregivers can help bring up their children's eating grade.

Less food from home; more food away from home
Today's kids race from school to activity to activity, grabbing snacks and meals when they can, rather than sitting down to meals at home. In the late 70s, children ate about one out of every six meals away from home. By the mid-90s, about one in three meals were eaten away from home and the proportion of snacks eaten away from home also has gone up. From a nutrition standpoint, this creates a significant challenge.

Foods eaten away from home -- from school to mini-marts, restaurants, and fast food outlets -- tend to be higher in fat than foods prepared at home. American children eat more total fat and saturated fat than recommended, and a diet that is too high in fat increases the likelihood of heart disease and other illnesses in the adult years.

Planning ahead helps children eat healthful snacks and meals on the go.

Pack a lunch of sandwiches and carrot sticks, beans and salsa rolled up in tortillas, or baked potato wedges with packets of barbecue sauce, reduced fat ranch dressing or salsa as dipping sauces.
A medium potato is packed with energy-providing carbohydrates, along with other key vitamins and minerals.
Seek out nutritious options at fast food outlets, such as salads, baked potatoes and fruit parfaits.

Lots of snacking
Children snack more than ever, and typical snack foods and beverages - cookies, sweets, crackers, chips, and fruit drinks - supply a lot of calories. They also can be high in fat, salt, and/or sugar, but low in vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

One mineral of particular concern is calcium. Children in almost every age group do not get enough calcium, a mineral that helps build strong bones. Milk is a particularly good source of calcium, but fruit and other soft drinks are becoming more popular than milk at snack time.

Include a non-perishable snack in your child's backpack or in the car. Nuts and raisins, a "trail mix" of ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, a piece of fruit, or graham crackers, to name just a few, keep particularly well and can help fuel your child through a busy afternoon.
Also pack a good calcium source such as a milk box, an individually wrapped part-skim mozzarella stick, or a carton of yogurt (freeze the night before to help keep it cool).

Mindy G. Hermann, R.D.

Mindy Hermann is an accomplished writer and editor who specializes in marketing health, nutrition and food information. Her consumer press credits include:

Child

Parents

Shape

Fitness

Ladies' Home Journal

Family Circle

New York Magazine

"Live with Regis and Kelly"

"The View"

"Later Today"

Hermann earned a bachelor's degree from UCLA and a master's of business administration in marketing from New York University.

Article courtesy of
Potatohelp.com, where you'll find additional information from the United States Potato Board.

Too few fruits and vegetables
Kids, and their parents, should eat at least five daily servings of fruits and vegetables - fruits and vegetables supply vitamins, like vitamins A and C, as well as fiber and other important nutrients. American kids eat less than four daily servings of fruits and vegetables. Half of all American children eat less than one serving of fruit per day, and about one in three have less than one daily serving of vegetables, not counting vegetables that are fried. Although vegetables and fruits are not abundant on fast food or restaurants' children's menus, some fast food outlets have added baked potatoes, side salads, fresh fruit cups, and salad bars.

To help your child make the fruit and vegetable grade, you can include plenty of fruits and vegetables in home meals. Making things that children can help prepare makes nutrition more fun for everyone.

Make fruit smoothies for breakfast.
Let your children choose new fruits and vegetables that they haven't tried before. Then, use them to create your own fruit salad bar at home.
Lay out a baked potato bar with chopped tomatoes, shredded lettuce, grated cheese, reduced fat sour cream, and other favorite toppings. A medium baked potato provides a good source of your child's vitamin C for the day, along with 3 grams of fiber, with skin.

Additional Resources:

The Child Care Nutrition Resource System:
www.nal.usda.gov/childcare/

Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine:
www.bcm.tmc.edu/cnrc/

Food Guide Pyramid for Young Children:
www.usda.gov/cnpp/KidsPyra/

Tufts Nutrition Navigator:
www.navigator.tufts.edu


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