Teaching Kids To Listen To Their Bodies

The following article is written by HGM contributor Dr. Scott Olson.

Your kids don’t eat as well as you want them to. I know this because I have been studying health and nutrition all of my life, I know the importance of a good diet and even my kids don’t eat how I want them to.

You may struggle from time to time with what to do with your picky eater, or the kid who won’t eat their broccoli, or your kid who is a sugar hound, but there are ways to encourage your children to make better choices. The key is helping kids make better choices without giving them a complex about what they are eating; healthy or not. My wife and I practice teaching our children to learn how to listen to their bodies.

Food Crazy

If you think about it, we are all a bit food crazy; we think about what we are eating more than any other species.
Part of the reason why we do this is because we have wandered too far away from food in its natural state. Our diets have slowly evolved over time from foods simply eaten as they appear to us on the earth, to more and more processing of our foods.

Most of the foods you put in your mouth (if you are typical) have been processed in some way. Breads, chips, candies, jams, sauces, sodas, bagels, and even restaurant foods are highly processed and far removed from the original foods and eating these types of foods is a recipe for ill health.

Even though it is true that many of our food choices are not good, I have to admit another feeling about the food we eat: To me, food is also a celebration and a miracle. Think about how wondrous it is that you can grow something in your garden and that food then can become energy and nourishment for your body. Simply amazing! Sitting down and sharing foods with friends and family is one of the greatest joys of life.

The challenge becomes to maintain this joyous relationship to food for us and our children and lead them in the right direction towards better, healthier, choices. The question is: How do you do that?

Learning to Listen

The ideal goal is to have your children take on the responsibility of their own health and not have you standing over their shoulders all the time.  Simply dictating what they should and shouldn’t eat puts the responsibility for their health on you (as it should be when they are very young), but does nothing to develop your children’s sense of taking care of themselves. Dictating food choices can have the effect of creating kids who hide food, feel ashamed about eating, and who go crazy when they are out of your reach.

I have three kids, one aged sixteen, one nine years old, and one four years old. When I look at the four-year-old I despair that she will never eat well in her whole life, that is, until I look at the sixteen-year-old. My sixteen year old son eats mostly fruits and vegetables and proteins. He will occasionally have some cake, candy, or other junk foods, but generally regrets having eaten it. When I think back, I can remember him eating more junk than he does now; what has happened?

What has happened is that my wife and I constantly talk to our children about the choices they make and how it affects them and their health. How do they really feel when they eat that cake? Sure they get a burst of energy when they first eat cake and it tastes good, but that stomachache one-half hour later – how does that feel? What about their mood? Do they like feeling grumpy and fighting with their siblings after eating cake?

While asking kids to take responsibility for their health is a daunting task and takes a long time (you have to be patient as they make wrong choices) it is the best way to not only keep the spirit of food and sharing alive, but to also to teach them that what foods they put in their bodies do matter and that foods can radically change how they feel and function.

Being too insane and aggressive about food choices may only create a child who will rebel against eating healthy. My wife and I play both roles (dictator and encourager), and, in truth, we don’t give them too many choices that are not healthy. But then when our kids head over to a friend’s birthday party, we don’t police them. It is a balance.

Healthy Choices That Are Fun

Besides encouraging your children to make good choices, you can also show them what you want them to eat. Here are some ideas that work for us:

• If you child will only eat one type of vegetable, then give it to them as often as possible. Try putting butter or cheese on the vegetable to vary its presentation.
• Use food “bribes” such as peanut butter (I prefer the no-sugar version) or whipping cream (once again: no-sugar) on all sort of foods such as celery, apples, carrots, berries, bananas and anything fresh. Many of these ideas work great for dessert.
• Leave snack-sized food around where the kids can find them. We use grapes, small carrots and dried fruits and simply place them in bowels where the kids can reach and find them.
• Tell them what is important: when we sit down at the table, our kids often ask us what they have to eat before leaving the table. We usually highlight the protein and vegetables.
• Eat something crunchy with every meal. This is a principle in our house, and, no, it doesn’t mean chips and crackers, but something fresh and crunchy, something that grows that way.

If you balance between good choices and encouraging your kids to use their bodies as the barometer for what is good for them, your work will pay off with children who make better choices as they grow older.

Let’s discuss. Do you have any tips that help teach children to listen to their bodies?

Dr. Scott Olson is a Naturopathic doctor, expert in alternative medicine, author and medical researcher. Spurred on by his patients’ struggles with sugar addiction, he was determined to discover just how addictive and harmful sugar can be and ways to overcome that addiction. The result of that study is his book Sugarettes, which describes the addictive qualities of sugar and the harm that sugar does to our bodies. Dr. Scott also writes a blog (www.olsonnd.com) which highlights the latest in health and healthy living.

Tagged as: Eating Well, Kids health