Over the past two weeks, all the major nutrition news has been related to kids.  It’s definitely a sign that our country is taking children’s health issues seriously.  Here’s what’s happening.

Food Industry Proposes Their Own Guidelines for Advertising to Kids

As my last post mentions, the food industry was opposing nutrition criteria for foods that could be advertised to kids.  The criteria were proposed by a division of the Federal Trade Commission.  This week, the food industry has announced their own criteria, with less strict criteria than the government recommended.  For example, the government program uses 8 grams of sugar per serving as the cut off for foods that could be advertised to kids while the food industry’s criteria uses 10 grams.  When looked at historically, either would be a positive move.  A decade ago, cereals could be advertised if they had 15-16 grams of sugar and today the guideline is 12 grams.  If you look at the cereals that fall under the industry criteria, however, there may be some items that surprise you – Trix, Lucky Charms and Count Chocula.  So which is best for our kids, the government or industry-proposed criteria??

National Restaurant Association (NRA) Launches Kids LiveWell

Recognizing that dining out is no longer for special occasions and that the options offered in restaurants need to have better nutrition quality, this program was launched by the National Restaurant Association and Healthy Dining Finder.  Restaurants that participate in the voluntary program commit to offering healthful meal items for kids, with  focus on more fruit and vegetables, lean protein, whole grains and low-fat dairy, and limiting unhealthy fats, sugars and sodium.  Specific nutrition criteria have to be met for kids’ menu items in order for the restaurant to participate in the program.

The main question looming on all these activities is whether or not they go far enough.  They are positive changes, moving in the right direction, but at the end of the day each and every one of us (whether we are parents or work for a food company or are the owner of a restaurant) have to look inside and ensure that we’re driving towards solutions that can make a difference in the health issues facing today’s kids.  Is it enough or could we do more?

Visit www.nuval.com to see for yourself if these food scores are taking matters seriously enough.

The nutrition topic with the most action this week is guidelines for foods that can be marketed and advertised to kids. It’s an issue I’ve covered before, but it’s heating up again. The Interagency Working Group (IWG) out of the Federal Trade Commission has been working on rules that food manufacturers can voluntarily follow to decide which foods can be advertised to kids. It’s a hot topic this week because certain food manufacturers are pushing back on the guidelines.
The rationale for the guidelines is in the numbers:

• 70% of dollars spent on food marketed to kids under age 12 is spent on breakfast cereal, restaurant food, and snacks.
• 69% of the dollars spent on food marketed to kids age 12-17 is for carbonated beverages, restaurant food, and non-carbonated food.
• Today, nearly 1 out of every 3 kids in America is overweight or obese.

The guidelines suggest nutrition criteria that must be met for the food to be advertised to kids – limits on saturated and trans fat, sodium, and added sugar and the presence of positive nutrients or positive food groups like fruits, vegetables and whole grains. The suggested guidelines are voluntary, and are recommended for implementation by the year 2016.

Those opposing the rules suggest the nutrition criteria are too strict, that foods such as whole wheat bread won’t meet the guidelines because it has too much sodium and neither will bottled water as it doesn’t have positive nutrients in it. They also suggest that there’s no proof that changing the foods that can be advertised to kids will impact overall eating habits in the long run and that these rules inflict upon their constitutional right of free speech.

The bottom line to me on this issue and many nutrition topics today is that we are living in serious times here. We have a major economic crisis in our country, the rising cost of healthcare is part of it, obesity and heart disease are ramping up health care costs, more kids are obese than ever before, and what we eat contributes to our weight and our health. We have to all come together to take these issues seriously and find every solution possible that will potentially reverse the tide. Instead of opposing the suggested rules, suggest ways to make them workable, strive to meet them, strive to make a difference in kids’ lives, drive for solutions.

What I don’t understand is who wins by opposing these suggested voluntary rules?

Visit www.nuval.com to see food scores that support the recommendations of the IWG.

The thing I love about musicians that were great in the 1980’s is that they had staying power.  Bruce Springsteen, now in his 60s, can still rock the stage.  Bon Jovi is still selling millions of records worldwide.  The “Safety Dance,” released in 1982 is played in football stadiums across the country when a team gets a safety.  Staying power. 

The same can be said for good nutrition advice.  As a senior in college in 1987 (yes, I realize you can now figure out how old I actually am), I read the book How to Get Your Kids to Eat, But Not too Much by Ellyn Satter, MS, RD, LCSW, BCD which had just been published.  I didn’t have kids back then, but was reading it for a college class assignment.  I was blown away by what Ellyn had to say.  As an impressionable, aspiring dietitian, I was wowed by how right she was in her advice for feeding kids.

Twenty-four years later, her message is still the best advice there is for raising kids with healthy eating habits.  In Ellyn’s own words. . .

Feeding demands a division of responsibility. Parents are responsible for the what, when and where of feeding; Children are responsible for the how much and whether of eating.

It’s a parent or caregiver’s responsibility to ensure a variety of nutrient-dense foods from the various food groups are offered to kids throughout the day.  It’s the kids’ responsibility to decide if they are hungry or not at any given time, how hungry they are, and how much of the food offered will satisfy that hunger.

Every parent wants what’s best for their kids, and following this decades-old, time tested advice can definitely help get them there.

Visit www.nuval.com to choose higher scoring foods for the “what.”

My son Jack is 12, and as you can imagine, fish is not high on his list of favorite foods.  So I was more than a little surprised on our spring break trip last week to see him order fish on three separate occasions.  Now, I must admit that Hawaii offers an amazing variety of fresh fish, but I was still surprised.  His first choice was mahi mahi, cooked with basil and garlic.  A favorite of Hawaiian natives is a “plate lunch” served counter-style at fish markets, giving you a fish option served with rice, macaroni salad and salad.  We tried these one night, and my son opted for teriyaki ono, a fish like snapper but firmer and dryer.  And yet, another night, Jack ordered lau lau, scallops, shrimp and a local fish mixed with vegetables and cooked inside leaves.  Fish on three out of six nights – I was blown away.

What it made me realize is that vacation can be a great opportunity to get kids to try new foods.  For Jack, it was simply part of the whole Hawaii experience.  And because all the fish was fresh caught, it was delicious and he loved it.  We’re lucky, of course, that one of their native foods to Hawaii is such a healthy option, and in all honesty I have to admit that he also tried shave ice , not quite the most nutritious option.  But still, part of the experience.

Getting kids to try new foods can be a challenge, and I never thought that vacation would be the place where it was easier.  I’m hopeful now that this trend will continue, and that Jack will be willing to try more fish here at home.

Visit www.nuval.com to check out scores of fish or whatever foods are local to your next vacation spot.

Last Sunday, my 12-year-old son Jack came downstairs after having gotten dressed.  Immediately, I made him go back upstairs and change into a pair of jeans that were long enough for him.  Later that day, we hit the stores in search of new pants – ones that are long enough.  But here’s the thing.  I couldn’t find any.

I have a tall, skinny kid.  At 12, he’s already passed 5’5”. But he’s skinny.  Not icky skinny, just normal kid skinny.  I tell my mother-in-law all the time that this is how kids are supposed to look.  Every calorie he consumes is used in growth.  The hormones haven’t kicked in yet to add bulk to his frame.  He’s active as kids should be.  But there are no jeans in stores that fit.  While there are stacks and racks of “husky” options, often there is a small to non-existent section of “slims.”  The size my son needs – 20 slim or 28 x 32 do not exist in store.  Nor do they exist in the entire universe of the World Wide Web.  I know.  I checked.

Pant sizes in the store is a reflection of an important issue – kids’ weight.

While kids’ weight is an important issue, it’s also a touchy issue.  As parents, we all love our kids, and try and do our best by them.  Weight gets into love issues and cultural issues and self-confidence and economics and a host of other things.  But it’s something we need to get a handle on in our households.  In these formative years, the habits kids build will last into their adulthood.  As many of us adults know, it’s easier to maintain a weight than it is to struggle to lose weight again and again.  The sobering truth is, too, that we are seeing kids with diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease – problems that used to only affect middle-aged adults.

Because you love your kids, because you want them to have a great life and live up to their fullest potential, do this one thing for them.  Take an honest step back and assess their weight.  Draw a sketch of their body type and compare it to the boy and girl charts below (click the charts to view at full size):

Or calculate their BMI (which is a measure of their weight for height) to determine where they fall in this important measure.  Using these objective measures empowers us to eliminate the bias we all have as parents and make an honest assessment of our kids’ weight.  Just this one action, this honest assessment is the greatest gift of love we can give our kids.

With your kids visit www.nuval.com to teach them about nutritious foods.

Many of you are probably working Moms. Busy life.  I am one of those too, and with school starting, am feeling the stress of getting 6-year-old twins up, dressed, fed, alert, and on the bus by 7:30am every day.  I definitely have some guilty feelings driving to work after “ordering” my kids around like Louis Gossett, Jr as Sergeant Emil Foley in “An Officer and a Gentleman.”  Although I might be effective in this role, I would never win an OSCAR.  Nor would I want to. 

Let’s start with the wakeup.   I have to sing, turn on lights, tickle, dance, make jokes just to get them to open their eyes.  WHEN (not if) that doesn’t work, I resort to “Come on!  The bus is going to be here soon!  You want to eat your breakfast and watch some TV before you leave, right?”  Hence, it’s all downhill from here.

Even as a dietitian, breakfast at our house is nothing fancy.  Usually a bowl of cereal, a banana, possibly yogurt.  But most mornings involve a granola bar.  Thanks to NuVal, I am able to justify buying our Kroger brand Chewy Granola Bars (Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip or Chocolate Chunk) which score 22 & 24.  Not hugely high, but much better than a few of the name brands that score an 8.  So, although it’s a quick, easy solution to our morning rush, it feels good to know I am at least doing the best I can for them in the yummy, chocolate granola bar category.

Then comes the run out the door to catch the bus.  “Hurry, Hurry.  Mr. Pat will be waiting for us!”  They both respond with “OK, MOM! We’re coming.  Stop yelling at us!”  I put their backpacks on them and tell them what their snack is for the day.  I pack them a snack each day with the help of our NuVal tags reinforcing my choices there as well.  And a note of “I (heart) U,” my clichèd “good Mom” move.  Fruit’s always included.  They seem to like to have it when it’s a planned snack, and they are hungry from all the learning they are doing at school. 

As I put them on the bus, I hug them, kiss them good-bye and wave to them as they ride off.  A small sigh of relief comes out.  Wait, is even THAT a “bad Mom” moment?  I am starting to wonder.

So I ask my “early to bed, early to rise boyfriend” if I am so bad and should feel guilty for all the stern orchestrating I am doing in the morning.  And he puts it all in perspective (like he so eloquently does) by saying “Leigh, you are being a parent.  You are preparing them for life.  For their future.  You are laying the groundwork for them to be functioning adults in society.  When kids no longer need parental nudging, they can move out and take care of themselves.  They are learning the basics about responsibility and punctuality.  It’s your JOB.” 

Hmmm. 

I thought I was just now GOING to my JOB.  But it turns out, I was doing the most important JOB of all.  Being a “good Mom.”

Visit www.nuval.com to learn more about a system that can help you be more effective at your job of being a good mom.

My friend Joanna is a very balanced eater.  When we go out for lunch (I work out of my home and she works in physical therapy in and out of people’s homes), she often picks the “under 500 calorie” items or looks for more nutritious options on the menu.  She also can dig into a burger or good Mexican food like there’s no tomorrow.  Balanced all the way around.

While Joanna loves a wide variety of foods, her kids are another matter.  It especially gets tricky at this time of year when she has to start making school lunches.  Joanna’s kids attend a small school that doesn’t offer hot lunch, so it’s all on Joanna.  Her frustrations?  Dani (4^th grade, girl) doesn’t like sandwiches in any shape or form.  She doesn’t like lunch meat or the standard PB&J.  Jonathan (6^th grade, boy), on the other hand, isn’t all that fond of fruits and vegetables.  He got braces last spring, adding challenge to what he can eat.  Joanna also struggles with variety.  “Why is it that my kids would eat pizza rolls 5 days a week for lunch,” Joanna comments, “but they get bored with more nutritious foods?” Creativity, she admits, isn’t her thing.

We can all feel the pain, can’t we?  Packing school lunches day in and day out can definitely have its challenges, especially when kids have big differences in what they will eat. 

So for Joanna, I agreed to put a shout out to all my readers for suggestions on how she can get more nutritious foods into school lunches, keeping it interesting all year long.  A few of my suggestions are:

• Take Dani and Jonathan to the grocery store, and have them pick out foods for their school lunches based on the criteria you set (one fruit and vegetable for every day, no cookies or chips, etc).  It puts the pressure on them to find foods that will work. 
• My son Jack (who is plays basketball with Jonathan) loves hummus with pita chips.  He’ll even eat the no salt, whole wheat pita chips.  The mild flavor of hummus and the “dipping” part appeal to kids.  Veggies are also great dipped in hummus.
• On Sundays, make a big batch of smoothies (non-fat, plain Greek yogurt, any fruit you have around) and freeze it in portions appropriate for each day.  By the time lunch comes around, the smoothie will be the right temperature to enjoy, and in the meantime your kids are getting protein and calcium from the yogurt and one to two servings of fruit.  With smoothies you can often sneak in fruits they might not typically eat plain.
• Keep lunch interesting by throwing in a cartoon strip or joke or personal message (“good luck on your math test”).
• If leftovers are in the house, serve those for breakfast, and then send traditional breakfast foods (cereal, yogurt, fruit) for lunch. 

Other ideas for Joanna to test out on Jonathan and Dani?

Visit www.nuval.com to determine the nutrition quality of foods you’re packing in school lunches.

A few months ago, my son came home from school with a water bottle, magnet, and toothbrush all branded by a local orthodontist group.  As it turns out, the orthodontist had been in his classroom that day talking about dental health.  While I’m not opposed to credentialed health professionals sharing important health information with kids, I am opposed to branded marketing materials being given to my child without my permission and at school.  I actually sent the items back, and called the business letting them know why I thought it was inappropriate and that because of their actions I would never use their company or services.

Some of you might think my actions were a bit over the top, but I think it was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” for me.  Kids have parents and guardians for a reason – because their brains and intellect aren’t capable of reasoning at the same level as adults.  The job of all us parents is to guide our kids, help them learn the “rules” – all until the age when they are physically, mentally, and emotionally ready to make decisions on their own.  Parents are the gatekeepers.  It’s what you do, it’s what I do.  If the orthodontist wanted to do the right thing, she simply would have given the talk on dental health and not felt the need to hand out the marketing materials. 

Marketing and advertising of food to kids is a hot topic right now, too.  Consider this example.  With the recent launch of Toy Story 3 (the beauty of having kids is that you have a ready-made excuse to see great animated movies!), kids will beg for the box of cereal with a Buzz Lightyear figure in it or plead with mom and dad to take them to the local fast food restaurant for a Woody toy.  Are these kids thinking through whether that particular cereal is a nutritious choice or whether there are healthy items at that restaurant?  No.  They just want the toy.  That’s the way their minds work.  Layer this with the fact that many of the foods advertised to kids aren’t the healthiest choices, giving parents plenty of reasons to be fired up. 

Today, there are no laws or regulations in place indicating what foods can or can’t be advertised to kids, how often they can be advertised, where, etc.  The guidelines are currently voluntary for the food industry.  The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer advocacy group, completed a survey of 128 companies to determine their policies for which foods can be advertised to kids.  CSPI graded the companies on their policies, and in the grading no companies received an A, 16 were in the B’s, 17 a C, 7 a D, and 95 companies received an F (87 for not having policies related to marketing food to kids).  Clearly, there is work to be done.

At the federal policy and advocacy level, there is much activity around this topic.  But every voice counts.   Just like I did with the local orthodontist, send an email to your favorite brands, talk to your local senators and representatives, or speak up at school. 

Visit nuval.com and consider this nutrition ranking system as the guide to which foods can be advertised to kids.