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ONLY EATS JUNK FOOD
Fussy Eaters
Freshly weaned babies and toddlers can be fussy eaters. Their parents worry about them - what will happen if they don\'t eat properly? Will they become sick or weak? Will their development be negatively affected? Because of the worry, parents will often do ANYTHING to get their newbies to eat.
Sugar Makes the Medicine Go Down
Something that parents learn quite early is that making food sweeter increases its likelihood of being ingested. They put (sugar-based) ketchup on food and magically, their youngster eats it. They put chocolate chips on it, chocolate syrup in it, spoonfuls of sugar all over it and it suddenly becomes appetizing. Although most parents are aware that the sugar is not good for the child, they are just happy that the child is eating the good food along with the bad. In their mind, more good is accomplished than harm. They figure that the child isn\'t counting calories yet, so who really cares if there are a few more in the meal than are needed? Of course, they are not calculating the harm done to teeth and if they are, they figure these are baby teeth that are going to be replaced anyway.
Monster in the Making
Unfortunately, in their enthusiasm to have the child eat something, parents have sacrificed long-term good eating habits for short-term meal solutions. They are soon dismayed to find that their child no longer likes anything that isn\'t sugar-coated. Now they have a toddler who eats sweet cereal, chocolate milk, candy and french fries, but little that is actually good, normal, nutritious food. When the problem gets so out of hand that they can no longer justify doctoring the food to make it palatable, they want to know how to retrace their steps and get their child eating right.
From Junk Food to Real Food
The strategy for switching a child off of junk food and onto real food requires that parents be real parents: they must be prepared to say \"no.\" They must be prepared to deal with a frustrated, unhappy, angry toddler. They must be prepared to take charge once and for all. Until now, parents of sugar-holic toddlers have given in, afraid of the child\'s power to NOT EAT. In fact, most pediatricians will assure such parents that the child WILL EAT - when good and hungry. The trick lies in allowing the child to reach that state.
When a child is hungry, he or she will try some food. Food actually tastes a lot better when a person hasn\'t eaten for awhile - when the person is really hungry. Now that the child has had even a small amount of real food, he or she will eat it again (because it was, at least, edible and perhaps even, good). Research has shown that after just one week of eating a food, it will start to taste really good, even if the person didn\'t like it originally. For instance, a child who is used to drinking cow\'s milk finds that cow\'s milk tastes good. When offered a milk substitute for the first time (soy, rice, hemp or almond), the child will often balk. However, if cow\'s milk is withdrawn from the diet and only the substitute is offered, the substitute will indeed indeed begin to taste good and normal, after only a few days. If the substitute is continuously given, then cow\'s milk will be the unusual and odd-tasting food.
Using these principles, parents can retrain a junk-food addict of any age. However, the job is easiest with toddlers. Toddlers can\'t help themselves to food, so they are totally dependent on what they are fed. As long as parents are willing to be firm and consistent, withdrawing sugar from regular meals and limiting it to rare snacks given at specified times during the week (i.e. the child gets a cookie snack in the afternoon daily, but never gets any other sugar in her diet), the child will soon be eating and enjoying real food!
Freshly weaned babies and toddlers can be fussy eaters. Their parents worry about them - what will happen if they don\'t eat properly? Will they become sick or weak? Will their development be negatively affected? Because of the worry, parents will often do ANYTHING to get their newbies to eat.
Sugar Makes the Medicine Go Down
Something that parents learn quite early is that making food sweeter increases its likelihood of being ingested. They put (sugar-based) ketchup on food and magically, their youngster eats it. They put chocolate chips on it, chocolate syrup in it, spoonfuls of sugar all over it and it suddenly becomes appetizing. Although most parents are aware that the sugar is not good for the child, they are just happy that the child is eating the good food along with the bad. In their mind, more good is accomplished than harm. They figure that the child isn\'t counting calories yet, so who really cares if there are a few more in the meal than are needed? Of course, they are not calculating the harm done to teeth and if they are, they figure these are baby teeth that are going to be replaced anyway.
Monster in the Making
Unfortunately, in their enthusiasm to have the child eat something, parents have sacrificed long-term good eating habits for short-term meal solutions. They are soon dismayed to find that their child no longer likes anything that isn\'t sugar-coated. Now they have a toddler who eats sweet cereal, chocolate milk, candy and french fries, but little that is actually good, normal, nutritious food. When the problem gets so out of hand that they can no longer justify doctoring the food to make it palatable, they want to know how to retrace their steps and get their child eating right.
From Junk Food to Real Food
The strategy for switching a child off of junk food and onto real food requires that parents be real parents: they must be prepared to say \"no.\" They must be prepared to deal with a frustrated, unhappy, angry toddler. They must be prepared to take charge once and for all. Until now, parents of sugar-holic toddlers have given in, afraid of the child\'s power to NOT EAT. In fact, most pediatricians will assure such parents that the child WILL EAT - when good and hungry. The trick lies in allowing the child to reach that state.
When a child is hungry, he or she will try some food. Food actually tastes a lot better when a person hasn\'t eaten for awhile - when the person is really hungry. Now that the child has had even a small amount of real food, he or she will eat it again (because it was, at least, edible and perhaps even, good). Research has shown that after just one week of eating a food, it will start to taste really good, even if the person didn\'t like it originally. For instance, a child who is used to drinking cow\'s milk finds that cow\'s milk tastes good. When offered a milk substitute for the first time (soy, rice, hemp or almond), the child will often balk. However, if cow\'s milk is withdrawn from the diet and only the substitute is offered, the substitute will indeed indeed begin to taste good and normal, after only a few days. If the substitute is continuously given, then cow\'s milk will be the unusual and odd-tasting food.
Using these principles, parents can retrain a junk-food addict of any age. However, the job is easiest with toddlers. Toddlers can\'t help themselves to food, so they are totally dependent on what they are fed. As long as parents are willing to be firm and consistent, withdrawing sugar from regular meals and limiting it to rare snacks given at specified times during the week (i.e. the child gets a cookie snack in the afternoon daily, but never gets any other sugar in her diet), the child will soon be eating and enjoying real food!