What’s Cooking?
Expanding the palate of finicky eaters.

by Elizabeth M. Ward, MS, RD

TWEENS & TEENS NEWS June 2006

You may be at your wit’s end with your 10 year old who went from being an adventurous eater to a selective one in near record time. Perhaps you have a teenager who is stuck in a food rut, eating the same foods over and over again, none of which you consider particularly healthy. It’s only natural to be concerned about your child’s limited food choices. Eating a variety of foods helps ensure that a growing child gets the nutrients he or she needs for proper development, particularly iron, calcium, protein and folate.

As they become young adults, adolescents develop lifestyle behaviors that usually stick with them for life— all the more reason to encourage children of all ages to eat a wide variety of low-fat foods, such as dairy products, fruits and vegetables that tweens and teens often exclude. Even the savviest moms and dads feel that expanding a child’s food repertoire is challenging. Beyond having their own ideas about favorite foods, adolescents often have busy schedules conducive to poor fast food choices eaten on the fly. Here are some helpful strategies for parents to make healthy fare a priory in their children’s lives.

Practice What You Preach.
Adolescents identify with and emulate role models, particularly their parents. There is no better way to encourage a balanced diet for your child than to eat one yourself. Family meals provide a perfect forum for showing your tween or teen that you value an array of healthy foods, as well as time spent together enjoying such foods. However, don’t push too hard for your kids to eat the brussels sprouts that you have gone to great lengths to prepare. Instead, ask kids about new dishes they’d like to try, and let them help prepare meals.

Cook With Your Kids.
Encouraging adolescents to help out in the kitchen provides them with a vested interest in the foods they serve. Tweens especially can come up with some crazy creations. After all, they are the target audience for foods such as purple and green ketchup. If your kids tend to appreciate humor, allow them some freedom in the kitchen when motivating them to eat more dairy, fruits and vegetables— the foods adolescents often reject as boring and bland.

Older kids may be more interested in creating foods that will help them perform better on the playing field and in the classroom. Appeal to a teen’s sense of vanity when nudging them toward more dietary variety; teens like to look good and feel energetic, something nutrient-rich produce enhances with every bite.

Limit Access to Unhealthy Foods.
Curbing access to unhealthy foods at home may work to expand your child’s palate. How’s that? Adolescents live in the moment. They’ll eat what’s on hand, including the new, healthier culinary options you stock in the fridge, when they are truly hungry.

Around vending machines laden with junk food in school and unhealthy concession stands at movie theaters and sporting events, tweens and teens have plenty of opportunities to indulge in high-fat, high-sugar foods, including candy, popcorn, ice cream and soda. Curbing choices of low-nutrient foods such as soda and chips at home while providing a variety of healthier options, such as nuts, pretzels, low-fat yogurt, cheese, fruit, cut-up vegetables and low-fat dip, encourages good nutrition. Maximize nutrition by stocking the most nutrient-dense versions of healthy foods possible. For example, instead of orange juice, buy orange juice with added calcium and vitamin D. Forgo white bread for whole wheat.

Present the Facts.
Adolescents crave control as they learn to make their own decisions. They don’t take well to being coerced to finish their milk or eat ample servings of fruit. Presenting them with information about what they should eat and why will help them decide how they can improve and expand their diets. Knowledge about the health benefits of a balanced diet especially aids the many teens who are responsible for preparing meals, and those who help with the grocery shopping.

MyPyramid, the U.S. government’s healthy eating plan, is designed to help everyone over the age of 2 to meet his or her nutrient needs. Variety is the cornerstone of MyPyramid. For example, MyPyramid categorizes vegetables based on their nutritional value and offers suggestions for how often to eat foods from each of the groups.

But, be mindful that too much information can backfire. Adolescents think of themselves as invincible. That’s why lecturing them about how eating broccoli may lower their risk of cancer 40 years down the road won’t cut it with them. Instead, suggest to your adolescents that iron-rich options, such as beef, pork and fortified grains, will help them to learn better and perform better at sports now.

Pick Your Battles.
Tweens and teens desire acceptance from peers and value conformity, which is why you shouldn’t insist on always giving them carrot sticks in their brown bag lunches when their friends are munching on potato chips.

There’s also the element of rebellion to consider. To rebel, your kids may buck your advice, despite how discreet you are in delivering it. No matter how much you want your daughter to drink more milk or your son to sip less soda in favor of 100 percent fruit juice, all you can do as a parent is provide the framework for teaching your children how to make better food choices.

Help put your mind at ease by providing your tweens and teens with a daily multivitamin to fill in small nutrient gaps while you’re waiting for them to make more varied, healthy foods staples in their diet. Children who don’t consume four servings of dairy foods daily may need supplemental calcium, too.

Elizabeth M. Ward, MS, RD, is a registered dietitian and nutrition consultant in the Boston, MA area and the mother of two tweens and a 7 year old. Her latest book is The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to the New Food Pyramids (Alpha Books). You can reach her at www.ElizabethWardRD.com.