Nutrition and healthy eating

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• August 3, 2012 10:25 p.m.

  I loved your article, especially the part that emphasizes patience. It can take many, many years for certain children. All children are different, and go at their own pace. As a former elementary school teacher, I so often hear parents act like authorities on issues when their only experience is their own children. Just as children learn to read at different ages, children acquire tastes differently. Some children learn to read on their own at 2 yrs. old, and others at 7, even though their parents exposed them to the same number of books. Likewise, some children naturally have less aversions to trying new foods and textures. I think it can be discouraging to hear people make broad, unsubstantiated comments about what worked them, because it may not work for others. Also, I hate to see parents take all the credit for their children eating vegetables simply because they used to take them to the supermarket in a sling. Give me a break! I think adding silly biased comments under your article lessens your credibility and weakens the strength of your message.

  - Mom

• March 18, 2012 5:54 p.m.

  Let’s face it, most of our diseases we address every day come from life-style. It is easier to take a pill and eat your ice cream and candy if you are a diabetic versus exercising self control as well as taking accountability of your health. Until we develop a grass root effort in the home it will be an uphill battle trying to change the life-style of the American people. Too many people find it easier to grab a quick meal rather than eat wholesome foods that are not processed! It starts in the home!

  - Russ

• March 10, 2012 1:10 a.m.

  Broccoli's noteworthy nutrients include vitamin C, vitamin A (mostly as beta-carotene), folic acid , calcium, and fiber. While the calcium content of one serving doesn't equal that of a glass of milk, broccoli is an important calcium source for those who don't consume dairy products. Calcium does more than build strong bones. Research shows that this mineral may play a role in the control of high blood pressure, and it may work to prevent colon cancer.

  - Steven

• March 1, 2012 8:27 a.m.

  comment to me from my son who is now a father of a young child: "thanks to the scarcity of sugar in my childhood diet, I still have good teeth."

  - irma

• February 29, 2012 1:38 p.m.

  I didn't so much hide vegetables as incorporate them. Kids seemed to like vegetables with cheese sauce, so I NEVER made mac and cheese without a ton of vegetables. Spaghetti? Chili? Include some corn, some French cut green beans, zucchini, whatever might be in season (or in your freezer) along with the kid favorites. Even nachos can be a healthy snack if you thin the cheese sauce with some yogurt and serve it with apple slices, baby carrots, and snap peas. Probably most importantly, you need to be happy with vegetables yourself! If you don't have kids or if they are still infants, get started now with including as many vegetables, fruits, and plant proteins (beans, tofu, etc.) as you can. You will never sell the kids on foods that Mom and Dad are obviously not enjoying either!

  - helen

• February 28, 2012 4:13 p.m.

  Spousal inspiration is the toughest -- especially when the psychological idea of a certain food leads to refusal! My first tactic was hiding things in dips or soups or stews or sauces, but these can be unhealthy, and one can only be secret to a point -- it's really not right for marriage! So I just experiment with a given nourishing food til I find his favourite way of receiving it. Usually that means buying LITTLE veggies -- not the huge dried out, over-stored ones that are usually in the bins -- and I've discovered that if I start any dish with a truly flavourful olive oil and a little fresh garlic and pay attention to retaining a nice crispy texture -- in the traditional French or Mediterranean ways -- he'll now eat almost anything! Sometimes, I'll add a little honey or milk to tone down flavours. And I'll mix different sauted veggies into a kind of "warm salad" to keep any one flavour from boring him. It's just a matter of finding the right texture and balance of flavours.

  - Mairie

• February 28, 2012 4:02 p.m.

  I kept my little ones in a sling while I shopped, prepared foods, and such. So they were exposed from the start! When I shopped, I let the children enjoy the beauty of the produce aisles -- some stores display the colours, shapes and textures of vegetables in the most beautiful ways! These evolved with age from awe & wonder to choosing and recipe invention. I have a little boy, who is known to beg (!) for salads! His favourite soups are made with celery and little turnips. Our teen turns the table into a work of art with beautiful, nourishing foods, often inspired by recipes designed at ballet schools. Finally, I paid attention to what I seemed to most enjoy during each child's pregnancy, and continued to share those foods -- including strong spices and flavours! -- right through infancy and childhood. The hypothesis: that tastes are cultural. The result: children who love Mexican, Thai, First Nations and East Indian flavours, even when little!

  - Mairie

• February 28, 2012 3:09 p.m.

  Jennifer, Such a wonderful article about how exposure to different foods can affect what we eat. It's important to get the whole family interested in healthy foods, especially having them help make the meal! Thanks for the great post!

  - John