Fourteen years is a long time. In this period of time, many of us have:

• upgraded our cell phone, computer hardware, and software several times.

• gotten married, delivered babies and have raised them up to puberty.

• moved into the digital age, set up our blogs, and expanded our social media.

• updated our knowledge of parenting, the environment, and nutrition.

In the meantime, obesity has become an epidemic, even among children, and smoking bans are in place almost everywhere. Very few things have remained unchanged during the last 14 years. And one of them is the US Nutrition Standards and Meal Requirements for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). No kidding! The standards have been in place in 1995 and haven’t been updated ever since.

In July this year, Joan Blades of MomsRising.org challenged moms to take the following test

Which of the following is considered a junk food according to national school nutrition standards?

• A. Hi-C Blast – vitamin fortified sugar water

• B. Poland Springs seltzer water – water with bubbles

• C. French fries

• D. Candy Bars

I am sure most, if not all of us, got it wrong by just using our common sense. The correct answer is – brace yourself – B water. No, this isn’t a joke. Based on the current nutritional standards, it is the only item on the list that does not contain any vitamins or minerals. If you think this is all rubbish, then you are not alone. In fact, MomsRising prepared a petition to the Congress to “update outdated nutrition standards immediately to ensure our schools provide healthy food for our children.”

It seems that their prayers have been answered. Earlier this week, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released the report School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children which reviewed the NSLP as well as the US School Breakfast Program (SBP). And on top of the list of the IOM recommendations are: more fruits and vegetables! The recommendations are aiming to be consistent with 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans set by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and US Department of Agriculture (USDA). In general terms, the IOM committee advise to take the following into consideration in menu planning:

• increase the amount and variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

• set a minimum and maximum level of calories.

• increase the focus on reducing the amounts of saturated fat and sodium provided.

Here’s what the changes, if ever implemented will bring:

• An increase in the amount of fruit offered in school breakfast to 1 cup per day for all students

• An increase in the amount of fruit offered in school lunch to 1 cup per day for students in grades 9-12

• An increase in the amount of vegetables offered in school lunch to ¾ cup per day for grades K-8 and to 1 cup per day for grades 9-12

• An acknowledgment that improving the nutritional value of school meals by increasing servings of fruits, vegetables and whole grains will increase the cost of breakfast by 25% and lunch by 9%

• A requirement that students take at least one serving of fruit at breakfast and at least one serving of fruit or vegetable at lunch.

• A reduction in sweetened beverages to be replaced by water, low-fat or nonfat milk, and unsweetened fruit juices.

With these recommendations, the answer to the above question completely changes. In fact, our common sense was right in the first place. Let’s hope it won’t take another 14 years for the recommendations to be implemented…

The IOM report comes in a timely manner. Oct 5 was National Child Health Day and Oct 12 to 16 was National School Lunch Week.

September marks several nutrition-related health observances and I would like to take this opportunity to touch on family nutrition. Specifically, the most common questions that parents ask regarding their children’s diet.

How much fruit and vegetables do children need?

We all know that our kids need fruit and veggies and we struggle everyday, trying to win the feeding/eating war. But do we know how much our kids really need? The common nutritional advice is that we need 5 servings of fresh fruit and veggies each day. Easy enough except that how big is a serving? Is a serving the same for a child and for an adult? The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) has a great tool in calculating the amount of fruit and veggies everybody above the age of 2 needs. By just entering your age, gender, and physical activity, you get your personal food requirements result in terms of cups. What’s more, it even tells you what amounts to a cup. Finally, the sites also has recipes, and features “Fruit and Veggies” of the month. It’s chili peppers and figs for September.

Which products should you buy?

Starting August, the food industry in the US has adapted the so-called green checkmark. The checkmark is part of Smart Choices Program, a US-wide collaboration of scientists, health advocates and food industry representatives to help consumers make healthier choices at the supermarket.

In order to use the green checkmark, food products need to meet certain criteria (Nutrition Criteria for the Smart Choices Program) set by Smart Choices. The program is implemented by the American Society for Nutrition, which also makes sure of maintaining the scientific integrity of the program and checking for conflicts of interest. The standards for the greencheck are based on:

• Nutrients that need to be limited, e.g. fats, sugar, and sodium

• Nutrients that need to be enforced, e.g. vitamins, minerals, and fiber)

• Food groups that to be encouraged, e.g. fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fat-free dairy products

All in all, the criteria cover 19 categories for products found in the supermarket, including cereals, processed fruits and vegetables, breads and pasta, meat, dairy, snacks, and sauces and dressings.

In addition to the greencheck mark, the food manufacturer is already required to display on the front of the package the calorie per serving and the number of servings per package to help us keep to our daily calorie needs.

Do we need to restrict our kids’ diet?

Forbidding certain types of food has high chances of backfiring, according to a study by obesity experts at Pennsylvania State University. It seems that the key factor in weight control is a child’s inhibitory control, which is similar to self-control. Those who lack self-regulation are most likely to be overweight before the age of 15. Low self-control combined with strong parental restriction seem to be a dangerous combination that drives the child towards the forbidden, and therefore more attractive food. Tips to reinforce your child’s inhibitory control are:

• Do not keep restricted food in the house, thus lessening the necessity to “forbid.”

• Find healthier alternatives, e.g. sugar-free or fat-free version of the forbidden snacks (see below).

• Provide different choices. Rather than telling your child “eat this, eat that”, it is better to ask “which would you prefer, the pear or the apple?” Take him/her to the supermarket and allow him to choose something that meets certain criteria (such as the abovementioned greecheckmark). By giving your child the right to choose within certain limits, you give him/her some degree of control over his/her diet.

What about snacks?

Snacking is not that bad. A recent study shows that many of the snacks that kids love – including popcorn – actually contains lots of antioxidants called polyphenols. And whole grain cereals, in addition to fibers, have comparable antioxidant content to fruit and vegetables. However, it is easy to binge on snacks and cereals, according to the researchers. Breakfast cereals contain lots of sugar and salty snacks contain lots of sodium. The key therefore is moderation and keeping to the suggested serving sizes.

Now that our son has begun to eat solid foods, I’d like to start making baby food for him myself. Not only is it more nutritious to make your own baby foods at home – especially with fresh, in season and organic produce– but it can also be less expensive. In our neighborhood grocery store, jars of baby food are sold for just under a dollar each; I can buy a half pound of apples for that price and make enough applesauce to not only feed him, but to freeze or can some as well. What’s more, by making the food myself, I know exactly what is going into it, and thus going into his little body.

Applesauce is a great first food for baby – the smooth consistency is easy for him or her to eat, and the sweet fruit is easy to digest. It’s also quite simple to prepare.

To make your own applesauce:

• peel and core apples

• chop into chunks

• steam the apples over medium heat for about five minutes, or until they are soft. (Using a steamer basket over a sauce pan)

• Set the cooking water aside and carefully remove the apples from heat

• Puree apples in a blender or in a bowl using an immersion blender until smooth

• Add as little of the cooking water as needed to obtain the desired consistency (smooth and thin for young babies, and slightly chunky for older babies; use your judgment and remember that it’s easier to add water and thin the mixture than to make it thicker)

The applesauce can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, or frozen for up to six months. Freeze the applesauce in ice cube trays, removing once they are frozen and placing in a zip top bag. Each cube measures out to be about one ounce.

I’m currently getting a second degree in the field of nursing, a complete 180 from my software/IT background.  One of the classes I’m currently taking is Physiology and it’s from this class that I’ve learned so much.  Most of the interesting knowledge are tidbits that my highly eccentric and lively professor adds as an aside to the course topic.  One of the most interesting to me is the subject of how allergies to food come about.

See, pediatricians and even baby books often give an action and a consequence of that action.  Like, “if you feed your child solid foods before 6 mos. your child will be more likely to develop food allergies.”  The parents are supposed to just take that advice at face value.  A lot of parents don’t put much stock in what doctors have to say, and think that they know best.  Or that since their parents fed them solid foods at 3 mos., and they’re fine, the doctor’s advice is full of baloney.  Or they may think giving solids or eggs or strawberries to their 3 mos. old “this one time” shouldn’t hurt.  I think giving a very simple and valid reason for the advice behind delaying solids to avoid allergies can be an effective tactic in getting parents to listen.

It all starts with antibodies

So what is the mechanism to developing an allergy?  Think back to your high school biology class, when you learned that bacteria has antigens on them, telling our bodies that they are foreign to us and need to be killed.  We form antibodies designed to kill them, engulf them, and get rid of them.  Usually, this is accompanied by symptoms such as fever, inflammation at the site of infection, and many more. Seasonal allergies develop similarly, and when our bodies attack the antigens that are present on the invading molecule, we get anything from hives, to runny nose, wheezing, etc.

So how does foods, which theoretically goes down our digestive tract to our stomach, and should get nuked (so to speak) by our highly acidic gastric juices, produce this same response of triggering antibodies and allergic reactions?  In adults, it shouldn’t.  By then, our bodies have matured.  Our cells are all grown up, and we can take in almost any type of food we like, without this allergic trigger.  That is not the case for babies.  Babies digestive system are still immature.  At six months and younger, the body still expects them to be breastfeeding, and antibodies in mom’s breast milk cross what’s called the tight junctions of their cells to get into the baby’s blood stream for immunity.  To simplify, proteins from foods (even wheat!, causing gluten allergy) can cross this unbound tight junctions as well.  Since they are considered foreign, they trigger the formation of antibodies.  The antibodies lie and wait, with the memory of the allergen.  The next time they are encountered, the body treats them as something to be fought, and an allergy has just been born.  This is why even a one time exposure to a certain food can cause allergies for a lifetime.

The part genes play

Genes can certainly play a part in allergies.  But the most important messsage that pediatricians often try to drive home without explanation is, the longer you delay the introduction of food, the less likely your child will develop allergies.  We’ve already disccused one reason why: proteins from food cross into the blood stream to be treated as foreign invaders by our body. If your family is susceptible to food allergies, it’s wise to hold off on introducing solid foods period, and not just delaying the food allergy that runs in the family.  People from families with a strong case of asthma, eczema, hay fever, can also predispose a child to food allergies.  In people with these type of predisposition, they may have overly sensitive immune system that triggers the formation of antibodies against what most people would tolerate well.

Still, there’s hope that they can be overcome, by delaying the introduction of food and waiting for the baby’s digestive system to mature.

Interesting tidbits: the top 8 allergy-causing foods:

Milk, eggs, fish, wheat, tree nuts, peanuts, soybeans and crustaceans like shrimp and crabs, are the most common food allergens.  Proteins in these eight major foods are estimated to cause 90 percent of the allergic reactions in the United States.

I’d love to have the above explanation explained routinely by pediatricians to moms.  I was never told, and I didn’t come across this information while reading my baby books.  I’m the type that loves having a logical explanation for anything I’m being asked to do and a lot of moms would only certainly benefit from such information.

Source: http://www.fda.gov/FDAC/features/2001/401_food.html and my Physiology textbooks and professor .:)

(Note: The author of this article is not a medical expert.  Please consult your doctor when making important decisions regarding your health or the health of your family.)

Here are the highlights on this study done by the Center for Disease Control, and called attention to by the Environmental Workgroup:

• Trace amounts of perchlorate contamination was found in samples of formula being tested
• No names of brands were released, but most of the contamination came from formula derived from cow’s milk
• Perchlorate is a chemical mostly found in defense and aerospace sites but can be found in some cities’ water supply.
• The exact negative effects of perchlorate is unclear, though it has been linked to thyroid problems which plays a role in metabolism and growth in humans.
• The perchlorate in formulas may be offset by iodine, also contained in formula, which acts against perchlorate.  Size of infant and extent of formula use also affects the risk.

The Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it may be lowering the level of perchlorate acceptable in a give drinking water supply.

If you are a new Mom, do consider breastfeeding.  There have been some disconcerting news out there regarding formula in recent times.  If not, try formula alternatives that isn’t derived from cow’s milk.

Source: NY Times

Once again I bring a list of events for the coming month that I think will be interesting for BOL readers. April is definitely going to be a busy month, with a lot of health observances.

According to the U.S. National Health Information Center (NHIC) Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, health observances are dates devoted to promoting particular health concerns and stimulate awareness of health issues. In addition, there are other events unrelated to health but may nevertheless be important to you and your family.

• Alcohol Awareness Month
  The US Department of Health and Human Services and SAMHSA’s National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information are sponsoring the Alcohol Awareness Month of April. One of the issues highlighted is fetal alcohol syndrome.
• Cesarean Awareness Month
  C-section rates are on the rise. This event is run by the International Cesarean Awareness Network, Inc
• National Child Abuse Prevention Month
  Child Welfare Information Gateway, Children’s Bureau
  In relation to this, the 17th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect will be held on March 30 to April 4 in Atlanta, Georgia.
• April 2 World Autism Awareness Day
  National Autism Awareness Month
  celebrated by the Autism Society of America since the 1970s to educate the public about autism. Check out how you can celebrate and support!
• National Cancer Control Month
  sponsored by American Cancer Society
• National Donate Life Month
  This has been observed since 2003 to spotlight organ donation
  Division of Transplantation, Healthcare Systems Bureau
  Health Resources and Services Administration
  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• National Minority Health Awareness Month
  This year’s theme is Ordinary Couples Don’t Plan Their Pregnancies: Be Extraordinary
  Office of Minority Health
  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• National Youth Sports Safety Month
  initiated by the National Youth Sports Safety Foundation to promote safety in sports.
• STD Awareness Month
  to promote awareness about sexually transmitted diseased initiated by the American Social Health Association
• Women’s Eye Health and Safety Month
  Things that can endanger women’s sights are hormonal changes, age and smoking. Prevent Blindness America provides information on women’s and family eye-health issues
• World Health Day (April 7)
  Pan American Health Organization
  WHO Regional Office for the Americas
  This year’s theme: Save lives. Make hospitals safe in emergencies
• Sexual Assault Awareness Month Day of Action (April
  National Sexual Violence Resource Center
  This years theme is Prevent Sexual Violence…in our workplaces
  Slogan: Respect Works!
• April 18 National Healthy Kids Day
  will be celebrated at more 1,750 YMCAs all over the US
  “Put play in your day!”
• April 22 Earth Day 2009
  marks the beginning of the Green Generation Campaign! This will last for 2 years till the 40th anniversary of Earth Day next year.
• April 24 Women’s Health: Take the Crisis Out of Midlife
  Live web health chat at Cleveland Clinic, hosted by Dr. Holly L. Thacker
• April 25 – May 2 National Infant Immunization Week
  Initiated by the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• April 26 – May 3 SAFE KIDS Week
  Safe Kids Worldwide
  Check site for spring sports safety!
• April 26 – 27 2009 March for Babies
  March for babies teams
  March of Dimes Foundation

Times are hard and we need to cut down on expenses. We may even need to tighten our belts and cut down on our food budget. But if we have to, then we should do so wisely, without compromising our family’s health and nutrition. Here are some tips on eating healthy on a slim budget.

• Stick to the essentials. Cut down on dessert but not on vegetables and fruit. Opt for the fresh vegetables instead of the pre-cut ones because the latter are usually more expensive. Go for food with lots of fibers. Beans are high in fibers. So are potatoes if you eat them with the skin on. Fibers are good for your health and filling for the stomach.

• Non-organic food may just be as good. Organic food is much more expensive than your normal fruit and vegetables. That doesn’t mean they are always better. Go organic if the budget allows it. If not, don’t feel too bad about it.

• Buy seasonal produce. Seasonal fruit and vegetables are always cheaper than out of season produce that needs to be imported from other countries. You can cut up vegetables and freeze them for leaner times.

• Go for smaller portions. Eat less meat. Make up the quantity instead with more vegetables and fruit which are definitely less fattening. If you have to stop by at Starbuck’s, then go for Tall instead of Grande.

• Prepare a food shopping list. Plan your shopping trips to the supermarket in advance and stick to your list. Avoid impulsive, spur-of-the-moment buys (even if they are on a discounted price!) that you actually do not or won’t need.

• Eat out less frequently. Eating out costs money. It can also be fattening because you feel compelled to finish up your plate for paying so much. When eating in a restaurant, go for one course less. You might skip the soup and the dessert and concentrate on the salad and the main course instead. Whenever we eat out, our 2 kids share one kiddie menu. I then order a large salad for the whole family, my husband and I would order one main each, but again one dessert for everybody. It’s less expensive, less wasteful and less fattening.

• Avoid take outs and deliveries. These may be very convenient but they end up being more expensive and they are not necessarily healthy.

• Prepare sandwiches. When traveling, I pack sandwiches and fruit for the whole family. This is not only cheaper, it also gives us more flexibility because we can have our meal anytime we want. And we don’t resort to fast food.

• Drink water. Water is the healthiest beverage you can ever hope for. If you are sure that your tap water is safe (check with your water supplier), then drink tap water. Bottled water isn’t necessarily better. If you have to drink juice, dilute it with water 50-50. I’ve trained my kids to do this long before the recession so that they can barely tolerate “pure” (supersweet) juice.

• Avoid alcohol. Alcohol is expensive, rich in calories, and according to recent studies, increases your risk for cancer.

Times are hard. But with the right strategies, tightening our belt may actually make us fitter than before.

We’ve been reading a lot about the importance of DHA as “brain food” for children and adults, alike, but what exactly is DHA?

DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid, is an essential Omega-3 fatty acid found naturally in foods like salmon, tuna and other coldwater fish, as well as flax and pumpkin seeds. Most children and toddlers’ diets (not to mention many adults’ diets) lack sufficient quantities of these foods, which is why trusted pediatrician Dr. Sears recommends adding a DHA supplement to your child’s diet.

When the body lacks essential Omega-3 fatty acids, the cells try to build “replacement fatty acids,” which are similar in function but may cause depression and Attention Deficit Disorder. A diet rich in DHA lowers the blood level of these replacement fatty acids and also of harmful fats such as cholesterol.

So how did DHA earn its reputation as “brain food?” According to Dr. Sears, DHA is the primary structural component of brain tissue, as well as an important part of the enzymes within cell membranes that allow the membranes to transport valuable nutrients in and out of the cells. DHA also affects the brain’s neurotransmitters, and helps brain cells communicate with each other more effectively. Simply put, a healthy brain is a smart brain!

A diet rich in DHA has been shown to improve focus, behavior and cognitive function, and even increase learning capacity in young children. Children who are more focused and can concentrate better also tend to remain in better moods longer — less tantrums and more time to play, study and learn!

DHA also helps vision development because the retina contains a high concentration of the fatty acid. Improved vision development also leads to greater learning capabilities, since the eyes are such important tools in education.

When the body has enough DHA, the brain can function at its highest capacity. This is especially important in infants and toddlers, because brains grow more rapidly in the first few years than at any other time of life. Evidence shows that the increased academic performance of breast-fed children is due, at least in part, to the DHA-rich diet breast milk provides. Breast milk contains DHA for growing infants, and most infant formula today is fortified with DHA. But toddlers don’t receive DHA from these sources, which is why a supplement is important. Dr. Sears offers a variety of vitamin products to insure that your child is getting enough of the crucial fatty acid.

Dr. Sears’ specially-developed Go Fish Brainy Kidz Omega-3 DHA natural fruit-based soft chews contain optimal levels of DHA for improved brain function. Each soft chew contains 100 mg of DHA and is certified by Safe Source ™ to be free of detectable levels of over 250 environmental contaminants, including mercury, heavy metals, dioxins, PCBs and pesticides. The pediatrician-developed, kid-approved, tasty vitamin supplements are all-natural and do not contain any high-fructose corn syrup.

It is nice to know that some insurance companies can also have a social conscience and join the fight against obesity. We have already featured one such initiative – Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative.

Another initiative is called the Alliance for a Healthier Generation which is a joint initiative of the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation. The initiative recently announced the formation of the Alliance Healthcare Initiative – indeed an alliance between health groups, leading insurance companies, and other big corporations in fighting a common enemy – childhood obesity.

The Initiative offers comprehensive health benefits to children, obese or otherwise and the benefits will cover medical costs and professional dietary consultation. Doctors and registered dietitians will be reimbursed for closely following up children with obesity problems. In addition, it runs educational campaigns about childhood obesity and the holistic approach to fight it.

During its first year, the special benefits will be open to 1 million children all over the US. This will then be increased with the goal for the first 3 years to cover 25% of overweight children (equivalent to about 6.2 million children).

Behind the Alliance is none other than former President Bill Clinton (founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and American Heart Association President, Tim Gardner.

This is the first, and therefore a landmark initiative that involves insurers and corporate employers of America.

Some of the insurers who signed up for the initiative are Aetna, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and WellPoint.

Corporate supporters of the initiatve are Houston Independent School District, Owens Corning, Paychex and PepsiCo.

With these Initiatives fighting childhood obesity from different front, we might just have some hope in winning the battle.

Children who are fit and healthy are more likely to take vitamin supplements than those who actually need them. This is the result of a study by researchers at the University of California Davis.

We live in an era of vitamin supplementation as millions of people swallow supplement pills each day ranging from your OTC vitamin and mineral supplements to more “exotic” dietary supplements such as krill oil and flax seed extract.

But do we really need these supplements and do they really work?

The UC Davis study showed that most American children and teenagers who take supplements actually do not need them. Ironically, many children who are malnourished and are at risk for vitamin and mineral deficiency are not taking any.

The results are based on data from 10,828 children aged 2 to 17 years old who were part of the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1999 to 2004. Here are some specific figures:

• 30 to 40% of children whose daily diet meet their nutritional requirements are more likely to take vitamins.
• Only 28% of children who are underweight, have poor diet or medical problems take supplements.

It seems that supplement use is closely associated with socioeconomic factors.

• 22% of children below poverty cut off take vitamins
• 43% of those in middle- and upper-income levels take vitamins. These are also the children who have greater access to health care.
• 36% of children in households with sufficient food take vitamins.
• 15% of children in households with “food insecurity and hunger” take vitamins.

These figures reflect the inequalities in health care not only in the US but in many other parts of the world.

You may ask, is it so bad that these children take vitamins that they do not need?

Apparently experts think so. The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages vitamin use in healthy children under 1 year old though this probably does not include vitamin D. Several studies put doubt on the benefits and safety of vitamin and dietary supplements.

The researchers also point out that feeding unnecessary pills to very young children, e.g. 2 to 4- year olds, might confuse them and give them the impression that taking medications is a part of our normal daily life.

Indeed, with unnecessary supplementation for our children, even if we can afford it, we could be creating a pill-swallowing generation.

A recent study by an Australian researcher that suggest that children tend to make food choices following their parents’ example even at an early age – as early as 5 in fact. The study was conducted through the University of Southern Australia’s Centre for Nutritional Physiology and was entitled Parental Attitudes and Nutrition Knowledge.

The researcher conducted a survey of 200 children age 5 to 6 years old about their food choices using picture cues and compared the results with surveys conducted with their parents.

The results showed that there is a strong positive link between parent’s nutritional knowledge and children’s food choices. In addition, even 5-year olds seem to be able to know the difference between healthy and unhealthy food choices based on their experiences at home.

As the researcher pointed out, parenting cannot be learned from the books and comes with many different roles – including that of a nutritionist/dietitian, a teacher and well – a good role model.

We’ve been lucky so far. Our twin boys will be turning 6 this year and they are so easy going when it comes to eating. Sometimes when I see how fussy about food some of my friends’ children can be, I really wonder what I and my husband did right except perhaps by just being ourselves – uncomplicated eaters with a strong inclination towards good nutrition and a strong aversion against fast food.

I remember when my nephews were growing up and the hard time my sister had in getting them to eat anything at all except fast food. For her two boys, the terms “food” and “eating” get response like “Oh, no! Not again!” as if the act of eating was a punishment. This changed as soon as they reached puberty but mealtimes during early years were quite tiring for both parents and children alike.

But it’s not only about eating as such but also about what my kids like to eat that sometimes surprises me. They are the only kids I know who would say “yummy” over a platter of vegetable cuts or a bowl of fruit salad, specifically request for a lunch of rice, broccoli soup and fish and are crazy about smelly French cheese. We (me and my husband) do set a good example but so did my sister. So do friends whose 6-year old girl would touch neither fruit nor vegetable.

So yes, parents do play a big role in influencing the eating habits of their children. But I still think there is more fussy eaters than just bad role models.

What do you think?

Our baby is almost nine months old. A few weeks ago, he picked up and tasted his first Cheerio. Since then, it’s been nearly impossible to get him to eat baby cereal and jarred baby food. He’s decided that he much prefers tiny pieces of food that he can eat with his bottom two teeth (the top two are coming in, too) and gums. He prefers any texture but mushy.

I was concerned at first but after speaking with the nurse at our pediatrician’s office, felt better. I told her that he’d rather eat itty bitty pieces of cooked carrot than pureed carrots, like most babies his age. She said that’s just fine and even chuckled a bit, saying, “He wants real food! That’s great!”

So now we’ve quickly moved on from the mushy baby foods to soft foods which can be chewed by an eight month old. If you’re trying to come up with healthy foods for baby during this transitional stage, there are lots of options.

Our little guy likes cooked carrots, cooked sweet potato, tid-bits of banana, mango and peas. This week we will try avocado. He also likes grains of cooked oatmeal (which takes the place of baby cereal), rice and tiny pieces of pasta.

He really enjoys Gerber Graduates Table Time foods, which are conveniently packaged in microwavable cups.  He’s tried the chicken and veggie dinner and this week will try the turkey and rice dinner. I prefer to alternate these meals with the whole foods, as I believe that whole and freshly prepared foods are healthier.

Baby and I also recommend Healthy Times’ organic teething biscuits. They come in maple and vanilla and are really quite tasty (I tried one!). Earth’s Best wheat teething biscuits are good, too. Our baby probably likes Gerber Graduates’ Biter biscuits best because they are the only one of the three he’s tried which contain sugar. I didn’t realize this until I’d bought them and brought them home but figured I’m not going to go nuts and eliminate sugar entirely from his diet.

He also likes Gerber Graduate Puffs, little snacks which look like cereal and contain lots of important vitamins and minerals. He’s had three flavors: sweet potato, apple and banana.

Have any of your babies snubbed the jarred baby food early on? Any recommendations for baby finger foods?

The first baby preselected as breast cancer-gene free was born in the UK this month and made the headlines. The doctors used preimplanatation genetic diagnostics (PGD) to screen IVF-produced embryos for those which are free from mutations of the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2. The parents opted for the procedure to free the next generation from the curse of genetically transmitted breast cancer that plagued women in the father’s family. Many people welcomed this new development while others disapproved. It is therefore good to know that there may be other ways of preventing cancer in our offspring without resorting to PGD. And it has something to do with maternal diet during pregnancy.

A recent study presented at the American Association of Cancer Research’s Annual Conference reported that mothers with high omega 6 fats in their diet may put their children at higher risk for breast cancer. However, by shifting to other types of fats, this risk can be significantly reduced.

The study was conducted in the lab by feeding a group of pregnant mice with a diet containing corn oil while another group was given a diet containing canola oil. When these mice gave birth, their offspring were monitored for breast cancer incidence. The results of the test showed that both groups of offspring have similar body weights. However, those offspring whose mothers were fed with corn oil have a higher number of glands with tumors and higher total tumor weight. The researchers believe that that the mother’s diet during pregnancy and feeding period has an influence on the baby’s gene development and susceptibility to cancer.

So why did the researchers choose to compare corn and canola oils in their study? Corn oil contains 50% omega 6 polyunsaturated fats and only 0.5% omega 3 fats. Canola oil, the other hand, contains only 20% omega 6 and 10 percent omega 3 fats. Omega 6 polyunsaturated fats have been reported to increase rates of breast cancer while omega 3 was found to lower cancer risk. In addition, the amount of omega 6 in corn oil mimics the typical American diet.

The use of polyunsaturated fats like corn and soy bean oils became popular in the 1950s and 1960s when doctors began recommending it to reduce cardiovascular diseases. However, the incidence of hormonally-influenced cancers like breast, colon and prostate cancers also started to go up soon after the consumers shifted to these oil diets.

The good thing is that canola, also known as rape seed oil with its omega 6 and omega 3 balanced content is readily available in supermarkets.

In September 2006, the Centre for Health Governance, Law & Ethics in the Faculty of Law, University of Sydney hosted the symposium “Obesity: should there be a law against it?”. The papers presented at the conference expressed different perspectives on strategies that might help curb the obesity epidemic especially among children, from advertising regulation to taxation, to cash incentives. Australia, New Zealand and many European countries have already taken steps towards governmental interventions to address the problem.

In the US, one of the first and most controversial of these measures is the obesity tax proposal in New York. The proposal would place an extra 18% sales tax on fattening products such as non-diet soda and sweetened drinks which have less than 70% fruit juice content. Supporters of the tax proposal which include Governor Paterson and State Health Commissioner Richard Daines give the following reasons:

• It would discourage people from drinking soda and other fattening drinks.
• It will help fight obesity.
• It would help raise $400 million for the state and help balance the budget.

Mr. Daines even posted a video about the proposal on YouTube. (featured above)

Many reports claim the tobacco taxes are helping curb smoking. Obesity tax proponents hope that fattening drink consumption would follow the same pattern.

Opponents of the proposal, however, claim there are better ways of fighting obesity and that the obesity tax is not fair to the consumers.

So far, the proposal “did not pass muster with the legislature in the last session” according to Channel News 13.

So what is your take on the obesity tax proposal? As a parent? As a consumer? As a taxpayer?

Those who know us well know that my husband is the cook extraordinaire of the family.  But now he’s gone to boot camp, and I’m left holding the fort at home.  My husband’s last note to me implores me, among many things, to make sure that Mina eats well.

He had cause to write that.  See, I come from a culture that eats very little veggies, and thinks a complete meal constitutes rice and meat.  I have pledged to make sure the same food approach doesn’t pass down to my 17-month old toddler.  After reading a book on nutrition for babies, I became even more convinced to instill a love for veggies and fruits to my daughter.

For parents who wish to do the same, there are three guidelines to follow:

1. Introduce veggies in all colors of the rainbow one a time.  This will ensure they aren’t allergic to anything (not likely but possible), and that they get enough nutrients from a variety of veggies.
2. If your baby rejects the veggies, try again.  Experts say to try to feed the food at least 8 more times, and a maximum of 16 times, before concluding they really don’t like it.  Children are just like adults; sometimes it takes a while for them to get used to something new.
3. Introduce vegetables before 18 mos. old.  They’re more amenable to new foods at this age.  The later you wait, the harder it will be for them to  be veggie-lovers.

You can puree any food in a food processor and feed them to your babies.  Peas, Carrots, Green Beans, are good to try.

For older babies, you will want to give it to them in its natural state.  Here are some tried and true recipes for my toddler in our home.

Crook Neck Squash – Cut up bite sized pieces of crook-neck squash.  Lay on a baking sheet drizzled with olive oil.  Brush squash with olive oil, oregano, and a pinch of sea salt.  Pre-heat oven to 325 F, and bake for 30-45 min., depending on how crisp you want it to be.  Cool and serve.

Broccoli – Believe or not, lots of kids love broccoli.  They can be served raw with a yogurt dip.

Recipe for yogurt dip: 2 8-oz containers of plain, non-fat yogurt dip, mixed with finely chopped cucumbers (about 1 lb., seeded and peeled).  Add 2 tsp. of finely chopped dill, lemon juice to taste, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and pepper to taste.

Carrot – The same yogurt above can be used for raw carrots.  Or you can cut up your carrot into bite-sized pieces, steam until soft, add cinnamon to taste and serve.

Winter time means it’s time to nest and make some comfort food. My mom used to refer to this hearty food as “sticking to your bones”. I guess she meant that it has substance and really fills you up (unlike some of the lighter meals we tend to eat more often in summer).

Homemade mac & cheese is always a winner and now that I have my new little “Slow cooker recipes” book, I’ll try a new mac & cheese recipe, using my crock pot.

If you have a crock pot somewhere in your cabinet (or stored away in the basement. maybe?), I recommend taking it out and using it. Most crocks come with their own recipe books. Mine includes a recipe for roasted chicken and veggies, pot roast and beef stew that are delicious. It’s great to throw the ingredients in the pot in the morning and smell the aromas of food cooking all day long, until it’s time for dinner. You get your food  preparation out of the way before facing the rest of the day.

My new little recipe book: Gooseberry Patch: Favorite Slow-cooker Recipes, includes a recipe for cranberry tea and overnight oatmeal with walnuts and raisins. I’ll bet the tea is yummy after brewing for so long in the crock pot and love the idea of waking up to a warm breakfast in the morning after it’s cooked all night long.

This week, I plan to make the barbequed chicken and taco soup from my new little book.

I also got out my bread maker and plan to make some homemade bread this winter. This is another kitchen appliance that I highly recommend buying and using. There’s nothing like the smell of homemade bread baking, it tastes fresh and delicious, and bread makers are super easy to use—they knead the dough and do all the hard work for you! The bread maker will pay for itself if you really use it. The cost of store-bought bread seems to have tripled lately.

The recipe book which came with my bread maker also has recipes for desserts, something I’ve never tried, but plan to.

What are some of your winter-time favorites from the kitchen?

Can kiddie fast foods be actually nutritious as some claim themselves to be?

The answer is not encouraging. A study by researchers at the Michigan State University assessed the nutritional quality of children’s meals in Houston, US 4^th largest city – with disappointing results. Only 3% of children’s meals offered by fast food restaurants can be considered nutritious based on federal dietary guidelines making the term “nutritional fast food” a contradiction in terms. The exceptions, rather than the rule to this are mostly deli-sandwiches served with fruit as side dish. These meals also had “one-third the fat, one-sixth the added sugars, twice the iron and three times the amount of vitamin A and calcium” than the other 97%.

The nutritional assessment was conducted by comparing the nutritional values provided by fast food companies to the seven nutrient criteria used in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), including dietary guidelines for sodium, fiber, additional sugar and trans fat content.

Other interesting results from the study are as follows:

• 65% of meals which did not make the grade exceeded fat requirements.
• 75% lacked calcium and 82% were deficient in iron.
• 85% were also lacking in vitamin A.

This information is very important for parents of young children, because according to the researchers, one out of four (25%) children eat fast food meals on a typical day. Do your children fall under this 25%?

Consumers groups and health officials welcome Nestles’ decision to cut down on the marketing of unhealthy junk food to children as part of the Council of Better Business Bureaus’ (BBB) Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative.

The initiative was launched by BBB in 2006 to promote responsible advertising among food manufacturers. With the rising problem of obesity and diabetes among children, clearly there was a need to change the messages of ads directed at the under-12 audience. And the direction should be towards encouraging healthy lifestyles and eating habits.

Unfortunately, the initiative wasn’t embraced by each and every company in the food industry. As of June this year, 13 major food companies have pledged their commitment, including Coca-Cola, Kraft, McDonald’s, Cadbury Adams, Hershey, and Mars. Nestle wasn’t among them.

Nestle, one of the biggest food manufacturers in the world claims to be “the world’s leading nutrition, health, and wellness company”, was criticized for its lack of social responsibility. Although it was part of similar initiatives in other countries (e.g. Canada and Europe), it was reluctant to participate in the American initiative.

According to the assessment of the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), 93% of Nestle products targeted for child consumption were of poor nutritional quality.

BBB, CSPI and other groups applaud Nestle’s change of heart. Staring 1^st of January, all of Nestle’s food ads directed at children will be only for products of high nutritional value. However, many food companies still haven’t joined the initiative.

In the European Union, new laws have curbed advertising junk food for children under EU Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices which is being implemented independently in each member country.

I am not American and I live outside the US. My only experience with the Thanksgiving celebration is limited to one Thanksgiving dinner of roast turkey with cranberry sauce. And I loved it – especially the sauce.

Cranberry, whose Latin name is Vaccinium macrocarpon is native to North America so we don’t often see the likes of it here in Europe. This post reviews some research results on the health benefits of cranberries.

• Cranberries are rich in polyphenols such as anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins, which have very strong anti-oxidant properties.
• Researchers at Rutgers University observed that cranberry extract enhances the effect of chemotherapy drugs on ovarian cancer cells while reducing their side effects. This suggests that cranberries have potential anti-cancer properties.
• A study reported in the American Academy of Family Physicians demonstrated that cranberries have anti-bacterial effects. It can be used in the treatment of urinary tract infections as well as against gastrointestinal tract bacteria that can cause stomach ulcers.
• Another study conducted by researchers of the Winona State University showed that low-calorie, unsweetened cranberry juice has a positive metabolic effect on people with type 2 diabetes.

I don’t know about the turkey but cranberry sauce seems to be actually some kind of a health food. So hopefully this week, while enjoying your Thanksgiving feast, you’ll remember to eat more red sauce and less of red meat. Happy Thanksgiving!

Time and time again, we have heard about the health risks of gestation diabetes to both mom and baby. This latest study suggests that babies born to moms with pregnancy-related diabetes have twice the risk of having problems in language development compared to babies born to non-diabetic moms. These children performed poorly in language tests – particularly in grammar and vocabulary – even after they start school. The study looked at about 2800 children who were tested several times between 18 months and seven years.

Currently, it is an estimated incidence that 2 to 14% of children are born to moms with gestational diabetes. Two major risk factors for this pregnancy-related disorder are maternal age and weight.

I always take such news with a grain of salt. I had mild gestational diabetes when I was expecting my twins – mainly due to my age and the multiple pregnancy. I’ve been warned that my boys might have language problems – them being boys, preemies, growing up in a bilingual home, and now this. Am I worried? No. I am no expert but I don’t think my boys have any language problems whatsoever. Maybe I’m wrong. After all, they are only 5. But I don’t want my boys to be just part of some health statistics. There are other factors involved in the language development of a child and the family environment is one of them. The same study, for example, also noted that children of moms with higher education are less affected by this problem.