Tuesday Tip for Picky Eaters: Have a glass of water

This week’s Tuesday Tip for Picky Eaters: Have a glass of water.

Henry loves water! He loves bath time. He loves swim class. He loves helping me water the garden. And he loves drinking water at meal times.

Henry loves playing in the water.

Henry will stop eating and stretch his arms out wide when he wants water. If we don’t catch this signal quickly enough, then he will start moaning until we give him a drink. When he sees us bring a cup of water in his direction, his feet start to swing with glee. Then, he lunges toward the glass ready to take a gulp.

It turns out that giving your kids a glass of water with their meal makes it more likely they will reach for healthy foods too. Earlier this year, researchers found that children eat more vegetables when their drink is unsweetened. The preschoolers in the study ate more raw carrots and peppers when they were given water than when they were served a sweet drink.

Henry munches on a carrot.

Whether its soda, sports drinks, fruit drinks or energy drinks, sweet drinks are detrimental to child health. Sweetened drinks, including diet soda, increase the likelihood of childhood obesity, high blood pressure and other risk factors for diabetes. They also contribute to dental problems including tooth decay and enamel erosion.

The next time you sit down for a meal with your kids bring a pitcher of water to the table for everyone to share. It’s a good choice for their health and it may get them to eat more veggies too.

Comments

The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook

UPDATE (10/2/12): Unfortunately, I did not hear back from our original winner. Congratulations to our alternate winner for "The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook" -- Robin Pfefer. UPDATE (9/29/12): I am happy to announce that Kashia Clopper is the winner of "The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook". When I was first thinking about using the Baby-Led Weaning (BLW) model for Henry, I was unsure about whether it would really work. I was excited about BLW’s claims of less stressful meals that the whole family could share together. Plus, I was all for encouraging Henry to gain new skills by learning about the shapes, textures, colors, smells and flavors of food. This sounded ideal in theory, but would it work in practice? After some fun but ineffective attempts at letting Henry feed himself, I went in search of resources to learn more about BLW. I needed to learn how to prepare meals for our family in which Henry could participate. That’s when I found “ The Baby-Led

Do Your Kids Eat Everything?

UPDATE (3/15/2013): Congratulations to Kia as the random drawing winner in this giveaway! Thank you to all those who entered this contest. Before we began our food adventure with Henry, Daddy and I had many conversations about how to encourage Henry to become “a good eater.” After watching other parents constantly struggle with their toddlers, we wanted to know if there was anything we could do from the start to prevent picky eating. That’s when we read “ French Kids Eat Everything ” by Karen Le Billon . The book is an easy and enjoyable read about the year that Karen’s family spent in France and how it changed the way her family eats. The heart of the book explores the 10 French Food Rules for raising happy, healthy eaters. “French Kids Eat Everything” sparked numerous discussions at our dinner table about how our family eats. We have become more conscious of our assumptions about food and how that will influence Henry’s understanding of mealtimes. In addition, the

What to do about dairy?

Last week I took Henry to the pediatrician. He was diagnosed with yet another ear infection. This is his fifth serious ear infection over the past seven months. The pediatrician gave us another round of antibiotics and was concerned enough to refer us to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist for an evaluation. Henry's usually bubbly personality changes for the worse when he gets an ear infection. When Henry is sick his usually bubbly and outgoing personality changes to clingy and cranky. He has trouble sleeping for more than a few hours at a time, without crying out for comfort. It's rough on the whole family when he does not sleep well because his ears are hurting. I am tired of giving Henry multiple antibiotics and I am worried that his hearing and speech development are being affected. Ear infections are fairly common in young children and there is a lot of conflicting advice about how to treat them. The most common treatment for recurring ear infections are ear tub

How to Feed a Henry

Search This Blog