5 Ways to Raise Healthy Eaters

Hey, everybody. Welcome to my weekly house call. Your chance to ask me your questions. And this week's question is. Hey, Dr. Hyman. I'm about to start the Eat Fat, Get Thin plan, which is completely different from the way my family normally eats. I want my kids to eat good food, but can they eat the foods on this program? And do you have any tips for helping me trick them into eating healthy foods? Well, change is often nerve wracking for parents and for kids, too. You might feel nervous about starting a new way of eating, and your kids might also feel nervous about missing some of their favorite daily foods. But the key is to create new favorites and do it together, to have them build healthy habits at an early age and set them up for a path toward optimal, vibrant health. Now, I know it might be tough with picky eaters, but what's the alternative? You don't want your child to have to suffer lifelong burdens of obesity and poor health. In fact, four out of 10 kids now are overweight. One in seven kids have ADD, which is often caused by poor diet. Just give kids a lot of sugar and watch them bounce off the walls. At my house, there were two things on the menu. Take it or leave it. There was no menu, actually. It wasn't a restaurant. It was just food. We all ate the same thing at every meal. Now we're seeing an increasing rate of type 2 diabetes, especially in kids, which has actually increased 1,000% in the last decade. And. And when I went to medical school, there were no kids with type 2 diabetes. Now, one in three children born today will have diabetes in their lifetime. And one in four teenagers today has prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. Kids are spending more time eating processed foods and in front of the TV and their iPads and their screens than they are preparing wholesome meals and eating and engaging with their families. We're raising a generation of kids who no longer want to learn how to cook or know how to cook. And if we want to save our planet and save our children, we have to stop this vicious cycle. We have to get our kids to fall in love with foods and cooking. I often hear from my patients that they don't know what to feed their kids. And the answer is that when your kids are old enough to eat solid foods, they should, for the most part, be eating the same foods that you're eating. Have you ever noticed that we give kids the exact foods we try to avoid as adults? Pizza and chicken nuggets and chips, potato chips. They're all given to kids Freely at school and at home. And if we want to be healthy adults, we like to avoid them. But maybe they should be avoided at all ages. Why is there a kids menu? Oh, right. Let's give our kids the worst possible food. Food. We wouldn't even feed our dogs. Now, I know changing your family's way of eating is easier said than done, but with a few tips, you can introduce your kids to foods that are good for them and and tastes good too. Now, if your child is very young, basically a baby, when they just start eating real food, take it slow by just using one food at a time, one new food at a time, so don't overwhelm them. And you can keep track of what foods work. And don't wait about three to five days before introducing a new food so you can observe any reactions or food sensitivities and then stop the food immediately if your kid responds poorly or shows signs of food allergies, which is actually uncommon when you feed them the right healthy foods. Also, don't feed your baby any caffeine or chocolate or stimulants or honey or allergens like wheat and dairy and corn, eggs and whole chunks of food like grapes or meat or nuts. Veggies and fruit are easier than grains for digestion. You can also try hypoallergenic grains like quinoa and brown rice. Next, we know children need to feel included and just like adults, they crave meaning and purpose in their life. So involve your kids in meal preparation. Help build their self esteem and help build their identity within the family. Cooking skills build on so many different areas of learning and cognition that enhance your child's brain. Your kids are going to learn about math, about reading, about creativity, about planning, science, culture, history when they're learning how to cook. Mixing fun into their kitchen experience only serves to enhance their experience. So with my kids, we love listening to music while we cook together and we still do that. Figuring out how to make cooking attractive and cool is not hard when you have a few tools at your disposal. So I encourage you to do that. Also, brainstorm with your kids about your weekly menu. Kids like to have options. Let them choose, provide them with some ideas and have them weigh in. Now have them look at different recipes and see which ones they like. And kids really look forward to these kinds of meals. And you get to teach them about how to compose a healthy plate. Next, have your child help you create the shopping list. You can teach them how to select the highest quality fruits and veggies by showing them what to look for when you go to the grocery store. What texture should it be? What color? What should it feel like? What should it look like? How does should it smell? You have to know how to pick the right vegetables if you're going to like vegetables. You can also teach them how to shop, the perimeter of the store, and why the choices offered in the middle of the aisle aren't really healthy. It's all processed food. Starting around the age of three or even two, kids can help in the kitchen. I have a video of my kids from when they were 18 months old and 2 years old, 3 years old, and they were cooking. They had so much fun. They made a mess, but they had fun. So kids can really have fun. And it's something that helps them feel important and connected to the family. And they can learn a lot by doing everything from taking ingredients out of the pantry or refrigerator to going outside to pick herbs in the garden. They can help assemble the dishes, especially simple, colorful ones like salads. They can crack eggs. They can help with measuring, and as they get older, they can peel their great veggies and they can also help serve up and clean. So it's really great to get them involved. Think of yourself as the chief marketing officer for healthy food for your kids. That's a great title for a parent, Chief marketing officer for healthy kids. Now it's a big job because kids are bombarded by powerful marketing messages from the food companies for very bad food. Getting your kid interested in the kitchen is easy if you turn on your creativity and you appeal to what they're really interested in. When I wanted to encourage healthy eating in my kids, I realized that it wasn't as simple as eat your spinach because it's good for you. I had to get them interested and excited. I designed fun, delicious meals. I took the time to explain why healthy foods are so much better than processed foods. And if your kids are older and having a difficult time with making healthy changes, well, this is a great opportunity to talk to them about the importance of optimal health and how their brains work and how it affects their mood and energy and their skin and all sorts of things. Now, there are great documentaries that you can watch together as a family. Things like Fed up or Super Size Me. I'd encourage you to watch those. I think they're on Netflix and they're going to help people understand and your kids understand what processed foods and do to their bodies. But at the end of the day, setting a good example is the most important thing you can do. You have to walk your talk in order to get your kids really interested. Now the great thing about foods in my program is that they taste good and they're good for you. So you can't for the most part always make extra these recipes and you can feed them your kids after as leftovers. But be careful of the allergens that we've talked about, gluten and dairy. I put together five recipes below that I know the kids will love. And once they find that healthy foods taste good, they're going to be more inclined to adapt this new way of eating. So check out these recipes below and I want to hear from you what tips worked in your home to get your kids to eat healthier. Share your stories and make your comments below on my Facebook page. And if you like this video, be sure to share with your friends and family and submit your questions to drhyman.com and maybe next week I'll make a house call to you.