July – Limit Soda and Juice

It is summer time and for most of us that means hot weather.  What do your kids reach for to quench their thirst: soda, energy drinks, sports drinks, juice, milk or water? Most of the time all they need is water unless they have been exercising or sweating for prolonged periods of time in the heat. A sports drink can replenish the water and electrolytes lost from lots of sweating but for most kids, water will do after regular exercise.

Many kids today reach for flavored water, energy drinks and sports drink on a regular basis throughout their day and younger children reach for juice and flavored milk instead. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 listed soda/energy drinks/sports drinks as the number one source of added sugar in a child’s diet today.  On average, kids today drink 7.5 teaspoons of added sugar from these beverages.  That may not seem like a lot at first glance but when you add that up it equals 56 cups of sugar a year from soda, energy drinks and sports drinks!

What is all this sugar doing to our children’s bodies? Children are at an increased risk of developing ADHD, autoimmune disease, cavities, certain cancers, candida, chronic Fatigue Syndrome and fibromyalgia, chronic sinusitis, decreased immune function, diabetes, heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome and spastic colon, metabolic syndrome, and obesity from taking in huge amounts of added sugar every year.  Since sugary drinks are the number one source of added sugar in a child’s diet it makes sense to limit the amount that you give your child.

Children only need water to quench their thirst and remain hydrated throughout their day.  How much water do they actually need?  The following table lists minimum water requirements assuming that in addition to the water your child is also drinking 2-3 glasses of milk a day and ½ to 1 cup of juice too.

 

Age of Child Minimum* Water Requirements
2-3 year 1 ½ cups
4-6 year 2 cups
7-8 year 1 ½ cups
9-13 year Boy 4 cups
9-13 year Girl 3 cups
14-18 year Boy 7 cups
14-18 year Girl 4 cups

* These are estimates of the minimum requirements for water. If your child is outside in hot weather, sick, exercising for prolonged periods of time, or is on certain medication they may need more. Let their thirst dictate how much they need.

In children who drink lots of sugary beverages, their taste buds have developed a preference for sweet tasting drinks over regular water. In order to turn this bad habit around, reduce their intake of sweet drinks by ¼ cup a day until they are drinking mostly water, up to one cup of juice a day and plain unflavored milk. Stay tuned for more on this as I am writing a book on sugar addiction in kids that will be coming out next year (2012).

Image Source: Project Swole

Reading Between the Lines

In the stifling heat, while waiting for a train to NYC the other weekend, I met a really smart young boy.  He was about 6 or 7 years old and approached me drinking a diet soda.  His grandmother came over right behind him and commented on his choice of beverages. I replied with “there are so many things wrong with this picture that as a kid’s nutritionist, I think I’ll just keep my mouth closed.”   I really was prepared to keep my mouth shut, as I don’t like to impose my views unless asked, as it is everyone’s right to eat and drink what they prefer.

 

That was all it took though to strike up an animated conversation between us and her grandson.  He told me his dream was to one day to drink an entire monster drink; one of those large energy drinks he sees his mother’s boyfriend drink. He got very excited about it as it seemed to be one of those “big boy” things he saw adults and teens do that he wasn’t allowed to do yet.   

I proceeded to explain to him that there was nothing in a soda that could make him grow up big and strong and that those energy drinks that he referred to can actually be harmful. I mentioned that many people had to go to the emergency room each year from drinking these drinks and half of those were kids.  I also told him that a group of people that work with his doctor (the American Academy of Pediatrics) just came out with a report saying that kids should not drink these energy drinks and warned his doctor of the danger.   

I asked him how he felt after drinking some of his mother’s boyfriend’s energy drink and he said he felt lousy and didn’t even like the taste.  He was actually excited about the idea of drinking this harmful beverage but in reality he wasn’t looking forward to the taste and how it made him feel. At the end of our half hour conversation he told me he never, ever wanted to drink one and seemed very relieved to not have to drink it anymore. 

 

I think we underestimate children’s ability to understand the consequences of unhealthy eating.  I also strongly believe that as parents, we have been brain washed to trust that when a child says that they like or dislike a certain beverage or food that they actually mean what they say.  Most of the time, however, they are actually saying something different.  I don’t like this broccoli translates into I would rather eat more potatoes.  I want a monster drink actually meant to this smart young boy, I want to be cool.  It is our job of parents to learn how to read between the lines. 

AAP on Energy and Sports Drinks

The American Academy of Pediatrics has released some new advice regarding your kids and their consumption of sports and energy drinks.  Since these drinks are the #3 source of calories in the diet of most kids, this advice comes at a good time. Many children reach for these beverages at meal and snack time when they should be drinking milk or water.  There is also confusion between the two types of drinks. Many children chose an energy drink after exercising when what most of them need after regular exercise is water.  In situations where they may actually need a sports drink, many children chose the energy drink instead.

During regular exercise, most kids will do well with just plain water. There is no reason to hydrate them with a sports drink that has added sugars, because the extra calories can contribute to tooth decay and obesity. In the rare instance when it is very hot and your child has been sweating profusely or they have been exercising vigorously for a prolonged period of time, a sports drink can be useful because it replaces the salts (electrolytes) that are lost during these times.

Energy drinks, however, are a different story, since they most often have some sort of stimulant in them, most often caffeine, and quite a bit of sugar.  Other stimulants that they may contain are guarana (an herbal stimulant), ginseng, and taurine, among others. There is no place in a child’s diet for stimulants as they have been linked to harmful health effects on children’s developing neurologic and cardiovascular systems.  Kids will have enough energy when they follow healthy habits (eating right and getting enough sleep).

If your child doesn’t think that they are consuming too much caffeine then do the math, or better yet have them go a day or two without caffeine.  If they feel horrible, then they were drinking enough to develop a dependency, if not an addiction. The following are the average amounts of caffeine found in a can of cola (29 mg);  an 8 oz cup of coffee (95mg); and for every 8 oz of energy drinks (75-80 mg but it can range from 50 to 145mg per 8 oz). These are just typical values so beware and read the nutrition facts label because some cans or bottles of beverages marketed as “energy drinks” can contain up to 500 mg of caffeine and for several brands the amount is not listed on the label, which can be very dangerous.

Dr Debs’s bottom line: Avoid energy drinks as there is no place for caffeine and other stimulants in a child’s diet because they can be harmful. Save sports drinks for when those beverages may actually be needed such as during and after intense exercise.  There are no short cuts in life and artificially gaining a “buzz” or “boost” from stimulants (caffeine) will not promote health in either you or your child.  Since kids take the lead from their parents, avoid drinking these beverages yourself. Try going cold turkey together! Give kids water most of the time! If they need energy give them a piece of fruit or a glass of milk.

Orange Juice Experiment

I got up early in the morning with my friends (after my little brother jumped all over us) and we did an experiment to see which is healthier: orange juice or a bowl of oranges. We cut the oranges in half from a bowl and squeezed out the juice. We put the juice from the bowl of oranges in one glass and poured out orange juice from a carton in another. We tasted the juice and we all thought the orange juice from the bowl of oranges was healthier and tasted better because the one from the carton tasted WAY too sweet but the one from the bowl of oranges had just the right sweetness. When my friends went home, I searched and found out this:                          

Store Bought Orange juice      Fresh Orange juice                                                                                                           

Calories: 110                                Calories: 85
Carbohydrate: 26                          Carbohydrate: 21
Fiber: 0                                          Fiber: 4.3
Sugar: 22                                       Sugar: 17
Vitamin C: 72                                Vitamin C: 96                             

Which one do you think is healthier?

June – Get Your Calcium Now!

  • Think of a bone as a bank. Children can only deposit calcium into their bank to make strong bones until they reach 20 years of age. After that, only withdrawals can occur.
  • Drinking soda or not getting enough calcium in the diet causes calcium to be removed from your child’s bones.
  • The majority of children ages 9-18 do not get enough calcium. Make sure your child gets 2 to 3 servings of high calcium foods every day (e.g. low fat milk products, green leafy vegetables).

May is Exercise Month

  • Everyone needs to exercise 60 minutes a day, parents included.
  • Its OK to break up exercise into 20 or 30 minutes segments.
  • Have your child run and play after a long day at school before doing their homework.

Unhealthy Eating: Is it One Problem or Many?

When the majority of us speak about needing to change our diet to a one that is healthier, we talk about it as if it is one problem and therefore assume it should be simple to fix.  That couldn’t be further from the truth.  So if you beat yourself up because you think you are at an unhealthy weight or your children are eating too much junk food, stop!

In fact being overweight or eating an unhealthy diet is the outcome of many problems and issues that need to be “fixed”. When you look at the research and issues more closely it is not as simple as just changing your and your child’s diet plus exercising more.  To give you a sense of what you are up against, here is a list of just some of the issues:

  • Junk food can be addictive. More and more research is supporting what we have known for years.  It is hard to stop at just one cookie or chip!
  • The food and beverage industry bombards your child with advertisements for unhealthy food and drinks.
  • The food industry combines food and toys to increase the appeal.
  • Supermarkets place unhealthy food at kid height in the supermarket so that they will see it and scream for us to buy it for them.

So what are we supposed to do to overcome this onslaught of unhealthy messages?

  1. It starts by creating rules at home surrounding food.  Teach your children that in order to get to the unhealthy, junk, processed food, they first must eat the healthy stuff that they need to grow and reach their potential.
  2. Portion control is essential because we all know that it is hard to stop eating foods high in salt, fat or sugar.  Look at serving sizes on the website for a realistic idea of how many crackers, chips, or cookies are considered a serving size.  You will be very surprised.
  3. Teach your kids from an early age that advertisements are not always truthful.  Have them mute the TV when they come on or do something else until they are over.
  4. Before you even go into the grocery store, tell your child that they can pick one thing in the “treat/junk” category.  If they continue to ask, whine or yell for more they lose the privilege and that one treat goes back on the shelf.  They will learn soon enough.

What are some of your rules and tips for bringing up healthy eaters?

12 times

It only takes 12 times to like a food. Try it, it really works! Try the food once now and then and soon… you might like a vegetable or something you never thought you could like! Be brave and put yourself to the test.

11 more times

April – Limit Screen Time

  • · Limit screen time to under two hours a day (not including homework time).
  • · Put your child in charge. Set a timer for the 1 or 2 hours and when the timer goes off so does the TV, movie, DS, Game boy or video game.
  • Remove TV’s and other electronic devices from your child’s bedrooms.
  • Have your child ‘pay’ for their electronic time: 1 hour exercise = 1 hour screen time. No roll-over minutes!

Build Healthy Kids: The Elevator Pitch

I have been thinking a lot these days about what separates BuildHealthyKids.com from other sites and programs dedicated to kids and nutrition. If I was riding in an elevator and had a minute to explain it, what would I say?  I have had lots of practice, in trains, hotel lobbies, at parties and while picking up my eggs at a local farm, but not in an elevator, yet.

This site provides the tools and information that you need to help you change your families diet towards one that promotes health but it does this by separating out the National requirements into twelve easy to follow building blocks so that you only have to focus on one thing a month. Eating healthfully does not come naturally anymore and you don’t have months and years to wait until your kids will naturally seek out and eat vegetables. That day may never come. I have seen many children that given the choice never make the healthy one. Their health matters and the decisions you make for them daily does affect their health and ability to maximize their potential. 

Another factor that makes this site unique is that it also teaches you “how to” get your child to eat the healthy stuff. There are a lot of frustrated parents that cook healthy alternatives only to have their child refuse to eat it.  In order to educate and lead your children to become healthy eaters, you must bring back rules and consequences surrounding eating; just like you do with every other behavior that you are teaching your child.

Letting children know that they cannot eat their dessert until they eat their vegetables is a good rule to adopt.  I apply it all day long. When my two year old gets up from a nap he knows that until he eats his fruit, he can’t get a cookie.  Teaching children the difference between food that is essential for health (the stuff they need to eat first) and the junky stuff (a ‘sometimes’ treat they can eat after they eat the good stuff) is essential for success in ‘building’ your children into healthy eaters.

Teaching your child how to eat a healthy diet takes time and effort plus a daily commitment to slow down and teach them the basics surrounding food: where it comes from; what to buy (or plant); how to prepare it; and how to eat it. Feeding kids is hard at times, takes effort, and is a daily commitment. Some days we do well and on others not so well. Children need us to make the healthy choices for them. They also need us to teach them what those are so that they can do the same when we are not around.