Raising Healthy Eaters

In my last blog, i touched on the idea that so many people have ideas on how to raise healthy eaters. I think it is obvious why this area of nutrition is exploding, because of the rise in childhood obesity in America. Parents are afraid that their children will become fat and have to deal with all the implications of being obese. But is this better than raising children who are fearful of food and learn to call one certain food "good" or "bad"? I have alot of firsthand experience with this topic, because i struggled with my weight throughout elementary school, highschool and college. When i was born, i weighed 10 lbs 2 oz, so i guess i entered the world a lot larger than most babies! It wasnt until I came to Bastyr Univeristy for my graduate degree and learned about food and started to eat a variety of food and of course our well-loved whole foods diet that we promote. I am a great example of how education about food can impact a person's health. I am also a great example that just because someone is overweight as a child, doesnt mean they can't grow up to be a healthy adult. I reversed my high blood pressure as well. What this means to me, is that parents should be less concerned that their children's waistlines are growing and more concerned that their knowlege about food is growing smaller and smaller each day. Education surrounding food will always be available, but it is much more difficult to change the negative thinking that we have ingrained in our children's minds surrounding body image. What most parents aren't seeing, is that while they are trying to save their children's waistline, they are sacraficing their self-esteem. A child's mind is so impressionalbe and they can easily learn to put labels on food based upon the teaching of their parents. I think the best solution would be something that i would have appreciated growing up; cooking classes or classes in school that teach children about the wonderful ways to enjoy the vegetables that their parents always try to get them to eat! Giving children a sound background on where real food comes from, will help them to understand why their oreo cookies are not considered to be a "whole food." These are only my opinons and i am not a parent yet, so i cant say if any of this will work. I am eager to start working with children and nutrition so i can test my ideas. I am going to start this summer with creating a program about food for a pediatric cancer camp that i volunteer at each summer. I'm interested in creating my own way to reach kids about eating healthy, or more importantly forming positive relationships with food and their bodies. I suppose that i am still learning to do this as well, and I'm certainly not a child anymore. More than likely i am still trying to re-teach myself the unhealthy labels i have placed upon types of food, and let me tell you that it takes a while to undo!