Week 4: Steps to Teach Children to Eat Healthily

             
                                          via GIPHY                                                                                      Write About (2020)

Welcome back! I hope that you all have had a great February thus far, just as I have. The last couple of weeks for me have consisted of eating way too much food and watching the Super Bowl (even though the Pats didn’t make it), interviewing for a summer job as a Camp Coordinator, visiting family back in Barrie, and hanging out with friends! In today’s blog post, I will be reflecting on my experiences doing this Genius Hour project and summarizing some main conclusions that I have come to regarding children and healthy eating! It is so crazy to think that this project is coming to an end, but I have enjoyed every minute of the research and writing that I have done!

Permanente, K. (2017). How to Create a Healthy Plate. Retrieved from YouTube

It is common knowledge that children should be eating a balanced diet, consisting of three meals per day, plus 1-2 snacks each day (Caring for Kids, 2020). A “balanced diet” means one that consists of all three food groups: vegetables and fruit, whole grain products, and protein foods (Canada’s Food Guide, 2019). This also includes all three energy sources – or macronutrients – protein, fat, and carbs. Aside from this, parents should be cautious and regulate the amount of sugar and sodium that their children are consuming. One way that this can be done is by making water the drink of choice, while limiting the amount of juice and soda that your children are given (Patel & Hampton, 2011). Another significant finding that I came across while researching was that children need to eat a variety of foods that are nutritious, interesting, and flavourful (Nicklaus, 2009). A great website that I found was called the Kid's Healthy Eating Plate, which could assist caregivers in building a healthy and balanced meal for the children that they are caring for (HSPH, 2020).

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Having stated some standards that parents should follow, it is crucial to mention that these are only guidelines, and every child differs in body type and in their relationship with food. I must, therefore, address the negative consequences of putting “restrictions” on what kids can and cannot eat. We are all born knowing to eat what we want and when we want it. “Restricting” these innate instincts in children is the cause of fluctuating and unhealthy eating patterns later in life. In the first week of research, I was able to find some studies that proved this for all citizens, whether it be athletes, couch potatoes, teenage girls, body builders, or the “everyday Joe” (Batzli, 1971; French, 1995). This frequently, in turn, leads to an unhealthy relationship with food, since individuals generally “blame” the food for these problems (Latner et al., 2014). The negative impact that this may have on one’s mental health and self-esteem often leads to them following strict dietary patterns that are difficult to sustain because they do not reflect how people are meant to eat (Dignon et al., 2006). The name for this in food culture is “yo-yo dieting”, which means routinely cycling through restricting certain foods or amounts of food, followed by binging on the foods that were not allowed, trailed again by purging or restricting your food intake (Smith & Bible, 2020).

In my second Genius Hour blog, I continued to research some common pitfalls that parents and teachers must avoid when teaching youth to eat healthily. One of the most important points that I found is to use appropriate terminology when speaking about food with, and around, children. A cool example I came across is to tell kids that too many sweets will make them feel “yucky” (Booth, 2005). This allows parents to be honest with their kids, since sugar overdose will, in fact, lead to an energy crash and can make you feel unwell. Simultaneously, it does label sweets as being “bad” or “off limits”; it just educates your kids on a consequence of eating too many sweets. To add to this point, if a person is told to avoid a specific food, studies suggest that this will make them want that food more (Carr, 2020). This leads to my next point: do not explicitly prohibit your child from enjoying certain foods, as this is a sure-fire way to cause food cravings in the future (familydoctor.org, 2018). Fraga (2020) also acknowledges the importance of avoiding a power struggle with what your child can – or cannot – eat, and when they can eat it. As stated, children are the best sources when it comes to knowing when they are hungry and full and what it is that they are craving. A good way to combat this is by reminding them that these “unhealthy treats” will be available the next day, which helps escape the “black-or-white” (all-or-nothing) thinking that often leads to eating disorders later in life (Ramacciotti et al., 2008). 

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Another habit that caregivers are reminded to avoid is the “clean plate rule”, which forces people to finish what is on their plate, even when they are not hungry (Saladee, 2019). Instead, if it seems like a child is approaching fullness, they can be advised that leftovers are okay, and food can be saved for the next meal. A final caution when teaching children how to eat healthily is to never use food as a reward or bribe. This can lead to children growing up thinking that food will always be a “reward”, which can make them feel like they may not “deserve” to eat certain things if they do not “earn it” (Segal, 2019).
 

For the third week of my Genius Hour project, I focused my explorations on some steps that should be taken to ensure your child is developing the proper eating behaviours. A common theme in the literature is that we should be striving to ensure that people stay in touch with the “hunger cues” with which we are born. As people grow older, we often lose this ability due to the dieting and overeating cycles that I have mentioned above. One thing that can be done to help kids listen to their bodies is to avoid pushing them to have “one more bite” or to finish their plate (Swanson, 2014). Another important strategy that will benefit our younger ones, and us, is modeling good eating habits for them. If you push your kids to eat healthy foods but won’t touch yourself, your children will not want to eat these foods either. In contrast, if all you eat is fast food, your children will grow up thinking that this is the norm and want to do it themselves (Alli, 2016). Another step that should be taken to facilitate healthy eating habits is to eat meals together (as a family or with friends). Food is more than just nutrition; it provides people with a sense of contentment and security (Dunbar, 2017). Mealtimes provide an opportunity for children, adolescents, and adults to interact and understand one another (Mental Health UK, 2020). A final significant component to follow when creating positive experiences with food is to have positive conversations about food. Mental illness is becoming a common attribute in more and more youth and adolescence. Sweeney (2019) advocates that we must not focus on weight or dieting during conversations about healthy eating, since this will directly negate the positive food relationship that we are trying to create. She adds that it is okay to occasionally incorporate less-than-healthy foods into meal plans, and not to stress if a child will not eat certain things. All in all, it is crucial to keep conversations around food positive and to avoid making negative comments about anyone’s appearance or eating patterns (Muth, 2019).

              Marshall (2015). Heart Healthy Diet.                            Sorokin, N. (2011).  Hand and stairs Health isolated. 
I have been able to learn so much during my engagement in my very first Genius Hour project! I not only strengthened my knowledge on the topic that I was researching, but I also learned an abundance about technology and how it can be implemented in teaching and learning! I personally would like to thank all you for following along in my journey! I hope to continue to research the topic and enhance my own understanding on developing healthy food choices in the future. I strongly hope that through this blog, my research and analyses, the pictures and videos that I added, and my own opinions, I was able to help you – as a teacher, parent, or future parent – become more knowledgeable on how to properly develop healthy eating and positive relationships with food for children.

Signing off, for now!

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*For full References page, see past blog posts*

Movie Trailer

My movie trailer for my Genius Hour project - How to Develop Healthy Eating in Children - is coming to the big screen! Created online using Powtoon. This is a terrific resource that I have used a few times already in this course, and I am planning on using it a lot more in the future! I have even used this to do assignments in other classes that I am in this semester. Definitely one for every educator to bookmark to have in their back pockets!

Week 3: Steps to Teach Children to Eat Healthily

I kept a few things in mind when researching my Genius Hour topic this week. One of my main goals was to review past studies that have been successful in educating children on eating healthily. My research was mainly guided by the question “What are some of the best ways to help children develop positive relationships with food?” I wanted to come up with some specific steps that people could take to help the future generation develop positive eating habits.

Unknown (2017). 12 steps to develop early age Healthy Eating Habits. Retrieved from Anybody Can Bake

One of the main goals that we should be striving to ensure for people, when it comes to eating habits, is that we stay in touch with our “hunger cues”. Too often, people grow older and slowly lose this ability due to dieting and overeating cycles. We need to focus our efforts in this regard on children, since humans are born knowing to eat when we’re hungry and stop when we’re full (Alli, 2016). This is easy to ignore, however, when we are surrounded by snacks and giant portions. Therefore, to help kids listen to their bodies, we should avoid pushing them to have “one more bite” or to finish their plate (Swanson, 2014). Instead, we need to listen to children when they ask for more or say that they are full, since they know their own bodies the best.

As adults, we must also ensure that we are modeling good eating habits for youth. If you push your kids to eat spinach but won’t touch it yourself, your children will pick up on this and not want to eat these foods either. In contrast, if all you eat is fast food, your children will grow up thinking that this is the norm and want to do it themselves (Alli, 2016).

Another main aim when trying to facilitate such eating habits for children is to create positive eating environments. In particular, try to eat meals together (as a family or with friends). While eating is meant to fuel our bodies with nutrients, it is just as much a social endeavour. “We have to eat; we like to eat; eating makes us feel good” is how Robin Fox (2019) explains the anthropological perspective of eating. Food is not only fuel, but it is also an occasion meant to be enjoyed with others. Forcing children to eat alone or in front of the television is a disservice to them and their relationship with food. In other words, food is more than just nutrition; it provides people with a sense of contentment and security (Dunbar, 2017). Mealtimes provide an opportunity for children, adolescents, and adults to interact and understand one another (Mental Health UK, 2020).

Welch, A. (2015). The Sneaky Chef's 7 Tips to Get Kids Eating Healthy. Retrieved from Everyday Health

Another extremely important element when creating positive experiences with food for children is to consider mental health related to food. Having positive conversations about different eating lifestyles can teach kids not to feel shame around food and not to shame others (Sweeney, 2019). Sweeney adds that we must not focus on weight or dieting during conversations about healthy eating, since this will directly negate the positive food relationship that we are trying to create. She concludes by advocating that it is okay to occasionally incorporate less-than-healthy foods into meal plans, and not to stress if a child will not eat certain things. All in all, it is crucial to keep conversations around food positive and to avoid making negative comments about anyone’s appearance or eating patterns (Muth, 2019).

References

Alli, R.A. (2016). Teaching Kids to Eat Healthy. Web MD. Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/parenting/guide/food-smart-kids#2

Dunbar, R.I.M. (2017). Breaking Bread: the Functions of Social Eating. Adaptive Human Behaviour and Physiology (2017) 3: 198. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s40750-017-0061-4

Fox, R. (2019). Food and Eating: An Anthropological Perspective. Social Issues Research Centre. Retrieved from http://www.sirc.org/publik/food_and_eating_1.html

Muth, N. (2019). American Academy of Pediatrics. Personal Communication.

Swanson, W.S (2014). No More “Clean Plate Club”. Healthy Children. Retrieved from https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/nutrition/Pages/The-Clean-Plate-Club.aspx

Sweeney, E. (2019). How to Teach Children About Healthy Eating, Without Food Shaming. Feeding & Nutrition. Retrieved from https://parenting.nytimes.com/feeding/healthy-eating-habits

Unknown (2020). Mealtimes and mental health. Mental Health UK. Retrieved from https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/m/mealtimes-and-mental-health

Learning Object Further Exploration - JEOPARDY!

Learning Objects are digital tools that facilitate learning activities by using the world-wide-web to make learning more enjoyable and interesting for students. These online resources present instruction in a stimulating and engaging way. They are interactive and encourage students of all ages to be more motivated to learn. Check out the embedded video below for more info!

Potts, D. (2017). Learning Object. Retrieved from YouTube

For my Genius Hour Learning Object post, I have decided to explore the web tool "JeopardyLabs". I have always been a huge fan of watching Jeopardy, and participating at home by answering the questions that Alex Trebek asks contestants! I believe that making learning a little more competitive motivates learners to pay more attention to the material. By turning learners into "contestants", I think this adds a little pressure to learn the material. It also "gamifies" the learning environment by delivering instruction in a game-like format.

Costello, L. (2016). Tech Spotlight: Jeopardy Labs. Retrieved from the Stony Brook website

JeopardyLabs is a terrific resource that can be used by educators to easily create their own game show to test their students' comprehension. Teachers can upload images, insert equations, and embed videos or audio files to make their own custom Jeopardy boards. JeopardyLabs templates can also be edited and managed. The students can then play along by getting in small groups (which enhances social interaction and learning) and participating as "contestants". These games can be created for reviewing material during classes, or before a test. There is even a scorekeeping function at the bottom of the template, to make the game more competitive! After creating a template, users are provided with a URL that they can use to access and edit it. You can also browse and play jeopardy game templates created by other users on the website. If you find a pre-made template that you like, you can make a copy of it and edit it to make it your own template. Jeopardy-style games can be used for a wide variety of subject areas. Instructors can use Jeopardy Labs to make review sessions more interactive and fun for their students. The only con about this website is that you must pay $20 to become a member. However, this membership is lifetime and guarantees you all of JeopardyLabs features for the remainder of your career! Well worth it if you ask me!!

Linney, T. (2013). Jeopardy Labs. Retrieved from YouTube

Week 2: What to Avoid

Eat Happy Project (2016). Healthy Eating: An introduction for children aged 5-11. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMHVEFWNLMc 

For week 2 of my Genius Hour, I wanted to focus my research more on what not to do when trying to develop children’s healthy eating habits. My initial Google search, then, was things to avoid when teaching children how to eat healthily. I wanted to understand why some people may grow up eating unhealthily, and how a negative relationship with food may have occurred for certain adolescence and adults. My main end goal was to gain a better understanding of how to prevent such negative food encounters for children.

There seems to be a lot of consensus throughout the literature on what to avoid when teaching children to eat healthily. One of the most important points that I advocate it to not, no matter the circumstances, restrict the amount of food that a child is eating. Children need a certain number of calories and nutrients each day to grow and learn (Family Doctor, 2018). Another obvious finding is that children should be taught to limit the amount of sweets that they are eating by explaining to them that too much excess sugar can harm their body. For young kids, you can claim that too many sweets will make them feel “yucky” (Booth, 2005). This is great advice since it allows parents to be honest with their children, since sugar overdose will, in fact, lead to an energy crash and can make you feel unwell. Offering foods high in natural sugar, like fresh fruit, is also a good way to keep cravings in check.

Another habit to be cautious of is focusing on specific foods. Emphasizing proper nutrition in one’s overall diet is a much more positive way to look at food and helps prevent children from developing negative relationships with certain foods. In other words, if a person is told to avoid cookies, for instance, studies show that this will likely only make them want cookies more (Carr, 2020). This leads to my next point: do not explicitly prohibit your child from enjoying certain foods, as this is a sure-fire way to cause food cravings in the future (familydoctor.org, 2018). It has been suggested that food restriction and dieting can contribute to a higher risk of binge eating later in life (Fraga, 2020).

Another major understanding is to avert from putting terms on certain foods. Kids should learn that there is a place in their diet for all foods. “The way we talk about food gives it power” which can increase someone’s desire to eat more of the so-called “bad” foods (Fraga, 2020). Stephanie Booth (2005) recommends labelling foods in ways that don’t suggest they are “good” or “bad”. Instead, she suggests allowing kids to “green light” on foods like whole grains and skim milk, and “slow down” with less nutrient-dense foods like waffles. These foods do not need to be off limits, but children should be encouraged to think about the health benefits of what it is they are eating.

Fraga (2020) also acknowledges the importance of avoiding a power struggle with what your child can – or cannot – eat, and when they can eat it. A good way to tackle this is by reminding them that these “unhealthy treats” will be available the next day, which helps escape the “black-or-white” (all-or-nothing) thinking that often leads to eating disorders later in life (Ramacciotti et al., 2008).

            Lastly, adults should forget the “clean plate rule”, which forces people to finish what is on their plate, even when they are not hungry (Saladee, 2019). There is no reason to pressure children with normal development to eat or not eat (Swanson, 2014). If it seems like a child is approaching fullness, they can be advised that leftovers are okay, and food can be saved for the next meal. Children should also be permitted to eat when they feel like it, since they know a lot more about their own levels of hunger and fullness than adults think they do. A final caution when teaching children how to eat healthily is to never use food as a reward or bribe. This can lead to children growing up thinking that food will always be a “reward”, which can make them feel like they may not “deserve” to eat certain things if they do not “earn it” (Segal, 2019). In contrast, this can also lead to overindulging on such foods when the individual feels that they have “earned it”.

BRIGHT SIDE. (2018) 18 Harmful Foods We Keep Giving to Children. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf5AkskQr1w 

References

Ramacciotti, C. E., Coli, E., Bondi, E., Burgalassi, A., Massimetti, G., & Dell'Osso, L. (2008). Shared psychopathology in obese subjects with and without binge‐eating disorder. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 41(7), 643-649.

Segal, J. (2019). Healthy Food for Kids. Help Guide. Retrieved from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-eating/healthy-food-for-kids.htm

Swanson, W.S (2014). No More “Clean Plate Club”. Healthy Children. Retrieved from https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/nutrition/Pages/The-Clean-Plate-Club.aspx

Unknown (2018). Overeating in Children and Teens. Family Doctor. Retrieved from https://familydoctor.org/overeating-in-children-and-teens/

Week 1: Understand Topic

My goal for the first week of researching my Genius Hour project was to spend a couple hours familiarizing myself with what would be considered healthy eating for children. Because all individuals are diverse and, thus, have different dietary needs, I thought I should research this topic in a general sense: what is considered to be healthy eating for most children in Canada. Furthermore, because I am trying to develop lifelong healthy eating habits, I also explored healthy eating for adolescence and adults.


There has been a lot of investigation on the topic of healthy eating for all populations. However, what is assumed to be healthy for children seems to have the least debate, compared to for teenagers and adults. After searching the topic online, there were many results on Google, ranging from parents’ opinion blogs to doctoral literary reviews. I am in the first 10 minutes of my Genius Hour project, and I already know that this will be a difficult subject to cover! Having said this, I noticed several patterns in the research. Among the most common themes, for instance, was the fact that children should be eating a balanced diet, consisting of three meals per day, plus 1-2 snacks each day (Caring for Kids, 2020). In addition, all three food groups should be incorporated in each meal: vegetables

Government of Canada (2019). Canada’s Food Guide. Retrieved from their website

and fruit, whole grain products, and protein foods (Canada’s Food Guide, 2019). Like anyone else, kids are recommended to limit their sugar and sodium intakes by making water the drink of choice (Patel & Hampton, 2011). Another significant finding that was widespread across literature was that children need to eat a variety of foods that are nutritious, interesting, and flavourful (Nicklaus, 2009). In fact, there is a great website developed by Harvard School of Public Health called the Kid's Healthy Eating Plate, which helps parents and teachers build a healthy and balanced meal for children (HSPH, 2020). This link illustrates a general strategy for how to build a plate of food for any child. I will likely be using this resource in future blogs to come.


As stated, the debate on what is healthy for older individuals sparked much more controversy. My proposition is that this is due mainly to the fact that the longer someone has lived, the more their body has been influenced by their environment. In other words, children are more impacted by “nature” (biological factors), while adults are more influenced by “nurture” (environmental factors). Therefore, there seems to be more agreement that children should eat the way people have evolved to eat; whereas adults are often advised to follow regimented diet routines that are not necessarily “normal”. Some of these diets that showed up consistently in my research were Keto, Intermittent Fasting (IT), Mediterranean, whole-food, vegan, Paleo, gluten-free, and more.

Freedhoff, Y. (2020). Dieting is often synonymous with suffering, so consider the reverse: 95 percent of diets fail people. US Health News. Retrieved from US Health

My introductory research on the topic confirmed the original hypothesis that developing healthy eating for children is crucial for their future relationships with food and healthy eating habits (Westenhoefer, 2001). Because research is constantly being updated and modern studies are coming out with new findings, it is essential that I use only current and relevant data for my project. One general conclusion that I can reach is that once eating patterns fluctuate and become “unhealthy”, this may lead to weight gain and other consequences for the body. This has been seen to be true for all citizens, whether it be athletes, couch potatoes, teenage girls, body builders, or the “everyday Joe” (Batzli, 1971; French, 1995). This frequently, in turn, leads to an unhealthy relationship with food, since individuals generally “blame” the food for these problems (Latner et al., 2014). The negative impact that this may have on one’s mental health and self-esteem often leads to them following strict dietary patterns that are difficult to sustain because they do not reflect how people are meant to eat (Dignon et al., 2006). Finally, 95% of the time (Freedhoff, US Health, 2020), the individual gives in, which leads to them gaining the weight back, and often even more weight than they had before the diet. This can also be known in food culture as “yo-yo dieting”, which means routinely cycling through restricting certain foods or amounts of food, followed by binging on the foods that were not allowed, trailed again by purging or restricting your food intake (Smith & Bible, 2020). This has been proven to have horrendous implications on one’s health (Jandacek et al., 2005). Therefore, it is imperative to develop proper eating habits and healthy relationships with food when we are young, so that we don’t end up on a downward spiral of abstaining from what out bodies need the most – food!

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References

Batzli, G. O., & Pitelka, F. A. (1971). Condition and diet of cycling populations of the California vole, Microtus californicus. Journal of Mammalogy, 52(1), 141-163.

Dignon, A., Beardsmore, A., Spain, S., & Kuan, A. (2006). ‘Why I Won’t Eat’ Patient Testimony from 15 Anorexics Concerning the Causes of Their Disorder. Journal of health psychology, 11(6), 942-956.

Freedhoff, Y. (2020). Dieting is often synonymous with suffering, so consider the reverse: 95 percent of diets fail people. US Health News. Retrieved from https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/2014/11/17/no-95-percent-of-people-dont-fail-their-diets

French, S. A., Perry, C. L., Leon, G. R., & Fulkerson, J. A. (1995). Dieting behaviors and weight change history in female adolescents. Health Psychology, 14(6), 548.

Government of Canada (2019). Canada’s Food Guide. Retrieved from https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-food-choices/

Harvard School of Public Health (2020). Kid’s Healthy Eating Plate. Retrieved from https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/kids-healthy-eating-plate/

Nicklaus, S. (2009). Development of food variety in children. Appetite, 52(1), 253-255.

Jandacek, R. J., Anderson, N., Liu, M., Zheng, S., Yang, Q., & Tso, P. (2005). Effects of yo-yo diet, caloric restriction, and olestra on tissue distribution of hexachlorobenzene. American journal of physiology-Gastrointestinal and liver physiology, 288(2), G292-G299.

Patel, A. I., & Hampton, K. E. (2011). Encouraging consumption of water in school and child care settings: access, challenges, and strategies for improvement. American journal of public health, 101(8), 1370-1379.

Smith, B. & Bible, A. (2020). Yo-yo Dieting: What It Is and How It Can Wreck Your Body. Men’s Journal Health & Fitness. Retrieved from https://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/yo-yo-dieting-what-it-and-how-it-can-wreck-your-body/

Unknown (2020). Caring for Kids. Retrieved from https://www.caringforkids.cps.ca/handouts/healthy_eating_for_children

Westenhoefer, J. (2001). Establishing good dietary habits–capturing the minds of children. Public Health Nutrition, 4(1a), 125-129.