In my practice I get a lot of questions concerning eating fruits and vegetables versus drinking them versus finding a pill with the same nutrients.  My answer — nothing compares to eating the whole food — once you begin processing the fruit or vegetable you begin to lose nutrients as well as the synergies between the nutrients naturally found in the food.  For this reason, many times we will observe that eating foods have certain health benefits, but once we isolate the nutrients, e.g. the vitamin, mineral, phytochemical (other potential nutrient found in a fruit or veggie), etc., we do not always see the same benefits as we did with eating the whole food.  Additionally, eating the isolated nutrients can lead to getting too much of that nutrient — it is true, you can get too much of a good thing.  A vitamin or mineral overload does not typically occur when eating a healthy and balanced diet (to identify your healthy and balanced diet go to mypyramid.gov and enter your information).  Also, each fruit and vegetable has its own unique balance and combination of nutrients that help each other do their job in your body - many of which we have yet to uncover.  So, bottom line - eat at least 5 fruits and vegetables a day.  Make sure and count them and if you have not hit at least 5, then eat some more until you do.  As for the fruit and vegetable drinks that claim they are one serving of fruit - that is based on their carbohydrate content and has nothing to do with the nutrients found in the original food, so it is not the same as eating the food.  My recommendation - a glass of 100% orange juice is fine for one of your fruit servings, but the rest need to come from the whole food.  Now, when it comes to supplements, a multivitamin with levels not much higher than 150% daily value is a great way to “supplement” your healthy and balanced diet, but stay away from the mega doses.

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We need healthier options for our children at restaurants.  It really hit me how limited restaurants are in their healthy food options for children while I was out of town at a baseball tournament this past weekend.  Every restaurant we went to with the team had pretty much the same children’s menu with mac and cheese, chicken strips, fries, cheeseburger and fried shrimp.  (As you can imagine, it upset my children that they did not get to eat the foods off the children’s menus and that they did not get to drink soda like the other kids but had to drink milk.  My husband and I instead created our own kid’s meals and ordered grilled chicken and salmon with some extra sides and shared with our children.) One mom that noticed what we were doing told me that her 12 year old would only eat mac and cheese and chicken strips — this is a tragedy.  We need to teach our children how to eat now, so that they can avoid a whole-host of health problems as they grow.

It seems that in the U.S. for a food to be “child-friendly” at a restaurant it must be unhealthy.  No wonder we have such a problem with overweight children as well as them getting “adult” diseases so early in life.  And given that American’s on Average eat out 5 times a week, our children’s taste buds are getting used to eating these fatty and salty foods - setting them up for a life-long struggle with unhealthy eating.  We need to help our children develop their tastes for wholesome and natural foods, which today means eating more at home.  This problem of  the availability of unhealthy foods for our children is not the norm in other countries.  For example, in Tokyo, Japan there is a chain of children’s restaurants where all the foods are wholesome and healthy.  The foods are made into cute figurines and easy to eat for the children as well as healthy.  We need to change our definition of child-friendly cuisine in the U.S. to mean healthy and wholesome by letting the restaurants know that we want healthier foods.  Pick one of your favorite chains and email them (often) - if we all demanded healthier fare, we would get healthier options - it is called demand and supply.  In the meanwhile, Here are some tips for feeding your child healthy at a restaurant. Do not give into the fried food options on the children’s menu instead -

Ask for a healthier meal from the regular menu as a lunch portion or appetizer portion, such as a grilled chicken or fish  plate or sandwich ( teach your children to eat fish)

Ask for a baked sweet potato or baked potato instead of fries (and either drop the “fixings” or have the fixings, such as sour cream, butter, cheese on the side and add sparingly)

Get your children used to eating salads and broth-based soups - order one for yourself and feed them some from your plate

Order yourself a healthy meal with an extra side, such as beans or veggies and share with your children

We need to tackle this problem together.  Stand up for your children’s health and teach them to eat healthier.

Tags: baby fat diet, childrens health, healthy eating, healthy foods, nutrition, restaurants