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Episode 1: An Age Old Dilemma: What to Feed Children · Talking FACS

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Music
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Big Blue Book Club presents Snack Club with Courtney Luecking and Anna Cason,
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featuring Raising a Happy, Healthy Eater and How to Raise a Mindful Eater. Now, here are our hosts.
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Feeding children is an adventure, and at some point or another,
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you might have had questions like, am I doing this right? Or is this normal?
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Headlines, things we see online, things we hear from family and friends,
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and even unpacking what we see in the store can have us questioning what to feed our children.
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We want children to have what they need to lead happy, healthy lives.
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And it seems like as soon as we figure something out, it changes.
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That's where we come in. My name is Dr. Courtney Luecking. I'm a registered dietitian
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and extension specialist for family and child nutrition.
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This means I have lots of training and expertise about child nutrition.
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I also have two littles of my own. This combination allows me to talk through
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practical, science-based strategies for creating a nourishing feeding environment for your family.
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And my name is Anna Cason. I'm a registered dietitian and extension associate in food and nutrition.
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I don't have kids of my own, but my interests and passion lie in supporting
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healthy food-related behaviors which begin in childhood.
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In partnership with the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Services,
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we present Snack Club, where we share bite-sized bits of information for supporting
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nourished, active children in Kentucky.
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So come for the snacks and stay for the support.
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For the snacks and stay for the support. Hi, Anna. Hello, Courtney.
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How are you? I'm good. How are you?
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I'm so excited to record our first episode of Snip Club. We've made it.
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Here we are. Yeah, it's been a long time coming.
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We have two great books that were part of the inspiration of this,
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Raising a Healthy, Happy Eater by Dr.
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Namali Fernando and Melanie Potok, and How to Raise a Mindful Eater by Marianne
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Jacobson. And we just thought these were such a great combo.
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And one of the things that was notably absent was what to feed children.
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Yeah. It's in there. It's just not quite as obvious. Yeah.
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It's not laid out. It's kind of the dancing around it, all the other topics that play into it.
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Yes. And so we thought it was important to start today because our whole intention
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is to support for nourished and active children in Kentucky,
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and what we feed children is a really important part of nourishment. Yeah, absolutely.
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Yeah. So let's start talking there. You know, people might think of this as
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an age old dilemma, kind of like what's for dinner?
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What do we serve for children? But what does a nutritious eating pattern look
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like? Has it really changed over time?
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Yes and no. I mean, I feel like nutrition, the topic is always changing.
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I mean, we see one day that you're supposed to do this and then the next day
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it's like, never do that. It's not right.
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So how do we know what's right and what's wrong?
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Yeah. So I want to be very intentional when we're using the word nourished or nutritious.
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A lot of times we use healthy and there's nothing wrong wrong with that,
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but it's just that healthy can be really personal or invoke some strong feelings.
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And so at the end of the day, what we're really wanting to do is kind of that whole child.
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How do we support the development of the whole child through a nourishing eating pattern?
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And over time, we used to really focus on the tiny parts and pieces of foods,
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the vitamins, the minerals.
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Is it fat is the worst? Don't eat it. No, no, it's carbs.
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Don't eat those. And so when we look so far in, we, what do they say?
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You miss the forest for the trees.
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And so I like to think about a nutritious eating pattern like a puzzle.
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Those nutrients that we were talking about, the carbohydrates,
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the fats, the protein, the vitamins, the minerals, and all the other things
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that we're still learning about that are in foods, those are the pieces.
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And then we put those pieces together and then we create the picture.
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And that's how we get that nutritious diet or that nutritious eating pattern.
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And so, Anna, let's talk about that term pattern.
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Yeah. So I like that you bring this up.
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So an eating pattern is essentially like taking a big look at what foods we
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typically eat look like.
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So instead of focusing on one meal, one snack, because that's not going to make
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or break us, taking a step back and looking at just like the general pattern.
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Quality of your diet, I guess. And just looking at the overall balance of it.
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Yeah. So what are we eating over time?
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Let's not beat ourselves up or our children. Let's not freak out if they're
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not super hungry at one meal or a snack.
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Life will go on and it's all about that bigger picture puzzle.
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So let them talk about what guidance is available to us to talk about what actually
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is part of a nutritious eating pattern.
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Yeah. So the United States Department of Agriculture, the USDA has the dietary
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guidelines for Americans that they update every five years, comes out in a five-year cycle.
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So for professionals, it's a very long booklet that provides a lot of guidance
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in diet quality, nutrients to increase, nutrients to limit, recommendations,
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serving sizes, all that sort of stuff.
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So if you want to, that's available to look at. It's accessible,
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but then they also have a visual guidance tool called MyPlate.
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You may recognize MyPlate or you may remember the pyramids that they used to use.
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Oh, yeah. That was a pivotal moment in second grade for me.
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It was the food guide pyramid and making clay foods from each food group and painting them.
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I think that's why I'm a dietitian. Do you still have them? No.
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No, but so we've had this image around for a long time.
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It may have like faded in and out, but now we have MyPlate. Yeah.
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So let's talk about what it looks like.
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So it's a plate. It's a round plate and it is broken up into four quadrants or four quarters.
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And then on the side of the plate, there's a glass.
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It's supposed to be like a glass of milk. So each of these sections of the plate
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represent a food group. So it breaks it down into five food groups,
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like what was on the food guide pyramid.
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So starting with fruits and vegetables on one half of the plate.
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And really the message with fruits is to choose whole fruits or vegetables.
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Choosing a fruit in its full form versus like a juiced form so that we're holding.
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On to a lot of the nutrients that that fruit provides.
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And then with vegetables, again, choosing vegetables in forms that work for
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you and varying those veggies.
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So getting a variety of different colors, tastes, textures throughout your eating pattern over time.
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So, and both of those options come in fresh available produce or frozen options, canned options.
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Fruits a lot of times are dry, freeze dried. And all of these are good nutritious choices.
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Yes. What can you find? So just to be clear, there is no magical fruit or vegetable.
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So even if you see it online, like if you don't like avocados,
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I'm not picking on avocados, but if you can't access them, you don't like them, that's okay.
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The whole point of my plate is that it's just these food groups that haven't
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changed over time and really finding what fits with your culture,
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your preferences, and your costs.
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Like what can you afford and have access to? Yeah, absolutely.
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Okay. I took this on a tangent, but so we have our fruits, vegetables,
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and what's on the other part of the plate? On the other half of the plate,
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we've got grains and proteins.
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So starting with grains, message with that is primarily to choose whole grains when you can.
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So thinking about like whole wheat pastas, breads, crackers,
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versus refined ones like white rice or white bread.
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Those are going to provide a lot of vitamins and minerals that we may lose with
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that process of refining them.
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And then with proteins, we've got animal proteins and plant proteins. So.
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Kind of like the other message, varying your protein sources.
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So it's not focusing on one source of protein every day, all day,
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but getting a variety of beef, pork, eggs, chicken, fish, and plant proteins like beans,
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lentils, peas,
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those sort of options. Okay.
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All right. That sounds great. And then we have our milk glass on the side.
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Doesn't have to be milk, but for at least younger kids, oftentimes it is.
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And so what are those kind of special considerations for that group? What counts?
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So for that milk, dairy products,
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and then if you can't tolerate dairy, if you're lactose intolerant,
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the fortified soy milk or fortified soy products are as nutritiously equivalent
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as those dairy products, according to the USDA.
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So finding what works for you, again, depending on preferences,
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dietary needs, and budgetary.
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When you say milk, it makes me think of like toddler milks I've seen advertised
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or there's a lot of plant-based milks on the market now that were not there even 5, 10 years ago.
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Let's talk about beverages.
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Milk is helpful because of the calcium and vitamin D to support bone development.
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Water, we can't say it enough how important water is to keep children hydrated and.
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Fueled in that regard. Yeah. Sports drinks. I, my young, my oldest is like wanting a sports drink.
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What are your thoughts on that? So sports drinks are great for someone who is
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doing grueling exercise in the heat when they're losing a lot of fluid through sweat.
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But for the most part, they're not necessary. We get the electrolytes,
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the hydration that we need from water.
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And if they want it for a sweet treat, then they're a waste of flavor water.
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Yeah. I think just any fruits. Some people put like herbs in there.
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Some people put vegetables like cucumber, for example. So great alternative.
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So milk or animal milk or human milk for those who are younger.
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And then water are the two biggies. So sports drinks, things like caffeine,
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caffeine energy drinks are really popular right now.
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And so just really being mindful of like caffeine is not safe for children.
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We hear more and more stories about, especially these energy drinks sometimes
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can have excessive amounts of caffeine in them. And so it can be really dangerous.
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So really trying to avoid that, or at least if you need to, or for some reason,
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making sure children are at least 12 or older.
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Yeah. And then also in energy drinks and And other drink choices,
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the added sugar in those and sodas and some juice options can really impact dental health.
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So thinking about cavities, especially as little ones are losing their baby
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teeth and getting their adult teeth, we want to set those teeth up for success.
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So keep them away from added sugar if we possibly can. Okay,
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so limiting or avoiding.
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Added sugar or kind of these sugar sweetened drink. Maybe even those sweetened
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with those non-nutritive or zero calorie or whatever term you want to use for
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those sugar-free type of drinks and then caffeinated,
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really sticking with milk and water. Okay, great.
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So we kind of talked about all the parts and pieces, what's recommended, but what's the reality?
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Let's talk about the reality, right? Like recommendations are great and it can
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be really challenging to put those into action. And so with the Dietary Guidelines
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for American, there's like a test.
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I'm using air quote because it's something that scientists would pull together.
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But there's a score. So we can translate these guidelines to a score.
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Zero meaning, wow, lots of room for improvement. And 100 meaning everything is on target.
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Perfection. We don't need perfection. Realistic. No, no. See the degrees.
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Somebody told me one time. But when we look at the scores of our children,
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they're in anywhere from like the low 60s to the upper mid 50s. So not quite passing.
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When we think about that MyPlate that you described and how all of those components are fitting together.
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So let's talk about some small swaps because those small swaps do add up over time.
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They're going to influence the preferences and behaviors of children as they age.
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And so let's talk about, I think, like sugar-sweetened beverages.
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That's something that, or sugar in general, is something that children are getting
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more than is recommended.
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So where might we find that and what could we substitute instead?
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Yeah, so if we're thinking about drinks, thinking about sodas or juices that
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have added sugar in it, depending on how much they are consuming,
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just starting small and maybe cutting out one at a time and explaining to them why,
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like level setting and having a conversation about it versus just creating this
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change, which can be jarring for anyone.
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So really just like easing into these swaps and choosing water or milk.
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Yes. And then thinking about whole grains, we know children don't get enough whole grains.
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So trying to make small swaps for things they're already eating.
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So if they like to eat sandwiches, is there a whole grain bread often? thin.
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Or cereals are pretty frequently consumed.
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So can we choose a whole grain option instead of that refined grain?
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Yeah. Yeah. And not to mention the added sugar in cereals too.
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So that's another opportunity for a little swap there to reduce the added sugar.
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Yeah. So it doesn't have to always be taking away. It can be swapping and sometimes
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it's adding more. So can we add more vegetables?
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Can we add more fruits? Because as children get older, they eat less of those.
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And And so those are really opportunities to improve the overall quality of
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what children are consuming. Yeah.
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And this is important. Not only one, I've said that the preferences,
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it influences that moving forward,
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but it really, their bodies are going through critical stages of development
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and what they're exposed to from the foods they eat and the drinks that they
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have will influence how their body functions and that risk for health over time.
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And so we don't want to be too scary or negative here.
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But the reality is that what children, what is the old saying, you are what you eat.
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And to a certain degree, yeah, it does impact our health. So it is important.
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And so just being mindful of those small shifts and having conversations about
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the changes that you want to make, I think, is a great suggestion,
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Anna. Yeah, absolutely.
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Okay. So we've talked about what to eat. Oh, how much? People oftentimes have
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questions about how much. Yeah, so that's another tough question.
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It depends on a lot of different things like your body size,
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your activity level, your age.
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So for more personalized recommendations and the just general suggestion,
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because there's a suggestion for each food group, all this information can be
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found online at myplate.gov, which will be linked in our show notes.
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Yes, I just want to highlight, they have come a long way with the resources they have.
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So cannot recommend checking it out enough.
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There's like apps, there's something that you can ask it questions,
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and it will respond to you about nutrition topics.
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And you can even take a little, I'm going to call it a quiz,
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but it's not like a quiz, but just help identify what are some of those small
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swaths where that can make a big impact for your family. Yeah.
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Awesome. I'm so glad you mentioned that. Okay. So we have recommendations,
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we have opportunities to do better.
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We've talked about some ways to do that.
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But we can't end without acknowledging things that make it challenging to provide
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nutritious foods or support children in eating nutritious foods.
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So Anna, what did you think of how the book presented kind of the barriers,
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as they like to say, to eating?
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So I really like how they lay it out as someone's barrier, maybe someone else's resource.
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So like to think about time as one of the examples that they use.
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Someone may struggle to find the time to prepare a homemade meal or find the
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time to plan to get groceries, whereas someone else may have the time to do all this.
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So kind of thinking about both sides of the coin with all of these different barriers. Yes.
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And they use the acronym FASTER.
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But before we kind of re-summarize what that had to say, I do want to pull a
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quote from the book in Chapter 2.
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And it's just that it's important to realize that each family is unique,
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as you mentioned, too, in the types of barriers and resources.
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We're different each day. We're different each week. We're different each year,
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depending on where we are as adults caring for children and where children are
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in their growth and development.
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An infant is different from a preschooler, is different from a teenager.
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And so just kind of recognizing those ebbs and flows, because as soon as we
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figure it out, it changes.
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So just wanting to have kind of that grace for ourselves and know that we can
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ask for first to support so that we can have that,
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what the big term capacity, but kind of that combination of skills and support
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and resources to do what we can to provide a nourished diet.
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I know that's a four letter word, but really when we, what we eat as a diet.
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So a nourished diet or eating.
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Opportunity for children. Yeah. And thinking about a lot of those resources
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that are available in our local communities and beyond,
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again, going back to MyPlate and some of these government agencies that create
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resources across the nation for us to use.
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Yeah. So there are federal nutrition programs that can support families who
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have children of specific ages or all different ones.
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The WIC program for short women infants and
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children or SNAP so we can
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link to those our extension Planet Move
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website has some great resources so we'll link that
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as well where you can find local farmers markets sometimes the question is where
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do we access it or sometimes we're at a space in life where we need additional
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resources and so you can also find food pantries on that website as well and
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then your local cooperative extension office is a wealth of information, classes.
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So if you have more questions about what to eat or even just support for these
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barriers like education or access or just general support, or how can I make
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better use of my time when it comes to feeding my family?
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And we'll talk about all of this more, but just want to be upfront about some
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resources that are available. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
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Okay. I think we've probably chatted long enough.
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So just to quickly summarize kind of that old question of what do we feed children,
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a nutritious eating pattern includes those food groups that we are familiar with.
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They have fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy.
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And together, they are going to provide the energy and those nutrient more specific
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micronutrients like vitamins and minerals that are going to fuel brain development
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and muscle development over time.
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And that there are opportunities to do better. And we can do that by making
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these small swaps or these small changes.
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And then finally, our capacity as caregivers of children is going to look different.
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So reaching out and making use of resources when we can. Yeah.
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Okay. Well, it was great talking to you. You too. And I hope that our listeners will join us again.
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Thanks for joining us for another episode of Snack Club.
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Resources related to the topics discussed in this episode can be found on our
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website linked in the show notes.
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Your local Cooperative Extension office is also a wealth of information and
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can and provide links to local resources.
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If you have other topics you would like to hear about, send us a note at snackclub at uky.edu.
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That's S-N-A-C-K-C-L-U-B at uky.edu.
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And as a reminder, the digestible bits of information we share are like navigation
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signs for your feeding journey, but you may need to contact a healthcare provider
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for more personal advice.
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And last but not least, special thanks to our team behind the scenes,
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Mindy McCulley for bringing this audio and video file to life with her technology
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skills and to the people through her marketing magic.
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And to Kelli Thompson for her creative ability to turn one conversation into
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our snack club symbol. We hope to see you again soon.