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How to help your child make better eating decisions
You desperately want your kid to “eat right”. On the home front, you have control over what junior shovels down, but beyond your home is another story.
You desperately want your kid to “eat right”, but it doesn’t always go according to plan. Actually who are we kidding – REALITY is not always quite what we hope for as grown ups.
And WE SHOULD KNOW BETTER !
Keeping the junk food out
On the home front, it is a little easier to control what junior shovels down – you just don’t allow twinkies, popsicles or soda in the house. But the world beyond your home, is typically full of tantalizing food choices and keeping them away from your kids is difficult if not downright impossible.
Use a little pop psychology
Insisting on an apple, instead of apple strudel, is going to leave you exhausted and alienated, as you are branded with the label of being “the UNCOOLEST mother, EVER”. The good news, there is another way to achieve your mission of “healthy food consumption”, without demanding compliance and coming off as THE HERO.
It’s called the POPEYE EFFECT.
The Popeye effect
Clever marketing made spinach a desired vegetable inspiring a generation of youngsters to each the GREEN STUFF, in pursuit of super human strength to defeat “bad” guys.
Of course, Popeye is no longer a superhero of note.
And today’s superheros, while still fighting BAD GUYS, NEVER power up with vegetables, but they are still INTO healthy living. Enough at least, to get kids thinking AND ACTING a little more “healthy”. Well that’s what a team of scientist discovered.
Batman goes to camp
The power of the superhero came to light when a research team, which included “BATMAN”, headed off to summer camp. The camp they visited, was a summer camp for children between the ages of 6-12.
The absence of Moms, meant that the kids got to choose what they were going to eat for lunch.
Now it just so happened, that the Wednesday menu was “apple fries” or “French fries”. The “apple fries” was a glorified term, used to describe thinly sliced bits of apple, while the “French fries”, were standard i.e. bits of potato sizzled to crispy perfection
Meeting batman before lunch
During one of the Wednesday lunch sessions – batman and a bunch of his friends, popped in for a chat. NO, batman didn’t actually pull up in his batmobile -this is a scientific study, scientists could never afford the appearance fee of such a notable celebrity.
Instead the kids were shown images of 12 real and fictional role models, which included batman.
What would batman have for lunch ?
As the team, flipped through the mugshots, they casually asked the kids what they thought the person would choose for lunch i.e. “Would this person order apple fries or French fries?”
Batman would choose opt for apple fries !
Batman, as a superhero, who has to watch his weight to ensure that he would look good in those tights, would choose apple fries.
So would Wonder women. And a host of sports stars.
Maybe you’re wondering………….
So what ?
Here is the amazing thing – when the kids went to get lunch after their “batman” encoutner, 45 percent of them opted for apple fries.
At first glance, this may not sound that significant, but it was, the apple slices don’t typically move out of the camp kitchen. In fact, on a normal Wednesday lunch at the camp grounds,, 90 + % of the kids, opt for a “French fries” at lunch.
So clearly some of the kids behaviour was changed…..
Apple choice sliced off calories
By choosing the apple snack, the kids added around 34 calories to the lunch plate, whereas the potato chip snack, provided 227 calories.
If you do the maths, that’s a 193 calorie difference.
The kids that selected the apple slices, ended up slicing 193 calories off their lunch plate. And although calories aren’t everything, 193 calories sliced off a meal, on a regular basis, could keep junior’s weight in check.
Applied in other contexts, using this technique to nudge kids to eat less processed food, will help create BETTER BODY CHEMISTRY, in the long run.
It’s not a silver bullet
Even in this study, it only worked about half of the time, so the Popeye effect is unlikely to work every time and on every child – but it is a psychological trick you might want to try out next time you sense a poor food choice on the horizon.
What if there is little to no motivation to emulate “BATMAN” or some other superhero ?
You can still make this principle work.
Channel your BEST SELF
Take a moment to ask whether [YOUR HERO] would eat this ? If the answer is a resounding YES, go for it. If the answer is probably NOT, it might be worth you reconsidering your choice.
Bringing a “healthy” friend to dinner is an idea that is easy to apply and worth giving a try.
Further reading
Dessert should be part of your child’s dinner
There is ALWAYS room for dessert. ALWAYS. Dessert is eaten, because it tastes good, not because of hunger. By serving dessert with dinner – hunger rules.
Why being a working Mom puts your child at risk of childhood obesity
It’s got nothing to do with dietary habits, meal time routines, frequency of family meals, time spent watching TV or physical activity, the problem is…
Little chefs prefer real food to boxed food
The more the kids peel potatoes and cut carrots, the more likely they are to actually eat the vegetables. Little chefs are cooking up better food choices.