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The danger of “finish your broccoli or else”
Clean your plate talk probably doesn’t turn your child into a vegetable lover, instead it turns them into a heffa lump.
Do you make a scene when food is left on the plate by your children ?
Fighting talk at the dinner table
I can remember the food fights that went on – eat your vegetables or NO TV. The other tactic, which was employed regularly, was references to starving kids in Ethiopia.
Of course, no TV had some personal relevance, but I felt feathers for starving kids in far away places.
The threats didn’t curtail my TV habits much – I was a wilful child, enforcing rules was often more trouble than it was worth.
More vegetables – NOT
Don’t think the tough talk made much difference to my consumption of vegetables either.
“Healthy” foods were never high on my culinary agenda. I loved SUGAR.
But a study suggests the “Clean plate” talk, might have made a difference to my eating habits in the long run. The difference was not positive.
The dangers of clean plate living
The clean the plate mantra, seems to have a habit of back firing, according to research published by Cornell Food & Brand Lab.
Clean plate thinking dupes the neurons in charge of managing appetite.
Wiring the clean plater up, for a lifetime of cleaning plates, irrespective of hunger and saiety.
Pre-schoolers loading up their plates
The research team dished up the mid-morning snack, at a local daycare centre. On the menu, an all you want serving of Fruit loops.
63 children participated in the study. The children were in charge of “filling” the bowl. They needed to shout “WHEN,” when the bowl was full enough to fill their tummies. Before being served their bowl of cereal, the researchers recorded how much cereal had been added by weighing the dish.
The B part of the study, involved finding out a little bit about the “Clean Plate” philosophies and practices of the children’s families.
Clean plate club members plated up
Logic would suggest – a clean plate child would err on the side of too little, to avoid the stress of being forced to finish a bowl full of stuff they may not necessarily want.
But, somewhat surprisingly, members of the “Clean Plate Club” tended to do the opposite…
they stacked up their plates with MORE.
Could the off switch already be on the blink ?
The I am full message
In principle at least, we really should not overeat because there are lots of systems tasked with getting the “I am FULL” message, from the stomach to the brain.
But we do overeat.
The consequence …………………obesity.
I AM FULL
When your child turns up his/her nose at the broccoli – they probably are full, having satisfied their energy requirements on the more desirable items on the plate. Forcing the broccoli issue seems like the right thing to do, because the broccoli has a bunch of phytonutrients which were not in the noodles or stew.
But eating those few extra spoons of broccoli, ends up undermining the I AM FULL message.
FULL is relative
The stomach finds room for the extra food, so the stomach learns the I AM FULL message, is not an absolute – there is wiggle room.
The wiggle room is the difference between eating what you need and OVEREATING.
At the same time, the brain learns something.
Full has wiggle room i.e. when I feel full, I’m not really full full.
Which sets you up to indulge on a regular basis. Oh dear !
Broccoli is not so nice
Broccoli is going to be left to the end of a meal – it really doesn’t taste too good. So when you dish up dinner, don’t overdo it, rather serve a little less food and be sure there is enough room for the broccoli too.
You don’t want to inadvertently overfeed the developing brain, when it is learning the rules.
Don’t overfeed
Help your child’s brain learn what full is.
Watch how you enforce those “CLEAN PLATE” rules.
Clean plating will not turn your child into a vegetable lover, but it might make your child obese.
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….
A spoonful of puree makes the baby grow round
The aim of the game, to feed your toothless wonder, mushed up food on a spoon. Spooning it in – ensures your little one grows up BIG, real BIG.