Why pediatric dietitians serve dessert WITH dinner

All my Registered Dietitian friends and I serve dessert with dinner.

We never make our kids take 3 bites of chicken before they can have cake.

We don’t make them finish their mac and cheese before serving ice cream.

And we don’t reward kids with candy if they wolf down their broccoli.

Why?

The simple answer is: Serving dessert with dinner makes life soooo much easier.

The longer answer requires some explaining.

Want to learn more?

Click the link to read an expertly written blog post by my dietitian friend Sally: https://www.realmomnutrition.com/serving-dessert-with-dinner/

And if you try serving dessert with dinner at your house, let me know how it goes by sending an email to nicolebuhlerRD@gmail.com, or leave a comment here on the blog. Want more help with healthy eating or family dinners?

Ask your FA for a referral to me, the DDI Vantage Dietitian.

The #1 parenting pitfall that is wreaking havoc on your child’s eating

“Eat your peas“

“Eat one more bite for me”

“You can have more bread if you take another bite of chicken”

“Look at your sister, she ate ALL of her peas”

“You can’t have any cake until you’ve finished of you dinner”

Are these common phrases at your family dinner table?

They used to be common at my table too.

Until I learned a better way.

An easier way.

A no pressure way.

Research on child nutrition shows that kids who feel pressured at mealtimes eat worse, not better.

Kids who are coerced to eat peas often learn to detest peas.

Kids who are scolded for overeating often learn to feel shame around food, which leads to even more overeating.

Kids who must finish their chicken before they can have cake often learn to idolize dessert or overeat at mealtime to please adults.

It feels like we’re SUPPOSED to pressure our kids to eat. It feels like it's our job as parents to tell kids what to eat and how much to eat.

But that’s not our job.

What is a parent’s job at mealtime?

Job #1: Prepare and eat balanced meals with your child. You can read more about balanced meals in last week’s post or here

Job #2: Trust your child to decide how much and what to eat.

Kids are good at feeling hunger and fullness. Their bodies send strong hunger and fullness signals to prevent under or over eating. If a child is taught to ignore hunger/fullness signals by giving into parental pressure, they might eat more than their body needs. Or they might rebel and undereat! Overtime, this can lead to unhealthy eating habits.

Along with feeling hunger and fullness, children are also good at eating enough variety to meet their vitamin and mineral needs.

In an old 1930's scientific study, children were given balanced meals for several months. Researchers did not pressure or encourage the children to eat any of the food provided. Instead they let the children choose what and how much to eat and recorded everything they ate. Over a period of 6 months, the children ate just the right amount of foods to meet their needs, and they did it without any pressure from adults.

We don’t need to tell kids what to do. Our job is to provide them with healthy foods and sit down to eat with them.

If we want this to work well, we MUST do our job of providing sit-down balanced meals and snacks every 3 hours (read more about balanced meals here).

And we must be consistent about avoiding pressure.

So what do you say when your child only eats bread for dinner?

What do you say when your child won't try their peas?

Check out these ideas from the Choose My Plate website:

https://myplate-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/2020-12/PhrasesThatHelpAndHinder.pdf

Essentially, you want to keep your comments neutral. Simply serve the meal, sit down to eat it with your child, and let them pick and choose from what's there.

What if they don't eat?

It's okay. Don't let them have a snack until the next time you sit down to eat together (read more here in the "sit down snacks" section). By setting limits, you can teach your child to eat only at mealtime.

What about dessert?

That’s a great question for next week’s blog.

See you next week!

P.S. Curious about what I fed my family this week? Here's my menu:

Sunday: leek and potato soup + nectarines + bread with butter

Monday: quesadillas with taco meat + spinach + berries + tomatoes

Tuesday: one pot cauliflower mac and cheese + green salad + apples

Wednesday: sloppy joes + canned pears + green salad

Thursday: hummus + tabbouleh + tzatiki + naan bread + grapes

Friday: stuffed zucchini + leftover hummus + tabbouleh + apples

Saturday: pancakes + eggs + frozen berries

snacks? green smoothies, toast with peanut butter, canned pears, yogurt + granola

breakfast? we eat this peanut butter oatmeal almost every day, sometimes eggs

The number one meal planning rule that makes healthy eating simple

The time flashed on my phone as I reached past it to place one more block on the tower I was building with my toddler. I wondered how 5pm came so fast. I also wondered if this day was ever going to end.

I'd been up most of the night with my newborn, and then up for good at 6am with my terrible-two-toddler. The never ending day was full of toddler tantrums, diaper blow-outs, landmines of toys, mountains of laundry and now.....

Dinner time. (dun - dun - dun)

I didn't have an ounce of energy left to plan or prepare a meal. The thought of making Mac and Cheese or Ramen again left me feeling guilty. I was a Registered Dietitian, why couldn't I manage to pull a real meal together?

Then I remembered meal planning rule #1: a healthy meal includes the 5 food groups

This sounds counterintuitive, but remembering that rule made dinnertime easier and helped me let go of my guilt. How does including the 5 food groups make dinner easier?

Eating something from all 5 food groups ensures that you get enough carbs, protein, fats, vitamins and minerals to continue on with your day. It also makes it easy to serve a healthy meal without doing any cooking.

My dinner that night consisted of: cheese, whole grain crackers, canned applesauce and canned beets.

Fruit? applesauce

Vegetable? beets

Whole Grain? crackers

Protein? cheese

Milk? to drink

Dinner took only a few minutes to prepare, and I left the table feeling confident that I had fueled my body with the nutrition it needed to continue battling my two year old and folding mountains of laundry.

I made a lot of fast and simple dinners those first few years of my children's lives. When you remember to include all 5 food groups, you can make a healthy + filling meal in no time.

Common no-cook meals we eat often:

whole wheat bread + peanut butter + jam serve with canned peaches + cucumber slices

green smoothies + whole wheat toast (berries, juice, spinach, milk blended) + toast

avocado toast (whole wheat bread + veggie) + yogurt with fruit (protein + fruit)

cottage cheese, crackers, pears, carrot sticks

hummus, crackers, fresh fruit (whatever is in season) + bell peppers (to dip in hummus)

tortillas + refried beans + canned corn + mango smoothie (mangoes + milk blended)

Other ideas for minimal cooking:

box mac + canned fruit + canned green beans (most kids love these, they are salty yum!)

ramen (add in frozen stir fry veggies + an egg) + canned/frozen fruit

chicken nuggets + whole wheat toast + fresh strawberries + cucumbers

hot dog + whole wheat bun + fruit & veggie

Any meal can be a healthy meal if you use WHOLE GRAINS and add a FRUIT + VEGGIE

Here's why serving all 5 food groups matters:

Each food group contains different types of nutrients (click the links for more info):

Fruits: Fiber, Folate, Potassium and Vitamin C

Vegetables: Fiber, Phytochemicals and Vitamins A, C, E and K

Grains: carbs for energy! B vitamins, some minerals + fiber (if you use whole grains)

Proteins: protein and fat to build tissues! contain: B vitamins + minerals (like iron and zinc)

Milk: potassium, calcium, vitamin D + B vitamins, minerals

If you leave out a food group, you miss out on the nutrients found in that food group.

Serving the 5 food groups is the simplest way to eat healthy.

More simple meals (that require a little bit of cooking):

broccoli baked eggs + avocado toast + fresh fruit

grilled cheese on whole grain bread (= grain & protein) + applesauce + canned tomato soup

homemade macaroni (= grain & protein) + cauliflower + canned peaches

whole wheat tortilla + cheese + black beans + bell peppers + frozen mangoes

rice and bean salad + watermelon

veggie noodle soup + cheese sandwiches (= grain & protein) + apple slices

tuna noodle casserole (= grain & protein) + canned peaches + canned green beans

lasagna (= grain & protein) + canned green beans + apple slices

salad greens + kidney beans + corn + strawberries + CROUTONS! + cheese & dressing

whole wheat pancakes, eggs (cooked with spinach) + fresh fruit

Want more ideas? click this link for meal ideas from choosemyplate.gov or ask your FA about out monthly cooking classes!

Simple meals like these expose kids to different foods, which prevents picky eating and promotes healthy eating habits. Chopping up a watermelon to serve with your Mac + Cheese isn't too time consuming, but it is the easiest way to teach kids how to eat healthy.

Now that my kids are older, they cook healthy dinners for us. Often it's just mac and cheese with canned corn and canned peaches. But it always contains the 5 parts. They also know how to pack a healthy lunch. Every day, they pack a fruit, vegetable, grain and protein.

I don't have to nag or remind them, they just know.

Following this simple meal planning rule guarantees healthy family meals.

It won't save you from toddler tantrums, diaper blowouts or mountains of laundry. But it will give you confidence that the meals you serve are healthy, even if it's just cheese and crackers with a side of fruit and vegetables.

Feel like you need more help with nutrition or meal planning?

Here's a great website with more information: https://www.myplate.gov/

You can also ask your FA for a referral to the dietitian or signup for our monthly cooking class.

Happy Eating!