The Juice Boxx

Just when you think you're doing the right thing by your kids by feeding them yogurt and healthy snacks, POW! a list comes out to destroy that idea...again.

Susan Burke March, doctor and author of Making Weight Control Second Nature: Living Thin Naturally, came up with this top 10 list for WalletPop.com of the foods that you may think are good for your little ones, but you have no idea. OK, so I'm being a little dramatic here, but my kid is on a serious veggie boycott. To her, they stink and look funny. Elmo can talk all her wants about "eating your colors" but right now Sascha's all into neutral tones--the whites, the beiges, the browns. Which basically means pasta, bread, and meat. Thank goodness she loves fruit.

So here are the "healthy" foods that are foolin' you:

1. Kid's yogurt: Of course yogurt is healthy, but kid's "fun" yogurt with their cute packaging and yogurt colors, usually list high fructose corn syrup as the main ingredient after milk. Not so good. March recommends giving your child the regular stuff, just freeze and pop it in their lunch box.

2. Instant oatmeal: More extreme sugar content in these little packages. Try microwaving whole oats instead, and then add bananas, vanilla, raisins, and a dash of sugar instead.

3. Fruit juice: Though they are advertised as 100% natural, they're from concentrate and usually contain artificial sweeteners. Ideally, an apple, orange or container of applesauce would serve little man better, but a brand that says 100% natural fruit juice works too.

4. Kid's meals: The kids menu at restaurants always seem like the perfect portions of the food your kid loves, but they're also fried, fried, fried. March's idea? Order from the regular menu and split the plate with your kid or save the rest for a doggie bag.

Read the rest of the list here.

The other night Sascha had a turkey hot dog, cheesy rice and an apple for dinner. I sure didn't have that, but I'm at the point where I'll put anything together that she'll eat...and hopefully it's semi-nutritious too. Is this the worst dinner I could have fed her, certainly not, but not the best either.

I wondered if any other parents had similarly odd menus for their kids so I went to Facebook, of course. (Lucky I didn't put it up as a Twitter post, but maybe I would have gotten more responses, ha!) Here's what my Facebook friends said:  "As long as she's eating it's all good. She had a carb, a protein, and a fruit. That just about covers it, with the exception of a vegetable, but the apple can suffice. She's a young healthy eater, keep up the good work. She WILL become "pickier" and you will wonder what happen. Enjoy it while it last.-:)"

Another friend said: "ha ha, lunch today: roasted butternut squash, 4 pieces of corn, and half a blueberry bagel."

And another chimed in: "lol. everyday i have the same struggle. that and her outfits. i have to make a whole separate meal for her which i do because im so afraid she wont grow."

Lately, my daughter has taken to spitting out food she doesn't like. It drives me CRAZY. So, I don't mind feeding her the bland menu that she loves: pasta with butter, bread with butter, eggs, chicken fingers, rice. She will eat fruit of all kinds, so I'm glad about that, but veggies--she used to love broccoli--don't make the cut. Now, I throw a Dora The Explorer vitamin at her once a week.

Babble.com has a Food Issue worth checking out.

What's the strangest meal you've ever fed your child?

-Stay Juicy

*Originally posted February 2, 2009

There are many challenging parts of parenthood: sleeping (or lack of), illnesses, separation anxiety, discipline...the list goes on. But nothing can drive a mom or dad as crazy as dealing with a child who won’t eat. Some kids won’t eat what you make that day--just preferences--other times, some kids just won’t eat anything, at all, ever...but maybe something crazy like a candy cane and a spoonful of tuna, all day.

As a parent, you’re left thinking: “Are they starving?,” “What if I put ketchup/applesauce/syrup on it?,” “Maybe I can bribe the kid with a toy?” Kids won’t let themselves starve (but watch out for dehydration), toppings don’t always work and neither do bribes.

I bought a sleek blender on the strength of Jessica Seinfeld’s (wife of Jerry) Deceptively Delicious cookbook and recipes that suggested you “sneak” pureed vegetables in to kids’ meals to make sure they get their vegetables. Not so hot. Sascha looked at me like I had two heads when I put a plate of spinach-infused eggs in front of her. It looked like The Incredible Hulk threw up.

Sascha’s diet is not so bad. She eats lots of pasta, usually with butter, all kinds of fruits, yogurt, rice, broccoli (once in a while), chicken, and she loves desserts (go figure). But another thing I’ve found that she loves is breakfast food, especially french toast, waffles and eggs. She’ll eat them for breakfast, of course, but will also ask for them--simply scrambled--for lunch and sometimes dinner. They are easy, healthful, and fast.

So I figure, instead of a daily battle with food, breakfast for dinner won’t hurt the girl. We’ve had chicken and waffles (Shout out to Roscoe’s), French toast with fruit, and eggs with wheat toast for dinner.

Here’s a great way to cook and egg with bread, I know, I’m dropping science here. It’s not really a recipe because it’s just an egg and bread, salt and pepper and, oh, butter. It’s really all about the presentation with this one and your little one may enjoy pulling out the center of the slice of bread.

EGG IN A BASKET                                               
-Butter a frying pan
-Once the butter has melted, remove a small
circle of bread from the slice and add to the
pan
-Crack the egg in the center of the bread,
salt and pepper. Let cook for about two
minutes so the egg firms up a bit
-Flip the egg and bread, cook on that side
for another two minutes. Enjoy!
* T-shirt by Heavy Rotation, $26