Robyn's Blog

Teach children at home, in age-appropriate ways, about nutrition, since that’s where most food prep and eating takes place anyway. I once taught my children about the three parts of a grain—the bran (fiber), the germ (vitamins), and the endosperm (the glue). I’ve told them that white bread throws away the two good parts and keeps only the one useless part—the “glue” of the grain. Months later, I happened upon a conversation between my daughter and one of her friends, where she was explaining to her friend, waving a bottle of Elmer’s Glue, that the bread her friend eats every day is made of exactly that substance. Obviously she’d taken what I said far too literally. Consider it a challenge to explain nutrition principles you read about in terms a child can understand.

My belief is that parents willing to “walk the talk” and fill their own plates up with good things are teaching in the most powerful way possible: by example. But also, as the parents, we believe that we are in charge. Salad is not an option, and it’s not a “side dish,” something in a corner taking up a square inch or two. I started feeding my kids green salad when they were old enough to chew. We did have to put it on the fork for them and help them with it, the first few years. In our family, we eat salad first (to provide enzymes for any cooked food that will follow), and if you want the rest of the meal at our house, you are required to eat a big helping of salad.

All four of our kids love and crave raw, green salads. So much for the idea we’ve heard often that if we “make” them do it, they’ll hate it and “rebel.” (My mom “made” me eat salad every night, too, and my siblings and I all love salad.) People simply do not rebel against everything they’re taught, and so a sound strategy is to teach true principles and set sound expectations regardless of any random guess about choices children might make in 20 years in reaction to those principles and expectations. On the other hand, kids who rarely or never eat vegetables aren’t likely to make the switch to eating nutritious food in adulthood.

Our kids don’t give us a hard time about eating salad, because (a) the rule is well understood, (2) they know exactly why I provide them raw green food every night, and (c) they have learned, from listening to their bodies, that they prefer how they feel when eating lots of green roughage.

Further, no one person burns out on making salads, because we take turns doing it. Even our 10-year old knows how to wash and chop greens and other vegetables, getting a large salad together in 10 or 15 minutes. Only my 7-year old doesn’t help with that, because he’s not old enough to handle a knife yet (he can set the table and do other tasks, though). Not only does this free my time so I don’t burn out on being a slave to the kitchen, but it also gives my children a chance to contribute to the meal they will eat. As you teach children at home, they’ll have a sense of accomplishment for having done a job well, and an opportunity to learn healthy habits for life.

You might consider that part of parental responsibilities and rights includes keeping your talk about nutritious food positive, while expecting some reaction to your changes toward good nutrition. Avoid adopting the attitude, as you speak to your kids, that eating good food is a chore to be endured on our way to dessert.

With a little thought and effort on your part, children become “invested” in the process of improving the family’s nutrition, through the several ideas that follow, and many more you may think of.

First, ask your children to taste a new recipe and suggest ways to change it. What does it need more of, or less of? Treat the experience as a taste test. I have a lot of experience in this, having tested every one of the recipes in this book on my own four kids (sometimes several times, because I didn’t get it right). They loved telling me what they liked and what needed to be different, and they contributed many ideas to the recipes herein.

Second, have a child help you make the recipe, or give him the entire responsibility. My mother always started dinner with the “compliments,” such as, “The salad is compliments of Robyn. The vegetables in the soup are compliments of Dave,” etc. We rolled our eyes at this tradition but secretly appreciated the acknowledgement of our contribution.

Third, as you’re educating yourself, educate your kids. As with so many things, knowledge is truly the key! Some of your children may relish the opportunity to read each chapter of this book with you, and discuss it with you afterward. Everyone knows “vegetables are good for you,” but when we know several very specific reasons why they’re critical to a quality life, suddenly we care more. Then it’s a group project everyone is invested in, not just you, and they know what’s coming next in your plans to get healthy, and why. Tell your children what you’re learning as you read 12 Steps to Whole Foods.

Someone once said, “I’ll go to the ends of the earth for you, if I know WHY you want me to.” I often use the dinner table conversation as a parental responsibilities and rights opportunity to talk about why the foods we’re having are so good for us. I use descriptions relevant to my children’s lives. They may not be interested in a discussion of the interplay of phosphorus and calcium in soft drinks, especially when they’re too young to study chemistry. However, my competitive soccer players are very interested that carbonation robs their red blood cells of the ability to exchange oxygen—they are therefore more competitive than soda drinkers because they abstain.

A teenage, weight-lifting son might be interested to know that Bill Pearl was a vegetarian Mr. Universe. He’d be interested to know that Arnold Schwarzenegger said that while Bill didn’t convince him to become vegetarian, he did convince Arnold that a vegetarian can be a world-class bodybuilder. That leads into a conversation about proteins—which proteins lead to lasting muscle mass and why.

This arrived in my email inbox today from Brigham Young University where I teach, touting the newly published research of Ray Merrill. This is exciting evidence that we can make long-term, profound changes in our health, if we educate ourselves and have a support system. This is the entire goal of both greensmoothiegirl.com and my 12 Steps to Whole Foods program! Read each chapter to get the benefit of a time-saving nutrition course, and log onto the 12 Steps blog, tell us where you’re from and what your plans are for healthy new year’s resolutions!

Some healthy resolutions stick!

Not all resolutions to exercise and eat healthy fade away, according to a new study by a Brigham Young University health statistician.

Eighteen months after taking a four-week health education course, class participants remained significantly more active – taking 800 more steps per day than when they enrolled. The group continued also to show improvements in 17 of 20 diet categories.

In light of the long-term impact the study found, people looking for a New Year’s resolution may want to consider signing up for a work- or community-sponsored health education class. BYU professor Ray Merrill is lead author on the study published in the January issue of Preventing Chronic Disease, a Centers for Disease Control journal. “We expected to see short-term changes in behavior, but we were kind of holding our breath when we did the analysis at 18 months out,” Merrill said. “I thought most, if not all, of the positive results seen in the short term would go away, but there were still some profound, statistically significant benefits.”

A year and a half after they completed the class, participants had increased their daily dose of vegetables by more than two-thirds of a serving. They also ate nearly half of a serving more per day of fruits. Cholesterol intake declined for 84 percent of participants. Merrill said the study justifies corporations and health insurers that promote similar wellness programs among employees and their families.

“There are important implications in terms of lowering risk of heart disease and cancer,” Merrill said. “Quality of life and life expectancy also improve with better diet and more physical activity.” The study is based on 348 volunteers who enrolled in a Coronary Health Improvement Project sponsored by a health care system in Rockford, Ill. The two-hour classes were held four nights a week over four weeks and taught the importance of lifestyle choices and how to improve diet and physical activity.

Unlike some programs that include financial incentives for meeting goals, participants in this study paid a fee to enroll. Those who attended 75 percent of the classes received a refund. “This is a very intense education program that takes place over only four weeks,” Merrill said. “Just by educating people and providing a social support system, there were some profound long-term benefits.”

At the end of the four-week course, the program alumni received newsletters and reminders designed to support their newly formed health habits. In addition to increased walking and fruit and vegetable intake, after 18 months the program participants experienced an average reduction of 391 calories and 23 fat grams per day, and an increase in fiber intake of 4 grams per day.

When you’re making a meal, everyone in the family eating that meal is both a worldwide tradition and an opportunity to learn many good things, open mindedness being just one of them. Engage in teaching child manners as you emphasize good nutrition. In my family, growing up, we weren’t allowed to say that we “hate” or “don’t like” any food my mother made. Both of my parents required that we show respect for the effort my mom had made in preparing the meal.

We were allowed to say, “I don’t care for this very much.” Of course, that became something we joked about: imagine eight children saying that in the most proper British accent we could come up with. Imagine how I was mocked when I told my husband’s teenaged siblings that rule, when we were first married and I made broccoli soup for his large family. But the joking did help my two youngest sisters-in-law open their minds enough to try the soup—and one of them even liked it.

We learned good manners in addition to being open to new foods, and both are important to learn as we become adults and enter into social situations. I hereby publicly thank my parents for providing one nutritionally sound meal, three times a day, with the only “option” being to eat it or go hungry.