Betina Thygesen

"New beginnings" is often a newsletter title used in the spring, a time that makes us all feel like a bit of a detox before bringing skirts and short sleeves out of the closet. 

This, however, is the end of the summer and the new beginnings I have in mind concern our children and their long-term health. In September, much is always written about children’s diet together with all the rest of the going back to school concerns. AND when it comes to diet, there is good reason to be concerned. The New York Times did print one such article a few weeks back: ”Raising Smart Eaters”. The article does raise some good points and advise, in my opinion though, there is especially one issue where I strongly disagree with the opinion of the writer who starts the article by stating that: "children have always been picky eaters”, turning parents into victims of the struggle of figuring out what kinds of foods their children will eat! 

I wonder what these (impossible and difficult) children did 150 years ago, or more to the point what are they, who live in countries where food is precious and not available in abundance, doing? Can it really be true that children have always been picky eaters? I do not think so. 

A couple of decades ago, I worked as a nanny in Paris, taking care of four children aged 2-11. Coming straight from Denmark (and a diet of potatoes, meet, salt & pepper, and dairy) I was amazed to experience the diet of these children that I had to cook for and eat with. Blue cheese, artichokes, olive paste, tabouleh, hummus, cooked greens , food that I was very unfamiliar with. In the whole year that I was there, candy was never seen, ever, and no sodas either. Three squares of dark chocolate and a glass of juice were served at 4pm when the children got home from school. Dessert was usually nuts and fruit. I am happy to say that the children all survived – one even had the energy to come visit us here in Connecticut last year. 

If we feed the children sugary cereals for breakfast, Oreo and Doritos as a school snack, give them money to buy pizza and nuggets for lunch, let them snack on cookies, ice cream, and popcorn when coming home from school, and then cook macaroni and cheese for dinner, we cannot expect the children to know that all of these items are NOT FOOD. These food like substances might consist of carbohydrates, fats and proteins, but they are not nutritious and vibrant, they are not even that appealing, all tasting more or less alike, all with more or less the same color (shades white) except the ones that are artificially colored! 

It is a fact that the primary prevention for obesity, eating disorders, and long-term disease is to teach children sensible dietary behaviors and a healthy exercise regime from an early age. If children are fed pizza, nuggets, taco’s and tortilla chips continuously throughout their early years, they will quite likely continue this pattern throughout life, likely at the expense of their health and wellbeing. 

I suggest that it is not the children’s fault that they do not like food any more,but the parents’, the schools’, the television adds’, McDonald’s (for making these toys), and Sponge Bob (for having his photo on fruit roll-up boxes). 

I also suggest that we all do something to change this – for the sake of the children. Let’s not reward good behavior and excellent grades with toxic food, which by the way doesn’t mean that a good quality ice-cream is forever banned. Let’s not hand out green Gatorade and cheese-flavored popcorn to the entire team after a basketball match. Let’s, as parents, be the good example – children learn from us, they want to be like us (really instinctually!!), and they enjoy being part of a community. It has been like that since the beginning of times. 

Let's once again follow Michael Pollan’s advise of eating: “food, not too much, and mostly plants!” this time for the sake of the next generations, 

Bon appétit!