Trying To Teach My Kids Healthy Eating Habits

In the last post, we discussed the role government is taking in trying to reduce obesity among adults.  But, of course, the challenge of obesity isn’t just with adults.  It’s a generally accepted truth that about 1 in 3 kids is either obese or overweight in the U.S.  As we’ve discussed before, getting kids out to exercise more would help some with this problem, but the real solution lies in teaching our kids healthy eating habits.  That’s a challenge too, because we all know what kids love to eat, right?

My Kids Un-Healthy Eating Habits

I’ve got to start by acknowledging that I was a skinny kid.  I could eat absolutely anything I wanted and not gain weight.  As a teenager, a favorite snack of mine was peanut butter and corn syrup on white bread.  I could sit down and have 2 or 3 of these things.  Sometimes I would just slather a few tablespoons of white corn syrup on white bread and that was my meal.  Not exactly health food.  Conversely, a staple of my childhood eating was pinto beans and cornbread, and we regularly had a fully cooked breakfast of homemade biscuits and gravy.  There were only had a handful of restaurants, and we didn’t get our local McDonald’s until the year I graduated from high school.  As a kid, my eating habits just weren’t something I worried about in the slightest.  I ate what I wanted, when I wanted, and never gave it a second thought.  Eventually, of course, that process ended badly for me, and I’ve since trying to teach my kids healthy eating habits.

Imagine my surprise when, a few days ago, I found myself talking to my 9 year old about calories.  We had walked into a McDonald’s and he was begging for a large 10-piece combo.  Meaning nuggets, fries, and sugared-soda.  I’m a full grown man and I don’t eat that much food anymore!  Apparently, its true that teaching kids good eating habits by example doesn’t get the job done.  Truth be told though, my kids eating habits could be better, and I should have seen this coming.

Needless to say, his request got nixed.  He was told he could have the nuggets (no fries) and tea instead of soda.  And so, I found myself sitting at a table explaining the concept of calories, and how to make good choices when it comes to his eating habits.

I’ve been thinking about this conversation for a few days, trying to figure out if I was right, or how I could handle it better.  I understand and appreciate that kids love sugar and fried foods.  Heck, so do I, and I don’t want to deprive my kids of their little sins.  But at the same time, how do I, as a parent, balance that against trying to teach my kids good eating habits?  Go too far with it, and the subject of food will turn into a power struggle that will rebound against you.  Don’t go far enough, and your kids will have the bad eating habits so many kids have these days, which increases the risk of obesity later in life.

So, my wife and I have been talking a bit more about this subject over the last few days.  We don’t generally keep a lot of junk food in the house.  We don’t stock sodas, but there’s usually some ice cream and cookies around.  To be honest, I don’t believe that the foods we keep in the house presents a big deal when it comes to our kids eating habits.  The real challenge for our kids eating habits, as with most adults, seems to lie with eating out.  No matter how you slice it, restaurant food is just loaded with calories on average contains more calories than meals prepared at home.  Take for instance, the meal for which my son was clamoring.  I went to the McDonald’s website and tallied up the whole thing.  A 10-piece nugget, large fry, large soda, ketsup, sauce, and a small ice cream cone totals up to 1570 calories.

Yeah.  That would be a problem.

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