They Say: Kids Still Not Getting Enough Fruits and Veggies
Remember a few years ago when that study came out that French fries were the favored vegetable of toddlers and preschoolers, and, in fact, were sometimes the only vegetable kids get in a day?
Well, that study has been updated, and the news is better, but not great. The Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study, or FITS, found that while kids still don’t get enough fruits and vegetables, there’s some good news as well. Mothers are breastfeeding longer, and kids are consuming fewer sweets and sweetened drinks.
But still, a quarter of older infants, toddlers and preschoolers don’t eat a single serving of fruit on a given day, and even more, 30 percent, don’t eat a single serving of vegetables. That’s about the same as the last time the survey was done, in 2002.
Back when the 2002 study hit the headlines, I rolled my eyes and thought “Geez, I can’t believe how badly people feed their kids! They just need to offer them a wide variety of foods and not offer junk and they’ll eat just fine!”
Do I need to tell you I hadn’t had my first kid yet? And that kid actually was a pretty good eater — likes vegetables, likes fruit, will eat sugar until the cows come home but at least she’ll eat good stuff. Kid number two, however, has been raised in the same family, was actually breastfed longer than the first kid, and gets offered a wide variety of good foods and every meal includes a vegetable or fruit yadda yadda. Guess what? Child is picky as can be and refuses most fruits and vegetables and left to his own devices would eat nothing but carbs and cheese forever and ever amen. Our dog is the prime beneficiary of my well-balanced meals since everything he doesn’t like goes right over the side of the highchair.
I should also add that the study was funded by Nestle. Yes, the chocolate people, who also make baby formula, Gerber baby food and those horrid processed toddler foods. Puffs aren’t fruit, people, no matter how much they try to make them seem like the next best thing.
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Tags: child nutrition, feeding infants and toddlers study, feeding kids, FITS, Gerber, nestle, nutrition, they say, what to feed your baby
7 Comments
Ali commented on Oct 28 09 at 8:46 pmFruits are loaded with sugar and should only be eaten sparingly. Vegetables are loaded with carbs and are not god for everyone in large amounts. No two people are the same, let them eat what their body needs and control the sugar.
GP commented on Oct 29 09 at 7:32 amThanks, where did you say your degree in nutrition was from? Because last I heard, fruits and vegetables were good for you. Yeah, I don’t think we should stress TOO much if a kid won’t eat them (especially if they’re still breastfeeding) but we should always offer fruits and vegetables and have the kids see us eating them. It seems like most kids like *some* fruit, at least. I don’t see the problem with the sugar in fruit, personally, there is usually so much fiber with it that it provides some balance, metabolically. I don’t think children need to worry about the whole carb craze either.
puasamanda commented on Oct 29 09 at 9:13 amI get that fruit has a lot of sugar in it, and vegetables have carbs (and carbs aren’t BAD, people, let’s get over that one…we need them in certain amounts to function) - but aren’t they also loaded with vitamins, antioxidants, and other good stuff? Also, as for fruit, there is a big difference between fruit sugars and refined sugar.
leahsmom commented on Oct 29 09 at 10:02 amHey I have a question - is this a new development? Like, is it new that kids don’t eat fruits and veggies, because they are picky? Or has this been going on since “the memory of man runneth not to the contrary” (or whatever that silly phrase is)? I know that kids need much higher amounts of fat than adults do, for brain growth and development - are we sure they need the amounts of fruits and veggies the media reporting is claiming? Or is this just trying to make fearnews out of nothing?
Manjari commented on Oct 29 09 at 10:12 amAli, my kids eat about 3 servings of fruit and 3 or 4 servings of vegetables a day. I am not at all worried about the sugar and carbs in fresh produce. There is a big difference between a fiber-rich, sweet fruit and say, a donut. The idea that fruits should only be eaten sparingly might hold true for my father, an older, diabetic man. Kids don’t need to be so careful about fruit.
Kikiriki commented on Oct 29 09 at 2:31 pmAli, kids don’t need to count carbs, and fruit is a fine choice for food. Perhaps you mistakenly switched this forum for the Atkins forum (which is NOT good for kids, either).
Jen C commented on Oct 30 09 at 12:41 pmAmy said: Back when the 2002 study hit the headlines, I rolled my eyes and thought “Geez, I can’t believe how badly people feed their kids! They just need to offer them a wide variety of foods and not offer junk and they’ll eat just fine!”
Yeah, me too. I now have a three-year-old who only eats rice and peanut butter.
