Promoting healthy eating while still allowing some treats

Cara Natterson, MD Pediatrician & Author, shares advice for parents how to successfully promote healthy eating in kids while still allowing them some treats
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Promoting healthy eating while still allowing some treats

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The reason that we talk about nutrition so much with kids is that we want them to grow well when they are young, and we really want them to have good habits in place when they are older. The goal isn't just for now, it's for their whole lifetime. You have to allow some junk in their lives, otherwise, it's just not fun and the kids left out. I, by the way, consider junk anything that is sugary, candy, soda, and sweets; but also, high fat foods, french fries and things with very little nutritional value. There are a couple of ways that people can do this in their own home. However you choose works well. You might have your child choose one treat a day, and when they have had it, they have had it and that's it. You might have no treats all week and have one special day where they can kind of go all out. The most important thing is that your pantry and your fridge is filled with healthy options, not with a bunch of junk that you tell your kids they can't touch. It is the coveted food. The foods that they can't have are the ones they start to desire. Pack your house with lots of healthy alternatives. That way, when the junk is around and available, they will learn it in moderation and they will learn healthy habits over a lifetime.

Cara Natterson, MD Pediatrician & Author, shares advice for parents how to successfully promote healthy eating in kids while still allowing them some treats

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Cara Natterson, MD

Pediatrician & Author

Cara Natterson, MD has treated thousands of children and guided their parents as well. She was a partner at Tenth Street Pediatrics in Santa Monica, California, a large group practice serving infants, children and teenagers. She now runs Worry Proof Consulting, the first of its kind pediatric practice that offers parents open-ended time to review everything from medical questions and biology basics to child development and parenting issues. Cara is also the author of several books on parenting and child health. She has a unique ability to translate cutting edge research into understandable terms for parents and their kids. More recently, Cara’s consulting has extended beyond individual families to include fortune 500 companies seeking expert advice on safety issues, child health, and crisis management.

Cara has appeared on television, in print, and on the web. She is a graduate of Harvard College and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and she trained in pediatrics at the University of California at San Francisco. Cara is a Board certified pediatrician and a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. And anyone who knows her knows that Cara is, by nature, one of the most risk-averse people on earth. She lives in California with her husband and two children.

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Transcription: 
The reason that we talk about nutrition so much with kids is that we want them to grow well when they are young, and we really want them to have good habits in place when they are older. The goal isn't just for now, it's for their whole lifetime. You have to allow some junk in their lives, otherwise, it's just not fun and the kids left out. I, by the way, consider junk anything that is sugary, candy, soda, and sweets; but also, high fat foods, french fries and things with very little nutritional value. There are a couple of ways that people can do this in their own home. However you choose works well. You might have your child choose one treat a day, and when they have had it, they have had it and that's it. You might have no treats all week and have one special day where they can kind of go all out. The most important thing is that your pantry and your fridge is filled with healthy options, not with a bunch of junk that you tell your kids they can't touch. It is the coveted food. The foods that they can't have are the ones they start to desire. Pack your house with lots of healthy alternatives. That way, when the junk is around and available, they will learn it in moderation and they will learn healthy habits over a lifetime.