What Would Batman Do? Teaching Kids to Eat Right the Superhero Way.

Research likes this drives me crazy because it leads parents down the "garden path."

It makes the solution to a picky eating problem seem easy, like all you've got to do is find the right trick.

Ask your child what Batman—or any superhero of your choosing—would order at a fast food restaurant and you can kiss your kid's bad eating habits goodbye.

Or at least, that's what happened in the study.

• Researchers showed children photos of admirable characters like Batman and asked the kids to say whether they thought this person would order apple "fries" or French fries.
• The children were then offered a choice of eating apple "fries" or french fries.
• The children who thought Batman would order the apple "fries" were more likely to order the apple "fries" themselves.

The conclusion: The right prime helps children make the right choice.

I have a lot of respect for these researchers—Brian Wansink and his colleagues at Cornell's Food & Brand Lab do interesting and important work. Read Mindless Eating and you'll see what I mean.—but these kinds of trick tips don't work.

Let me modify that: These kinds of trick tips don't work unless you already have a child who eats pretty well. If you're stuck in the mud with a real problem eater don't expect too much.

For starters, parents rarely implement trick tips the way researchers do.

This is one of the points I always make about getting kids to try new foods.  Researchers ask kids to taste new foods. Parents ask kids to eat new foods.  There's a big difference.

In this study, the researchers calmly asked the children to reflect on how their favorite superhero might eat and then let the kids choose to eat whatever they wanted, chips fall where they may.

Parents implementing this strategy, however, will inevitably put on the pressure.

• Don't you want to eat like Batman?
• Do you really think Batman would eat french fries? I think Batman would choose apple "fries."
• You better eat your apple "fries" if you want to grow up like Batman.

Trick tips makes parents think that if they could only find the "right" trick tip their children would voluntarily eat right.

Then, when the trick tip doesn't work, these parents think they need to find another, more powerful trick tip.

Or, these parents give up trying because they believe that their child, somehow, has developed a superhuman ability to resist eating right. Teflon Kid. Able to deflect eating solutions in a single stroke.

It's not the parents who have failed, though, it's the trick tips.

Trick tips don't work when they are presented as islands unto themselves—pieces of advice that are disconnected from any kind of cohesive teaching strategy.

Even if trick tips work once or twice, they aren't a strategy you can use for the long haul.

Don't you think the Batman question would get a little old? 

• Would Batman choose cereal & fruit or french toast?
• Would Batman choose pizza or a salad?
• What do you think Batman would do at this buffet? 

Let's face it, trick tips have a pretty short shelf life.

I think of trick tips as icing on the cake. Icing is good, but it's nothing without the cake.

The foundation that supports the trick tips (or icing) has three main componenents: 

1. Make sure that your child is learning the lessons you intend. Read Conscious Parenting.
2. Emphasize a strong (but compassionate) structure that stresses variety.  Read End Picky Eating with The Rotation Rule.
3. Eliminate as much pressure as you can. Read The Pressure-Cooker Problem.

Yes, it's a little more complicated than this, and there are a lot of other points I could make (an entire blog's worth of points actually), but these three components will get you started.

The public discussion about how to teach children to eat right is filled with trick tips.

• Cook with your kids.
• Garden with your kids.
• Go grocery shopping with your kids. 

Implement these trick tips if you want, but don't expect them to solve your problems on their own. Integrate them into a suitable structure, however, and they'll definitely help get your kids where you're going—towards a lifetime of healthy eating.

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

Source: Wansink, B., M. Shimizu, and G. Camps. 2012. “What Would Batman Eat?: Priming Children to Make Healthier Fast Food Choices.” Pediatric Obesity 7(2): 121-23.

Why I'm Not So Unhappy about the New Happy Meal

By now you’ve probably heard that McDonald’s is getting ready to roll out its new Happy Meal.  Nutritionists are not impressed.

Marion Nestle says, “If McDonald’s were serious, it could offer a truly healthier Happy Meal as the default and back it up with marketing dollars.”  Read Nestle’s complete statement.

Instead, the Happy Meal hoopla boils down to a meal that now will include:

• 3 or 4 slices of apple
• one ounce less of French Fries
• Less sodium

From a nutrition perspective, these changes don’t amount to a hill of beans.  But from a habits perspective, they’re worth considering.

It’s easy to scoff at the addition of 3 or 4 apple slices to the Happy Meal, but who else can so easily convince kids to eat apples?

I’m not saying that I wouldn’t like to see bigger changes.  Of course I would.  But I’m looking forward to seeing what happens when McDonald’s puts its branding might behind apples.

I’m sure you think most kids will eat the fries and dump the apples; don’t be so sure.  Branding shapes taste preferences.  (I guess that’s what a $10 billion advertising campaign can buy you!)

Check this out:

Researchers in California asked a group of preschoolers to taste two sets of carrots.  One set was placed on top of a McDonald’s French fries bag.  The other set was placed on a plain white bag.  What do you think happened?

The kids preferred the McDonald’s carrots.  Identical food.  Different packaging.

The researchers took McDonald’s French fries.  They placed some in a McDonald’s bag and some in a plain bag.  The preschoolers said the McDonald’s French fries tasted better—even though the plain bag fries were also McDonald’s fries.  Identical foods. Different packaging.

The same thing happened when the researchers presented the children with Chicken McNuggets and with milk: the kids thought the branded food tasted better.  (See, kids don’t really know what they like. They know what they think they like!  Read Mind over Matter.)

If McDonald’s can do this for apples…  

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

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Robinson, T. N., D. L. G. Borzekowski, D. M. Matheson, and H. C. Kraemer. 2011. “Effects of Fast Food Branding on Young Children's Taste Preferences.” Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 161(8): 792-97.

How Do You Like Them Apples?

Apples are pretty much the perfect snack.  These days, lots of places -- McDonald’s, Burger King, even Target -- serve them.  I think it’s great.

Unfortunately, these places are also pairing their apples with caramel dipping sauces.  That’s not so great.

After the success of souped up milk – chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, cookies ‘n cream anyone? -- manufacturers have realized the magic of enhancing fruit too.   But when fruit needs to be made more appealing, you know we’re in trouble.

It's not just the practice of eating caramel-dripped apples that wreaks havoc on our kids' habits, though.  It's the cumulative effect of adding sweetener to foods -- including those already sweetened by nature -- that trains our kids' taste buds in the wrong direction.

Of course, you know what the dipping sauce does to nutrition.

Here’s how Target’s 2.25 oz serving of apple slices with caramel dip stacks up to a plain, old apple. 

Calories

• Apples: 34
• Apples with dip: 70

Sugar

• Apples: 7g
• Apples with dip: 14g

Sodium

• Apples: 0mg
• Apples with dip: 25mg

The “at-least-they’re-apples” argument has some merit.

That’s how McDonald’s gets away with dishing up an additional 70 sugary, salty caramel calories with their apples.  Anything looks good compared to French fries.

On the other hand…

1) The more kids expect foods to be highly sweetened, the less likely they are to eat foods that don’t meet the sugar threshold.  Think broccoli, asparagus, and peas.

2) Overlooking the extras in one snack makes it a treat, but when sugary enhancers are added to meals and snacks throughout the day, that’s a lifestyle.  In addition to caramel dipped apples, most kids also eat sweetened yogurt, cookies, sweetened (even if only lightly) cereal, ice cream, fruit strips, juice, and the list goes on.

According to the American Heart Association:

• The availability of added sugars has increased by almost 20% since 1970, adding 70 calories a day to the American diet, with no increase in physical activity.

• Children between 1 and 3 years old now take in an average of 12 teaspoons of added sugar per day.

Target’s caramel sauce has 5 different sources of added sugar.  (1) High fructose corn syrup, then (2) sugar and (3) corn syrup in the condensed milk, then (4) some more sugar, and finally, just to make sure the sauce is sweet enough, (5) a little more corn syrup. 

 How do you like them apples? 

~ Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits. ~

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Source:  Product labels; http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1809/2, accessed 3/30/2010;http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/nutritionfacts.pdf, accessed 3/30/2010;  Johnson, R. K., L. J. Appel, M. Brands, B. V. Howard, M. Lefevre, R. H. Lustig, F. Sacks, L. M. Steffen, and J. Wylie-Rosett. 2009. “Dietary Sugars Intake and Cardiovascular Health: a Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.” Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association 120: 1011-20.