Toddlers Have Bad Eating Habits - USAToday

[vegma]

The article outlines the problem, but doesn't mention solutions such as breastfeeding and vegan diets!! It always astounds me that in light of the SAD so many parents feed their children, we are the ones who are questioned!!!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2003-10-26-toddler-eating_x.htm

[Raven67]

it is so ironic to see how alarmed health care providers become when you mention that you are vegan, yet, the "typical" American diet is so atrocious and no one bats an eye. The diet consumed by these "typical" toddlers is so horrible, it ought to be called, "a diet for chronic disease." No fruits and veggies on any given day. Lots of crackers, sugar-juice, candy, and hot dogs all day long. I know it is hard to get toddlers to eat, but if the parents didn't offer this crap, the kids wouldn't be eating it. These are just babies! The sad thing is that this is what the rest of the family is consuming, too.

[frenchie]

I'm baffled that people actually feed *infants* solid food!!! This article is so disheartening. I don't understand how parents can feed junk to their children and feel good about it. Occassionally I catch a talk show on TV with obese babies. 2 year olds that weigh 175lbs!! I weighed less than that 9 months pregnant!! I think there is a serious problem in this country when CPS knocks on the door of a vegan family, because that child is "more than likely suffering from malnutrition"....where is CPS when an infant is so obese that mom can't even hold him/her. People have somed skewed views......?

[alexis]

you know...accodring to my dad, people are still stuck in this mindset that the fatter your kids are, the better it is because it indicates that you have to kind of money to keep them well fed... Among alot of older chinese people, it's a shameful to have children who are slim or even thin because that means that the parents can't 'feed their kids well'....maybe that's still the mindset of alot of people...anyway i just witnessed first hand what can happen with kids and junk food yesterday...my four cousins threw the mother of all tantrums just because they 'didn't have ice cream all week'....i say don't even let them taste it in the first place...:rolleyes:

[vegma]

"don't even let them taste it in the first place"

Alexis, exactly! We went to a small-town parade recently where people on the floats throw candy to the children. Ds (almost 4yo) had no idea what it was and wasn't interested in it. We were with a relative that disagrees with our diet. I truly think she was appalled that ds didn't go for the candy ... go figure! On the other hand, we had a picnic later and ds was overjoyed to find a special treat ... an individual size Chocolate Silk soy milk:)

[Fiona]

Vegma, I think that many people interpret a vegan diet as some form of deprivation because it shifts the emphasis away from questioning their own diet. It's amazing how eating vegan somehow translates as 'going without', when really, many vegans have an incredibly varied diet.

Fiona

[annie7]

We have soooo many choices with our food. Alot of people just don't "get it". They think we graze the salad bar and that's it! THEY are the ones who seem limited. Look at any mainstream restaurant menu ... chicken, beef, or fish. Even fast food. I'm so glad for the variety we have and not feeling "locked" in to one thing over and over. I know someone who claims to be just sick and tired of hamburgers, but brings home burger take out almost every other night!

[alexis]

It's silly really, i mean when you think about it, an omnivore diet is pretty much restricted to four different kind of meats and perhaps one or two kinds of vegetables...face it, those people don't eat their veggies much...while we get plenty of different kinds of stuff because we're forever experimenting to eat a 'varied diet'....so who's the restricted ones here????????

[annie7]

And there's this restaurant in Arlington Heights right outside of Chicago IL that is so wonderfully diverse. So many cultural foods are represented, its great....Italian, French, Indian, Thai, Mexican, American, Middle Eastern...I love to just take my time with their menu, I swear it must be ten pages long at LEAST ! And it is ENTIRELY vegetarian. Most of that is vegan! I love it. We try to drive up there at least once a year, because the next closest thing for us is Taco Bell (LOL).

[sarahrose]

I get tons of grief from my in-laws that my daughter is underweight, which she is not. She is, according to her doctor, what kids should be physically- lean, muscular, and strong with a thin layer of baby fat, slightly chubby cheeks and dimples on her hands and elbows. It is just that some older, old fashioned people associate bulk with health. my mother in-law was showing pictures of her sons as kids to me. They were, in my opinion, overly fat, and she said (adoringly) "I had such chu-I mean, healthy, kids". She was going to say chubby, relating it, in her mind, to her kids bulk as a sign of good health, fed on good, high protein hotdogs! She changed what she was going to say because she knows I disagree, and I'm sure she knows I'm right ,too! ( Just wont admit it because that would be admitting that my vegan daughter is far healthier than her formerly unhealthy, meat fed kids.)