Although, when did food become age appropriate? That’s exactly what author Nancy Tringali Piho is asking and arguing in her newly released book My Two-Year-Old Eats Octopus: Raising Children who Love to Eat Everything.

I positively loved this book, and as an expectant mom, thought it should become a must-read for every expecting parent. The book introduced ideas that I hadn’t yet thought of, made me think about issues that I hadn’t paid too much attention to, and even justified some of the expectations I have for feeding my child-to-be.

Piho spent her career working in PR and marketing for the food industry, so she’s well-versed in what it is “they” are selling to us, and trying to convince us that our children need. The book is really a quick and enjoyable read that includes anecdotal quotes from chefs, parents and celebrities about the task of feeding their children, including Piho who boasts about how her two young sons have an appreciation for food rarely seen in children. More important, My Two-Year-Old Eats Octopus breaks down the task of introducing our children to the world of solid foods in a way that will cause them to be excellent eaters as a child and grow to have an appreciation for food throughout life.

The book is filled with a candid humor and uses that to draw you in to the more serious conversation the author wants to have with you as the reader. And it really does feel that way, like having a conversation. Piho never attempts to be some all-mighty expert, instead she explains that she’s a mother with food industry experience and a bit of a foodie who has found this disconnect between how we’re feeding our children and teaching them about the quality, importance and benefits of food.

Highlights of My Two-Year-Old Eats Octopus include:

• What Piho calls the Big Three. Piho explains that the American children’s diet contains too much fat, sugar and sodium, what she refers to as the Big Three throughout the book. She discusses how the diet rich in packaged foods influences the growing childhood obesity trend and repeatedly offers ways to avoid and reduce them in your child’s diet, like sticking to fresh foods.

• Make your own baby food. I found this to be one of the most valuable sections of the book. Piho discusses the limited palate American babies have, blamed on the baby food industry for offering only a limited variety of foods. In other countries baby food comes in black beans, lamb, papaya and broccoli, as well as a host of other flavors our babies never experience because they aren’t considered local favorites. She shares a taste-test wherein several flavors from different baby food brands are tried and found to have zero resemblance to the real food, not to mention a lot of sugar and sodium. No wonder our kids hate vegetables! She espouses the many benefits of preparing your own baby food at home, as it gives you better control over the food your baby will eat, will save money, and help your baby’s palate develop.

• No kid foods! That means kids eat what you eat. They learn table manners, how to appreciate the meal that is prepared for them, how to dine out at a restaurant, and much more. Plus, your child will enjoy a broader variety of foods and be far less likely to be a persnickety eater, making both of your lives easier.

Get your copy of My Two-Year-Old Eats Octopus today, released November 1, 2009.

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My Two-Year-Old Eats Octopus Teaches Balanced Eating for Kids

Michelle Obama will be featured in a segment with four young children and introduce the idea of vegetable gardening. She’ll show them, and Big Bird, how planting seeds in the ground will yield fresh, healthy vegetables like carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce.

Last week Michelle Obama announced childhood obesity as one of the issues she would focus on, and Sesame Street is a fitting place to share that message, encouraging young children to eat a balanced diet that includes many vegetables.

It’s also fitting segment as the first lady introduced the first White House vegetable garden since Eleanor Roosevelt. A recent episode of Biggest Loser showed contestants harvesting vegetables from that garden to make a delicious and fresh White House Salad.

Tune-in for a blast of nostalgia, or with your kids and introduce a new generation to this iconic children’s show that has taught the ABCs and 123s to a global audience for nearly half a century.

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Tune In: Michelle Obama on Sesame Street

Plus, you can put their busy little hands to work to help you prepare these for their school parties or for a fun-filled Halloween night at home.

Trick or Treat Trail Mix

A simple snack to fill goody bags, or just keep handy during a scary movie, this trail mix takes minutes to prepare. Pretzles, reduced-fat cheese crackers, dried fruits, nuts and a few M&M candies will have them asking for more!

Sugar-Free Dirt and Worms

This is a funny little snack that sends imaginations running wild. Fill tiny flower pots or Halloween paper cups with pumpkin pudding, homemade granola and sugar-free gummy worms you make yourself for an unforgettable treat.

Caramel Apple Salad

Forget the sticky mess that caramel apples typically yield, and instead serve this twist on fruit salad. It’s made with fresh apples, butterscotch pudding, pineapple and Cool Whip, and even the big kids are going to enjoy it.

Caramel Apple Dip

Kids love finger foods and dipping – so let them scoop up this creamy, sweet fruit dip with apples, pears or even a carrot stick!

Pumpkin Walnut Muffins

Whether for breakfast or a snack, these bite-sized muffins are perfect for tiny hands and enjoying all the warm flavors of fall.

Frosty Pumpkin Smoothie

Halloween a little warmer where you live? Then whip up this sugar-free treat, that tastes like a pumpkin pie in a glass!

Crock Pot Chili Mac

Set the slow cooker and go! This tasty and hearty meal will make your Halloween evening more manageable. The kids will love that the goulash presentation looks a bit gory, too.

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Healthy Halloween Recipes for Kids

No, I’m not kidding. Spinach is a fine food and a great addition to an entire roster of dishes – but not, in my mind, a yummy addition to my beloved chocolate chip cookies. Which are just fine on their own.

I think that vegetables are a tricky subject for many kids. Vegetables have strong flavors, and many children are averse to them, but in my mind sneaking them into other, less nefarious foods is the wrong tact to take. Don’t get me wrong – I frequently add shredded carrots to my bolognese sauce, for extra flavor, and have been known to add cauliflower chunks to my homemade macaroni and cheese – but my kids know that I’ve done so.

The carrots add a sweet taste and cauliflower with cheese sauce is just yummy, no matter how you prepare it. But adding pureed veggies to other foods doesn’t teach your child to appreciate the subtle nuances of a fresh carrot, the brilliant hues of steamed broccoli and the strong flavor of fresh brussel sprouts. Any mom can tell you that it takes exposing a child to a new vegetable more than a few times before a child can appreciate it, but once your child has learned to enjoy it, it’s a good feeling indeed. Sneaking nutrition into a sweet robs the child of that experience.

One way that we’ve solved the veggie issue is to to offer fresh veggies 30 minutes before a meal and allow the family to eat as much of the tray as they want. I also let the kids pick the vegetable for dinner, and they often prepare it; and we do use a generous sprinkling of grated cheese on broccoli and peas. Also, I’ve tried a few of the recipes involving veggie purees added to foods you wouldn’t ordinarily pick, and they were not very palatable to me or my kids.

I think it’s important for your child to try new foods and learn to like them, but I know it’s a highly volatile issue. What has been your experience?

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Sneaking Vegetables Into Food Cheats Kids

So before your well-intentioned efforts of healthy school lunches resemble more and more like your New Year’s resolutions in mid-February, the School Nutrition Association has declared the week of October 12-16 as National School Lunch Week. The organization is dedicated to supporting schools in creating healthy, nutritious and affordable school lunches.

But if you are one of the millions of American families who are less than pleased with your child’s school lunch program, there are actions you can take to help improve the quality and variety of the food available in the school cafeteria. The School Nutrition Association has provided these following effective tips:

• Don’t rely on your child’s word, visit the school cafeteria and observe (and dine) to determine for yourself what today’s school lunches are like. Just clear it with the school’s principal first to make sure it’s OK.
• Write down your questions and concerns first.
• Make an appointment with the food services director and present your questions and concerns in a positive manner.
• Keep in mind that both you and the food services director wants your child to have a nutritious and balanced lunch that he or she will enjoy.

Also, consider talking with other parents and school administrators about starting a school garden project or working with local farmers and food suppliers to distribute seasonal and fresh fruits, veggies, dairy and meat to your child’s school.

The more active role you play in your child’s school lunches, the more confident you will feel that the few dollars you stashed in their backpack will buy them a healthy and nutritious lunch.

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You Can Improve School Lunches During National School Lunch Week

According to the researchers, there hasn’t been much research done on these kinds of programs for severely obese children.

“Modest weight loss is associated with real health benefits. That’s the take-home message, it’s worth doing,” says Dr. Marsha D. Marcus of the University of Pittsburgh, one of the authors of the study.

The study examined children in the upper one percentile of obese children. Most weight loss was modes – just five to 20 percent of the excess weight that they carried. But what they got out of it was a significant reductions in their waist size, and systolic blood pressure.

The downside was that once the children left the intervention program, they returned to their previous weight pretty quickly – less than a year.

Dr. Marcus asserts that the only way the childhood obesity crisis can be reversed is through a synergistic approach on all levels of society – families, schools, health policy makers, and the rest of the community.

(via: Yahoo)

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Obese Kids See Big Benefits from Small Weight Loss

1. Keep the sugar low - I remember when I was a child my mom always told me never to buy cereal with a sugar count over the magic number of “10.” Ten grams of sugar means that the box is 10% sugar, and that’s high enough for it to still be tasty.
2. Whole grains count - just like when you shop for bread and pasta, whole grains are important in cereals as well. Whole grains are processed by the body slower and keep your child from suffering an insulin crash.
3. Fiber, fiber, fiber – tastier and easier to encourage a child to eat than a prune, shoot for a cereal with about 3 grams of fiber per serving.
4. Protein is a muscle builder – protein is metabolized slower and helps to keep the body fuller for a longer period of time, crucial on school days when concentration is key. Try to find a cereal with at least two grams of protein, and remember that the milk you pour on it – be it cow, soy or a nut milk – adds additional protein, so drink up every drop.

Despite these guidelines, it can be tough to get the kids weaned off of the sugary stuff. One trick that works really well in our family is to mix one box of a very low-sugar cereal – think Cheerios, Grape Nuts, etc. – with a higher, more child-friendly request – Lucky Charms or the like.

What are your family’s favorite low-sugar choices? Mine include Mighty Bites, Kix, Life and Mini Wheats.

Also read: The Best (and worst) Breakfast Cereals

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Four Ways to Make Breakfast Cereal a Winner

On September 17, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the USDA will partner with the NDC and the NFL on their new youth-led health and wellness program, Fuel Up to Play 60. The program, launching to more than 60,000 schools nationwide this fall, will empower youth to take charge of their own health by being more active and eating healthier foods as well as improve the overall health of their school environment and community.

The program is open to all children and participation is quite simple:

1. Kids must Pledge to make their bodies and their schools healthier by committing to eat healthy, play at least 60 minutes every day, and participate in fun activities in and out of school.
2. Kids must Track their progress online or on paper, including their new healthy eating and exercise habits.
3. Kids accumulate Points on their Fuel Meter by sticking to their healthy habits, referring their friends and getting their schools and teachers involved. Each point they accumulate increases the student’s chance to win prizes.

The competition, which starts October 15 and lasts until March 15, is divided into two terms: From mid-October to December 15 and then from February 1 to March 15, 2010. Students in each state who have amassed the most points at the mid-term will win an iPod touch and an NFL gift card.

The two grand prizes will be awarded to one individual at the end of the competition. And grand they are! One lucky and healthy child will partner up with an NFL player for a Fuel Up to Play 60 promotion and receive a healthy makeover complete with a day spent with an NFL player and his personal trainer.

The Fuel Up to Play 60 is a fun and effective way to get thousands of kids from 4th to 10th grades to improve their nutrition and physical activity.

For more information or to register your child, go to the Fuel Up to Play 60 website.

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NFL Fights Childhood Obesity with Fuel Up to Play 60

I have lots of kids. Lots of kids means lots of treats and lots of birthday parties, lots of trips to the beach with snacks and lots of visits to the movie theater where it’s much cheaper to buy the jumbo popcorn – after all, SOMEONE will eat it, right? Well, no. It’s my job as a parent to keep them healthy, and in my house, that means limited fast food, no juice (except for V-8) and cakes and cookies on special occasions.

It means finding other ways to bond with my kids that don’t include food – playing Wii, for example, or kicking the soccer ball. It means family wide participation in Muay Thai, walks on the weekend, signing up to run a 5k together and working together to make a salad to serve with dinner.

It means lessons in grocery shopping so that they learn the secrets to healthy cooking. It means trying – and believe me, I know how hard it is! – to break that “let’s reward a good day with a scoop of ice cream!” trap that so many of us fall into. It’s worth it, though. Your kids and your family and the very health of all involved is entirely worth it.

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Living a Healthy Lifestyle Begins in Childhood

Guest blogger Jean is a mom to three young sons, one of whom is on the autism spectrum. She has spent many years trying to find ways to entice her autistic son to eat healthy food. She writes about her life and her kids on her blog, Stimeyland.

“C’mon, Jack, just take one bite. Please?”

You hear this a lot at my house. Jack is my autistic son, and he does not care for new food. Nor does he care for familiar food, especially if it is a fruit or vegetable. He has about 15 foods he will happily eat, and he is usually unwilling to stray outside that list.

We’ve tried many things to get him to eat: Fruit in smoothies! Vegetables hidden in spaghetti sauce! Raisins hidden in cookies! But he just takes one tiny sip of the smoothie and walks off. He cleans the sauce off of his pasta with his cup of milk. And if he finds a raisin in his cookie, he will spit it out. In fact, he’s started to avoid cookies because of the unwelcome surprises he’s found in them.

All of this has left me with a need to be even more creative in getting nutritious food into him. I’ve gone so far as to make him brownies stuffed with spinach, (which he actually fell for).

So how do I get him to eat healthily? Vitamins, for one thing. If he won’t eat his nutrients, at least I can give him some in pill form. Age has helped. As he gets older, he has become more willing to take (teensy, weensy) bites of healthy food. I also offer him things that I wouldn’t expect him to like. For instance, he loves cottage cheese. I never would have guessed.

I still only make one dinner and he knows that he eats it or goes hungry. So sometimes incentives help. He’ll often try one bite of a new food if we offer him another dinner roll as a reward. Fortunately, those rolls are whole-wheat! I figure the more bites he takes, the more likely he is to one day take a second bite.

I don’t know that there is a good answer to finicky autistic children. Consulting a nutritionist is always a good idea, but what I’ve found is that we just have to try, try, and try again.

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Feeding a Finicky Autistic Child