Rudd Sound Bites

Meal Dumb-Down

by Kathryn Henderson

The May issue of Parenting magazine recently arrived on my doorstep. I was initially excited by the article “Two-way dinners: Make it for kids, then tweak it for adults – and everybody’s happy!” This seemed like a great idea – after all, I spend a lot of time encouraging parents to put one meal on the table each night rather than making a different meal for each family member. The latter is time-consuming, reinforces the “eat what I want any time I want” mentality, and caters to pickiness. So I eagerly flipped to the article and was suitably…disappointed.

Food Marketing to Infants

by Kathryn Henderson

At the Rudd Center we have been working hard to improve the food environment in schools, and have recently launched a study to address nutrition and feeding behaviors in the preschool setting. In the spirit of our current trajectory, I am looking ahead to tackling infant feeding and infant formula is at the top of my list. During my pregnancy, I received (unsolicited) numerous cans of infant formula, and numerous coupons for formula. I came from the hospital with my daughter and two complimentary cans of formula. Since my daughter’s birth, I have continued to receive coupons for formula and free samples. This is all in spite of the fact that I have never purchased any formula or indicated any interest in purchasing it. I am sure it will not surprise anyone to hear that I have not received ongoing support for breastfeeding, despite overwhelming evidence that breast milk is superior to formula – even the formula companies acknowledge this.

Weight bias….for infants?

by Kathryn Henderson

How early do we begin to indoctrinate individuals with weight bias? I recently observed an interesting phenomenon in my daycare center. My 7 ½ month-old daughter is in a room with three other babies, one girl and two boys. My daughter happens to be tall (I believe they call it “long” when you’re not yet standing) but petite and delicate-featured, and on the slim side. The other little girl is two months younger but quite a sturdy little baby, already a few pounds heavier than my older but slight daughter. Of course, this other little girl is absolutely adorable. The parents of the two baby boys often refer to my daughter as their baby’s girlfriend, noting that their boys have a “crush” on her. This is never said of the sturdier little girl. I can’t help but suspect that size is playing a role here, even at this young age – for girls, small and petite is more attractive, while stocky is not “feminine”. These are kind, loving, well-educate parents….and yet we fall so easily into assuming stereotypes.

Is Harm Reduction Missing the Mark?

by Kathy Henderson

It seems to me that we are developing an approach to improving nutrition that feels very familiar. We’ve seen it applied to smoking, drinking, illicit drug use, and sexual behavior. And, in these other arenas, the approach has inflamed hot debate. Harm reduction is a public health approach intended not to eliminate problematic health behaviors, rather, to reduce the harmful effects thereof. Needle exchanges, reduced-tar cigarettes, providing a safe space to party for underage drinkers, and providing condoms to teenagers are all examples of harm reduction strategies. I would argue that 100-calorie snack packs, reduced-sugar children’s cereals, and possibly even elimination of trans fats fall into the harm reduction category. Why? Because it would be better if we didn’t eat Oreos at all, and didn’t serve crappy cereal to our children at all, and tried to consume lower fat and less processed food in general. But, if we’re going to eat Oreos, and Lucky Charms, and deep-fried Snickers bars, let’s make them as healthy as possible.

Virtual Pets, Virtual Movement

by Kathryn Henderson

I was introduced this weekend via The New York Times Sunday Styles section to Webkinz – a website in which children adopt virtual pets and take virtual care of them. The story was hilarious: it described parents who, when their kids are at camp, are put in charge of looking after the pets. The parents have to log onto the site several times per day to feed, play and otherwise care for the “animals”. One mother described spending a good hour per day on this task. (If no one logs on to do the caretaking, the virtual pet apparently gets “sick” and has to wear a telltale ice pack on its head.) What really amazed me about the Webkinz concept (beyond the fact that parents will devote significant non-pretend time to babysitting a pretend pet), is that we have sucked the physical activity out of yet another childhood pastime. Caring for pets used to involve actually walking the dog, or actually rolling around with the cat. Sure, maybe this is a fun idea for kids who wouldn’t otherwise be able to have a pet (e.g., those who live in an apartment complex or have allergies), but they could just as easily play with a stuffed animal at home, and not be glued to the chair in front of the computer.

Lost Cause?

by Kathryn Henderson

In last weekend’s New York Times Magazine there appeared an article on global warming. The gist of the article was that, at this point, global warming is inevitable, there is little we can do on any level to change the trend, so we might as well not let such worries get in the way of our enjoyment of today – my apologies to the author for over-simplification of his thesis but global warning is not my particular interest here. My interest is (surprise!) its potential application to the obesity epidemic. Like global warming, the problem of obesity can seem so huge as to be virtually insurmountable. Like global warming, its causes are complex, thus it is difficult to hold a single entity accountable. Consequently, it can seem pointless to pursue any effort at change: organizing a walking school bus or increasing consumption of fruit in the schools seems like a drop in the bucket. This “lost cause” mentality may be our biggest enemy yet…okay, not bigger than Coke or McDonald’s, but you get my point…

Baby blog 2

by Kathy Henderson

For years I have been treating in young children an atypical eating disorder that doesn’t really have an official name, but is best described as a very extreme version of picky eating. These children limit their intake to, say, 3 or 4 foods, all of which tend to be white/beige. The limiting is distinguished from the phenomenon of eating only one food for days or weeks by its longevity: these are kids who limit their foods for years. Treating the children is difficult, in part because they are often not motivated to change, but also because their parents – and in particular, their mothers – have difficulty implementing the intervention. I have seen mothers who pay their children to eat, buy them special toys or give special privileges for eating, will repeatedly make or re-make new meals if the child won’t eat what’s on offer, and generally reinforce the picky-ness by. These mothers cannot stand to see their children not eat. I am now, more than ever, convinced that this is biological.

Baby blog

by Kathy Henderson

After a hiatus from blogging, I’m back on the boards, but with a four-month-old baby in tow, so I thought I’d share some observations from early parenthood and my time away from the office. I have been reminded of the importance of environment, environment, environment with respect to my own eating habits. When I’m working in the office, I pack a lunch and whatever is in it is what I eat for the day. Our office building has the fortune/misfortune (depending on your perspective) of being located at quite a distance from most restaurants and corner stores, so I am rarely tempted to head out for extra snacks. And if I am, at least I get a walk in on the way. I discovered that being home, however, means being surrounded by food all day. I also discovered that snacks – particularly high-sugar ones – are very appealing when you’re exhausted and up to your eyeballs in diapers and baby laundry. My return to work has had the unexpected benefit of improving my diet, largely by virtue of access (or lack thereof). And if someone like me – who has access to all the best information and techniques about managing healthy eating AND by and large fills her home with healthy foods –  struggles, how can we expect the average stressed out person to manage the food chaos that surrounds us?

Isn't Health Enough?

by Kathy Henderson

There is a lot of talk these days about providing more nutritious foods and beverages and less junk to students at school; I’m proud to say that Connecticut has made great strides on this front. One interesting debate that emerges in this context is whether improved nutrition and/or decreased overweight/obesity in children will lead to better academic outcomes. Similarly, we also ask whether improving nutrition will save us all money in the end. Often, it seems that we need to prove this to be the case before it “makes sense” to change the food environment in schools (or elsewhere). I’m not sure why we need to frame the issue this way: why is it not enough just to improve health because better health is a good thing? Why does it need to make us smarter or richer? If our kids are dying from lifestyle-related illnesses at the age of 30, it’s really not going to matter much how smart or rich they are.

Picky Eaters: Where Did They All Come From?

by Kathy Henderson

I have many friends and acquaintances with young children and I treat clinically children and parents of young children. Because I’m interested in food and weight, I attend to the eating patterns of kids, and I’ve noticed that there seem to be a lot of “picky eaters” out there. When I think back to my own childhood, I don’t recall so many kids fussing about food. My brother and I, and most of our friends, ate whatever was served – we weren’t required to finish our plates if we were not hungry or if we didn’t particularly like the fare, but we weren’t offered multiple alternative menus. In fact, we didn’t ask for alternative fare because it would not have occurred to us that there would be that option. When we went to another family’s home for dinner, my parents did not call ahead to check out what would be served and to ensure that we would like it – we knew we would just eat whatever was served.

Unhealthy snacks a public nuisance

by Kathryn Henderson

This weekend I attended a performance of The Nutcracker at my local theater – very well done so kudos to the New Haven Ballet. However, my local theater appears to have deemed it necessary hold a candy concession both before the performance and during intermission. What this means for the performance, of course, is that theater-goers are subjected to the crinkling and crackling of candy wrappers throughout its entirety. Clearly, I am annoyed by this intrusion on my enjoyment of the ballet. But it brings to mind the bigger question of why the average person cannot go two hours without eating, worse, without eating an array of unhealthy foods (although I will admit that the performance would have been equally disrupted by the crunching of carrot sticks). Must we have access to food at every moment of every day? And, to acknowledge the food industry’s role in this, must we be provided access to food at every moment of every day?

Food waste and obesity

by Kathryn Henderson

National Public Radio (NPR) ran a story recently on Morning Edition, addressing the problem of Americans wasting (i.e., throwing out) food – apparently, to the tune of $600 per person per year. In the context of an obesity epidemic, this would not seem our nation’s most pressing problem – wouldn’t it actually be better for us to be throwing out more food? However, a closer look reveals some ties between the two issues. First, we tend to waste food that is perishable, and the most perishable items are fruits and vegetables – the very foods we want people to be consuming in greater quantities as part of managing weight. So targeting the consumption of these foods (i.e., eating them instead of letting them rot in the crisper) would seem to serve both the purpose of reducing waste and improving nutrition. Second, one major source of waste is our preparation of too much food. We know that large portion sizes contribute to eating too much, so the solution to the problem of both waste and over-consumption is one and the same: prepare less food. The politics and history behind food waste in America is fascinating, by the way….check out NPR’s website once the transcript has been posted.

Toxic workplace?

by Kathryn Henderson

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the Annual American Eatfest. Beginning Nov 23 and running through the New Year, most Americans will dine their way through the holiday season. Most Americans will also complain about how difficult it is to maintain during this period the healthy lifestyle they may be striving toward. The workplace plays an interesting role in this struggle. Many of us will be hosting various holiday parties over the next several weeks, and will consequently have leftovers at home. We often decide that we don’t want the temptation of having these “not so good for us” foods around to tempt us, so what do we do? We take them to our workplace so they can tempt everybody else. Couple this with holiday parties in the workplace and gifts brought in by appreciative clientele and, by the end of December, we have collectively created a toxic landfill of sorts in our places of employment. One way to make a difference this year is to try to change that habit. If you don’t want to be plagued with temptation, chances are others would rather avoid it as well. Some options are to (a) prepare less food so you don’t have so many leftovers to deal with; (b) prepare fewer “not so good for you foods” and more healthy foods, so leftovers don’t feel so problematic; (c) work toward a policy at your workplace, whereby everyone agrees not to bring in unhealthy foods; (d) plan celebrations that involve healthy foods or, better yet, that are focused around non-food activities. 

Y...Not?

by Kathryn Henderson

I was recently speaking with an acquaintance who was extolling the virtues of our local Big Y’s “Little Y Kids Club.” This is a service provided to parents of children ages 3 to 9; they may drop off their children for up to two hours of child care while the parents are shopping. Let me state up front that, overall, this is a fabulous program and service to the community; not only does it provide a break for parents while they shop, but the caregivers engage the children in an educational craft project that switches up weekly. My complaint lies in the parting gift that is received by children, at least at our local Big Y: a cookie. In addition, according to the Little Y section of Big Y’s website, if children attend the Little Y program during the month of their birthday, they receive a coupon for a free piece of pizza and a soda. I see this as an opportunity lost. As a large full-service grocery store, Big Y has at its disposal many healthy snack options and non-food items. For example, how about a “fruit of the week” snack or some kind of non-food birthday treat such as a packet of stickers or fun pencils? Again, Little Y is a great service for parents, and with a little tweaking could become a healthy one, too. 

Strange bedfellows

by Kathryn Henderson

A new partnership between fast food and obesity research has emerged: McDonald’s Corporation recently announced a donation of $2 million to Scripps Research Institute to fund research on obesity and Type 2 diabetes and, specifically, diabetes testing and education for financially disadvantaged children.   

The right thing to do

by Kathy Henderson

We spend a lot of time talking about how to change behaviors: of individuals, of communities, of corporations, of government officials and bodies. This leads to a lot of discussion about what kinds of incentives are appropriate to produce certain kinds of desired behaviors. Well, I recently spent some time on the West Coast of Canada and the trip caused me to reflect on our reliance on incentives. I encountered individuals, families, communities, and businesses that devote time, money, and energy to practices that are environmentally sound, nutritionally sound, supportive of children, and supportive of disadvantaged groups – and not because they are receiving an incentive, rather, because it is the right thing to do. That particular geographical area seems to support a culture of “doing it because it is the right thing to do.” While incentives, if they are the right ones, and big enough, are very effective in eliciting certain behaviors, I worry that we are perpetuating a culture of “doing it because I get something out of it.” In the long run, I think this approach may have negative repercussions for our society….the notion of individual, community, corporate, and government responsibility – really, everyone’s responsibility – for working toward improvement becomes “only my responsibility if I’m paid for it.” Is this really the right thing to do?

Helping parents set limits

by Kathy Henderson

According to their website, www.limitv.org was developed “to educate parents, teachers and children about the many ways excessive television viewing can damage a child’s ability to learn, and to recommend alternatives to excessive television viewing.” The organization is also at the ready with research on exactly why TV is bad for kids, especially young kids: they detail the impact on brain development and academic outcomes.

One to watch

by Kathy Henderson

I recently came across an interesting website. Marathon Kids is a school-based fitness program – based largely in urban centers in Texas, although spreading to California – that also incorporates other aspects of health: in the program’s own words, it is a “free, endurance-building running/walking/nutrition/gardening program for kindergartners through 5th graders.” Focus is on the family as well as the children, and the goal appears to be making fitness fun for all, with the sedentary child as its particular target. Seems like a pretty great idea to spread around. The downloadable resources are, at this point, a little sparse, and I’m not so keen on all fare in the “Recipe Korner”; one recipe has kids making snacks of chocolate pudding, oreos, and gummy bears (editors of www.marathonkids.com, please take note!). However, the overall philosophy and hitherto achievements of the program are sound and impressive. An added bonus: one of the corporate sponsors is Whole Foods Market! So keep your eye on this one.

To Know, or Not To Know?

by Kathy Henderson

In the July 23 edition of the New York Times magazine an article titled “Silent Green”, by Rob Walker, appeared. The story focuses on the marketing of “GDiapers”, an eco-friendly diaper with washable cover and flushable, biodegradable lining. Interestingly, the company owners opted not to extol the environmental virtues of their product, rather, to focus their advertising on the product as trendy and high-status. The article references a paper from the journal Environment titled “Avoiding Green Marketing Myopia”, which notes that the key to mainstream success for environmentally friendly products is focusing on cost-effectiveness, convenience, and status, and not on eco-virtur.

Obesity and eating disorders: Why aren’t we all on the same side?

by Kathy Henderson

There appears to have been a recent resurgence of the battle between those in the eating disorders field and those in the field of obesity. Specifically, eating disorder specialists are concerned that efforts to curb obesity in children will result in increased disordered eating behaviors.

Burgamerica

by Kathryn Henderson

A new and unusual tome has entered the children’s section of your friendly neighborhood bookstore. Eric Schlosser, with Charles Wilson, has produced a “younger” version of his bestselling Fast Food Nation, titled Chew on this: Everything you don’t want to know about fast food. Targeting children ages 9-15, the book details the workings of fast food joints and, in particular, the make-up of the food.

Outside of those with an economic interest in the maintenance of the American fast food habit, it’s hard to imagine who would quibble with providing basic information to America’s kids. But the book has evoked some surprising controversy. While some reviewers have sung its praises, others have criticized it for inaccuracy and misleading spin. Regarding the latter, one writer claims that the make-up of fast food is no different than the make-up of any other food, and that our inability to eat in moderation is the real problem. It is noted that there is no difference between a fast-food version of hamburger and fries, and hamburger and fries prepared by mom, except that the portion mom serves is likely to be larger and therefore higher in fat and calories.

But what such arguments fail to recognize is that, in this writer’s view, fast food has been instrumental in producing a major cultural shift such that we now envision our diets very differently – we expect to eat burgers and fries on a regular basis, and fruits, vegetables and brown rice have become occasional tourists on our plates. It’s not just the burgers, rather, it’s the phenomenon of Burgamerica that has landed us in the mess we’re in today.

Bzzz

by Kathryn Henderson

NPR recently aired a segment on buzz, or bzzz. It’s a relatively new marketing strategy, used to promote all manner of products. It’s simple. It’s extremely low-tech. It is, in a word, word. Of mouth. The best part? It’s free. Bzzz Agents, as they are called in the bizzz, are volunteers. Yes, volunteers. They have agreed to advertise for free. Or, at least, for free plus a “bunch of free stuff”, as one of the FBAs (Free Bzzz Agent, my acronym) so eloquently put it.  Click here for the full story on how the program works. The Coles’ Notes version is that the “agent” agrees to try a product and talk it up, in return for free samples of this and other products. Apparently, agents are even encouraged to inform those to whom they are advertising that they are, in fact, advertising. This evidently has little impact on the effect of the advertising. Hmmm. I thought we were smarter than that.

 A couple of points to consider. It’s already a full time job to monitor advertising marked as such, and to attempt to limit its impact on ourselves and our children. For example, I can mute the television ads; I need a little extra ingenuity to identify and monitor the more subtle versions of advertising such as product placement in entertainment, or purported “news” programs advertising other programming or entertainment under the guise of “news”. But what’s to be done about this new and insidious strategy, whereby those we love and trust become message vehicles?