OH! Magazine - Australian Version October 2015 | Page 11

DR
JOANNA

SAY ‘FAREWELL’ TO
FUSSY EATING

www.drjoanna.com.au

( Nutrition )

Dr Joanna shares her tips to dealing with fussy eaters.
’m not sure that there is any easy
one-size-fits-all solution when it
comes to dealing with fussy eaters.

I

As any mum of a fussy eater knows, it can
be a daily struggle ending in tears when
trying to convince your child to stray
outside their food comfort zone.
As a mum myself, I know how hard it can
be, but turning mealtime into a
battlegr ound isn’t the solution. You want
your children to look forward to their
meals and enjoy eating together with the
family. Mealtime should be fun (or at
least pleasant), and never a source of
anxiety for you or your child.
New
research
from
Aston
and
Loughborough Universities in the UK has
found that parents can help banish fussy
by using the ‘three Rs’. This is similar to
advice that I’m sure you’ve heard before,
but its always good to hear that its been
researched in a group method.
So, what are the three Rs?
Repetition: offering a food repeatedly, day
after day in order to increase the child’s
exposure to the food.
Role modelling: eating the food with your
child and showing them how tasty it is.
Rewards: praising your child for eating
the food.

How was it tested?
A total of 115 children between the age
of two and four took part in the research.
They were divided into four groups and
given the same vegetable to taste at
home with their parents, everyday for 14
days. Each group was exposed to a
different combination of ‘R’ techniques
to encourage the eating of the new food.
The groups who showed significant
increases in the amount of vegetables
they ate and their liking for new
vegetables were those who were
introduced to the three Rs or the two Rs
(being ‘repeated exposure’ and ‘rewards’).
In fact, children exposed to the three Rs
ate an average of 4g of the vegetable at
the end of the two weeks, compared with
0.6g at the start of the trial.

Encouraging your children to eat
vegetables from a young age is vital as it
will set them up for a lifetime of good
habits. They needn’t be always on the
side. Try making veggies an integral part
of the meal so that not such a fuss is
made over them. My kids still pick some
veggies out of the meal, but I keep
putting them in there in the hope that
one day all of them will be eaten with
relish!
Using it at home
I have a rule in my house that they don’t
have to eat all of it, but they have to at
least try what’s on their plate. And of
course, I never force them to eat until the
plate is clean. Instead, children and
adults should eat until they feel satisfied,
but not full. Learning to recognise and
react to hunger cues is an important part
of healthy eating and weight maintenance.

Why it matters
We know that Australians (adults and
children) don’t eat enough fruit and
vegetables. Recently the healthy eating
pyramid was updated to ensure we
include even more vegetables in our day.

Learn more about the Dr Joanna Plate
and Dr Joanna’s fresh, personalised,
research-based approach
to getting lean at
www.drjoanna.com.au

My own Dr Joanna Plate recommends a
significant part of your food intake each
day is made up of vegetables. My Dr
Joanna Plate for Kids is slightly different,
as they do tend to need a greater energy
density of foods, but veggies should
still be about a third of the overall
meal.

( OH! MAGAZINE ) OCTOBER 2015

11