YMCA Healthy Living Magazine, powered by n4 food and health Spring 2018 | Page 9

RENAE REID, APD, AN, MNUTRDIET, BAPPSC (NUTRITION & FOOD)
Renae is a Sydney-based Accredited Practising Dietitian and the founder of Ambrosia
Dietetics. She specialises in the nutritional care of infants, toddlers, children and people
living with a disability. Renae also offers a home visiting service for National Disability
Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants. Learn more at www.ambrosiadiet.com.au
SHOULD FOOD BE
USED AS A REWARD?
Nutrition expert Renae Reid explores whether food should have a role as a reward at meal times.
arenting can be challenging.
There’s often conflicting advice,
and what suits one family may
not even be right for another.
P
When it comes to concerns about what
a child is (or isn’t) eating, it’s not
uncommon for parents to provide
rewards or incentives for eating
differently. But unfortunately, these well-
meaning
efforts
often
lead
to
unintentional consequences such as
further ‘fussy’ eating, and childhood
confusion about why and how to eat.
Offering a food reward – for example, ‘eat
your vegetables and you can have some
ice cream for dessert’ – sends the
message that food Y is a better than food
X, and that nothing good comes without
reward. If you try and think like a three-
year-old, you’ll soon appreciate that it may
be quite confusing as to why eating food X
is rewarded by food Y.
Through research we know that
pressuring children to consume more
fruit and vegetables results in most
children eating fewer fruits and
vegetables. The same goes when
children are rewarded for eating healthy
foods; human nature overrides and there
becomes a decreased preference for
eating these foods in the future.
colours on your plate tonight’ rather
than ‘you didn’t eat X.’)
Try and avoid using incentives or
rewards for eating particular foods, as
we know this can set up reduced
confidence in eating those everyday
foods (and could lead to an endless
shopping list of rewards to buy).
Here are a few tips to encourage your
kids to become confident and
competent eaters:
} } ‘Do as I do’, not ‘do as I say’.
Meaning, parents need to eat a wide
range of healthy foods if that’s what
you want your kids to do too.
} } Provide regular (but structured)
opportunities to eat. Breakfast, morning
tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and
supper is needed for most kids.
} } Avoid offering food rewards for eating
(or not eating). For example, avoid
saying ‘if you don’t eat X you can’t
have Y’, as this can be really
confusing for kids and muddles up
their hunger/eating cues.
} } Discuss internal cues to eating,
encouraging a recognition of the body’s
needs, rather than what the mind may
want. ‘I’m starting to feel a little bit tired.
My tummy is rumbling. I’m feeling
hungry because it is lunch time soon’.
Having mealtime routines will act as
‘cues’ to eating. This is often something
as simple as washing hands before
going to the table to eat. This transition
from one activity to a mealtime signals
to the bra