Ever feel like you're fighting an uphill battle when it comes to feeding your kids healthy food? You plan a well-balanced lunch—but then your daughter gets a donut and fruit punch at her morning soccer game. You pack a nutritious lunch for your son—but he begs you for the Lunchable he saw in a commercial.
Pediatrician (and mom) Natalie Muth feels your pain. "The food environment directly and severely impacts children," says Muth, MD, RDN co-author of The Picky Eater Project and member of the Executive Committee for the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Obesity. Childhood obesity rates have climbed–and led to a higher risk among kids for high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, and fatty liver disease, conditions that used to only be seen in adults.
Here's Muth's advice for everyone from the government, to the food industry, to parents at home:
Sally Kuzemchak, MS, RD, is a registered dietitian, educator, and mom of two who blogs at Real Mom Nutrition. She is the author of The Snacktivist's Handbook: How to Change the Junk Food Snack Culture at School, in Sports, and at Camp—and Raise Healthier Snackers at Home. She also collaborated with Cooking Light on Dinnertime Survival Guide, a cookbook for busy families. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. In her spare time, she loads and unloads the dishwasher. Then loads it again.
