"Eating Healthier as a Family: Ten Small Changes
that Can Make a Big Difference"
Changing
a family's diet requires two crucial elements: patience and persistence.
Keep in mind that this is a long-term project so go at your own pace. Decide
upon a change and stick with it. Don't let them see you waver.
1. Explain that changes in your family's diet benefit everyone's
overall health, not just the child with diabetes. Eating more vegetables, fruits,
and whole grains while avoiding sugar, white flour, and processed foods pays
healthy dividends for everyone.
2. As we struggle with our own eating impulses, we know how hard it is to deny
ourselves without support and encouragement. Think of your family as an organization
like Weight Watchers. Your job is to keep a close eye on your child's
ups and downs, set limits, and offer constant praise and encouragement.
3. When you shop, concentrate on the outer edges of the store where you find
fresh produce, meat, fish, whole grain breads, dairy, and frozen fruits and
vegetables. Avoid the cookie, cracker, juice, candy, and soda aisles.
4. Each time you place an item in the shopping cart, consider whether it has
nutritional value. If it doesn't have vitamins, minerals, protein, or
fiber, leave it in the store.
5. When you get home, wash and cut up the fruit and vegetables and put them
on a shelf in the refrigerator so that they are the first thing your children
see when they open the door.
6. Place a snack plate of green pepper, carrots, cucumbers, celery filled with
peanut butter, and some ranch dressing next to your children when they are watching
television, playing computer, or doing homework. Over time, add pieces of raw
broccoli, cauliflower, baby tomatoes, red peppers, snap peas, green beans, or
celery filled with cream cheese. You can add chunks of cheese, rolled up cold
cuts, and fruit as well.
7. A salad at dinner gives everyone raw, enzyme-rich food. Serve it before
the meal when your children are really hungry.
8. Feed your children at home before parties. This will help them limit themselves
to one or two slices of pizza and a small serving of cake or ice cream. Feeling
full, they may be able to skip the frosting, the cookies, and the candy.
9. Save dessert for special occasions rather than keeping sweets in the kitchen.
A walk to the ice cream store makes it a treat and less accessible than reaching
into the freezer.
10. Take your time and take small steps. Picky eaters need to taste foods many
times before they will accept them. You can move from white bread to a slightly
darker oat bread before introducing a hearty whole wheat bread. Just when you
are ready to give up, you may find your child is ready to give in!
Laura Plunkett is co-author of the book "The Challenge of Childhood Diabetes:
Family Strategies for Raising a Healthy Child".
Laura Plunkett has a BA in Psychology with Honors from Brown
University. She has been a head teacher in a preschool intervention program,
a research assistant to Dr. Aaron Beck studying anxiety disorders and depression,
and had a thriving therapeutic private practice for 14 years with families,
individuals and couples. She is a workshop leader and public speaker who is
comfortable with large audiences and often speaks together with her mother on
issues of parenting. Her avocation during Danny's illness has been doing research
on the latest developments in diabetes and nutrition and corresponding with
researchers and specialists in many countries. She is a member of the Juvenile
Diabetes Research Foundation.
