During pregnancy it is likely for your appetite to wax and wane. You may find yourself overeating, or under eating on any given day. While this can be the “norm” during pregnancy, it isn’t necessarily good for you or your baby.

During the first trimester, especially if you are dealing with morning sickness, you might find that you don’t have any appetite and can go hours without eating. You might find that unless you force yourself to eat, you could go all day and it wouldn’t bother you. This is not healthy as your body needs food for energy to help your baby grow.

The opposite can be true in early pregnancy as well. If you are one of the lucky ones, feeling fantastic and enjoying the pregnancy glow with very little or no morning sickness, you might find that your appetite is huge, or at least, that it is bigger. You may find yourself wanting to eat everything in sight. It is important to watch how much food you eat, especially the amount of sweets as you do not want to gain an unhealthy amount of weight during your pregnancy.

A pregnant woman should eat extra calories during her pregnancy, but contrary to popular belief, she should not “eat for 2” or double the amount of calories that she normally takes in. A woman only needs an extra 300-500 calories a day to have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby, and most experts say these extra calories aren’t needed until after the first trimester.

As the second trimester begins you may find that your appetite comes back (if you lost it during the first), and that you are more interested in food again. Use this time to eat healthy and gain back any weight you have lost. If you had a large increase in appetite during the first trimester you may find that it normalizes and stabilizes during these 13 weeks.

As you enter the third trimester when your baby will do most of its growing, you are likely to feel an increase in your appetite. Your baby will put on the majority of his weight during these last 13 weeks and your body will need more food to feed your baby. Try to make sure you are making healthy choices, and try to stay away from desserts and sweets as much as possible.

As the end of your pregnancy nears, you may once again see a decrease in your appetite. The baby has gotten so big he is probably pushing on your stomach and not giving it as much room to expand. You may find that you are getting fuller faster, and that certain foods once again do not appeal to you. If this happens try to eat smaller, healthy meals as a way to get the calories and nutrients to your baby, while not making yourself fill up so much that you want to skip meals.

By Judy Williams

You have made the decision to grow your own vegetables. It’s a lifestyle and health choice. You want the best for your family and there are no shortcuts on the way. Good for you!

So now you’ve got all these wonderful fresh vegetables growing in your garden how do you get the kids to eat them? We should be eating 5-9 servings of fruit and vegetables a day. Many adults don’t get the full servings required and you know the kids are getting a fraction of that.

If you’ve got problems getting vegetables into the kids, try a few of these strategies…

by Patti Teel

Food has a huge impact on a child’s well-being. It can energize, increase hyperactivity or induce fatigue. Just as a lack of sleep can jumble a child’s thinking or cause learning problems, so can an inadequate diet. Each child is a unique individual, and it’s unreasonable to think that “one size fits all” diet advice is realistic.

Children seem to be born not only with an emotional temperament but with a food temperament. For instance, my son has always had a particular suspicion and aversion to any food that is green; however, he doesn’t care much for sweets. In direct contrast, my youngest daughter has always loved vegetables and from the time she was a toddler, her favorite food was broccoli. Unfortunately, she also inherited my sweet tooth.

Diet is critical for children’s health and everything that we eat affects us. However, it affects each of us a little differently, depending on our individual makeup and metabolism. For instance, some children are highly sensitive to sugar and any form of sweets in their diet. For them, sugar consumption can aggravate many problems such as hyperactivity, anxiety, nervousness, irritability, and poor concentration—all of which can lead to sleep difficulties.

We all know that children are healthier and sleep better if they eat a healthy diet containing a variety of foods from all the food groups. Unfortunately, some children can be incredibly picky. I don’t think it’s a good idea to cater to a child’s every whim or to battle over food. Fill your house with healthy foods and snacks and don’t get in the habit of buying junk food. That way, when your children are hungry, they will have no choice but to eat healthy and nutritious foods.

In addition, children are much more likely to be interested in eating meals that they have helped plan and prepare. Buy a healthy children’s cookbook and have fun planning and preparing nutritious meals and snacks together.

Healthy Tips:

by Cheryl Tallman and Joan Ahlers

Some of the key nutrients in brown rice include B vitamins, maganese, selenium, iron and fiber. The health benefits of brown rice read like a laundry list to disease prevention and boosting the immune system. These benefits include lowering cholesterol, reduced risk of diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, stroke and colon cancer, reduced severity of asthma, and lower frequency of migraine headaches.

Whole grains, like brown rice may also help women in weight management. An obesity study conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health showed that women who consistently consumed more whole grains weighed less than women who consumed fewer.

When it comes to eating brown rice, most people discover the nutty flavor is far more appealing than the bland taste of its stripped down relative.

Age to introduce: About six months old in the form of infant cereal only. About 12 months for cooked grain texture.

At the market: Brown rice contains natural oils, which can turn rancid on the shelf. For packaged rice, check for usability dates and when buying in bulk, choose a store that has a high turnover. If organic brown rice is available, consider purchasing it over conventionally grown rice. Conventionally grown brown rice has been found to contain small traces of arsenic. While the levels of arsenic are low and will not cause immediate illness, the build up of arsenic in the body, might be linked to some cancers.

Storage: Oil-rich brown rice will turn rancid at room temperature. If stored in a tightly closed container in the refrigerator or freezer, it will stay fresh for up to a year.

Tips on cooking rice: Rice can be a little tricky to cook perfectly. Here are a few tips from the U.S. Rice Federation that will help you out:

• Accurately measure rice and liquid.
• Set timer to prevent under or over-cooking.
• Keep lid on pot during cooking to prevent steam from escaping.
• Rice triples in volume. Use cookware appropriate for the amount of rice you are preparing.
• Do not stir. Stirring releases the starch, resulting in rice that is sticky.
• At the end of cooking time, remove lid and test for doneness. If rice is not tender or liquid is not absorbed, cook 2 to 4 minutes longer.
• When rice is cooked, fluff with fork or slotted spoon to allow steam to escape and keep the grains separate.

For those who plan ahead, soaking brown rice overnight cuts the cooking time dramatically. Soak the rice in the measured amount of water you’ll need to cook it, and cook it in the same water, adding more if necessary. DO NOT drain the rice after soaking it, nutrients will be lost.

And for those who do not like to cook rice, you can pick it up from your local Chinese restaurant. Almost all Chinese restaurants offer a choice of white or brown rice.

Here are some creative and tasty ideas for adding brown rice to your family meals: Never serve a boring side dish ever again. Adding a few simple ingredients to brown rice will put a gourmet spin on any family dinner. After your brown rice has been cooked, and while it is still in a hot pan, try adding any of these ingredients:

• Chopped cilantro, parmesan and lemon zest with 2 tablespoons olive oil.
• Chopped mango, black beans, 1 tablespoon lime juice and 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Chopped, cooked shitake mushrooms, green peas, sesame seeds (or a drizzle of sesame oil) and 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Chopped tomatoes, scallions 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Chopped pineapple, cilantro and 2 tablespoons coconut milk
• Chopped cooked carrots, sliced almonds, and fresh parsley and 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Creamed spinach, crumbled gorgonzola, and chopped walnuts
• Chopped cooked broccoli, cubed firm tofu, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon olive oil

Don’t throw out leftover rice. It is great to have on hand for stirring into soups and broths. You can also use it to make terrific salads, here are two simple recipes.

Veggie Brown Rice Salad
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked brown rice
1/2 cup corn kernels (roasted is a nice touch)
2-3 seeded, chopped plum tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped green and red pepper
2-3 chopped green onions
1/2 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions: Toss all ingredients in a bowl, add salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

Fruity Brown Rice Salad
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup vanilla or lemon yogurt
1/4 cup of honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice.

Directions:
Toss all ingredients in a bowl and serve.

About the Authors
Cheryl Tallman and Joan Ahlers are sisters, the mothers of five children and founders of Fresh Baby, creators or products such as homemade baby food kits, baby food cookbooks, baby food and breast milk storage trays, breastfeeding reminders, and child development diaries. Visit them online at www.FreshBaby.com and subscribe to their Fresh Ideas newsletter to get monthly ideas, tips and activities for developing your family’s healthy eating habits!

By Cheryl Tallman and Joan AhlersA festive drink for the Holiday season. One the whole family will love.

Ingredients:
1 pear peeled, cored and cut in chunks
1 cup of egg nog (dairy or soy)
2 ice cubes cracked
Dash of cinnamon

Directions:
Place all ingredients in blender. Blend at high speed for 15 seconds. Makes 2-3 kid-size servings, or 1 1/2 cups.

About the Authors
Cheryl Tallman and Joan Ahlers are sisters, the mothers of five children, and founders of Fresh Baby. Raised by parents who love fresh foods and entertaining, their mom, a gourmet cook, ensured that they were well-equipped with extraordinary skills in the kitchen. Both with long track records of business success, they decided to combine their skills in the kitchen with their knowledge of healthy foods and children to create Fresh Baby. Cheryl and Joan put a modern twist on the conventional wisdom that when you make it yourself, you know it’s better. Their goal at Fresh Baby is to make the task of raising a healthy eater a little bit easier for all parents. Fresh Baby’s breastfeeding accessories and baby food making supplies provide parents with practical knowledge and innovative tools to support them in introducing their children to great tasting, all-natural foods – easily and conveniently. Visit them online at www.FreshBaby.com and subscribe to their Fresh Ideas newsletter to get monthly ideas, tips and activities for developing your family’s healthy eating habits!

Vegetarian parents oftentimes want their children to follow in their footsteps for ideological, environmental, or health-related reasons. However, teaching children to forego certain foods, especially when their friends are enjoying them, can be a real challenge. Here are some tips on how to introduce your child to a vegetarian diet so that he or she grows up making healthy dietary choices.

1. Start Young
   Adult eating habits oftentimes stem directly from the way that they ate as a youngster. By starting your children on a vegetarian diet early, you can plant the seeds for a healthy adult life.
   The younger the child, the easier the transition to a vegetarian diet will be. Infants and toddlers can thrive on vegetarian foods, and they can learn to love this diet early on in life. Older children can also make the transition to a vegetarian diet, but it will be simpler if you start your children on the diet when they are young.
2. Make Sure the Diet is Balanced
   Children’s nutritional needs are even more urgent than adults, since they are creating bone and burning energy at an even higher rate. With a vegetarian diet, it is particularly important that your children have a balanced diet that is high in calcium, protein, and minerals like B12 that are usually found in meats.
3. Lead by Example
   If you want your children to have a healthy vegetarian diet, you should show them how to do it by sticking to a vegetarian diet yourself. Children will learn faster by watching you than simply listening to your directions. Make sure that you not only stick to a vegetarian diet, but make healthy eating choices within that diet.
4. Explain Why
   Even very young children will want to know why they can’t eat the same foods as their friends and neighbors. Explain your reasons for sticking to a vegetarian diet in an age-appropriate way for your child so they will understand the need for making healthy dietary choices.
5. Provide Plenty of Choices
   Convincing your child to enjoy a vegetarian diet will be much easier if he or she doesn’t feel deprived. Keep a wide variety of vegetarian snacks, meals, and desserts on hand. Even strict vegan diets have room for cakes and cookies that are not made with animal by-products, so be sure to take full advantage of these recipes to keep your child satisfied.

Ultimately, your child is going to be the one to make the final decision about his or her eating habits. As children age, you can no longer watch over everything they choose to eat. However, if you can instill good eating habits when they are little, the chances are much higher that they will continue to make good choices as they age. By showing your child that a vegetarian diet can be delicious, healthy, and environmentally friendly, you can encourage him or her to hold to these ideals as an adult as well.

About this Article
Article provided courtesy of Only Cookware – a resource for cookware sets, stainless cookware and enamel cast iron cookware.

by Edward Abramson, PhD

If you observe carefully, you’re likely to find that you eat more than you need. There are several steps you can take to reduce the size of your portions without being hungry or feeling deprived. Dr Edward Abramson, author of Body Intelligence: Lose Weight, Keep It Off, and Feel Great Without Dieting, has some advice for you!

First, and most obvious, is to emphatically say “no” when asked, “Supersize that?” If you just can’t pass up a “bargain,” bring along a friend, order the larger size, and split it between the two of you. Otherwise, remind yourself that the regular portion will satisfy your physical hunger. Several studies have demonstrated that when you eat a food until you’re no longer hungry, it stops tasting good. The extra food in the jumbo size wouldn’t have provided any additional enjoyment; it would have just left you feeling bloated and angry with yourself, so you shouldn’t feel deprived when declining jumbo portions.

Second, recognize that controlling portion size requires that you read the labels carefully to avoid being misled. For example, a snack package of Grandma’s Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies has 200 calories, nine grams of fat, and twenty-eight grams of carbohydrates per serving, but if you read the label carefully, you’ll find that a serving is only one of the two cookies in the package. More than likely you’ll eat both cookies, so you’ll consume twice as many calories, grams of fat, and grams of carbohydrates.

Sam, a forty-six-year-old engineer who had lost twenty pounds, learned that the price of continuing weight loss was eternal vigilance. Having avoided desserts for most of the week, he decided to stop at a convenience market after dinner to indulge his love of ice cream. He was doing everything right: he had eaten sensibly so he could allow himself a treat, he had finished dinner so he wasn’t hungry, he wasn’t using the ice cream to soothe any emotional turmoil, and he was planning on giving the ice cream the attention it deserved to get the maximum enjoyment from it. He spent a few minutes in front of the freezer case examining its contents before choosing an ice cream sandwich made with two cookies. He did some mental calculations and decided that he could afford the 295 calories listed on the label. When he got home he noticed that the serving size was “1?2 sandwich.” The sandwich was perfectly round; there were no notches, dotted lines on the wrapping, or anything else to suggest that it should be cut in half. Sam struggled for a minute before deciding that he couldn’t afford 590 calories, cut it in half, and put one half in his freezer before enjoying the other half.

Check the label on a package of pasta. The caloric values are for a two-ounce serving yet most recipes call for at least four ounces and restaurants may serve seven or eight ounces. You have to read the nutrition labels very carefully.

Third, slow the pace of eating. One study found that eating slowly was associated with greater weight loss for women in a weight-control program. When you’re eating take smaller bites, put the knife and fork down frequently, talk more (remember, it’s not polite to talk with your mouth full!), and stop eating for a minute in the middle of the meal, while there is still food on your plate. Don’t distract yourself by reading or watching TV while you’re eating. Pay attention to what you’re eating. Notice the texture and temperature of the food and see if you can identify any spices that were used. If you focus on your eating, it’s likely that you will be satisfied with smaller quantities of food.

Finally, review your Eating Records paying particular attention to the “Excess” column. While overeating is a general tendency that occurs in many situations, see if there are any particular “Times,” “Foods,” or “Location/People/Circumstances” associated with the checks in the “Excess” column. If you find any circumstances that make overeating more likely, you can plan to substitute low-density (high-fiber, high-water content) foods when you are in that situation.

About the Author
Edward Abramson, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized expert on eating and weight disorders who lectures to professional and lay audiences around the world. He is a professor of psychology at California State University and a former director of the Eating Disorders Center at Chico Community Hospital. Dr. Abramson has appeared on “Hard Copy,” “20/20,” PBS, “Good Day LA,” “Joan Rivers,” and other TV and radio programs, and his work has been written about in Reader’s Digest, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Self, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and other major publications. For more information, visit www.dredabramson.com.

When it comes to eating the right foods before you get pregnant in order to help you conceive and have a healthy pregnancy, it basically comes down to common sense. There are some things you should keep in mind however.

Healthier Eating
You should try to stay away from foods that are high in fat and sugar content. Look for more healthy choices and eating more vegetables and items that will not only help you be healthy but will give your baby a better shot at being healthy. Try to buy foods that are organic and pesticide free, as well as hormone free dairy products.

You should try to stay away from uncooked fish, meat and poultry, as well as cooked fish such as swordfish, shark, and king mackerel which may contain large mercury counts which would not be good for your baby if you were to get pregnant. A woman should also stay away from raw eggs, including batters and dough made with them, as well as unpasteurized milk and certain soft cheeses. You should always make sure you clean and cook raw fruits and vegetables thoroughly before eating them.

Folic Acid
Folic acid is a big ingredient to getting pregnant, staying pregnant and having a healthy baby. Before trying to conceive a woman should make sure that she is getting enough folic acid a day either from prenatal vitamins or from foods including leafy green vegetables, fortified cereals, breads and orange juice.

Beverages
You should cut back on all beverages including coffee and soda, while trying to drink more water daily. It is recommended that a person drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water a day, while some say that a person should drink half of their body weight in ounces of water a day is a good rule of thumb.

Caffeinated beverages will only help to dehydrate you. Studies have shown that a large intake of caffeine can lead to it taking longer to conceive (International Food Information Council Foundation). However when these studies looked at smoking and alcohol use while drinking caffeinated beverages the results were inconclusive. It is best for a woman to just steer clear from caffeinated beverages before and during pregnancy.

The most vital time of a baby’s development often occurs before a woman even knows she is pregnant, between 3 and 8 weeks. Because of this and the damage that alcohol can do to a fetus, it is suggested that a woman should stay away from all alcohol leading up to and during the time she is trying to get pregnant, as well as while she is pregnant.

The most important thing for a woman to remember is that everything she eats or consumes while trying to conceive is in her body when she is trying to conceive and can affect her baby. While many of us will eat and do things that we know are not good for us, would we willing give our child something that we know is not good for them? The best time to start developing healthy habits for your child is before you conceive that child.

by Cathy Strahl

Do you have a young child whose weight or eating habits are out of control? Need some real world help with ‘taming the cookie monster’? Here are some things that worked for our family.

Our daughter, now 14 years old, was plump from birth and thrived happily for her first year on a combination of breast milk and formula. When she was completely weaned and eating only solid foods, however, she began to gain a great deal of weight at an unhealthy rate. This continued for the next year until, on the advice of her pediatrician, we began to modify our daughter’s eating habits. She was barely two years old, but her doctor felt strongly that we should make some changes before her weight became a lifelong problem. The goal was to prevent further weight gain until her height could catch up with her weight, without depriving her of nutrition or having her feel deprived of the comforting aspects of food.

I’m happy to report that our daughter is now a slender, healthy teenager with good eating habits and no ‘food issues’, but learning how to modify our family’s eating behavior was a long trial and error process. Because she was still mostly pre-verbal, discussing nutrition or reasoning with our toddler was not an option. We kept trying new things and learned over time what worked for her. (These tips should prove useful with older children as well but are NOT meant to replace professional advice: Be sure to talk to your pediatrician before changing or restricting your child’s diet.)

Here are some important lessons we learned:

by Elizabeth Pantley, Author of Kid Cooperation and Perfect Parenting

Question:
My child wants to eat only her two favorite foods: cereal and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She eats tiny amounts of any other food and complains about what’s put in front of her. What can I do about this?

Think about it:
As long as your child is healthy, and is of normal height and weight, relax your attitude about food. The more you worry and scold, the bigger battleground food will become. In addition, if you also have specific rules about food, and enforce them with a calm demeanor, you’ll have fewer battles.

Offer healthy choices:
Limit the high-fat and high-sugar foods that are available to your child. Offer healthy choices and don’t worry so much about the occasional food jags. Evaluate your child’s diet on a weekly, not daily, basis. Most kids, when given nutritious options, will eat a balanced diet when viewed over a weekly time period.

Schedule:
Have a specific schedule for meal time and snack time, and don’t allow snacking on unhealthy food at other times. (A piece of fruit or a veggie at any time is fine!) If your child is hungry when a meal is served she’ll more likely eat what’s put in front of her. Modify meal times, if possible, to take advantage of your child’s hungry parts of the day. As an example, most kids are truly hungry when they walk in the door after school. Take advantage of this by serving dinner at that time and a light snack later. This way, the kids will eat a healthy meal instead of filling up on snacks while they wait for dinner.

Serve smaller portions:
Your child’s stomach is about the size of her clenched fist, smaller than you thought! If you serve meals on smaller plates and include just a small amount of each food, the meal won’t appear so intimidating to your child.

Give in – a little:
Serve your child’s favorite food as a small side dish to meals. A half peanut butter and jelly sandwich makes a fine side dish to roasted chicken!

Create rules:
Do you remember eating the dinner your mother set in front of you without a fuss? Most of us do. The reason is that our mothers did not feel the ambivalence about serving meals that we do. Try to modify your way of thinking to one simple thought, “This is dinner. If you’re hungry eat, if not, you’re excused from the table.” Save a plate of dinner for your child, and if she’s hungry an hour later offer the dinner, and nothing else. Be consistent with this rule, and your child will begin to eat what’s served, just like you did when you were a kid.

One night off:
Allow your child the option to have toast or cereal for dinner one night a week, passing on a meal he doesn’t like. When he knows he can skip one meal he’ll make a decision to eat things that aren’t favorites, and save his “cereal day” for the day you’re having the food he likes least.

Copyright Elizabeth Pantley. (McGraw-Hill, 2003)

About the Author:
Elizabeth Pantley is the author of several books, including Gentle Baby Care : No-cry, No-fuss, No-worry — Essential Tips for Raising Your Baby, The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night, Kid Cooperation (with an introduction by William Sears, MD), Perfect Parenting, as well as her latest The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers and is also president of Better Beginnings, Inc. She is a popular speaker on family issues, and her newsletter, Parent Tips, is seen in schools nationwide. She appears as a regular radio show guest, and has been quoted in Parents, Parenting, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, American Baby, Working Mother, and Woman’s Day magazines. Visit Elizabeth’s web site http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth.