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[bs_col class=”col-sm-8″]FEEDING YOUR PICKY EATER

Feeding your “picky eater” can be challenging. There are many tips to help increase variety in the diet that can be utilized depending on the age, skill level and personality of the individual.

Model healthy eating

“The rest of the family won’t eat it”—That’s OK. Bring healthy foods to the table anyway.

Modeling healthy eating patterns improves:

• Familiarity to the food
• Likelihood of trying the food
• Likelihood of enjoying and selecting those foods later in life
• Your own health and enjoyment

Include children in the process

Gardening:

• Start small: Try tomatoes or an indoor herb.
• Children can weed, water, help harvest and even sample plants right from the garden

Planning:

• Offer a choice between recipes.
• Ask them to find a new recipe online that includes at least two different vegetables of their choice.

Shopping:

• Teach them how to pick out different fruits and vegetables.
• Let them select a brand new vegetable for the family to try and explore.

Cooking:

• Match task to child ability and consider safety.
• Simpler jobs include mixing, washing produce or dumping ingredients into a pot or blender.

Avoid food battles

Food battles are unproductive in the long run and take the joy out of meal time.

Ellyn Satter Approach:

The Division of Responsibility for toddlers through adolescents

• The parent is responsible for what is served, when it is served and where it is served.
• The child is responsible for how much to eat and whether or not they will eat.

Tips:

• Teach your child to say “no thank you.”
• Serve manageable portions or let them serve themselves.
• Have at least two sides they like at the dinner table (fruit, milk, bread, etc), but don’t make separate entrees for them.

As long as you aren’t engaging in a food battle you can experiment with:

• Exploring flavors and textures
  • “What does it taste like?”
  • “Is it salty? Sweet? Bitter? Crunchy?”

Making food fun:

• Finger paint with cooked beets (maybe outside)
• Explore purple carrots
• Make broccoli tree forests
• Try eating with toothpicks, kebabs or chopsticks[/bs_col][bs_col class=”col-sm-4″][bs_well size=”lg” ]

SAVI SCOUT: MAKING LUMPECTOMIES EASIER FOR WOMEN WITH BREAST CANCER

If you needed breast cancer surgery and could rub a genie in a bottle to make any wish come true, what would you wish for? An easier surgery? Less time in the hospital? Better-looking breasts after surgery?

More than 2.8 million U.S. women need surgery every year to remove cancerous tumors. A new technology called Savi Scout is making lumpectomies (or partial removal of the breast) easier for patients and surgeons by:

• Decreasing time in the hospital
• Increasing lumpectomies’ success rates

Read the full article here.

For more expert health news and information, visit healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed.[/bs_well][/bs_col]
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