USDA Tells Parents to Teach Healthy Eating Habits: Don’t Praise That Clean Plate

CNSNews.com ^ | April 1, 2015 | Penny Starr

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Apparently, parents should visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) website to find out how to teach their children good eating habits.

The agency in charge of the country’s agricultural sector is now in the nanny business, thanks to First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative to fight childhood obesity, which links to choosemyplate.gov on its website.

In the kids’ section of My Plate, advice is dished out on how parents can help pre-schoolers “develop healthy eating habits,” including a warning about praising an empty plate.

“Avoid praising a clean plate,” the website states. “Your child should stop eating when he or she is full, rather than when the plate is clean.”

And apparently, your child knows better than you do how to manage their nutritional needs.

“Babies know when they have eaten enough,” the website states. “Help your children keep listening to their bodies as they grow.”

When my kids were growing up – and during my own childhood – being “full” was usually an excuse not to eat the food that was prepared. And that excuse didn’t fly in my house or with my parents.

But the USDA says you should trust a child’s eating assessment around the dinner table.

“Give your kids a chance to stop eating when they feel full, even if you think they aren't,” the website states. “They'll feel more independent and you'll help them keep a healthy weight.”

The website also acts as the speech police for parents, offering a link that states: “Use phrases that help not hinder when helping them know when they’ve had enough.” One more click on “what you say” and you’ll know how to be a better parent.

Words that hinder: “You’re such a big girl. You ate all your peas.”

Really? Yes, because saying that will “teach your child to ignore fullness. It is better for kids to stop eating when they are full or satisfied than when all the food has been eaten.”

Instead, USDA says, use words that help: “Is your stomach telling you that you’re full?”

And whatever you do, don’t say, “No dessert until you eat your vegetables.”

No, because “offering some foods, like dessert, in reward for finishing others, like vegetables, makes some foods seem better than others.”

My favorite? These words that USDA classifies as those that hinder: Don’t say “Eat that for me.” (Does anyone ever say that?)

Instead, the USDA recommends these words that help: “This is kiwi fruit; it’s sweet like a strawberry.”

I admit, I never thought about comparing kiwis and strawberries when my child was having an eating issue. Instead, I used these words, which helped make almost every meal the blessing that it was.

“Thank you God for this food and now let’s eat and be grateful!”

[ConorMacNessa]

Exactly! A little more recent - during and after the Korean War. Same message.

Another message I got from my sorely missed grand and great-grandparents was "Your eyes are bigger than your stomach."

But I was never forced to clean my plate. Here's the thing: I have battled obesity my entire life. I was successful in my 30's and 40's because I was running 80+ miles per week. Can't do that anymore - the knees are shot.

To the USDA, I say, go to the Devil! I'm sixty-seven years old and I've survived a youth of war, vehicular mishaps and the Damocles Sword of Nuclear Annihilation. We are all going to die from something - and with the current Regime in place, we will probably not die in our beds! More likely violently at the hands of some member of the so-called "Religion of Peace."

Now please excuse me - I have a Bacon Gorgonzola burger that's just about ready.

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces which guard my country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

[musicman]

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[tiki]

I was lucky, before I was born my father made my half-brother eat liver and he threw up on the table. He never made any of us eat anything we didn’t want.

I’m not saying they didn’t mention the children in China to make us feel bad but there were enough of us that most everything got eaten anyway.

[kingattax]

where is the creativity this project needs ?

we need posters with moochelle sitting on a toilet with “LETS MOVE” in big letters at the top.

[Arthur McGowan]

Three generations ago, people just did not question that a mother knew exactly how much a child should eat, in advance of the meal. How many millions of children were forced to sit for an hour or two at the dinner table “until you clean your plate”? Stupid. People put themselves and their children through so much misery, without ever giving their stupid assumptions a moment’s thought.

[CitizenUSA]

Wow! We just have way, way too many bureaucrats with far, far too much free time on their hands.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

LOL...very first thing I thought of was the poor starving children in China (about 59 years ago when I was 5).

[CitizenUSA]

“Do these people really think anyone listens to a word they say? Or do they just keep the charade because, hey, it’s a paycheck?”

Hmmm. I pick the latter.

The FSA don’t care about the USDA so long as they get their EBT.

[Chode]

take all that you want, eat all that you take...

[CitizenUSA]

Is that based on some poster from the Nazi era?

[CitizenUSA]

“My hippie in-laws let their child decide what to eat and she became malnourished.”

Excellent point. What kid is going to choose vegetables over cookies and cake? I’m sure there are exceptions, but most kids will forgo the nourishing stuff for as much dessert as possible. It’s why kids need parents (preferably their real fathers and mothers of course).

[tumblindice]

Same thing with my little brother and Brussels sprouts.
And the smell of liver and onions still makes me ill.
Other than those things—and oyster stuffing—we ate what was put in front of us.

When Congress passed this “It’s for the children” law, I don’t remember any enabling legislation: “the First lady shall coordinate ....”. This is just more patronizing bull shite from the Obamas. They can’t leave soon enough.

[PA Engineer]

From the same people who pushed the food pyramid and caused they type II diabetes epidemic.

[bluejean]

“They’ll feel more independent” - seriously? Gads. Yes they all need to be more independent and out of control and tyrannical. I’ve watched my niece fix her son macaroni and cheese or French toast or grilled cheese while everyone else was eating the actual dinner that was prepared, to avoid the inevitable temper tantrum over whatever the meal was.

The tyranny of the urchin. Ridiculous.

[HiTech RedNeck]

And people kept starving, and I got fat!

[HiTech RedNeck]

As with many situations, there can be a happy medium between fomenting a tyrant and cultivating a neurotic robot.

Take what you want, but eat what you take, and provide at least something at the table that everybody can choose from (including the youngster) that the youngster will accept. Many foods have a more intense flavor to children than they do to adults.

[aquila48]

They’re not starving no more.

[firebrand]

We were told the Armenians. Probably dating myself here. Or else that’s what my parents heard from their parents.

[Ken H]

Arthur Godfrey - ‘Too Fat Polka’ => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a31vY8YNTg

[kalee]

My father used to sing that. I thought it was something he made up and was surprized to find it was a real song.