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| Can you believe sugar-free cookies are often loaded with hydrogenated oils (trans fats that are really unhealthy)? The first ingredient listed on many sugar free cookies is vegetable shortening, which is a trans fat. |
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You can do your daughters a big favor by letting them eat when they’re hungry, in fact, by consciously teaching them to do so. This may sound obvious, but many parents—often those who are concerned about their own weight--put their little girls on diets or restrict the foods they’re allowed to eat, and this ends up causing more harm than good. The reason: This teaches children to ignore their own hunger, which, in turn, may lead to eating when they’re not hungry later in life. Eating without hunger is a major risk factor for eating disorders.
 A study in the August 2003 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that five-year-olds whose diets were most strictly regimented ate more frequently when they weren’t hungry at ages seven and nine than little girls with unrestricted diets. Overweight five-year-olds who had the most food restrictions ate the most frequently when they weren’t hungry at age nine.
Here are some tips on helping your young daughters get off to a good healthy start when it comes to their eating habits.
• Live the active/healthy lifestyle yourself. Children learn the most from their parents.
• Subtly encourage your children to lead an active lifestyle. Don’t force them to run laps or ride their bikes, but make it fun for them. Invite them to come along with you when you run or ride, or when you go off to play tennis or basketball. Swim with them; pick up a Frisbee or ball and play with them.
• Teach your children the difference between physical hunger and eating due to boredom, stress, social pressure, and emotions. Just being able to recognize why you’re eating is a valuable tool.
• Learn what your children enjoy doing and encourage them to do it even if it doesn’t involve physical activity. If they’re fulfilled, they’re much more likely not to eat from boredom and stress.
• Talk to your children about what they like and what they don’t like, their friends, what they’re doing in school, the dreams they have for themselves.
• Take a family walk after dinner. Include conversations that engage and interest your children.
• Each weekend, plan at least one family “bonding” activity that involves some physical activity (shopping, picnicking at a park with activities, swimming, or hiking).
Click here to find out how to calculate your children’s BMI.
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