Yummy And Good-For-You Food

Dear Byron,

Its fun watching you eat and watching you learning to eat on your own. Yes, you still love that bottle of formula or milk, but you're also eating fruit, vegetables, meat, crackers and all sorts of things like that. You are still picking up bits of your food with your fingers. Why not? You'll always be doing that. But you are beginning to use a spoon. Of course, you often use the spoon for banging the table, but little by little you are learning to use it to scoop up food from a dish and put it into your mouth. Your coordination is improving day by day. And we're all so very proud of you.

Now the question is what foods will become your favorites? That seems to depend a lot on what you are learning to eat at this stage in your life? My, but there are so many different flavors and kinds of food available. Some are very good for you and will help you to keep growing strong and big. Others, well, many others may not be so good for you. Here in the America we have a problem. Many, many kids do not eat the right foods and they become overweight. That in turn leads to a variety of health problems.

The percentage of overweight children in the United States is growing at an alarming rate, with 1 out of 3 kids now considered overweight or obese.

That is nearly triple the rate in 1963 when your Grandma Cheryl was growing up in our house, says the American Heart Association. They even tell us that excess weight at young ages can be linked to higher and earlier death rates when you finally grow up. The site I'm linking gives some good ideas on how your parents can help you to reach and maintain a body weight appropriate to your age and body makeup.

At the moment, we're not real concerned about that, but maybe we ought to be. The journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine warns that parents might idealize their child as being a normal size, because a heavy child is sometimes seen as a “sign of successful parenting, especially during the early years when parents are responsible for their child’s health, nutrition and activity opportunities.”

'Nuff said. Your Mommy and Daddy are going to pay close attention to the food you eat and how much weight you are gaining. I'm not in the least worried about that. Meanwhile, keep on pounding the table with that spoon. Before long you'll be scooping up big bites of good-for-you food and popping them into your mouth all by yourself at every meal.

We love you,

GGPa