Tips for Healthier Desserts

When you shop for desserts, walk the produce section and think about color!

• Cherry tomatoes or berries are every bit as delicious as a cookie or piece of pastry and far more beautiful, satisfying, sumptuous, and nutritious. Take your child shopping with you. Is there a type of yogurt that he or she particularly loves? Stock up on these to use with ice cream and/or fruit to make a smoothie dessert or snack.
• When was the last time your child had the opportunity to choose his or her favorite fruit juice as a way to top off a meal with something sweet? Fruit juices are full of anti-oxidants.
• Fresh fruits contain natural sugars that can satisfy a sweet tooth and that are healthier for the body. Fresh or cooked, cut up or whole, dried or in combination with nuts, fruits are yummy and diverse!
• Look for exotic fruits in and out of season, which you may never have seen or tasted before. Be adventurous. Try everything. Your child will be watching you and learning how to approach food in an open-minded and adventurous way.
• Understand that eating processed sugar and food dyes can trigger a need to eat more of them. Do you keep candy in your cupboard as a staple food? Do you know why?
• Think about your own needs for sweets and "junk" foods as you make decisions about which foods to bring home from the supermarket. Know that what you buy for yourself is what your child will learn to choose for her or himself.
• Are you prepared to change any of your own eating habits in the interest of teaching your child a healthier eating lifestyle? If not, why not?
• Remember that your child needs to learn how to eat healthfully, but more important, how to care for his or her body in a responsible and conscientious way, now and forever. Food choices should not be arbitrary. We eat as we do for good reasons, and we choose not to eat certain foods at certain times in certain quantities for good reasons as well. Kids need to become familiar with the process of how to decide, more than they need to know that certain foods are "bad" or "good."