Friday, April 3, 2009

Friday Food #6

It’s never too early (or too late for that matter) to learn how to read a food label. A few days ago, I was at the grocery store with all three girls (a situation I usually try to avoid). Kendall was grabbing boxes of cereal and asking me if we could buy them. I told her that we couldn’t because they have too much sugar in them. She asked me how I knew that, so I decided to use the moment as a teaching opportunity. I turned the box around and showed her the nutrition label. I asked her if she could find where it said “sugars” and she pointed it out to me. Then I showed her the number listed there and it was 12 grams. I told her that we wanted to find cereals that had less than 5 grams and that zero or one were the best ones! Once I explained that to her, she wanted to look at every single cereal box to see how much sugar it had. It was like a game to her! “Mom, this one has 22 grams! Whoa!” Then we talked about fiber as well and I explained that for fiber, we want the number to be high instead of low like sugar.

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We only talked about those two items on the nutrition label, but I think it was a great start. I always think it’s important to explain to someone why a food is not the best choice, not just that they can’t have it. I love that Kendall can read so that she can now start figuring out some of these decisions for herself! I had to tear her away from the cereal aisle!

6 comments:

Morgan said...

good work meredith...but come on... let the girl live a little..only in kindergarten and she's already reading the nutrition facts.

molly kay said...

I am happy you are not my mom Mer! Our fave cereal is Cinnamon Toast Crunch and my boys would die without it! You run a super strict ship my friend- do you guys EVER have treats? I noticed Berkley's birthday cake had no frosting and was that angel food cake? I know it's your fave- but all your girls too? Wow. Easton ONLY eats the frosting on cakes- then I have the cake he didn't eat because that's my fave.

Maren said...

K, I'll show some support. My kids think I'm a big bad guy too, but they get so much sugar and junk at school, that I feel like I have to compensate for that at home. My kids love sugar cereal, too, but they can choose it for dessert on Monday nights when it is their turn.

David and Amber said...

Mer, the whole food label thing reminds me when I went to Whole Foods with you in Boston (the first and only time I have been in that store) and we were there for over 2 hours. You were is food label reading heaven and I wanted to commit suicide. I had never read a food label and still don't read them but it was fun to see you so pumped about it. I wish we could go to HH but alas, Dave says he can't take off that much work so we aren't going to be there. I'm calling you today (kids screaming in my hear or not)! Miss you!

merathon said...

molly-- well OF COURSE you wouldn't want me as a mom! the last time i checked, the only vegetable you would eat was corn ON the cob! also, berkeley did choose angel food cake (i'm just lucky that it's my favorite too)! i told her we could put frosting on it or do strawberries and whipped cream on top, and she chose the second, so that's what we had, but put that on after the cake was cut.

Maria said...

Hey Meredith I am with you on the sugar cereal. Andrew is always asking for the cereals at his level, which are always the worst. Next time we are at the store I am going to show him the label (even though he can't read) because he always responds better when he feels there is a real reason and not just mom saying no. Great idea.