Much has changed in food and nutrition over the last 30 years as you’ve gone from being a kid to having kids of your own. Let’s take a look back to better understand the present and perhaps even build a better future.
By Stéphanie Côté, nutritionist
Much has changed in food and nutrition over the last 30 years as you’ve gone from being a kid to having kids of your own. Let’s take a look back to better understand the present and perhaps even build a better future.
Mealtime motivation
When you were little, your parents likely had a line or two that they’d use to get you to eat all your food. Here are a few that deserve to stay in the past!
“Just three more bites!”
Parents used to do whatever it took to make their kids eat everything on their plates. Today, of course, we know that it’s possible to develop unhealthy relationships with food. For this reason, children shouldn’t be made to think they have to eat more than they want to just to make their parents happy or proud. “It’s an odd thing to ask of someone, isn’t it?” says nutritionist Karine Gravel. “Ultimately, it has a negative impact on the child’s emotions.” It’s best to let your child decide when they’re full, since they’re the only ones who know how much their body can handle.
“No dessert until you’ve cleaned your plate.”
Who doesn’t remember hearing this as a child? It’s still a popular line today, even though more and more parents are recognizing that dessert should never be used as a reward. “It makes dessert seem like the prize, so the child starts to view the main course as an obstacle,” explains Guylaine Guèvremont, who holds a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and co-authored the book Manger, un jeu d’enfant (Turning mealtime into child’s play). In other words, the plan can backfire!
“Finish your vegetables! They’re good for you.”
Did this kind of argument ever change your mind about a food you didn’t like when you were little? Chances are it won’t work with your child either. Kids are more inclined to learn to like a food if it’s introduced to them in a setting where adults are enjoying it. “The child has to like it—end of story,” says Guèvremont. “Kids will eat their peas if you make them, but that won’t change their opinion, so there’s a risk they’ll develop a negative relationship with food. The parent’s role is to help their child become a good eater for life.”
With changes to family life come changes to eating habits
“What’s for dinner?”
Are you reminded of how often you must have asked your mom the same question whenever you hear these words? It’s never been more difficult to strike a life-work balance, which means preparing regular meals is a real challenge! Unfortunately, there’s no magic solution. The key is meal planning. An organized pantry stocked with handy staples (e.g., canned tuna, canned tomatoes, legumes, rice, pasta, quinoa, oats, nuts, muesli) is also a must.
Parents who are short on time actually stand to gain from putting more effort into planning their meals and managing the contents of their fridge and freezer. “Plus, it’s better for your health and your wallet,” says nutritionist Hélène Laurendeau, author of Ma Cuisine (My kitchen).
More variety, but also more processed foods
Meat, potatoes, and a vegetable (right from a can): does that sound like the blueprint for your childhood meals? Variety in weekday meals wasn’t always as important as it is today.
It’s better to eat simple home-cooked meals than to buy prepared ones.
Many parents these days go to great pains to add variety to their meals, drawing inspiration from online recipes and cooking shows. However, when time is short, they often turn immediately to ready-made meals and processed ingredients—both of which, Laurendeau says, are becoming increasingly common at the grocery store.
“The food industry doesn’t want us to cook; it wants to sell us solutions,” she explains. “The problem is, they’re not making it any easier to eat healthy. That’s why we need to get back to simple but real food.”
For Laurendeau, a cheese omelette, pasta with broccoli, baked fish with vegetables, or even cereal or toast with peanut butter is better than many prepared meals. What’s more, cooking at home is much more economical than buying prepared foods.
A lack of knowledge
In the 1980s, kiwis were considered an exotic fruit. Today, they’re commonplace. Children now have access to a much wider range of foods than we did at their age. However, they’re also exposed to far more processed foods than farm-grown products. The result is a lack of knowledge about food, as several studies have shown.
“We should be teaching kids about where basic foods come from, how they’re made, and what they look like by bringing them with us to the grocery store, fruit stands, and U-pick farms and taking them to see farm animals,” says Laurendeau. “And we have to invite them to get hands-on in the kitchen!” What does a lettuce plant look like? Where does cheese come from? What does cereal look like before it goes into a box? These are all great topics to discuss around the table!
Family meals on the decline
Thirty years ago, we rarely heard about how important it was to eat as a family. We ate together, period! Today, much is made of topics such as eating enough vegetables and protecting the environment, while eating as a family gets put on the back burner. “Daily family meals build social bonds. Children learn not only how to eat, but also good table manners and how to communicate with others,” says sociologist Nathalie Lachance.
Modern lifestyles tend to make things complicated, but parents should remember that sitting down at the table with their child has many benefits. “It reinforces the sense of being part of the family and helps children form an identity,” says Lachance. “A family needs to spend time being a family to raise well-adjusted kids.”
The right age to introduce new food |
The Canadian Paediatric Society, Health Canada, and Dietitians of Canada currently recommend introducing complementary foods after about 6 months. Your mother may have told you that you were eating purées by the time you were 2 months old. This was, in fact, common practice at the time. “However, as early as the 1970s, experts knew it wasn’t the best approach for babies,” says nutritionist Louise Lambert-Lagacé. She notes that many moms continued to introduce new foods after just 2 or 3 months “either because they grew impatient or because they were following the advice of certain doctors.” She sets the record straight in her book Comment nourrir son enfant (How to feed your child), published in 1974. |
Screens: An unwelcome guest at the table
In the past, households usually had only TV, and it was usually in the living room. Today, we are surrounded by screens—computers, cellphones, tablets—and they follow us wherever we go.
“Screens have become members of the family with a seat at the table,” says Marie Marquis, full professor in the department of nutrition at the Université de Montréal. “They’re the reason there’s less talk at mealtime.” The trouble is, talking is the whole point of sitting down to a family meal.
Having screens at the table is also bad for your health. Kids who eat in front of a screen become so distracted that they’re no longer aware of what they’re eating. “Screens are making kids eat more and move less, which leads to obesity,” explains nutritionist Myriam Gehami, co-author of the book J’aime pas ça! J’en veux encore! (I don’t like this! I want more of that!).
Changes you can see
Bigger serving sizes
Since the 1950s and 1960s, serving sizes in restaurants and among processed foods in general have increased considerably. Bigger servings encourage people to eat more. In addition, since people are cooking less, they’re eating more processed foods from the grocery store or restaurants, which has an even greater impact on their diet.
People tend to eat larger portions today because their frames of reference have completely changed. The generous servings you get at restaurants and the portions of ready-made food at grocery stores suggest it’s normal to eat so much. Instead of looking to these for guidance, it’s better to trust your body and your hunger cues.
To teach your child to eat properly, ask them if they’re a little hungry or very hungry at mealtime. Sit down to eat, put away screen devices, and let your child stop eating when their tummy “tells” them they’re full.
More health problems
“Life expectancy normally increases from one generation to the next,” says nutritionist Amandine Moukarzel. “But for the first time, we’re seeing it decrease. Children today may have a lower life expectancy than their parents.” Obesity and related health problems are a major reason for this decline.
Statistics reported by Michel Lucas, an epidemiologist, chef, and professor in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at Université Laval, are also concerning. According to data from the Public Health Agency of Canada, in 1978–79, 23 percent of children aged 2 to 17 were overweight or obese, compared with 35 percent of children of the same age in 2004. In 2017, 30 percent of children aged 5 to 17 were overweight or obese.
According to Lucas, the most harmful foods are juices and sugary drinks, which should be replaced with more healthy, minimally processed foods. He thinks we should be doing more to promote good eating habits, such as getting kids into the habit of drinking water. Furthermore, he believes the problem isn’t just what people are eating, but also what we’re eating less of, such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, fish, and vegetable oils. “Healthy eating has to become normal and enjoyable,” he says.
Almost half the daily calories consumed by children come from ultra-processed foods, says Marie-Jeanne Rossier-Bisaillon, a nutritionist at Collectif Vital. She believes this has to change. “Foods high in sugar, salt, and saturated fats contribute to a number of health problems, such as tooth decay, tooth erosion, and type 2 diabetes,” she says. “In addition, more and more children are developing cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension.”
“That’s not good for you!”
In the 1980s and 1990s, people weren’t especially concerned about nutrition. We have since become better informed, and many parents now forbid their children from eating foods that are considered bad.
However, from time to time, it’s okay to let your child eat less nutritious foods. An outright ban can make the forbidden foods all the more tempting. “A child could develop the same type of complex about certain foods as someone on a diet might have,” says Gravel.