That's actually a wiseass headline. I'm sure there are a lot of kids who like vegetables. I loved them when I was a kid, even ones that kids are supposed to hate, like spinach and yams. But I think that a lot of kids like vegetables that you can make more "junk food-ish," like potatoes.
The Boston Globe asked three 13 and 14 year-olds to keep track of what they ate for two days, and then they showed the results to a nutritionists. The results are rather interesting. Their diets seem to revolve around pizza, french fries, mac and cheese, with some chicken and turkey thrown in. But they don't really like vegetables, unless it's corn or potatoes. Sometimes they skip lunch altogether and eat candy that they've bought at the store before school. And sometimes before school they go to Dunkin' Donuts. This is pretty bad in and of itself, but add to the fact that these kids spend several hours sitting at a desk and their computer all day (they're bright kids who do well in school and have a lot of afterschool homework and internships) and you have a recipe for bad health.
Another scary revelation? The nutritionist says that these diets are actually better than what she sees from middle-schoolers. Yikes.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-07-2006 @ 4:53PM
RobynT said...
When I was a kid, my parents made me eat fruit with breakfast and vegetables at dinner. We would complain and they would compromise--so sometimes it was like three slices of apple or six grapes. But at least it was something!
And my sibs and I always loved broccoli and eggplant. Maybe cuz they involved either mayo or frying but still!
I wonder how much the kids' eating habits are influenced by not having family meals together--something my parents were really big on. Or maybe because parents are less strict these days? (That's what I hear anyways.)
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12-07-2006 @ 5:21PM
Dr. Octagon said...
Tacking three kids for two days isnt a very good or promising way to find out the eating habits of teenagers.
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12-07-2006 @ 5:31PM
dragonet2 said...
My parents had a 'starter child' that they forced to eat something and he 'unate' it as soon as it went down, probably from stress as much as anything else. (we're all adoped, my brother is 10 years older than I, my sister and I are 6 years apart and much closer.)
We were always given a little bit of anything new (vege mostly, fruit was never a problem) and asked to at least taste, we didn't have to all of whatever. As a result we learned we liked a whole lot of things.
I do think eating at the family table is a big factor too, kids learn from their parents as much as anything else.
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12-07-2006 @ 6:16PM
Jon said...
As a kid I was forced to eat my veggies and I lived through it. What amazes me, is parents allowing teens to eat nothing but pizza and burgers. When I was a kid, (30 years ago), going to McDonalds or KFC was a treat.
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12-07-2006 @ 8:46PM
bdw said...
Children have many tastebuds, as we age we lose them, and subsequently our sense of taste is not as good. Vegetables and fruits have many bitter compounds, which children hate (being a former child myself I remember this), but which we as adults don't taste as strongly. There is also probably an element of self-education, we pay attention to the sweet taste and ignore the bitter and sour.
I remember both my mother and my first wife adding a bit of sugar to most of the family pots to tone down the bitterness for the kids. Honey also will work, but pure white sugar, which has no extraneous tastes, is more popular with children.
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12-08-2006 @ 1:56PM
RobynT said...
Dr. Octagon: Wow, I didn't even notice they only tracked three kids. Shame on me. I guess it wouldn't surprise me if this is the norm though, given obesity rates and all I hear about the foods kids buy in high schools. Hrm, I guess that also brings in issues of economics...
bdw: good point. i can definitely appreciate a lot of different foods more now than i could as a kid. and i still prefer fruits only in certain ways. i'll have to remember this when i have kids.
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