Award Winning Ideas for Raising Healthy and Happy Eaters: 13 Experts Give Their Advice.

So many of us fight bad eating habits that we’ve had since childhood. That explains why the number one New Years Resolution in 2017 was, Lose Weight and Eat Healthy. (Isn’t that always the top resolution?)

Now that the first blush is off the rose of everyone’s New Year’s Resolution, the dust has settled on all the celebrations, and the Internet is no longer shouting about change, it’s time to get down to the hard work. That’s why I saved my New Year’s Resolution post until now.

However, rather than tell you what I think you need to do to teach your kids to become healthy and happy eaters—you get advice from me all year long—I thought I would turn to my colleagues. Clearly, we need some award winning ideas!

Did you know February 2 is the day (at least this year) that gym attendance will decline and fast food consumption will start to soar?

(For more information on this, scroll to the bottom of the post.)

Change can be hard. That’s why it’s so important to teach kids the right habits from the get-go.

As many It’s Not About Nutrition readers know, sometimes this means you have to shift your gaze slightly away from nutrition.

I recently asked 13 National Experts…

What is the most important thing parents can do this year to give their children a happy and healthy relationship with food?

Here’s what these 13 experts had to say.

Chef Kate Adamick

Michele Borba

Jane Brody

Caron Gremont

David L. Katz

Amy McCready

Marion Nestle

Ellen Notbohm

Julie Revelant

Lenore Skenazy

Jennifer Tyler Lee

Hemi Weingarten

Lisa R. Young

If you want to download a copy, or read it like a regular pdf, hover over the document and click on the box in the upper right hand corner. Otherwise, just scroll away!

Did you notice that everyone emphasized habits instead of nutrition?

Pretty cool, right? I know it’s not that easy to implement the advice offered by these experts. But that’s why this blog is here. To break down the steps it takes to teach habits. It’s a different animal than teaching nutrition. Here’s a good place to get started.

And here’s the data about gym membership and fast food consumption.

Statistically speaking, even people who resolved to eat healthier food will be indulging in fast food by the beginning of February. Yup.

  • “Fall off the Wagon” Day, the first Thursday in February, is the day when the downturn in visits to gyms intersects with the upswing in people going to fast food restaurants. This year that day is 2/2/17.
  • The Fatty Solstice,” the second Friday in February, is the most popular day for fast food eating. This year that day is 2/10/17.

(I heard this analysis on The Sporkful, one of my favorite podcasts. The data come from Stephen Dubner of Freaknomics fame, who has a new podcast Tell Me Something I Don’t Know. )

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~