'MyPlate, MyWins': Are We Just Fooling Ourselves?

The USDA’s Nutrition Policy and Promotion agency is trying hard to reach and empower kids with its “MyPlate, MyWins” video series, which launched in May of last year. 

The agency suggests that most kids inherently know how to eat without a parent pressuring them. Kids also supposedly know how to stop eating when they're full, and the agency goes on to say that actively persuading kids to eat confuses their natural self-regulation. It also complicates the parent-child dynamic, creating an unnecessary point of conflict.

What? Are we overthinking this a bit too much? 

Sure, we have a child obesity problem, and aisle after aisle of unhealthful foods at stores everywhere. But the concept of parent backing off trying to teach their kids what to eat just sounds wrong to me. With all the conflicting and confusing messages regarding our foods –- on TV, embedded in online games and just about everywhere a kid is -- are we just fooling ourselves? Or just too lazy to think that without parental guidance our kids will just naturally gravitate toward healthier eating? 

I know, being a parent these days is a tough and busy job. But there's little that's more important than the health and wellbeing of our kids. So bring them to the supermarket with you. Teach them to read labels. Introduce them to the store’s dietitian, and sign them up for a kids' tour. Serve them tasty and healthy foods, and show them by example what good eating is all about. 

And be a parent: Tell them what's good and bad. Empower kids to understand that foods and beverages are our fuel for body and mind. And that "junk in" equals "junk out."