Nutrition News by Charlyn Fargo

If your 2012 includes a resolution to get your kids to eat healthier, here's an approach to consider. A new study found that rewards, such as stickers, may help your preschooler eat her veggies. The idea may be controversial in some circles, but researchers at the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that it works. The controversy centers from other studies showing that rewards can backfire and cause kids to lose interest in foods they previously liked. But if you're willing to take a risk, a sticker may help with that broccoli.

The study, reported by Reuters, found that when parents gave their 3- and 4-year-olds a sticker each time they took a "tiny taste" of a disliked vegetable, it gradually changed the children's attitudes.

Over a couple of weeks, children rewarded this way were giving higher ratings to vegetables, with the foods moving up the scale from between 1 and 2 — somewhere between "yucky" and "just OK" — to between 2 and 3, or "just OK" and "yummy."

The children were also willing to eat more of the vegetables — carrots, celery, cucumber, red pepper, cabbage or sugar snap peas — in laboratory taste tests, the study found.

Researchers randomly assigned 173 families to one of three groups. In one, parents used stickers to reward their children each time they took a tiny sample of a disliked vegetable. A second group of parents used verbal praise. The third, where parents used no special veggie-promoting tactics, served as a control group. Parents in the reward groups offered their child a taste of the target vegetable every day for 12 days.

Soon after, children in the sticker group were giving higher ratings to the vegetables — and were willing to eat more in the research lab, going from an average of 5 grams at the start to about 10 grams after the 12-day experience. The turnaround also seemed to last, with preschoolers in the sticker group still willing to eat more of the once-shunned veggie three months later.

Information courtesy the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Q AND A

Q: Does soup really help you lose weight?

A: Some research suggests that starting a meal with soup may help fill you up and reduce the calories you consume during the rest of the meal.

For this to work, the soup needs to be broth- or vegetable-based, not a high-calorie cheesy or creamy soup.

You're more likely to be successful with this strategy if foods you eat following the soup are served in smaller portions, because studies have clearly established that for many of us, overeating is not necessarily a result of more hunger but a response to seeing more food.

Another way you can use soup to help with weight loss is to make your soup a complete meal by incorporating plenty of lower-calorie vegetables. Be sure to include beans, chicken, fish or other lean protein in addition to a bevy of vegetables and perhaps a whole grain like brown rice or whole-wheat pasta.

For overall good health, keep in mind that if you include soup frequently in your meals, prepared commercial soup can be very high in salt. Regular commercial soup often contains from 750 to 1000 milligrams of sodium per one-cup serving. (If you start with condensed soup, that means less than half of a 10-ounce can.) That's a hefty portion of the suggested maximum of 1500 to 2300 mg of sodium a day.

Reduced-sodium versions often contain 400 to 850 mg per cup, which is better, but definitely not truly low-sodium. You can dilute reduced-sodium soups with an equal amount of sodium-free bouillon for a further cut, adding onion, garlic and herbs for plenty of flavor. Or make your own soup starting with low-sodium broth or no-added-salt tomatoes as a base.

Information courtesy the American Institute for Cancer Research.

RECIPE

Here's a fast and fun dinner for the family from Cooking Light Magazine's December 2011 issue. These chip-crusted fish fillets use salt and vinegar chips for a little twist on the typical fish and chips. To make them healthier, they are baked in the oven.

Chip-Crusted Fish Fillets

— Four 6-ounce cod fillets (or other firm white fish)

— 2 teaspoons canola mayonnaise

— 1/8 teaspoon salt

— One 2-ounce package salt and vinegar kettle-style potato chips, crushed

— 1/2 cup light ranch dressing

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange fillets on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush 1/2 teaspoon mayonnaise over top of each fillet. Sprinkle evenly with salt. Gently press about 2 tablespoons crushed chips evenly on top of each fillet. Cook fish at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve with ranch dressing. Serves four. (Serving size: One fillet and 2 tablespoons ranch dressing)

Per serving: 291 calories; 31.7g protein; 14.5 g carbohydrate; 11.3 g fat; 79 mg cholesterol; 0.8 g fiber; 549 mg sodium.

Charlyn Fargo is a registered dietitian from Springfield, Ill. For comments or questions, contact her at charfarg@aol.com. To find out more about Charlyn Fargo and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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