Making food fun for kids

Class gives advice on fruits and vegetables

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By ERIKA BAYER-POLAK

VIEW STAFF WRITER

Children can be picky about food, often not wanting to try something new, so the University Medical Center's Family Resource Center is trying to help the parents of those finicky eaters.

The Family Resource Center, 1120 Shadow Lane, is hosting a monthly Fun with Fruits and Vegetables class for parents and children. The free classes are geared toward youngsters ages 5 and under.

JoAnna Gorman, a registered dietician, teaches the session.

"The class is not too structured," she said. "The point of it is to introduce them to healthy foods. And this is a great season to have the class because a lot of fruits and vegetables are in season."

During a recent class, Gorman invited the children in attendance, more than a dozen, to come to a table and pick what they wanted from a spread of vegetables and fruit. One toddler wandered up and selected a green onion and snacked on it for some time, seemingly enjoying it. Others were more discerning.

"Some kids are attracted to certain shapes. Sometimes it's a big deal. That's why I cut things differently," Gorman said, pointing to round slices of squash and rectangular slices of jicama. "Colors can be important, too. And the more color, the more vitamins it contains."

The fruit and vegetable table also contained grape tomatoes, red peppers, apricots, mangos, dried bananas and mock potatoes, which Gorman said have a similar consistency to mashed potatoes, hence the name, but they are made from mashed cauliflower.

Gorman said she also wanted to dispel the belief that dried fruit is less nutritious than fresh fruit. She said dried fruit often contains more calories than fresh fruit, "but they're still great snacks when you're on the go. It's much better than a candy bar, especially since children should eat about every two to three hours."

"They eat so often because they have such small stomachs. So if your child says he's hungry two hours after breakfast, he's probably hungry. It takes a lot of calories and energy to build bones and muscle and hair."

The underlying reason for the class is because of the growing number of children who are considered obese and are battling diabetes.

"It is estimated that one out of three children born after the year 2000 will become diabetic," Gorman said. "There are many reasons -- inactivity, poor eating habits, portion sizes, lack of time with parents and unsafe neighborhoods. But you can create healthy eating habits when they are really young."

The resource center, open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, hosts a variety of classes, workshops and symposiums covering a plethora of topics for the whole family. Books and videos can be checked out from the resource library, and a computer with Internet access is available.

Lisa Marie Pacheco, the assistant clinical manager at the center, estimates that 2,000 people visit the resource center each month.

"We have five different programs that we offer," Pacheco said. "Four of our five programs are for families with young children or expectant mothers, and we have a program for seniors."

Baby Steps provides health care for current and future mothers and their children. Bright Beginnings offers parents and children courses on a variety of topics, ranging from cardiopulmonary resuscitation to breast feeding to infant care and development.

Family to Family offers new parents answers to questions regarding parenting, which are answered by the center's trained specialists and physicians. The Resource Lending Library offers parents the chance to check out books and other materials related to raising children. Senior Celebrations offers health education, health screenings and activities for those 50 years of age or over.

For more information, visit www.umc-cares.org or call 383-3848.