Navigating Chocolate & Children This Easter!
(This article was featured in Bee Local Magazine Leighton Buzzard & Villages Easter 2020)
With the help of Specialist Paediatric Dietitian Lucy Upton (@childrensdietitian), I have written about how restricting chocolate this Easter (and in general) can actually lead to bigger issues with managing sweet treats in the long-run.
Why calling chocolate ‘bad’ is not necessarily good!
Firstly, despite best intentions for your child’s health, young children are not likely to fully understand the long-term impact of eating certain foods in excess on their health, so this can be a very confusing message for a little being! As they get older, it can be more helpful to focus on supporting an understanding of inclusion of all foods into a balanced diet overall, rather than restriction or demonisation of certain foods or food groups.
Labelling food such as chocolate with negative connotations or placing food on a hierarchy e.g. to be earnt, can also be unhelpful messages for children to learn around food – remember food is just food. When chocolate is treated as just another food, it loses much of its appeal and children are able to eat it more intuitively.
More neutral language around this type of food could be, ‘it’s a sometimes food, not an every-day food’. Role modelling yourself is also important! Remember, lots of food behaviours in children are modelled on their family and peers.
Why restricting chocolate might not be that helpful
When it comes to occasions or celebrations such as Easter, it’s important to remember that food is part of the fun and enjoyment. Eating more of certain foods than normal on one day is...well normal! Also, if we restrict sweets and chocolate too often, it can create a scarcity environment. If a food has become less available, we tend to crave it more and actually desire more of it! (This is certainly the case for me!)
Why not try planning in Easter chocolate alongside balanced meals and snacks or if you offer chocolate and your child asks for more, respond with, ‘you can have more tomorrow’, they may start to ask for it less if they know there’s an opportunity to eat it again soon.
How to manage the quantity of Easter chocolate
If you go on an Easter egg hunt where it is not easy to see what your child is eating, this could be a good time to let them have more control and see if they can naturally decide when they have eaten enough. If your child does overeat, how about saying ‘I don't like it when I eat too much either. You'll feel better soon. How do you think you want to handle it next time perhaps?’ We want to remove any guilt or shame around eating too much, especially when children are still learning how certain food feels in their body. At home, why not try sharing an egg at a family mealtime (enjoying it all together!) or providing a portion alongside some fruit as part of a planned snack time.
