Download Ryan Weiler Nutritional Makeover FScN 3612 Proper nutrition is vital

Ryan Weiler
Nutritional Makeover
FScN 3612
Proper nutrition is vital for a preschool age child; as stated in Judeth E Brown’s Nutrition
through the Life Cycle, “Preschool age children continue to grow and develop physically,
cognitively, and emotionally during the toddler and preschool age years, adding many new skills
rapidly with time.”1 My knowledge gained from class along with my personal research has
given me the ability to assess the diet of my preschool age cousin, Rachel Alm. She is a newly
five year old in need of my nutritional knowledge and advice. Rachel has been like a little sister
to me as I have spent a lot of time babysitting her and playing with her; it is important to me that
Rachel has a healthy lifestyle and meets her full growth potential. With the help of her mother,
Jenny Alm, she and I were able to create a better diet for Rachel.
There were numerous problems with Rachel’s current diet. The main problems in her
diet were the low intake of nutrient dense foods and, instead, consuming foods that are high in
added sugar. Also, Rachel had an overall low caloric intake. Based on her observed intake, she
was eating only about one thousand calories. According the DRI for caloric intake, taking into
consideration her physical activity level, Rachel’s intake should be about 1400 kcal per day.2
The continued intake of this diet could perpetuate an unhealthy lifestyle.
My first objective of my nutritional makeover was to increase Rachel’s caloric intake.
The second was to replace the processed snacks high in added sugar with more nutritious
1
Brown, Judith E. Nutrition through the Lifecycle. 4th ed. Belmount: Cengage Learning. 2011.
Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board. Dietary Reference Intakes for energy, carbohydrate, fiber, fat,
protein, and amino acids. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2002/2005.
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options. Finally, I wanted to try to give some basic nutrition knowledge to Rachel. According to
a study conducted by Hatice Başkale and Zuhal Baha the effects of nutritional education on
children will positively change the child’s food preference.3 Based on this study, the second
purpose of the nutritional makeover was to educate my cousin (to the best of my ability) on
proper nutrition.
To begin, Rachel was an extremely picky eater; the staple foods in her diet are hotdogs,
fruit snacks, and Captain Crunch cereal. This problem in this diet is twofold; first, this results in
a lowered caloric intake, and second, the foods she likes to eat are not particularly nutrient dense
foods. My first strategy was to increase consumption by adding some more nutrient dense and
slightly more caloric dense foods such as fruits and vegetables.
My nutritional makeover consisted of several visits to her house over a four day period.
Including one day when I was babysitting and provided the meals for Rachel. The main struggle
was to find fruits and vegetables she would like to eat. I used conclusion from two scientific
studies in order to determine which fruits and vegetables to offer to Rachel. First was a study by
Lean Birch who concluded that children aged three years and older select fruits and vegetables
on the basis of familiarity with the items and on the basis of the sweetness of the item.4 The
second study, by Maureen Spill and colleges at Pennsylvania State University, concluded,
“Increasing the portion size of a vegetable served as a first course can be an effective strategy for
increasing vegetable consumption in preschool children.” They also found that doubling the
Başkale, H. and Bahar, Z. (2011), Outcomes of nutrition knowledge and healthy food choices in 5- to 6-year-old
children who received a nutrition intervention based on Piaget's theory. Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing,
16: 263–279. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-6155.2011.00300.x
4
Birch LL. Dimensions of preschool children’f food references. J Nutr Educ 1979a;11:77-80.
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portion size of the first course increased carrot consumption by forty seven percent 5 Taking
these studies into consideration, Rachel was served a only fruits and vegetables that were
familiar to her and more on the sweeter side. The snacks that were offered were apples bananas
and carrots, also the portion sizes were increased in an attempt to increase her consumption.
Also, I took action to incorporate more caloric dense foods into her diet. Peanut butter
would be an ideal food to incorporate more into her diet. Rachel liked peanut butter and this
would provide more calories from fat and protein and less from added sugar. Also I suggested
adding a small amount of dressings or spreads to make fruits and vegetables more a palatable for
Rachel. This would not only add extra calories but also increase her consumption of nutrient
dense fruits and vegetables. Finally, Rachel drank a large amount of sugar fruit juices. There is
definitely some room in her diet for fruit juice; however, her intake was quite high. I had some
of the fruit juice that would be served with snacks replaced with low fat milk. According to a
study by TM O’Connor at the Baylor College of medicine, on average, preschool children drank
less milk than the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends.6 After reading this study and
also observing a lower milk intake, replacing sugary fruit juices with low fat milk would increase
her milk consumption.
At first, my suggestions were unsuccessful. Rachel was very uninterested in eating the
fruits and vegetables, even when familiar fruits and vegetables were served and in larger portions
as suggested by the studies. However, my hypothesis of adding fatty dressings to increase
consumption was quite effective. She ate the majority of the baby carrots served to her when we
gave her about two tablespoons of light ranch dressing. Also, I showed her one of my favorite
5
Spill, M., Birch, L. Roe, L., Rolls, B. (2010), Eating vegetables first: the use of portion size to increase vegetable
intake in preschool children
6
O’Connor TM. Yang SJ, Nicklas TA. Beverage intake amoun preschool children and its effect on weight status.
Pediatrics. 2006; 118:e1010-8.
snacks, a banana with peanut butter on it. She found this hysterical and ridiculous as a snack but
she did enjoy it. Also, when I explained to Rachel how important it was for her to eat her fruits
and vegetables seemed to have an impact on her consumption. Finally, when she would see me
eat the healthier snack with her she would eat more. My position as a role model had a positive
influence on her consumption.
After my nutritional makeover for my cousin I believe I made some positive
changes in her diet. She is eating more food to ensure she meets her growth potential and, most
of all, she is eating more nutrient dense fruits and vegetables. Also, I believe I made an impact
on how important it is to have a healthy diet. I would use the mundane and cliché phrases, “you
will have lots of energy and grows up to be big and strong.” My encouragement had a positive
impact on her diet. I will be able to check on Rachel’s diet in the future because she is such a
large part in my life. Hopefully, after this nutritional makeover, she will not need any
suggestions in the future.