From the category archives:

Mindful

Food, health and behavior

Teaching your kids about food will not cause eating disorders

May 17, 2013

There’s a dangerous thread running through the national conversation about kids and food, and it is this: If you talk to your kids about food, if you teach them to understand ingredients and to actually think about what they eat — and, heaven forbid, you actually limit junk food — you are setting them up for, at best, rebellion-fueled binges, or, at [...]

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Power of the pen: Let’s rock this food-dyes petition from 100 Days of Real Food and Food Babe

March 5, 2013

I’ve written at length about the travesty of artificial food dyes (in short: all risk, no benefit). And about how U.S. food manufacturers have substituted better ingredients overseas while still using artificial, non-nutritive and even dangerous ingredients here. Why have they cleaned up their act elsewhere? Because of public pressure, government support and something called the precautionary principle: the idea that if something could harm the public [...]

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You are in charge. Never forget that.

November 21, 2012

I’m guessing kids everywhere did assignments like this the week before Thanksgiving. And we think this one is a keeper. “Family” is a given (one hopes). “Universe,” “technology” and “math” stoked my science-geek husband and also really cracked us up. But do you see that other word in there? “Me.” Our kid is thankful for herself. At [...]

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A Halloween PSA

October 31, 2012

  Spoonfed is on Facebook. You’ll find links to blog posts, news and commentary on raising food-literate kids, questions and comments from readers, the works. Stop by, like the page, chime in, spread the word. (Thanks.) Also please consider subscribing by e-mail or RSS feed (which you can do at the top of the blog). Tweet [...]

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October Unprocessed guest post (on candy, natch)

October 28, 2012

Just in time for Halloween, I’m guest-posting over at Eating Rules as part of October Unprocessed, a month dedicated to celebrating and learning about real food. Eating Rules blogger Andrew Wilder (motto: “healthy eating doesn’t have to suck”) started October Unprocessed in 2010 with 415 people pledging to skip processed food for a month. This [...]

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It’s OK. Limiting candy won’t ruin childhood.

September 27, 2012

My almost 9-year-old trick-or-treats. She roams the neighborhood with friends. She collects candy. She eats a couple pieces. But after the fun is done, we have another Halloween tradition: Divide and conquer. Anything with artificial colors, fake sweeteners, trans fats, high-fructose corn syrup and chemical preservatives gets tossed. Right in the garbage. What’s left (and [...]

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Zen and the art of blog maintenance

July 18, 2012

A note for all of you (readers, that is): I’ve been woefully absent from the blog for a long time, and I appreciate all the e-mails asking after my well-being (and also asking when-the-hell-are-you-going-to-start-blogging-again?!). This hiatus began as we ramped up for our big move (and downsizing) from house to loft, and it’s extended to post-move for the [...]

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Natural egg dyes, simplified

March 28, 2012

We’re moving soon after Easter, so I haven’t exactly been looking forward to making from-scratch egg dyes this year. It’s not hard. It’s not even time-consuming. But when your house is turned upside down and you’re purging most of what you own, well, who needs one more thing to do, you know? So you’ll understand [...]

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I am so over the rainbow (cake)

March 14, 2012

Last year at this time, I ranted a bit about fake green St. Patrick’s Day food and reclaiming green as a natural color. Then I wrote a post about making natural Easter egg dyes. This year, I’m tackling another colorful spring icon: rainbows.   Not the kind in the sky. Not the kind that leads to a pot of gold. No. The [...]

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Halloween treats don’t have to be tricky

October 11, 2011

When you blog about kids and food, people ask you questions. Especially this time of year, when sweets flow like lava and the sugar high carries you from trick-or-treats to Easter baskets. What do you do about the candy? So here it is. The post about the candy. Our Halloween night strategy is pretty simple. [...]

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