Flowers Fall

Picking and Choosing: Mindful Eating for Kids and Families, Part 2

by Bethany Saltman, May 27, 2009

In last month’s column, I indulged my obsession with feeding my toddler by interviewing three experts on kids and/or food and/or mindfulness. I promised that I would consider what they said during the following month, and conduct a little anecdotal research, then report back. As a recap, these are my wonderfully willing experts:

Dr. Harvey Karp: Dr. Karp is the best-selling author of The Happiest Baby on the Block and The Happiest Toddler on the Block. He is a professor of pediatrics of UCLA School of Medicine and travels extensively, talking (lovingly) about kids.

Nina Planck: Nina wrote the critically acclaimed Real Food: What to Eat and Why a couple years ago. Her most recent book is Real Food for Mother and Baby. Both are gems.

Konrad Ryushin Marchaj Osho (Ryushin Osho): Before moving into Zen Mountain Monastery in 1991 to become a monastic/priest/teacher, Ryushin Osho was a pediatrician and a psychiatrist.

I asked them all the same three questions, based on my own concerns, as well as what I hear from other parents. This is what I gleaned from their answers and how it all played out at our table.