There is a Lack of Education about why we eat:
Most kids can confidently point out the healthier choice when presented with an apple and a blue-frosted cupcake, but when it comes to them actually choosing between the two – it’s fair to say that most would probably choose the cupcake! Knowledge alone is not enough to change behavior – especially when that behavior is innate! The reason why most children would choose the cupcake over the apple is because they are “hard-wired” to! In fact, we are all hard-wired to prefer high calorie foods, and in the presence of them, we are also hard-wired to over-consume them! These “hard-wirings” are actually adaptive traits that once helped to keep our ancestors alive in a food environment of scarcity. These very same adaptive traits are now working against us in our modern food environment of plenty! As a society, we don’t educate our children about their brain’s relationship with food, and why they are “drawn” to their choices. Today’s food makers and marketers understand our ancient wiring very well, and sadly, they profit significantly from it. We are missing a huge opportunity to help our children understand how their brains are still wired like a “caveman” when it comes to sugar, and how to help them make more mindful choices.
While we cannot control the “big” food environment, we can safeguard the one environment we can control, which is our home food environment. Parents and caregivers need to understand this because they are the gatekeepers to it! And children, beginning as young as preschoolers, need to begin learning the difference between their “caveman brain” and their modern, or “evolved” brain and use it to practice balance and moderation.