Eating Habits

NEW ORLEANS -- Louisiana has always had a high tolerance for scoundrels, but this latest dirty rat is laying waste to the southern half of the state, and his self-serving agenda is changing the shape of the border.This new marauder is, in fact, a member of the rodent family. He's a nutria: a nearsighted, ratlike South American import that for 50 unimpeded years has been reproducing wildly and flourishing in the Louisiana wetlands, all the while eating all the vegetation he could get past his pronounced overbite.

Open the fridge of a typical Gen Y-er and it's, like, weird in there. There are a lot of condiments, a bag of prewashed salad, some leftover Thai food or pizza, a container of yogurt and a couple of beers and soda. Not the makings of a great meal. In reality such a fridge doesn't exist because there isn't a typical member of the Y generation, the oldest of which are now moving through their 20s. This is America's most racially and ethnically diverse generation (one in four isn't Caucasian)

My eating habits in college were terrible. All those gravy-covered french fries, late-night pizzas and happy-hour chicken wings took their toll, and I just about doubled the freshman 15. There's something about being in college, away from parents and with all those academic pressures, that seems to inspire unhealthy eating. Maybe that's why every college town needs a place like PJ's Pub, a 20-year-old bar and restaurant near the Johns Hopkins University. Though non-academics are, of course, allowed to eat at PJ's, the menu of burgers, tacos, wings, sandwiches and pizzas clearly caters to the college demographic.

The woman was puzzled. At age 65, she had gained 15 pounds in six months. Her eating habits hadn't changed, except that she had added a daily nutrition supplement drink, advertised on TV, to give her more energy.That, of course, was the problem. In nutrition-speak, "energy" is another word for "calories," and she was getting plenty -- an extra 350 per can. On top of an adequate diet, that's enough to cause a one-pound weight gain every 10 days!True, these products can be life savers when you're too sick to eat, recovering from surgery, or coping with chemotherapy or radiation.

The children in this clinic have an unhealthy relationship with food. They drink too much juice and eat too much junk. One patient would eat only madeleine cookies; another roamed the grocery store aisles each morning to choose his breakfast -- chocolate-covered pretzels being a favorite. But the kids treated by Dr. Maureen Black aren't part of the obesity epidemic that has swept up as many as 18 percent of U.S. children. They are on the opposite end of the scale, the end that doesn't get the attention.

Each week a nutritionist from the University of Maryland Medical Center provides a guest post to The Baltimore Sun's health blog Picture of Health (baltimoresun.com/pictureofhealth), which is reprinted here. This week, Rachel Ernzen weighs in on bad habits. Information about the relationship between food and health abounds in newspapers, magazines, books, TV and Internet. Foods have become more readily available and portion sizes have grown, but we lead more sedentary daily lives.

All in all, Clarisse considered her marriage to be a healthy one, except for Buddy's habit of eating his food in sequential order.Clarisse found this very annoying. At supper, Buddy would eat all his string beans first. Then his mashed potatoes. Then his roast beef."Why do you do that?" she asked him once."Do what?" Buddy said. He had just polished off a mound of spinach, and was now rotating his plate counterclockwise to tackle his rice."Eat your food in order."Buddy said he didn't know what she was talking about.

It was 1966 at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, and everyone who was anyone was there to hear Bobby Darin sing -- Mia Farrow, Ben Gazzara, Eddie Fisher, Andy Williams, Ryan O'Neal.Dressed to the nines in regal emerald green was wife Sandra Dee -- America's sweetheart -- and their 5-year-old son, Dodd, clad in a custom-made tuxedo that not so coincidentally looked just like his father's.The curtain call was ending and Bobby Darin was standing on stage with his son in his arms. The audience was captivated; the little boy was telling a riddle and his father was laughing in delight.

THE BEST WAY to prevent eating disorders in your child, say health professionals, is to encourage healthy eating habits and a strong self-image. They offer these tips:* Teach your child to eat well-balanced meals. If you take care of your body and eat sensibly, your child probably will, too.* Discourage the idea that a particular diet or body size will automatically lead to happiness and fulfillment.* Don't use food as a reward or punishment. It sets up food as a potential weapon for control.

Learning to eat carrots and broccoli and all the good stuff starts early. These points will help get your children on the right eating track.* Eat your meals together. Emphasize family dining at home, with healthful menus. Limit "grab and go" eating; many grab foods are not nutritious.* Fix tasty-looking food. The better a food looks, the more likely it will be eaten. Serve interesting colors, shapes and textures.* Simplify eating; serve finger foods and bite-size pieces.* Season lightly.