Nutrition experts from food companies spend a lot of time telling potential customers about the nutritional value of the foods they sell. They talk about zinc and iron and calcium and B vitamins hoping that people will scoop up the food on the basis of its nutritional value. Parents echo this message to their children because they want them to be healthy. But my experience is that it doesn't matter how much people (including children) know about food if they don't use that knowledge to eat a healthy diet.

Several years ago, I spoke at a conference for school lunch cooks. As a part of one of the sessions a university professor from the State College brought in a panel of school children so the cooks could hear what the children had to say about choosing and eating healthy foods at school. Everyone expected to hear the children describe topics they wanted to learn about in their nutrition classes, but that didn't happen.

The first thing the children said was that they'd eat more vegetables if they were fixed so they weren't so mushy. Next, they said they didn't like the temperature of the vegetables. They were too cold. They admitted they ate from subsidy to the schools candy and pop machines instead of cafeteria food because they liked the taste and because the foods were familiar.

And so it went.

Eating is one of life's greatest pleasures. Perhaps, instead of being fixated on the nutrient profile of a food it would be smarter if we talked texture, color, taste, and how to save money. We need to learn and share information about ways to enjoy a variety of nutritious, good-tasting foods. Despite advanced studies in clinical nutrition the most useful information I have that helps people wasn't in any of those books. It was being able to answer questions like "what is a serving size," or "how can I make wise choices in restaurants?" or "what's the best choices to make if I live at fast food chains?" and, most importantly, "how can I make eating healthy interesting for my children who see ads for junk food all day long?" I learned I could get client's attention by providing them with tasty recipes that could be whipped together in 15 minutes or less, be easy to store and have the potential to be made in bulk so they could be frozen and eaten later. They soon realized that creating a platter of foods with deep colors was a better system than a food label to assure they were getting a diet chock full of vitamins and minerals that can protect us against heart disease can cancer.

If you haven't visited my web site recently, stop by (www.rondagates.com). You'll discover I'm not so worried about how many A, B, C, D, E, K, etc vitamins and minerals a food has but I do answer all the above questions. Learn and use information that makes you enthusiastic about the foods you eat. I guarantee the kids will follow.