There are many factors that influence the relationship we establish throughout our lives with food. Already in the womb we begin to have contact with the food that our mother ingests and that reaches us through the amniotic fluid. Then, once in the world, the family, social and cultural environment will be responsible for shaping what the child will eat and how he or she will relate to food. So says Mapi Herrero Jiménez (Zaragoza, 41 years old), dietitian-nutritionist specialized in infant feeding and IBCLC – certified lactation consultant or professional specialized in the clinical management of breastfeeding. In Te invito a comer (EEE Literaria), published in October 2022, Herrero covers infant feeding from the fetus to the first years of life with rigorous information.
Herrero does not forget that the cultural level of the family and its purchasing power are the two most limiting factors when it comes to whether or not a child has a healthy diet: "So, to cushion what we cannot control, we have the power of information."
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QUESTION. Do families eat worse than they think?
ANSWER. If we ask, most people consider that they eat well. I always ask them what "eating well" means to them and the answer usually revolves around variety. When we dig deeper, the shortcomings appear. For example, if we focus on the nutritional part, we still consume more animal protein than we should and less vegetables than we need. It also happens that we tend to eat in a hurry, connected to something (television, mobile, press ...) and disconnected from food. In addition, it is very common not to have a good relationship with food. We feel good eating what we've been told is good and we feel bad eating what we've been told is bad. This duality in food leads many people to feel guilt, anguish or fear of certain foods, especially in people who have non-normative bodies.
Q. What does it depend on whether or not a healthy diet can be established?
A. There are many factors that influence how and what we eat, including zip code. The cultural level of the family and purchasing power are the two most limiting factors when it comes to whether or not a child has a healthy diet. On the one hand, because marketing aimed at children is such a beast that without a critical basis it is very difficult not to fall into the advertising networks that, remember, does not think about nutrients but about economic benefit. On the other, because the current price of the shopping basket is an important condition for many families that makes it very difficult to access healthier foods.
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Q. In the book she explains that healthy eating is learned from the mother's womb. Why so soon?
A. Mainly, because the amniotic fluid acquires the taste of what the mother eats, so since pregnancy we sit at the table with our baby. In this way, he becomes familiar with the flavors of our culture, of our family. Think of the womb as a "training ground": the baby receives information through its mother's body, so it can prepare and adapt to survive when it is born. This is known as fetal programming.
Q. In addition to being a nutritionist, she is a certified lactation consultant. Should mothers prepare to breastfeed before the baby is born?
A. The woman's body is perfectly prepared and synchronized with that of the baby for breastfeeding. Think they've been talking for 40 weeks! But breastfeeding is not only a physiological issue, it is also a cultural issue, and in this sense the wisdom of breastfeeding has been lost. When the baby arrives, the health accompaniment to learn to breastfeed is sometimes improvable or is still based on outdated recommendations, so if the mother has not been informed before that moment she can start having problems from the first minute. We know this is closely related to breastfeeding cessation and a negative experience.
Q. Organizations, professionals and mothers insist that breastfeeding goes far beyond nutrition. You insist on this too. What does breastfeeding bring to the baby or child beyond being a food?
A. Breast milk is the only food adapted to the needs of each baby. Each mother produces the amount and type of milk that her baby needs at all times. In fact, the actual composition of breast milk is still a mystery because it changes from one woman to another, from one breast to another, and even during the same feeding. But, in addition to this nutritional part, the breast has an emotional function: it is home, it is bond, it is calm and comfort. The baby has been inside the mother's body for nine months, and the breast is the closest place to what until the moment of birth has been her home.
Q. What is the relationship between emotional health and food throughout life?
A. Our emotions influence the type, quality, and quantity of food we eat. Since childhood they tell us that there are emotions that are "good" and others that are not so much, so we grow up thinking that being sad, stressed, angry or frustrated is not right and that they are emotions that must be "turned off". We have discovered that there are foods with high amounts of sugar and / or fat with the ability to momentarily "turn off" those emotions, so many people use them as an emotional management tool. Already during childhood we use this resource with children when they have a behavior that is uncomfortable for us. For example, when we give a treat to a child to comfort him, we teach him that those foods will make him calm down, and this will be replicated in his adult life.
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Q. At home you can establish a healthy diet, be aware of all this, but then you have to go out to reality ... How is the balance here?
A. For families with a high awareness of nutritional health this is a big problem, but we can not isolate children in a bubble and it is positive to relativize and think that when habits at home are healthy, this is what will prevail in the future. A healthy diet is not only one in which nutritious things are eaten, but one that allows us to have a good relationship with food. Here we must try to avoid the duality of good or bad foods, there is nothing that generates more desire than a prohibition, so my advice to families is to work on day-to-day habits at home.
Q. In the case of children who are more selective about food, ideas sometimes seem to run out. How to organize family meals when the range of accepted foods is very limited?
A. It is important to evaluate whether the foods that the child accepts is enough to ingest all the nutrients he needs. It would be interesting if we observed the reason for the rejection, since it is usually some characteristic of the food. Once the rejection is meaningful, many modifications can be made in the food so that it is easier for the child to open that range and, at the same time, to be able to expand the elaborations at home.
Q. By the way, it often happens that they end up being given unhealthy foods as long as they eat "something". What do you think?
A. We eat to nourish ourselves, not just to take away hunger. That is, from food we want those pieces that our body needs to repair itself, stay alive and, in the case of children, also to grow and develop. If what we give the child are products that do not provide nutrients (which is what we call unhealthy) we may take away hunger, but we do not do him any favors, but we are making the situation worse.
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