I wish it were that simple. The truth is that the four basic food groups we all grew up with – dairy, meat, vegetables and fruit – are not the best foods for us. Actually, they were the brain child of special interest groups, including the dairy and beef farmers. These businessmen wanted to ensure a market for their products! Today our food group list should look quite different. Let’s see why.

When talking about a child’s height, you have to keep in mind that pesky gene pool. At least once a week, I have a parent in my office who wants me to do sophisticated testing because their child is shorter than his playmates. When I ask the five-foot-one mother about the rest of the family, I find out that the father is five-foot-five and both sets of grandparents are under five-foot-three. With that kind of genetic background, the chances of giving birth to a future Shaquille O’Neal are pretty slim.

We tend to forget our children are young animals. Instinct will ensure they eat enough of the correct foods. This isn’t just my opinion. Classic studies have shown this to be true.

When your baby was born, he came equipped with a well-programmed computer in his head. It provides a constant read-out of the child’s condition: “January 15. 12 pounds, 15 ounces. Looking good.” Furthermore, this computer has a very sensitive alarm mechanism: “11:30. All’s well. Oops! RED ALERT: Hungry!” And when that alarm goes off, your baby will let you know it in no uncertain terms. You’ll have no trouble understanding your baby, and he’ll yell loud enough to awaken the neighbors. Overfeed him, and he’ll spit up. It’s a very straightforward and extremely effective system.

Grandparents always worry about children being too thin. And parents often worry about it too. Children are seldom concerned at all. The truth is that it’s rare for people in this country to be too thin. Overall, the thinner people are the healthier they are and the longer they live.

Children are very quick to pick up on the ground rules in a family. If their father refuses to eat carrots, you can believe that the children are also going to turn their noses in the air when they’re served. Look how frightened the broccoli growers became when the President of the United States said he refused to eat their product! If Grandma promises dessert when the food is eaten, why eat if there is no reward?

So long as there are families, there are going to be some disagreements over how the separate generations are leading their individual lives. In a perfect world, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and siblings would at least respect, if not applaud, the way we choose to raise our children. But I am well aware the world still has a way to go before nutritional awareness reaches that level. So the question becomes, how should you deal with the disapproval?

No one wants their children to be the object of nasty teasing, however parents often react more strongly to the threat of teasing than young people do. It’s your attitude about diet that will affect your children the most. If you make them proud of the way they eat and what the food does for their bodies, they will have the strength to overcome any peer pressure. In fact, my daughter has the opposite problem. She’s liable to feel sorry for people who eat meat, dairy and sugar products!