【推荐2】Should You Hide Vegetables in Your Child’s Food?

Some kids are probably born naturally loving vegetables—but most kids don’t exactly like vegetables. And for many parents, getting kids to eat vegetables can be a struggle. There may be a place for hidden vegetables, but in general, it’s best to help kids learn to enjoy vegetables.     1    

First, remember that it can take time.     2     Some kids require eight to ten experiences with a vegetable before deciding it deserves a spot on their plate. As you offer vegetables many times, try preparing them in different ways, such as steamed, or roasted, and with different flavor additions.

Offering choice also invites your child to be active in their own food decision-making.     3     When mealtime comes, ask your kid: “Would you like asparagus or broccoli?” or “On your vegetables, would you like Ranch or hummus?”

    4     “Cooking is my favorite way to help kids develop a love of various types of food,” says Lvova. “By taking the action into the kitchen, kids can feel more important in the cooking process. This leads to confidence, and that confidence often leads to adventure—like taking a bite of something new, or even just smelling it.”

If gardening is an option,     5     As children watch plants grow, they may take pride in the role they played in the process and want to taste the vegetables and fruits of their labor.

【推荐3】A long and healthy life

Everyone wants to be healthy and live a long time.     1     Some years ago, a 90-year-old American writer gave some advice for a long and healthy life:

• Believe in yourself.

• Keep your mind active.

• Be positive (乐观的).

• Love people and enjoy helping others.

The women of Okinawa, in Japan, are another great example.     2     Their secret? They exercise every day, they don’t have much stress in their lives, and, in general, they are positive and active.

But of course, diet is important, too.     3     They eat some meat, but they don’t eat any fat from the meat. And they eat seaweed (海藻). This is good for your heart.

The Mediterranean diet is very healthy, too. It includes vegetables, tomatoes, fish, beans, cheese and rice.     4     It comes from olive oil and from fish.

So, what do these two diets tell us?

• Don’t eat any bad fats — like fats in sweets, fried food and meat.

• Eat healthy vegetables, fruit, potatoes and rice.

•     5     If you use oil, use a good one like olive oil. And avoid deep-fried food!

• If you’re a little hungry, eat an apple or a carrot — not a bag of potato chips!

Eat well, live an active and stress-free life, and you’ll live a long time.

【推荐2】Whether due to genuine concern for the environment or the widespread criticism of plastic among consumers, many companies have invested heavily in reducing their use of plastic packaging, which may indeed have a positive environmental impact. But another trend that’s grown out of the anti-plastic movement is a lot less positive: overpackaging. More and more brands have begun adding unnecessary paper packaging on top of plastic packaging in order to make their products look more environmentally friendly, without actually reducing plastic waste.

Unfortunately, there’s a very good reason companies are adopting this clearly problematic approach. Through a series of eight studies with more than 4,000 participants, we found that consumers will accept a product’s packaging as more environmentally friendly if it’s plastic with an additional layer of paper than if the product is visibly packaged in identical plastic packaging but without the paper. These perceptions (认知) in turn make consumers both more likely to buy a product, and willing to pay more for it.

Part of what makes this overpackaging trend particularly harmful is that it is much valued by consumers who reported engaging in more eco-friendly behaviors. They were more likely to view overpackaged products as environmentally friendly. As a result, the very consumers who are most interested in pushing companies to make sustainable choices are likely unintentionally encouraging the environmentally harmful practice of overpackaging.

The good news is, overpackaging isn’t the only way to signal sustainability and attract such consumers. In our studies, we found that instead of additional paper packaging, simply adding a minimal packaging sticker to plastic packaging could clarify the misperception that overpackaged products are more sustainable, Especially for products for which plastic is necessary to ensure safe transportation and lengthen shelf life, this kind of clear messaging can help reduce consumers, discrimination against the responsible use of plastic packaging.

Of course, minimal packaging stickers certainly should only be used if a brand has actually ensured that it is using the minimal possible packaging, ideally under the supervision of a trade organization or regulatory body that maintains clear, consistent standards.