VOA常速英语:还觉得孩子吃饭难？那是你没找对方法

Nimali Fernando has seen first-hand the connection between what kids eat and their well-being.
孩子的健康与他们所吃的食物之间有着密不可分的联系，而对此Nimali Fernando掌握了许多第一手资料。

“On first glance, you think of diet-related illnesses, mainly just pediatric obesity,and it’s true that about 30 percent of kids in our community and nationwide really are either overweight or obese.And that’s a pretty staggering number.But as I paid more attention to a lot of the symptomology that I was seeing in kids who even weren’t obese or overweight,I was seeing that those symptoms often traced back in some way to the diet.”
“乍一看的话，你会想到与饮食有关的疾病，这其中主要是儿童肥胖症，的确，无论是在我们社区还是全国，大概百分之30的孩子要么超重，要么就是肥胖。这个数字相当惊人了。还有一点，有一些孩子虽然既不肥胖也不超重，但是却还是会出现很多病症，而当我把更多的注意力放到他们身上时便发现，这些症状很多时候还是得追溯到饮食问题上。”

To help change that, the pediatrician co-authored a book and started a blog and a website.
为了改变这种情况，这个儿科医师与人合着了一本书，同时开通了博客，还注册了一个网站。

“I simply posted recipes on that website and when I would see patients in the office and felt like I didn’t have enough time to go over the nutrition topics with them I would point them to that website.And then when I started to see how empowering that was for families to actually get in the kitchen and use our recipes and see their kids eating better, then I decided to teach a few cooking classes.“
“当时只是在这个网站上发布一些食谱，因为一般如果我在办公室坐诊的时候，就没有时间跟他们一起讨论营养类的话题，而这时候我就会让家长们自己去网站学习。后来我才发现，原来这个网站有这么大的作用，可以让这些家庭真正下到厨房当中去，利用我们的食谱让自己的孩子吃得更健康，于是当时我就决定要给这些家长们开设一些烹饪课程。”

In 2012, she co-founded the Dr. Yum Project.
2012年，她跟别人共同创建了Dr. Yum项目。

“Feeding is a developmental process… this is lentils with spinach…”
“喂养孩子就是一个不断发展的过程……这个是菠菜扁豆团……”

In this kitchen inside her clinic, she gives parents ideas for raising healthy eaters.
在诊所的厨房里面，她给家长们提供了许多建议，帮助他们培养宝宝健康饮食。

“Maybe it’s using our menu planner to see how they can make meal planning easy for them.Maybe it’s using our budget-friendly recipes to figure out how to eat really healthy on a budget.Maybe it’s using our baby food options so that they can see how to feed their babies the same food they’re eating.”
“他们当中有的可能是想用我们的菜单设计来学习如何更简单地制定食谱。有的是想用当中比较划算的食谱来研究如何在有限的预算内尽可能吃的健康。还有的是想要借鉴我们的婴儿食品方案，以学习如何让婴儿学习跟他们吃一样的食物。”

“Even my husband and I are eating better because we’re making sure that the kids eat better."
“现在就连我跟我丈夫都比以前吃的健康了，因为我们得先保证孩子吃的好。”

Almost all of the ingredients used in the cooking classes come from the clinic’s garden,all the recipes are posted on Dr. Yum’s website.
烹饪课上用到的食材基本上全都来自于诊所里的菜园。另外所有的食谱都会在Dr.Yum网站上公布。

“Every single recipe is tasted by families and we have the real feedback that we get from families,parents and kids about the food that is out there.We’ve tagged all those recipes, make it really easy to build or find.”
“这里每一道菜都经许多家庭品尝过，我们也收到了来自这些家庭、家长和孩子对于食物的真实反馈。同时我们已经给这些食谱分别起了名字，方便大家查找。”

The ultimate goal is to change the culture around kids’ food.
而这一切的最终目标就是改变儿童食品的文化。

“There is a lot going on in the media, and you know, just kind of advertising and things around that say that kids,you know, kids foods are, like ‘Lunchables,’ or kids foods are processed foods, kids won’t eat fresh carrots,since they would rather have Doritos.You have to remember that these messages are out there because those companies are trying to make money.You have to learn how to try new foods all of the times.”
“媒体的大肆报道，比如广告还有相关的一些东西，大概就是说儿童食品，比如方便午餐盒，或者儿童食品就是加工过的，又或者是与新鲜胡萝卜相比，孩子们更喜欢吃多力多滋。记住，这些信息之所以会存在，是因为那些公司要赚钱。所以你得一直尝试新的食物。”

Fernando and her collegues hope to inspire pediatricians around the country to start cooking lessons to help families enjoy real, nutritious meals.
Fernando和同事希望能够激励全国各地的儿科医生开设烹饪课程，帮助广大家庭品尝到真正有营养的食物。