The Early Diet's Role in Our Children's Later Eating Habits; Money's Role in C.C. Sabathia's Revamped Off-season Diet

Today’s post was going to be solely about the recent study showing that many children’s palates are already hooked on sugary, salty and fatty foods by the time they are as young as three.

I’m not sure we need a university study to tell us what seems like common sense, but if we connect the dots, it’s obvious why so many older children and teenagers run for the hills if forced to eat real food with real flavor and texture.

There’s a chance children will never eat well if their early taste buds—starting in their moms’ wombs and continuing with breast milk or formula, pureed food and solid food—are bombarded with the omnipresent sugary drinks, yogurts and cereals, plus salty snacks and frozen foods.

But it seems there may be a cure for poor eating habits, even after years of habitual junk food consumption. Money.

Just ask C.C. Sabathia, one of baseball’s best pitchers, what the lure of even more dollars can do to one’s diet. Sabathia is entering the third year of a guaranteed seven-year, $161 million contract, but he can opt out of the deal after this season and become a free agent. It’s possible he would improve upon his current $23 million annual salary.

Sabathia, to prepare for the upcoming season and another possible jackpot, lost 25 pounds to get himself down to 290. According to Ben Shpigel of The New York Times, “Consulting with a chef and a nutritionist, Sabathia cut out sports drinks, soda and cereal from his diet – especially Cap’n Crunch, which he sometimes ate a box at a time.”

Banking on your kid to throw 95 miles per hour may not be the best of strategies to get him to eat better; an early diet of apples, broccoli and avocados is probably the safer play.