Table 3.

Themes and important quotes related to Latino mothers beliefs and practices for encouraging their children to eat in San Diego County (n=41).

Themes	Quotes
1) Feeding attitudes	Maternal responsibility
	“Well, from when they’re little… 2 or 3 years when they begin to walk, I think one [mother] can start teaching them [to eat healthy] so that when they are 6 or 7 years, they know what vegetables are.”
	“If they [mothers] did not give their children what is healthy then their children would never learn how to eat.”
	“I think that part of our cultural experience involves learning how to eat, and to feed our children… it begins in the home.”
	“…as a mother, one should prepare foods that don’t have a lot of fat, try not to use so much bread, try to eat more fruits, more vegetables…”
2) Feeding behaviors	Cooking strategies
	“… I use a lot of vegetables and beans, which is what my children have seen me eat, and what they have learned to eat.”
	“…I throw away the yellow part, I only eat the [egg] whites”
	“…they [children] don’t eat food with grease. I give them vegetables.”
	“We eat vegetables or grill things that don’t have grease - the grease drips off.”
	“I like to make aguas [frescas naturales]/natural juices with oranges.”
	“…sometimes when we buy juice by the gallon,…I give [them] half juice with half water.”
	“I cook with water…and try not to fry too many things.”
	“…eat what you want but there’s always a serving of protein in the morning.”
	Behaviors to support “eating well”
	Persuasion:
	“I had to slowly get the apple slice near him, week by week, week by week, until he tolerated looking at it on his plate and then he tolerated tasting it [food].”
	“Want to be like Thalia? Eat your vegetables.”
	“My daughter is a real flirt, so I explain to her that food [like carrots] will benefit her… and [I] always tell her ‘this will help your hair grow, and this will make your eyes real pretty’.”
	“You can, you know you have the ability to do it [not eat junk food]… [you have] will power… and if you try, you can.”
	Food rules:
	“It’s hard, my daughters say, ‘I don’t like it’, but in my house we don’t use ‘I don’t like it’ if you haven’t tried it.”
	“If it’s something healthy, they have permission, but for chips, churritos/fritters and stuff, they have to ask permission.”
	Controlling the home food environment:
	“In the refrigerator, which they have the habit of opening, there are the grapes and strawberries”
	“Once a week when we go out, we buy a small 99-cent bag [chips] and I let them eat, but in the house, there is no big bag of chips….”
	“…sodas are not permitted in my house, candy isn’t permitted unless I give it to them.”
	“In my house they [children] even have to ask for water.”
	“…I usually have jellos, yogurt, and things like that, which is what they get because there are no candies and things like that.…”
	Reinforcement strategies
	“You can have a first slice of pizza, but if you want a second, you have to have a serving of vegetables.”
	“I’ll tell him, ‘if you eat all of your vegetables… later when we go to the store, [you can] pick out something’, and then [afterwards] I’ll tell him: ‘see, that’s for eating all of your vegetables’.”
	“Don’t eat…․ when your friends come… you won’t get to play outside, no computer and you’ll sit in the room.”
	“Don’t eat that, because you’re going to get fatter.”
	“Watch what you eat, because you [plural] could get diabetes.”