There are so many benefits to eating healthy whole food. Getting the entire family into this lifestyle is something everyone will benefit from. I’ve educated my children on what good and bad food are and they have become great eaters. There are days when they refuse to eat their veggies but they still end up taking it and they realize that it isn’t so bad. I’ve learned to make meals more appealing by preparing colorful and tasteful dishes.
Eating a healthy breakfast.
The key to happy healthy eaters are:
- Teach them to love healthy food while they are babies.
- Make visually appealing and flavorful meals.
- Practice the “You must try everything once” rule.
- Let them know that not eating veggies is a non- negotiable.
- Give them lots of the fruits and vegetables they truly like.
- Make healthy “dip” for veggies like sour cream, humus or herbed yogurt.
- Involve your kids in creating your family meal plan.
Children can love vegetables. My little girl loves her broccoli.
To give you an idea, here’s what we avoid:
- sugar ( I just don’t buy it, I use honey instead)
- fruit juice with coloring and syrup
- soda
- sugary cereal
- hotdogs and cold cuts with nitrate
- canned food
- yellow or orange junk food
- anything with MSG and carrageenan
- candies and chocolates (occasionally allowed)
- soy sauce due to its inflammatory consequences ( I use liquid alaminos instead)
- Anything from China. (Sorry to sound racist but they have a track record of cheating by putting synthetics and poison into their food)
I was once advised to make sure you eat colorful.
What we eat a lot of:
- Every morning a glass of green juice (cucumber or carrot, leafy greens, celery, apple or orange and sometimes beets or ginger) My kids have learned to love this.
- Their favorite veggies which are all bought organic. These include broccoli, cauliflower, french beans, bell pepper, zucchini, pumpkin, baby corn, spinach or kale (dipped in their favorite sauce or dressing)
- Lots of fruits like banans, apples, berries, peaches, dragon fruit, kiwi and pear.
- goats milk yougurt (son is intolerant to cow’s dairy)
- Yakult
- turkey slices
- whole free range eggs
- black or red rice
- quinoa
- organic chicken or beef
- wild caught fish
- coconut juice
- rice crackers
- apple chips
- cheese
- coconut ice cream
- homemade fruit ice cream
- seaweed
I buy mostly organic because today there are just so many health consequences due to all the pesticides and hormones in food. We live in the era of GMO food and lots of terrible additives. I always read the labels and avoid sugar, gluten, and chemical additives that I cannot pronounce or read. We only eat fast food when there are no other choices and they’ve learned to live this lifestyle. Another thing that I’ve found very helpful is to know your food intolerance and eliminate them. Ever since I stopped my son’s dairy intake, he has not gotten a cold or his usually cough and asthma.
Are you struggling with getting your children to eat better? What are some tips you can share?
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