whollyhealthy

[whollyhealthy]

How to Achieve What You’ve Always Wanted for Your Kids

I’ve wanted kids for as long as I can remember. Lots of kids. I always told people 5 was my minimum. Maybe that’s a bit of a bold claim for someone not yet in their 20′s, but my life has always been centered around family, and I can’t really imagine it any other way.

No matter how many kids I have, I know there is one thing I will make sure I teach my children, and that is the importance of healthy eating.

Eating healthy, filling your plate with nutritious fruits and veggies and whole grains, is often seen as some sort of fad diet, or something people do to lose weight temporarily for a big event. You do it for a little bit, and then you go back to eating your regular leftover Chinese and big box of Cheez-its daily.

Eating healthy is a lifestyle. When you begin to change your behavior around food and give up the processed junk thrown at us by the food industry, you will sincerely feel the profound effects of a healthy diet. I firmly believe that eating right will change your life. It becomes second nature once you adopt this into your life. Teaching and demonstrating to your children about healthy eating through your behavior will instill this way of living in your children and make it routine. This is the best way to ensure they live a healthy life.

I may not be a mom, but I know how hard it is to get kids to eat what’s good for them. I’ve been babysitting kids since I was 10, so I’ve had my fair share of begging and promising dessert and sneaking things into macaroni and cheese just to get a couple veggies down. Most moms know they should feed their kids healthier food, but I think a lot of people get lost on the ‘why’ and the ‘how.’

Let’s start with the why.

Why does it even matter what you feed your kids? What exactly happens to the food when you eat it?

The reason why foods like fruits, vegetables, fish, and legumes are so good for us is because they are loaded with vitamins and minerals like vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and iron. We need these essential nutrients in order to survive. All of the processed junk out there littering supermarket shelves are often stripped of the nutrients, and pumped full of added sugars and salt, which can raise blood pressure, spike insulin levels, and increase chance of disease. All of this and more is explained in How Food Works by Joel Levy and Ginny Smith, which I highly recommend. It’s an informational text that breaks down all you need to know about food, and explains everything you know but don’t quite know, if you get my drift.

What if I told you that your body if full of millions of tiny microorganisms, moving around in all of your organs just going about their daily business in your body, and what you eat changes how they function? Every person has their own unique microbiome, and all of these tiny microscopic bugs work in symbiosis with your body. Change your diet, and you can alter your microbiome, for better or worse. Eating prebiotic foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains feeds your little bugs and helps them help you (“The Microbiome”). Research is still ongoing, but it is becoming more and more evident that the microbiome plays a big role in our health.

Need more convincing? In The Whole Foods Diet, John Mackey, founder of Whole Foods Inc., discusses an interesting phenomenon. There are certain areas of the world known as “Blue Zones.” These are areas where people have the lowest mortality rate in the world. People don’t know for sure what it is about these communities that cause people to live for so long, but one thing they had in common was the high amounts of greens and legumes they consumed each day (81-82). Just some food for thought.

I have some experience of my own when it comes to food and my health. Like most kids and teenagers, I never used to care what I put in my body. I’d take a muffin over an apple any day. I ate what my mom put in front of me, which was usually pasta and tasteless spinach. I began to suffer from chronic stomach and abdominal pain sometime around late middle/junior high school. My junior year of high school, I began to experiment with cooking. I got super into eating healthy and cooking every meal at home, and became obsessed with sweet potatoes and veggie stir fries. Not only did this drastically improve my physical pain, but I noticed my mental health improving as well. I suffered from depression and disordered eating for over 4 years, but I was finally starting to feel a little better.

Now I’m not saying that suddenly switching to eating more vegetables and fruits is a magical cure-all for every problem in your life. It’s not. But food fuels our mind and body, and allows us to function. You wouldn’t fill up the gas tank in your car with orange juice. It doesn’t power your car, and it would probably end up doing damage. So why would you put food into your body that damages it and impairs it’s functioning?

Ingrain these healthy habits into your kid by demonstrating with your behavior. They will look to you as an example to follow, so show them how it’s done. Healthy eating to your kids should be like going to the bathroom, or sleeping on a bed, or wearing socks with shoes. It’s just the way life is. It’s not weird or foreign—it’s second nature. This is the best way to show your children the lifestyle they should be living. They should be excited about eating healthy, not feel stifled and bored by it.

Isn’t this what every parent wants for their kids? For them to live a long, healthy life, and not have to struggle too much to get there?

Now’s the difficult part: the how.

Like I mentioned earlier, getting kids to eat their fruit and veggies can be hard. It’s especially hard when they go to their friend’s house and eat ho-hos and pizza and doritos, and now suddenly carrots are gross and bananas are mushy and you feel like all your hard work has gone down the drain. You can’t always control what kids eat when they’re gone, but starting at home will help build the foundation of healthy eating. Modeling for your kid what they should be eating and showing them that it is normal will help them view it the same way.

Below, I’ve come up with 5 ways to integrate healthy eating into your kids’ life and help them become lifelong healthy eaters.

1. Start early

I really believe that starting early is one of the best ways to begin your kids’ journey with healthy eating. Introducing your child to a wide variety of flavors allows them to become accustomed to different tastes. They’re more likely to develop a liking for flavors if they are constantly exposed to it from a young age, rather than randomly introducing it when they’re older. Of all of the kids I have ever babysat, the ones who ate healthy food when they were toddlers were the easiest to feed once they hit 5 and up. 

2. Incorporate food in creative ways

Adding fruits and vegetables in unique ways can help with picky kids and introducing them to familiar flavors in new ways. Some tried-and-true ways (by me and my family) of adding vegetables (notoriously difficult to feed children) to different meals:

Combine fruit with spinach, cucumbers, or zucchini to make smoothies. (add nut butters or chia seeds for protein!)

Add zucchini and/or carrots to oatmeal, muffins, breads, etc.

Veggie it! Noodles, burgers, sausage, eggs—you name it, it can be veggified. Serve with sauce, chicken, more veggies, buns, pasta, etc.

Sneak eggplant, zucchini, and other types of squash into mac n’ cheese, casseroles, and pasta.

3. Cook and Eat together

Making food together is a fun and interactive activity that can keep kids engaged and interested, while also learning. You can teach them about individual food items and why they’re important. Ask them to help you do the kid-safe tasks: placing food in pans, stirring soups, pouring pasta in water, and mixing ingredients in bowls. Cooking at home also gives full control of exactly what goes into your meals and allows you to limit sugar and sodium levels. I once read about a study which found that in families who regularly eat meals together, members have increased positive feelings about food and a decrease in disordered eating and behaviors surrounding food (Godfrey). It’s so simple, but something that’s often forgotten and neglected, especially in our busy lives when people are constantly coming and going from the house.

4. Keep healthy snacks around

Speaking from experience as a teenager, many kids come home from school ravenous and look for the first thing in sight to devour immediately. They don’t want to spend 30 minutes making a snack that’ll be eaten in 5. Stock the fridge and pantry with healthy easy-to-grab snacks such as fresh fruits and veggies, hummus, whole wheat crackers, peanut butter, whole wheat bread, cheese, Greek yogurt, hard boiled eggs, homemade oatmeal cookies, or roasted chickpeas.

5. Make it interesting

Eating healthy doesn’t have to be boring. Switching up meals weekly and challenging yourself to use foreign ingredients will help you stay on track and not lose motivation so quickly. For the kids, come up with some activities to keep them engaged and in the kitchen. Ask them if they can pick out different foods so they can have 4 different colors on their plate, or have them select one random item, whatever they want, from every food group (vegetables, fruits, grains, meat, etc.) when grocery shopping. Grow a garden if you have the resources, and have your kids help with the planting and watering.

Some important things to remember:

Kids are stubborn. Sometimes, they will refuse to eat things. That’s just part of being a kid. Try to not get too frustrated, and accept that it will happen at some point.

Don’t blame your kid for not liking certain foods. People’s tongues have different taste receptors, and everyone processes flavors differently. If your kid hates cucumbers, don’t try to force it down their throat. Instead, try to incorporate cucumber in different meals and see if they grow accustomed to it. I used to hate tomatoes so much I wouldn’t even go near them, and now I put them on everything! Children’s preferences can change, but it takes time and patience.

Eating healthy doesn’t mean giving up the food you love. One of my favorite things to do is try to twist my favorite foods and add a healthy component. If the kids want pizza, try making a pizza with cauliflower crust and top it with arugula, mushrooms, and capers. Use zucchini rounds topped with sauce and cheese as a bagel bite replacer. Make homemade frozen yogurt with fruit and chocolate. Make cashew alfredo sauce and pair it with zoodles when you’re really craving Olive Garden.

Don’t beat yourself up when you fall short in your goals. Everyone has days when they’re exhausted and can’t bring themselves to spend two hours prepping, cooking, serving, eating, and cleaning. Even if you don’t think you have a good excuse, it’s okay to run out and get McDonald’s every once in awhile. It’s all about balance.

Instilling healthy eating behaviors in your children and modeling for them through your actions and words will help them adopt this way of life as a habit. It won’t always be easy, but it will be so worth it. I promise.

                                               “Kids in the Kitchen” 

Also, some wise parting words that my mother once told me....Go buy some nutritional yeast. It will change your life. You’re welcome.