The Secret to Get Your Family to Eat Healthy

This is it! The big secret is revealed! How to get your family to accept the fact that they can’t survive anymore on Mickey D’s, fish crackers, Coke, and frozen pizzas.

Are you ready for it?

The secret is. . .

Patience.

 

What, were you expecting a miracle?

Remember your mom teaching you that if you want something great you have to work for it? That rule most definitely applies here too. You may want to go all crazy and dump every last bit of junk food in the house (believe me, I’ve actually done this a few times) but that doesn’t mean that your family is going to be there helping you haul the loot out to the garbage bin. Prepare them by telling them how much you care about them and how you want them to be healthy and happy and to live forever. My kids know that when I give them healthy food I am trying to keep them from getting sick too.

Take baby steps in the right direction and be consistent. If you decide that you are going to clear your house of sugar you can still allow the kids to have a sweet treat occasionally.  I am constantly reminding my kids that we have to limit our sugar because sugar is bad for our immune system so when we eat lots of sugar we are more likely to get sick. I still allow them ice cream on special occasions, and a bit of candy when we celebrate holidays, and I love to bake so I occasionally whip up batches of brownies or oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, using the best ingredients within my budget.

This is New Years resolution time and millions of people make a resolution to “get healthy”. Only 8% actually follow through with this. Why? because “get healthy” is so utterly vague that no one can even wrap their brain around it. So let’s start with a real goal.

My goal for 2013: Eat fresh fruits and veggies, healthy fats and proteins, increase probiotics, limit sugars and processed foods,  and work out 3 times a week for 30 minutes.

Now that is a goal I can take to the grocery store and gym and make it work!

I am 15 weeks pregnant right now and I am still riding the morning sickness train. Food hasn’t been my friend and I have been eating whatever sounded good, even Kraft Mac n’ Cheese, delivery pizza,  and sour gummy bears (not together). So just like you I am resolving to eat healthy this year for me and my baby.

 

Let’s start out with some tips on how to help our kids to eat a little healthier.

Tip #1: If your kids come home from school and go straight to the kitchen for juice and crackers I recommend keeping a bowl of fresh fruit on the counter so they see that colorful rainbow first. My boys LOVE fresh apples and oranges so I leave them out where they can see their bright colors flash as soon as they walk in the room. Works like a charm.

Tip #2: Keep unhealthy snacks up high or hidden away in a cupboard (or get rid of them altogether). Out of sight, out of mind.

Tip#3: Try something new. A new fruit or veggie, or even a new way to cook a veggie that they already like. And don’t be discouraged if they don’t take to a new food right away. It can take more than 10 times of trying a new food before they will learn to like it. I’m still trying to get my oldest to eat cucumbers.

Tip#4: If you do make a treat make it with the best ingredients you can get. I have revamped a yummy brownie recipe and our favorite cookie recipe by substituting whole wheat flour, dehydrated cane juice, and dark chocolate chips. They are still high in sugar and need to be eaten in moderation but they are much more nourishing than the original recipes and they taste just as good. (The recipes will be in a later post.) My kids would never know the difference. Check Pinterest for pages and pages of healthy desserts.

Tip #5: Don’t bring it in the house unless you want them to eat it. Kids are scavengers. When they are hungry they will find it. And if you don’t want them to eat it you probably shouldn’t be eating it either.

Tip #6: MOST IMPORTANTLY: Please lay off the soda and sugar laden drinks. This includes diet soda/drinks too. Studies have proved that artificial sweeteners don’t help at all with weight loss and actually make you crave more sugar and more calories. Juice is on this list too. I allow my boys a small amount of 100% juice on occasion but the fructose amounts are really high. Soda is completely void of nutrition and the high fructose corn syrup or sugar can do more than make us chubby, it can damage our liver just as badly as alcohol (see this video at Mercola.com), and make it difficult to concentrate and think at higher levels. Am I saying that sugar can make you stupid? YES!  I know how addictive these sugar drinks can be. I’ve been there and I still have days that I give in and drink a cold Dr. Pepper. The difference is that now I know that damage that can be done and one can is enough (or way more than enough) for me.

Did you know that Sugary drinks are the #1 source of calories in America? Think about it. There is no nutritional content and that is our #1 energy source. No wonder Americans are getting fat, popping anti-depressants, and dying of cancer and heart disease. Scary.

Tip #7: Don’t just feed, NOURISH. Read your labels and know what you are giving your children. Quality over quantity. If your children are eating nourishing foods they won’t be rummaging through the fridge every hour. Focus on fresh fruits and veggies, protein, healthy fats like coconut oil and grass-fed butter, nuts, beans and lentils, and probiotic foods.

 

It know that is a lot to start out with but if you can just start with one baby step at a time pretty soon your family will be feeling better, enjoying life more, and will be able to manage their weight much better too. All it takes is patience.

Me + Food = Love. Why I am a “foodie”

Before I start jumping into “you should eat this” and “you shouldn’t eat that” I want to give you a little background on why I care so much about food.

Once upon a time I lived in a small town with my mom and dad and 6 siblings. Every year my mom and dad grew gardens full of fresh veggies to feed all the hungry mouths. I learned early that fresh fruits and veggies are more than just food. They were grown and cooked with love.

Years later, I get to be the mom and I didn’t inherit my dad’s green thumb so I rely heavily on grocery store produce and friends and neighbors' gardens.  (I do have a small garden that I desperately try to keep alive every year.)

I fell in love with food gradually. I have never been on a fad diet, been more than a 10 pounds overweight, or had any medical condition that required a special diet. My love for food started in college when I took my first Nutrition course. My teacher who was about 50 years old was so beautiful and radiant and looked no older than 35. Her skin and hair were practically glowing with health.  I would watch how her eyes sparkled as she taught us the most important role of nutrition: not to help us lose weight, attract the opposite sex, increase energy, or any other tag line you see on a magazine cover.

Nutrition is to help us PREVENT CHRONIC DISEASE!

(light bulb)

This idea changed how I looked at everything I ate. “Will this cheeseburger give me cancer? Will whole milk give me heart disease? Will gummy bears give me diabetes? Which vegetables have the most disease fighting power?” And most importantly I started reading the labels on everything I ate.  I had power over the unknown!

The “normal” diet in America (also called the Western Diet) is made up of

what is quick-and-easy and can be stored for a long time. Everything is packed with preservatives and processed until it is unrecognizable so that it has a 2+ year shelf life. White flour, white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, yada yada yada.  By now most of us have heard a million times what the “bad foods” are.

 

So here is my theory about food.

Food = Life

Ok, completely obvious right? Everyone needs food to live.

But it is more than that. Live food = Life 

We need to make sure there is still life in our food so that it can give us life (and I’m not talking sushi and steak tartar here.) I mean, you are what you eat, right?

When we buy a can of green beans from the shelf at the store we think we are getting the same thing we get from the garden. When we process beans we break down some of the important nutrients like fiber, vitamin C,and Vitamin A. And even more importantly we lose the digestive enzymes that are only in raw foods. Some nutrition is still there but it loses a lot of it’s “life” .

After this epiphany about live foods I started eating up books from the library about fad diets and not-so-fad diets. I searched through all of the hype and fluff and found what works best for me and my family.

Nutrition is a fast evolving field that is always changing. I read and study as much as I can and I use what I believe to be true when I feed my family. I have one especially sensitive son who I know needs special dietary attention and I do my best to keep my picky little boy well nourished and it is not easy at all.

I am excited to start talking more about my passion for good food! This doesn’t mean I am a five star cook or that I am going to be passing out award winning recipes (if I could only be so lucky). It just means that I want to help you to help your family be healthy! I believe that we can tackle childhood obesity and chronic disease one home at a time!!!!!

Healthy food is the best food you will ever eat. It will feed your body, mind, and soul.