Introducing Guest Blogger, Amy Lathrop
Food Smarts for Gen Xers!A weekly blog on Food for Gen Xers!
Are your children getting what they need nutrionally?
If you are like most moms-in-the-know, which we Xer's pride ourselves on being, you are feeding your kids healthy foods, but are they getting the correct nutrients for their age and sex? Hmmm...let's check it out.
Here is a nutritional guide for boys.
And here is a guide specific to girls.
RealAge.com, has a whole series on how to be a better parent. According to them, our kids form their health habits, the important ones like eating, excersising, self-control, at a very early age. They pick it up from watching their friends, family and the media.
One of the things I have found to be most effective is TALKING to my kids about healthy choices. When they were tiny, I made the choices for them, and as they've grown they have begun to question my choices.
This is especially true of the foods we eat at home. They want to know why they can't have more than one piece of ooey-gooey chocolate cake a day, or why they need to eat their vegetables rather than just having a second helping of pasta instead. They want to know why we don't buy soda pop or have chips in our house. I have tried to explain how our body works and what happens to it when we eat different types of food. Especially when we eat junk food vs. healthy food.
My kids now prefer to eat healthy. (And they aren't shy about telling their friends what is wrong with the food they're eating ... hmm ... wonder where they got that from?)
We recently spent the weekend in Washington with my family, after a day of snacking in Seattle and watching Open Season at the theatre with movie-must popcorn, candy and soda, my daughter remarked, "Mom, I don't think I've eaten anything healthy all day." At 8, she realizes that the sick feeling in her tummy was the result of the eating choices she had made.
They don't always make wise choices in food, but they don't whine and complain when something less than fabulously delicious is placed in front of them. Most of the time they will eat it because they know it's good for them. So, at least that battle has been won, and they understand WHY they eat the foods they do.
Amy Lathrop
amy@bighoof.com
Amy finds herself smack in the middle of Generation X. Born in 1973 and a graduate of The Evergreen State College (think greeners, granola and bare feet liberality). She's been married for 12 years to hubby Bryce, and is mommy to two awesome kids, Dakota 9 and Madison 8. She is a woman of many directions--part-time caterer, part-time writer assistant, part-time writer, bible study leader, and official Mom-of-the-Year award winner!
posted by Tricia Goyer @ 7:00 PM
4 Comments:
This is something that I'm really struggling with -- teaching my kids how to eat healthy -- while I'm struggling to relearn it myself.
I've always been a "junk food junkie", and just last year I found a fabulous, Christian NONdiet called Thin Within. Since then, I've been trying to listen to my body's signals to eat "properly", and I've been trying to see all foods as equal... none is specifically "good" or "bad" or "forbidden", even though some are better choices than others. Trying to let my kids grow into healthy eaters without pushing "diet mentalities" on them is hard, though! It's so ingrained in me, that it's hard not to spew it out on them...
Yes, I'm teaching them healthy choices (and we have rules about "junk" food), but I try not to use "diet speak" any more. ;o)
Intuitive Eating website
IE support group
<>< Mizbooks
Yeah for starting early--Your kids will be so much the better for it.
I was raised on white bread, bologna, hot dogs, chips, pop, and all the yummy stuff at home. My mom was a great cook, but both she and my dad worked full time. We usually ate out about 5 nights a week and she cooked big elaborate gourmet meals on the weekend. We were kind of a wierd family, we could be junk food junkies one day and eat calamari and quattro formage the next. My parents raised me to be a "foodie". But, I never really thought about what I was eating, and how it is was prepared and all the awful things I was putting into my body until my son had an alergy. I began to pay attention to food labels. I noticed in so many of the products that are supposed to be "healthy" there were ingrediants like msg, trans fats, high fructose corn syrups, arificial sweetners, and dyes. I also started comparing organic vs. unorganic and noticed that usually there are many more ingrediants that I can't pronounce in the unorganic that simply aren't good for you. Okay, don't get me started. Plus, organic taste's better.
I also, struggle so much with self-control. So I've had to just stop buying things I can't resist...unless it's a special occasion. Or start buying the healthier version of chips and "stuff" found in most health food stores.
I also try to make food fun for my kids. I involve them in the cooking and shopping and they love going to the "healthy food store" because they get to pick out a treat or or be in charge of scooping out the bulk foods.
Thanks for the tip on the website!
I've been working on more fruits, veggies, salads too. And much less junk food. We all feel better when we eat right.
I agree that you need to make healthier choices, but I love "intuitive eating" ("Thin Within") because it says I can have whatever food I want *as long as* I listen to my body's natural cues of "hunger" (eat only when I'm *truly* hungry), and "satisfied" (stop at the comfortable point, not after I'm *stuffed*). :o)
It's the ONLY thing that has worked for me in 8 years of trying every "diet"..... and knowing that this *isn't* another diet is what helps. It's a lifestyle change. It's something I can do for LIFE because there are NO restrictions, NOTHING to count/watch (calories, labels, grams, etc), and it's the way God designed me to be. He designed our bodies to work like this, but years of "listening to the media" has helped that "diet mentality" to become soooo ingrained. It's hard to undo it. I'm still struggling with that, but I'll NEVER go back to dieting... ever! :o)
<>< Mizbooks
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