How to ease children into “healthy” food

Hey guys!

Do you want to hear about one of my biggest peeves in the world? Yes?  Good I knew you would.  I absolutely, positively hate the way that “kid’s menu food” is always chicken nuggets, hamburgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, mac ‘n cheese and french fries.  Whether you go to a fast food place or a sit-down restaurant, generally you will find the same similar set of, well,  junk.

What is the reason for this? It’s because we as adults “vote” for these types of food to be put on menus when we order them for the kids.  By showing businesses that we have a demand for the greasy meals, they will naturally keep providing these and only these in child-size portions.  AND, many individuals unknowingly push these types of food in the home as well because simply put, parents are worried that children won’t get enough food and they want to feed them something that will be finished.

I totally disagree with this mindset, and here’s why.  Did you know that it takes a baby 8-15 exposures to a new food before they may learn to like it and put it in their mouth?  That’s a lot of exposures, so before you rule out a notoriously unpalatable food at first grimace, try again!

There’s different opinions on whether or not an adolescent child should be forced to taste everything, but I definitely think this is the best way to approach eating.  There’s no need to assume that children won’t like a certain food and you won’t know until you try.

Here are my 5 ways to ease the kids into healthy food:

1. Let them be part of the cooking process. By including your kids in preparation and presentation of the meals you cook at home, they will be much more likely to taste and enjoy the food themselves!
2. Make the food fun.  Don’t serve a 5 year old baked chicken breast, steamed broccoli, and brown rice.  BLAH.  Even I would be bored with that meal.  Make things colorful and experiment with new ways to get veggies into old favorites.
3. Don’t force it.  I don’t think the whole “sit here until you finish your peas” approach is very effective because it forces a bad association with the particular food item.  Instead, ask which particular quality about that food is unappealing.
4. Let them come to the grocery store.  Allow children to help pick out new items that look good to them.  That being said, steer clear of the candy and candy-esque cereals that take up half of the aisles.  Marking at it’s finest! Try not to give into to the temptation.
5. Have family dinners.  What ever happened to families sitting down at the dinner table in the same place every night, talking about their day over a home-cooked meal?  It seems almost non-existent as our schedules get busier and technology takes over our night-time brains.  My family always did this (at least on most nights of the week) and I swear that it does wonders both nutritionally speaking and in terms of family bonding.  Bring family meals back!

My dinner tonight is an example of how you can make a classic fun and delicious meal into a healthy favorite for a child:

Veggie Quesadillas:

This was quick and easy, tasty and healthy.  The inside was full of veggie goodness:

In case you can’t tell, that’s hummus, spinach, tomato, avocado, green onion, and goat cheese.  You can make this a little less “out-there” by subbing out the green onion and goat cheese for red onion and cheddar.  I love making these because anything can be thrown in and it always tastes good.  Make it sweet by using peanut butter and banana, make a breakfast version by using eggs, mushrooms and cheese.  The possibilities are endless.

What are your opinions on children and healthy eating?

And also, how do you deal with the fine line between encouraging healthy eating and causing possible food issues later on, especially with girls? This is one thing I want to be extra careful with when the day comes that I have kids…

What I’ve Been Up To

Hellooooooo there!

Sorry I’ve been MIA the last couple of days.  I wanted to drop in for a quickie post so my pictures aren’t so backlogged when my life regains some sense of normalcy!  Our house guests are keeping us super entertained and we’ve been busy doing anything and everything including…

…cooking some great at-home meals (Mediterranean Turkey Burgers w/sweet potato fries and asparagus)…

…ROLLER BLADING!!!! Yes, I still own roller blades.  And I love to use them!  Jessica and I took the boys to a lake nearby so they could run and we could blade in the amazing sunshine.  Do you love my amazing socks???

It’s been right around 60 degrees all week so we definitely want to be outside.  Check out the view in the background!  Not a bad way to spend the afternoon…  I may or may not have skipped a couple of classes to partake in these activities.  Whoops!

…drinking massive amounts of espresso to keep me on top of my game!  Latte love. I’ve been getting about 4-5 hours of sleep every night this week.  Not optimal, but sometimes there’s just not enough time in the day!

…Eating some fabulous Mexican cuisine at our favorite local restaurant.  Remember “the best margaritas in the world“?  We make sure to take all visitors to this place so they can experience them as well.  Nice, right?

Gosh the mountains have been amazingly clear lately.  I can’t believe it’s already March!  Springtime is upon us.

Oh yeah, and have I mentioned how much I love running?  Look who hit double digits on Tuesday!!!

I’m so happy I decided not to skip it in favor of studying all afternoon–I would have been miserable missing out on such an amazing day.  And I felt so good the entire time that I’m convinced I can finish the 1/2 in 2 hours.  Just one short week from Sunday!

I’m done with class for the day (woo!) and as soon as Jessica gets back, we’re heading to Fort Collins for the New Belgium brewery tour.  I’ve never been there, but heard great things about it.  On the way home we were thinking of stopping at Whole Foods to pick up some appetizer-type things for tonight. We’ll see what looks good once we get there!

Enjoy the rest of your day!

The best Margarita Ever.

I’ve officially tasted the best margarita I’ve ever had!  I ate a Mexican restaurant with a couple friends last night and whoa… This had fresh strawberries pureed in and wasn’t overly sweet.  Nice and strong too!  I used to stick to original, on the rocks margs, but this thing was good!

For dinner I had the roasted veggie quesadilla which was also great.  A little heavy on the cheese as you can see, but a little extra cheese once in awhile won’t kill ya:-)

We hit up a bar across the street and ended up staying out until close again so breakfast this morning was light but substantial.

AB & J on WW w/grapes.  How’s that for abbreviation? ha ha… This is homemade raspberry jam and it’s SO delicious.  Both my roommate and I agreed we can’t go back to store-bought after eating this.  I’ll definitely be learning how to make it.  I also had a tea (just broke into my TAZO variety pack–my favorite brand!).

Enjoy the day!

I see snow in my future.

I definitely won’t be surprised if I wake up to my car covered in white flakes–supposedly we’re getting hit tonight.  As sad as I am to see the warm weather go (I was just laying outside by my pool this weekend!), I can’t wait to see what it will be like to spend winter somewhere besides home.  Skiing in the mountains will be so amazing!!

Lunch-

This is a “quick” quesadilla which means I just put LC & Pepper jack cheese on a tortilla, fold in half and microwave for 30 seconds.  Perfect every time!

I dipped it in Amy’s tomato soup (the best canned tomato I’ve had), and had a crunchy salad on the side.  This was a super satisfying lunch!

Dinner-

Ravioli stuffed with spicy beef and sausage.  It’s a Buitoni Reserva flavor that we picked up at the store this week.  I didn’t think it was out-of-this-world good, but definitely tasty!  I roasted the broccoli with some dill weed and that was quite the combo.  I heart veggies.

Early morning workout tomorrow, better get to bed!

The best french toast ever.

Hey everyone! I’m in a great mood tonight because I got a ton of stuff accomplished today, had a great workout and some great food.  I think I finally have my class schedule figured out for Fall semester.  What are all of you students taking next year?

My day started nice and early with this fantastic breakfast of french toast with fruit on the side.

I know this looks like pancakes, but the homemade oatmeal bread is a round loaf… This bread definitely contributed to the BEST french toast I’ve ever made.  I think it’s because of the dense texture.  Not sure, but I used 1 egg, vanilla soymilk and cinnamon for the batter and it turned out perfect!

Mid-morning study fuel was an apple with PB.

And lunch was this mix of flavors that I have seen in blog land before many times… Black beans + sweet potato! I tried the combo in quesadilla form (Ezekial tortilla), and added my own twist with arugula and avocado. I just read that Miss Tyler from Raspberry Runner had a similar lunch today… we didn’t plan it, I swear!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Yum! This was super good! The sweet potato adds just a hint of sweetness. I had a banana on the side, but I’m sure you all know what that looks like:-)

Between lunch and dinner I attended a “Skill Builder” on sushi rolling because the woman I intern for was giving the presentation.  Very interesting! I learned some new things and got some free twig tea that I’ll be testing out tomorrow.  I’ll definitely do a review because it’s a pretty unique flavor!

Three pieces of sushi ended up being my pre-workout snack… I did a 3-miler as fast as I could and I finished in right around 26 minutes. After doing some back, shoulder, and abs which included:

• Bent over rows
• Boat shoulder presses
• Back hyperextension w/hand weights
• Stability ball push-ups
• Crunches, ceiling pulses, bicycles

I came home and made this quick dinner:

Tuna + pepperjack (toasted) on more oatmeal bread, steamed brocc w/oregano, strawberries! I think I’m fiber’d out for the day…

Chemistry time. Have a great night!

Just got done with my last lab of the semester!!!!! I’m so excited that from now on Tuesday classes will be dunzo at 12:30! Anyways, I had a good day of eats to go with my good mood because I’ve got yummy groceries this week…

Starting with my favorite meal of the day:

I made a yogurt bowl because I finally picked up some new yogurt (Stonyfield Lowfat Plain) and Strawberries were buy 1, get 1 free!!!  I’ve eaten almost an entire carton in 2 days and you will be seeing lot’s more!

Lunch was packed and eaten during class per usual for Tuesdays.  I had a hummus/arugula sandwich (on homemade oatmeal bread!) + a fuji apple and some trail mix made with walnuts, raisins and choco chips.

I’ve never bought arugula before but it was on sale and I thought what the heck.  Just like I had always been told, it has a slightly peppery taste.  Pretty good!

Works wonderfully as a mid-morning snack!

They were all out of pink lady’s this week, but this guy was nice and crunchy!

Dinner was SUPER early because I worked out and was hungry for more than just a snack… I threw together this black bean and pepperjack quesadilla and cut up my cantaloupe so I could have some on the side.

Of course by the time I got home from lab, I was hungry again, so I just finished dinner #2… mug of oatmeal with flax, cinnamon, strawberries, and soy milk

I’m good for the rest of the night now:-)

Time to do some NSCA studying and finish up some laundry… Night!

My favorite day:-)

Mornin’ everyone! I’ve got lot’s of pictures since I never got around to posting last night.  As promised, I made Sarah‘s asparagus guacamole (which turned out great!) and some homemade pesto yesterday afternoon.  I found some great-looking fresh basil at the food co-op and just couldn’t get the idea out of my head! Here’s the 2 final products:

I incorporated the pesto into dinner last night because I had this quesadilla idea stuck in my head… This was seriously the best-tasting meal I’ve made in a long time! And so simple…

I scrambled up some eggs, and sandwiched them in an Ezekial tortilla with pesto, cheese, tomatoes, spinach and red onion.  The george foreman makes a mean quasadilla!

YUM! Ruby red grapefruit was on sale this week so I had some of that on the side.  Great Saturday night dinner!

A few hours prior to this I needed some study fuel so I cracked open the plain flavor of the Oikos stash and topped it with some new cereal I bought (some kind of Optimum Power??) and the last of my frozen strawberries…

The plain flavor rocked! This is for sure my favorite of the 3 I have tried so far… No added sugar, SO thick and creamy, and you get the biggest bang for your buck!  I couldn’t believe how much yogurt was in this bowl after I dumped it in… When I dish out yogurt from a big tub, I never have close to this much so I was pleasantly surprised.  I ate this at about 3:30 and it kept me going until dinner at 7:00.  2 Thumbs up for the PLAIN!

I almost wanted to have the same thing for breakfast this morning but in order to mix things up  I had this instead:

…which will probably sit better in my stomach during my run anyway.  Time to get cracking on my to-do list.

Have a nice day!