But What About My Kids???

One of the most common discussions that I find myself having with folks is about how the rest of their families will adjust to a new lifestyle of healthy eating. The beautiful truth is that you will start a ripple effect and YOUR FAMILY WILL GET HEALTHY TOO!!! 

Our kids watch us. 

The good. 

The bad.

The questionable. 

They are watching. 

They are watching us choose a salad over fries. They are watching us chose water over soda. They are watching us chose fruit over potato chips. And we have the power to SHOW them how to work for and enjoy health! 

Can you even imagine creating a lifestyle where your kids walk a path to better choices? What if our kids could avoid the struggles and frustration that we have endured maintaining a healthy weight? What if we taught our kids how to snack and eat meals in a way that fuels their bodies rather than feeds an emotion?

What? 

You’re kids don’t like healthy food? 

They won’t eat it? 

Neither would mine. 

A year ago my daughter REFUSED to eat any veggies. She would sit there and stare and sometimes even cry when faced with anything green. She was even prescribed an iron supplement to help make up for her lack of iron that was missing from not enough veggies. My son would only eat cooked trees (broccoli) and raw peppers, celery and carrots. Nothing more and he detested salad. 

(Now, I know a few friends/family that have/had incredibly picky eaters that put my kids to shame in their will to stand up against food - and to those of you, my sympathy is with you. This is not a fun part of parenting and I realize you may be dealing with texture issues and other elements of your kids eating habits that you have to endure. I know it’s not a simple fix for you. I’m sincerely sorry for the hell your kid creates for you every time they eat.)

Anyways, back to my picky eaters. When I made my eating lifestyle change last January I learned a bunch of stuff about me and about my kids (and husbands) eating issues. In no particular order here’s what I learned: 

• If I don’t buy them processed junk, they don’t have processed junk to eat. 
• If I make their snack options fruit, cheese, yogurt and veggies. They will eat fruit, cheese, yogurt and veggies. 
• If I don’t pull into McDonald’s for a quick meal, they cannot eat it. 
• If I am feeling lazy and am not in the mood to cook them dinner and I chose to swing through a drive-thru and grab them a quick fix… that is what they will eat. 
• If only when we eat out they are allowed to have soda it will be a special treat and not a daily habit. At the house we drink water… cause its free and they can get it themselves and our bodies need water.
• If I give them just a little bit of veggies… like 3 little pieces of lettuce covered in dressing or 1 piece of broccoli or 1 spear of asparagus, they are able to choke it down and they recognize that I am making an effort to not kill them & I really just gave them a “little like I promised. (The treat of “I will give you more” works great during this phase of transition.)
• Nobody dies if we don’t have bread and potatoes with every meal. 
• There is a way to make chicken, fish, beef, pork taste good. I now try to kick it up a notch with fun spices and cook in a way that everyone want to eat it. 
• Dessert is not required and for us and was really just a bad habit we were teaching our kids. 
• And on one of the survival shows I learned that before starving people will resort to eating bugs and drinking nasty stuff before they die. So I can sleep at night knowing my kids aren’t going to perish if they chose to not eat a meal. 

So, I’m guessing that you are wondering what our dinner table is like 12 months after our life change change began. Well, while my son still prefers to fill up on meat, he will eat a little bit of salad without freaking out and has learned that he likes cooked zucchini, asparagus and cauliflower. One of his favorite foods is my homemade tomato soup and he will try a bite of anything based upon my promise that I will never give him something I wouldn’t eat myself. My daughter now eats a decent amount of salad and will eat at least a bite or two of whatever other veggie she is given (without whining). She continues to eat just a little bit of meat… but knows that she needs to eat enough before leaving the table so it’s not as painful of an ordeal anymore.

We still have Mac and Cheese and Spaghetti O’s in the pantry. They still get chocolate milk every once in a while and they were allowed to keep their Halloween candy. We’re trying to teach balance and moderation with a focus on health. 

I want to finish by sharing a proud mom moment with you all:

A few months ago we went to BJ’s as a family. While selecting the kids meals I offered the kids the side choices of: curly fries, smilie potatoes, fruit, applesauce or broccoli. They chose fruit and applesauce and my son even made a comment about wanting to be healthy. I seriously started to cry - you can ask my husband… he thought I was ridiculous and started laughing at/with me. They chose health! They chose a 35 calorie fruit cup over a 350 calorie portion of french fries! They did it when I gave them all of the options - they decided on their own! I sat there with tears in my eyes thinking maybe, just maybe, my kids could lead a healthy life where they don’t have to diet and struggle like we have. And maybe the healthy decision will be the obvious choice in their future. Only time will tell… but I want to do my part to lay out that path for them.

Friends… when we get healthy our families get healthy!!! It’s our job to teach our children healthy decision making and health life skills. Eating healthy is one of the many things that we are responsible to teach them. It is literally our job!

*** If you would like to learn about this optimal health program that has not only changed my body shape and clothing size but also my mind and outlook on life I would love to share - just ask. It’s not a magic pill and I promise the work and discipline is totally worth it!