Monday MomTrepreneur: Eating Healthy...or trying to, at least!!
I believe in eating healthy food. I don't make the healthiest food choices all the time, although I'd love to! I have my cheats daily. I don't think I'd be able to get out of bed at 6am if I didn't have my corn muffin with my coffee! (Yes, freezer full, $2 a pop, $3.50 in Miami - but who's counting). But eating healthy and teaching my family healthy ways of eating is important to me.
Keeping a healthy home is hard. But, as a mom, the hardest part was when my children went to school and saw all the snacks their friends were bringing. Or when they came home from a play date and the first thing they want to tell me is about their friends; freezers filled with ice cream. We can't control our children's friends' houses or grandparents' houses!
My doctor always gave this speech about obesity and teaching kids to make good food choices.
Over the years, I have learned a few helpful tip:
When babies start real food, this is the most important time to introduce the foods you would like your children to eat. They form their eating habits at a very young age. This sounds easy, but when you are desperate for your child to master eating from a spoon, it's easier to just give them sweet fruits. The problem is, your child may start refusing the vegetables, proteins and healthy grains because they know there's "better" stuff!
I believe in always offering a protein, vegetable, and carb at dinner and fruit for dessert. It was easier with the babies. When I was feeding them, I was able to choose the foods for them. But if you stick to always introducing healthy foods as babies, they will learn to choose wisely! I make sure to make the food easy to eat, so they can learn how to eat with a spoon or fork early. Putting salad and harder foods to scoop up in a small bowl helps a lot!
I've also learned to be a great example. How many times do your children see you eating something and want to grab it from you. For me, this worked perfectly. I love salmon and usually have some form of it on my plate. My 3 little ones always want the salmon. [During dinner time, it's common to hear my 2 year old yelling "I want SAMMIN"].
Below is a funny photo of my 3 kids (two days before moving day). Eating healthy! (Yes, I did serve pasta after, but I make sure to finish cooking it last (they don't notice I ALWAYS do that!) when they have filled up on their vegis and proteins).
Ben Backer Salad (israeli salad with cucumber and peppers ONLY, no tomatos)
Salmon with Sun-dried Tomato Sauce
Fruit (my insta cart order came and they were super excited about summer mangos)!
