If you’ve read my partner Tracie’s blog, you know that she is very particular about food for her family (http://www.helpwevegotkids.com/blogs/tracie/healthyeating). Well, I am not quite at her level, but I have also been know for being “out there” with respect to how stringent I am about junk food.
My rules for my kids diets* are simple:
Avoid all unnecessary sugar (& salt)
Don’t eat processed foods
Eat as many fruits and vegetables as possible
Drink only water or milk (or sometimes herbal tea)
Buy organic when ever you can but particularly for dairy, meat and top 12 produce (find top 12 list here)
The challenge with these very simple rules, is that these rules are tested every day, even by our school system. For example, have you noticed that every time your school has an event, it involves chips & cheesies (processed, salty junk food), cakes and cookies (sugary), and juice (liquid fruit sugar, without the benefit of most of the fibre from the fruit itself)? What kind of lesson is that teaching our children?
I don’t mind the occasional treat. In fact, in our house, we schedule our “treat nights” – i.e. the nights where we have some kind of desert. That way, it doesn’t become a fight on the other nights – my kids know it is not an option unless it’s in the calendar.
The problem is that one way or another, junk ends up in my kids hands on a regular basis. A shop keeper gives them a lolly-pop, they get a hair cut and get a lolly-pop, it’s someone’s birthday and they eat a cup cake at school, and the list goes on. (Not to mention my husband and his ice cream habit!!)
I believe that it is important to help our children establish good eating habits when they are young. And I am working hard to keep their diets as “clean” from junk as possible, while not being crazy. It just seems like a never-ending battle. One that is much harder than it should be!
* ps: diets means what they eat, not a “diet” as in try to lose weight.
