eatins

i was recently asked about how/what we feed out kiddos. this post, this post & this post might be helpful. & if you wanna read more read this & this. when jude & sammy were little i made all their baby food using this book. in a world that is all about convenience you really just have to decide you're going to make an effort to eat/be healthy. i believe it starts with nursing our little ones. are we committed to it or is it too inconvenient for us? are we willing to take the time to sit & feed them THE BEST THING A BABY COULD HAVE or are we settling for bottles of formula?
(saying all that, i know there are some mommies that cannot nurse.)

so as our family has grown we've decided to be very intentional about what our whole family would eat. & really whatever mommy & daddy eat... they eat as well. when they reach about age 2 & they start having an opinion on what they're eating... we tell them that's all that they will get to eat. we don't give them other options. they are old enough at that point that they can decide whether they will be stubborn & go hungry or obey & have full bellies. as they grow you are training their taste buds. our culture is so ridiculous when it comes to food. the parents eat one thing that may be "healthier" & then they give the kids chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, grilled cheese or hot dogs. we act like kids have to have something different & of less nutrition. & kids do want something different because their taste buds haven't be trained to know what tastes good. then these kids grow up & continue to eat poorly because they think "kids menu food" is all they like. so if our kids are going to eat well it really starts with mom & dad. we've got to be willing to try other foods & make an effort to cook healthy.

eating healthy & planning weekly menus for the family takes time & effort & money. it takes more time to chop veggies & follow steps in a cookbook than to just throw a frozen lasagna in the oven. (believe me... there are days that i don't have time to cook the way i want... but there's always time to put forth a little effort to eat healthier.)

so here's what a normal day's menu might look like for us:
(i should also mention that sammy & myself are allergic to quite
a bit of different foods so our diets have changed even more.)

breakfast- oatmeal make from gluten free rolled oats, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, cinnamon & honey.
or
eggs for jude, amos & daddy & coconut milk yogurt with frozen berries for sammy & mommy.

snacks- fruit, frozen berries, nuts (we eat a lot of nuts in our house! walnuts, almonds, pistachios, pecans!), gorilla munch, dried mango.

lunch- salad, vegan cheese quesadilla with kale, leftovers from dinner the night before, almond butter & honey rolled up in tortillas.

another snack (i think it's so important to keep our blood sugar at a level spot instead of letting it dip because we're too hungry & then we end up overeating.)

dinner- this could be anything from asian, beans & rice, tempeh meals, lots of veggie sides, soups, mexican tacos, lentil meals. it varies. you can find some recipes that i like here.

a few tips:
*we keep the boys' water bottles full throughout the day & sitting on the table so they can grab them whenever they're thirsty.
*i've started letting jude go get his own fruit when he wants a snack. i want them to learn how to choose healthy options on their own.
*we try so hard to stay away from refined sugar... we have it every now & then, but we don't even have any white sugar in the house so it's not an option to cook with.
*we take snacks with us when we'll be away from the house so it's not a temptation to buy something that's not as good for us when we're out.
*READ THE LABELS ON EVERYTHING YOU BUY!!!!!!!!!! make sure you know what's in your food!!!!

i hope this is helpful & not overwhelming. it takes time to change your diet so have grace on yourself & your family. the longer you eat healthy & teach your family how to it will come so easily to you. you won't even have to spend as much time planning your menu.
go eat some yummy food!!!
al