In my new quest to live more healthfully, I've been reading articles, food labels, shopping smarter and I even attended a lecture this week given by a nutritionist. She spoke about how kids behavior is directly linked to nutrition, and it was fascinating. I have two very picky eaters, and through the years, their (and all of our) eating habits have become less than healthy at times. I admit to terrbile habits, such as bribing Logan thru errands with some Starburst, letting my kids eat Toaster Strudels for breakfast on occasion, and buying that crappy sugar filled kids yogurt. But I'll also say my kids do eat and enjoy some healthy things, such as almost all fruits, sweet potatoes, whole wheat pasta, hummus, and fruit smoothies. Maybe all is not lost.
My boys eat lots of fruits, lots of dairy, very few vegetables, some protein but not enough, and lots and lots of carbs. Its my goal to get us all back on track. I'm making some subtle changes to the boys diets without them even noticing. We've always done whole grain bread, but I've now also switched to whole wheat tortillas for their beloved quesadillas. They won't eat fish, and I do give them an Omega-3 supplement, but I'm not giving up on the fish. Andrew and I are eating more and more fish, and with grilling season here, I'm convinced we can find some recipes that will entice the boys, especially if we add some fruit salsa on top. I'm also really cutting back on the amount of sweets/junk and processed foods they both consume. Logan, especially, just asks for sugar all the time. If its not in the house, he will stop asking for it. Right now his snacks choices on the snack shelf are: dried apricots and cranberries and raisins, pistachio nuts, graham crackers, pretzels, goldfish, fruit leathers and Pirates Booty.
We are putting a garden in the backyard this year (more on that in another post), and we hope we'll be successful growing lots of veggies our boys will try. We always shop at the farmers market each summer, and its our hope that having our own garden will prove to be a great source of nutritious living (and maybe save us some money too!).
So my ultimate goal is to increase the amount of protein the boys eat, get them eating more veggies (even if I have to hide them), and cut back on nutritionless snacks. And as always, if anyone has any great tips or recipes or products that have worked for your kids, please share.
One topic the nutritionist spoke about was the importance of having probiotics in your diet. Yesterday at Costco, I noticed these Naked Tropical Mango smoothies with probiotics. The price wasn't bad for a box of 6 (much less expensive than buying them individually at the grocery store). The boys absolutely love them, and they're quite tasty. I have them split a bottle (since one bottle is 180 calories) and they gulp it right down. Naked has many other varieties and flavors at Costco, so we'll have to check those out too.
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