Is an Apple a Grain?

Do your kids know if an apple is a grain?

Should they?

As parents, we have so many things to teach our children, and for me, teaching them as much as I can about the food we choose to eat is very important. From the age of 3 or 4 I discuss with them what I put in their lunches and why. Soon enough they will be the ones choosing what to pack and eat for lunch and if I don't give them the information they need, how can I expect them to make healthy decisions?

They see their friends with packaged snacks at school and they get those treats at soccer games and birthday parties when they are being handed out, but I use every opportunity I can to talk to them about making healthy choices. In the grocery store we look at labels - recently we've been checking out the sugar content of everything. We compare sugar in milk to that in juice and then look at a can of soda . .they get it when they can see it themselves.

Canada's Food Guide is a good teaching tool, but kids will may learn more at

the dinner table and from cutting apart weekly grocery store flyers, or helping pack their own lunch! All great places to start to talk about the food you are eating. My 5 year old came home from Kindergarten with some great work she had done in art. Gluing pictures of food from the flyers into its proper food group!! How fun! And what a great way to teach them that we need to eat foods from all the food groups . . . and wait . . candy isn't a food group??

My kids understand that we eat 'brown' bread and whole wheat pasta's because it is better for us . . even though that starchy white stuff might taste good I explain why we choose not to eat it. They know that at each meal we should try to eat something from all the food groups and sometimes we take turns at dinner to see who can name the food groups on our plates.

From all these conversations, they are learning what Protein, Fruits, Vegetables, Diary and Grains are. They know these are the 'healthy' foods. They are also normal kids that would rather have ice cream and jelly beans for dinner so we do make 'treat' food a part of our day too. . .but the kids are learning to choose healthy food first!

It takes more than a glass of milk and gummy vitamins to raise healthy kids! Do you talk about the food you make with your kids and what the food groups are? Do you think understanding this now will help them as teens and as adults?

Simple Start to Healthy Kids

Imagine if your kids were as excited as you were to prepare some amazing meals with this gorgeous display of fruits and veggies? For most of us, the reality is our kids may think the colours here look pretty, but don't you dare put that stuff on their plate!

A few weeks ago I embarked on a new journey of healthy eating and I bought into shares of a local Organic farm. They send me a full or half bushel (pictured) of amazing organic fruits and veggies either every week or every other week depending on what you choose. Stay tuned for future blogs on just how I incorporated all these wonderful colours into meals my kids would eat . . . well, at least try!!

Today I want to share how I started raising healthy kids. We as parents start making decisions the minute our children are born that will affect how and what they will eat for the rest of their lives. I believe there are some simple steps we can take right from the beginning to give them a healthy start, and besides, we only have a few years before they start to "catch on"!!

Making your own baby food . . . I know I know - blah. Why make your own when there are inexpensive jars of "all natural" baby food on store shelves? Most of those jars are on store shelves because they have preservatives in them so they don't go bad. There are so many benefits to making your own - I realized that when I cook & puree my own veggies I can control the salt, the sugar & the consistency - add more or less water for thicker or thiner baby food . . hint, thicker food is less messy!!

ONLY whole wheat bread . . . my children have never had white bread. Well, not in my house! My oldest was 6 years old before she figured out there even was another kind of bread. Had it at a friends house and thought it was the greatest tasting invention ever! Still none in my house!

Pureed vegetables . . . my kids have long out grown baby food, but I still cook and puree tons of veggies. I am not above hiding vegetables in my spaghetti sauces, macaroni & cheese, hamburger helper meals and even in muffins, cookies and brownies. Why not? They get all the nutrients and I get none of the grief . .they don't even know its in there!! My latest sauce had so much spinach and cauliflower I thought I was caught . .you could see the green bits, but it was a huge hit here.

Healthy cereal . . . No, Fruit Loops are not a healthy cereal! I only buy low sugar, simple cereals for our cupboard which my kids can help themselves to anytime. I offer 4 different cereals but none of them have chocolate or marshmallow thingys in them! I do buy treat cereals for just that, a treat . . but that treat is a dessert or a car snack for long trips. It is never the food they start their day with!

Juice . . . once a day. I'd rather they have real fruit and yes, I know juice from concentrate can be good for you in moderation. I think that is the key. There are good vitamins in juice but also a lot of sugar (26grams in a cup of apple juice!). My kids have always only been allowed 1 juice a day. Once thats done, your other choices are milk or water. And those drinks pretending to be juice? Those crystals and drink blends and juice hidden behind a label that says 'cocktail' . . . they are not juice!! If you do buy juice, make sure it's 100% real juice!

Lastly . . . vitamins, because really I can't talk about healthy kids without talking about vitamins!! Even though my husband formulates, manufactures and sells (amazing!) vitamins, we still make sure our kids eat fruit, grain, vegetable, protein and drink their milk. The vitamins are the extra . . .our girls are not big eaters so we know they need a bit more to get their daily requirements. Once your children reach two years of age, find a vitamin they like to take . . make it a fun and enjoyable experience. These days there are chewables, liquids and gummies on the market, have your child help you pick them out at the store, hand them out at home and take your own vitamins and set a good example. Of course, watch your ingredient lists here too . . .all vitamins are not created equal! Look for ones without sugar fillers, sugar coating, aspartame, coloured dyes or ingredients you can't pronounce or recognize!

I know I can only make the decisions about what my kids eat for a few more years and then they will decide what choices to make at the cafeteria and the grocery store. I can only hope I have given them a few simple lessons to make informed & healthy decisions . . .most of the time! Do you have any simple tricks you use at home?

Making Food FUN !

I have blogged before about how I try to make healthy choices for my kids. That includes making them eat vegetables every day and fruit every day and teaching them about all the food groups. Of course their favorite food is still

jelly beans and ice cream and I am the meanest mommy 'EVER!' cause I make them eat asparagus . .they are normal kids like all other kids!

But I am not giving up or giving in!! I am very consistent on table manners and dessert. You sit at the family table for dinner every night until we are all finished, you DO NOT play with your food and you don't get dessert (or Daddy's gummy vitamins!) if you don't finish your dinner. It all gets pretty boring and repetitive around here. I get tired of hearing myself say the same thing at every meal, I can imagine how the kids feel . . they likely tuned me out years ago !!!

So, to liven things up a bit and get the kids on my good side, I started a new tradition around here a few years back. I told the kids they are ALLOWED to play with their food ! My husband thought I was crazy! But we are having so much fun with it!

Its a special thing, its a (somewhat) controlled thing; yes, its messy, its gross, its tasty and its right at the top of every kids fun list !! I have inexpensive large plastic trays from IKEA that have a nice tall edge, we wash our hands really well and we get creative! A little chocolate pudding, mix in some vanilla pudding - with your hands of course!!! - add some whip cream, jello, maybe sprinkles? Anything goes. They love mixing it up and licking it off ! We've done ice cream with chocolate sauce and I hand out straws to slurp up the melted finished product!

We have even brought in a tray full of snow from outside. I give them some small cups to make little snow forts on their trays and some food colouring to turn it colours . . they play til it melts and then we go get more from outside !!

I am hoping my healthy kids find ways to always enjoy food . . . cause its not just for eating you know !!!