A tale of two children…
Flexing some “transformer” muscles!
One thing I’ve realised as a parent is you can lead a kid to healthy food, but you can’t make them eat it!”
I have two kids – two kids that have very different nutritional radars! My son Riley is 12 years and he loves some junk in his trunk! Its only probably been the last 12-18 months that he is seeing and understanding a correlation between good food and good health. His immune system struggled as a youngster and one day he asked “Why do I get sick all the time?” It was a teaching moment!
My daughter Maya is 10 years and is exactly the opposite. She is hardly ever sick and if she is bounces back within a day. Maya would also choose salad over chips, fruit over lollies – even if we are out she asks if a salad is going to be served with her meal. It is like she has been born knowing what food makes her feel good. Don’t get me wrong, she still enjoys chocolate, a couple of chips off a plate etc – but it isn’t what floats her boat.
I can remember at a school fair a couple of years ago giving them both $10. Riley bought chips, fairy floss, a fizzy drink and icecream with his money (please understand I was working the sausage sizzle so it was out of my control). Maya used hers for lucky dips, games and rides. Incidently, Riley literally turned green that night and lets just say he saw his $10 again! It was another teaching moment!
My hubby and I have often thought “what did we do differently?” I mean two kids born to the same parents in the same house, same school… Did we limit too much with the first child? Were Aunties secretly feeding our son chocolate frogs when we weren’t looking? Did I breast feed for too long or too short a time? Did I eat too much crap when I was pregnant? Are kids just born that way? Maybe it just doesn’t matter…
What actually does matter is what choices they make now and into adulthood. Who doesn’t want happy, healthy kids? So here are a few tips to encourage your kids to eat a balanced diet the Metabolic Precision way!
1. Lead by example – if you are choosing fresh most of the time your kids will be watching. They may not follow for some time BUT they are taking it all in! I guess the same rule applies – if you are choosing pizza and coke…
Recently I was sitting outside with a tuna salad when my daughter appeared next to me with the same. Prepared all by herself.
2. Be the grown up – and don’t let food become an emotional gap to make YOU feel good! I can remember back in my teaching days an overweight student having a packet of mint slice biscuits for lunch (yes a WHOLE packet). I asked his Mum later that day why he didn’t have anything else…her reply “it’s what he likes and I didn’t want him to get upset!”
Parents should have fun with their kids but BECAUSE WE ARE ADULTS need to make sensible decisions around health, after all its their lives we are messing with.
3. Get the kids to do as much as the cooking as possible. Yeah at the moment mostly my kids bake biscuits and cakes, but they are starting to prepare simple dishes as well. Soup, tacos, salads and smoothies are all part of their repertoires. They make a crap load of mess but you’ve just got to breathe and let it go!
My daughter wanted to make the pumpkin soup all by herself. This was her strategy for no onion tears! What a crack up!
4. Allow kids to serve up their meals – summer is awesome for this. Big salads for everyone to share. I love it when there is a bit of everything on the table and the kids demonstrate a balanced approach. Yes, my son would still often only choose meat and bread at a BBQ but with some encouragement will delve into the salad bowl. I find adding fruit to the salad is a real winner.
Sharing big bowls of salad is a great way to get kids to make healthy choices.
5. School lunches – get as much fresh as possible in to that lunch box and let the kids choose what goes in. I can remember one day many years back my daughter asking for salad and thinking “Can’t you just have a vegemite sandwich like other kids!” This lazy, unprepared parent needed a kick up the jacksy – now salads are always prepared the night before.
On the whole pretty good choices for a 10 year old. Ham salad, mango, cucumber, apricot, chocolate up and go and one of her home made cookies! Not perfect but we’re not aiming for that.
6. Grow your own vegies and fruit – my kids think their strawberries are the best! How good is it when they pick and eat, it doesn’t get any better! We started growing the things we like the best!
7. Eat together and make it enjoyable – sometimes work and commitments makes this tricky. See it as another opportunity to be a role model without hounding, blackmailing or stressing out. We’ve had plenty of meals untouched and unappreciated too in the past.
8. Talk about the benefits of foods – even if you do this with your partner the kids start following. Breakfast is a great example – what are you having, why are you having that? Why is it important to include protein, carbohydrates and good fats? I hear my kids talk about food all the time and it astounds me what they know
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This is my resident Firefighter come MP trainer whipping up the regular morning omelette! (hey hands off ladies!)
My husband and I talked recently about the great choices our kids are making and we realised we weren’t whinging, pushing or dictating anything. Just doing…you’ll be surprised what your continued actions over time produce. Yes continued actions create change.
I guess the final words should be left to my son, who probably has copped a bit in this blog. When I asked him last night why we need to eat nutritious food he said :
“With good food your body works to its best.” Riley Stubbs 2014
Yep, its as simple as that! Nice one!
Our Metabolic Precision program is tailored for the whole family – how wonderful it feels to be giving my kids the best possible start in life! Our next program starts in February – I love seeing parents learning and passing on this knowledge to the next generation.
