When discussing nutrition with my clients, many times they will say they have to cook two separate meals, one for them and another for their kids. My response to that is usually...why?
Truth is kids need the same whole foods we as adults do...actually they need it more than adults. Kids are developing their bodies, and there are roughly 20,000 genetic potentials in the human body. What they eat dictates what gets triggered more than anything else.
However the food industry markets to kids, and making parents believe their kids need their own foods. Think about it at the restaurant. The kids menu usually has items like mac and cheese, fried chicken tenders, hot dogs, french fries, spaghetti and pepperoni pizza.
A restaurant kids menu. You can change the name of the restaurant, but the menu items are always the same.
Most of the packaged foods that are geared towards kids have a lower nutritional value, and are easy to access. At the store, you get your breakfast foods, then you get your kids cereal with loveable characters on the box. You get your yogurt, then you get the ones with the colorful colors on it for the kids. You get your vitamins, then you get the kids vitamins that unbeknownst to you, are commonly loaded with sugar. You wouldn’t eat these as a regular diet yourself, so why should your kids?
GoGurt is very up front with you that half their product is sugar.
Two of the three main ingredients on these Flintstones Vitamins...are sugar.
Now, I won’t say it’s easy, because it isn’t. Parents are up against the birthday parties, social norms, friends, etc. However this does not mean parents should give in to these pressures.
Three keys to kids nutrition:
Eat whole foods, and eliminate, or at least limit processed foods (to our clients this will sound very familiar!).
If you buy packaged foods, remember to check the ingredients! We sometimes just look at how many calories are in the item and bypass the ingredients list.
Control what is in your environment. If it is in your house, then you are constantly battling against it. If it is not, then it’s not an option for them. And actually, you won’t be tempted either.
Now, you aren’t going to keep all the processed foods away from your kids all the time, but if you can control what is in your house, your kids will be in a better position when those occasional pizza or birthday parties come around.
