Feeding a family is tough! We live in a time when there are endless “influencers” promoting their diet of the month. It’s also hard if mom or dad wants to lose weight, but still promote a healthy food relationship for kiddos. Our society makes it really hard to figure out what the “best” way to eat is – everyone has different philosophies. (Check out the video for this article here.)
Here is mine:
Eat like your kids live here.
What does that mean? Here are the basics of what I promote:
1) No fad diets.
That’s right – no “I can’t eat that” or “I have to eat this.” No cooking two meals for dinner. Fad diets create distrust towards food and your body – not kid-appropriate.
2) Variety of foods.
Unlike fad diets, I help people to consume a variety of foods – as many as possible. We work on getting at least three food groups per meal to ensure a wide assortment of vitamins and minerals.
3) No “good” and “bad” foods.
This is not setting kids up for a good relationship with food. If kids aren’t exposed to both nourishing and less healthful foods, they won’t know how to interact with those when they’re older and making food choices on their own. Foods have no moral compass. A child isn’t “good” for wanting broccoli or “bad” just because they want a brownie. We need to work towards kids (and ourselves) feeling neutral about all foods. PS – By making certain foods off-limits, we can actually increase desire for those foods (both in kids and in us).
4) A mix of foods in the house.
A kid-friendly food house will certainly have lots of fruits, veggies, whole grains, yogurt or milk (or soymilk). But it will likely (and should) also contain fun foods. Whether it’s popcorn, cookies, chips, crackers, brownies – whatever – kids need to learn how to interact with all foods. As a child, I remember going to a friend’s house with a candy dish. Every time I passed it I would take one piece or more. But my friend, who was around it all the time, didn’t look twice at it.
5) Respecting hunger and fullness cues.
Toddlers know when they are hungry and when they are full. You can tell because when they are hungry, they will get cranky and anxious. They need to eat NOW. When they’re full, they’re throwing the leftovers all over the floor. While I don’t encourage adults to throw food, I do encourage them to check in with their hunger and fullness cues before, during, and after meals. This takes practice, but it lets them know they are eating the right amount for them much better than any sort of calorie count will. If you’re not sure where to start, plan on eating SOMETHING every 4 hours or so. This will get your body used to being consistently nourished. This can help your body trust you again and feel as though it can more readily relay what it needs. It knows you will respond to its cues!