Posts Tagged ‘motherhood’

Healthier Eating For Kids

Thanks to Plum Organics for sponsoring my post about tips for baby feeding magic. What if you let baby choose what's for dinner? Check out their cute "Quest for Yum!" video and see what happens!

As parents, we want the best for our children. We help them to feel loved. We strive to teach them right from wrong. We play with and encourage them on a daily basis. We also hope to give them healthy habits for their life. I know all too well the battle healthy eating can pose between mother and child. It’s certainly not all fun and games! If only it were like this:

Plum Organics hopes to motivate healthier eating habits in children beginning at a young age. They offer an entire line of healthy snacks for babies and toddlers – from organic freeze dried fruit to blended meals for babies. It’s always nice to have healthy options like these available. Over time, I have also learned some other ways to help get my kids eating healthier overall.

Set the Example. Kids pay close attention to the actions of the adults in their lives, including eating habits. One of the biggest motivating factors to get children to eat healthy is to lead by example and eat the foods you hope for them to eat.

Give A Choice. When shopping for groceries, encourage your child to pick out a fruit or vegetable to eat during the upcoming week. At meal times, let him or her choose between two or three different options. For example, “would you like carrot sticks or apple slices with lunch today?”.

Use Different Cooking Methods. You could surprise yourself that kids may like vegetables if they are prepared a bit differently. For example, roast vegetables with a little bit of olive oil to bring out a less bitter taste. Cook carrots with a small amount of honey to add just the touch of sweetness to help them appeal more to a child. Blend fruits into a smoothie. Make things in bite-sized pieces, such as mini-meatballs or even tofu-nuggets, which can open a child to trying a new food.

Amp It Up! Get excited about healthy eating! Make a big deal about a healthy snack. I love making “green monsters” for Makenzie. The bright green color makes the snack fun and gets her excited about drinking it. She also loves “chomping on carrots like a rabbit” or making faces out of various cut up fruits/vegetables.

Dips. So many kids love to dip things. Find a variety of healthy dips to motivate your child into eating a larger variety of foods. Everything from yogurt to hummus to peanut butter to a sugar-free ketchup make great options.

Bake away. Baked goods are a fabulous way to sneak in healthy food items. Add grated vegetables to bread and muffins, like my favorite Pumpkin Carrot Cake Bread. Use fresh or dried fruit in quick, easy, homemade bars. Bake casseroles that include vegetables and healthy proteins chopped into small, bite-sized pieces along with some cheese to appeal more than a pile of chopped produce on their plates.

Check ingredients. It’s inevitable that packaged items like crackers, cereals, hot dogs, and more will be part of a child’s meals. Try to pay attention to the quality of ingredients to choose the best of what is available. Pay attention to things like the names of ingredients (look for ingredients you recognize), less sugar, whole grains, and sodium content.

I believe with a little time and thoughtfulness, we can all help our children achieve better eating habits. It takes some planning and consistency, but it can be done. I don’t believe in forcing certain foods on children, but the above practices can help children venture out into adopting healthier choices without pressure. Keep trying, and with time you may find healthy eating a seamless part of parenthood.

I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. To learn more about Plum Organics, visit their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/PlumOrganics.

Posted by on November 19th, 2011 14 Comments

Balancing Treats

This morning started off with something that I haven’t had in way too long.

A bunch of spinach, a frozen banana, a handful of strawberries, and some almond milk blended into perfection.

A green smoothie made the perfect “Part One” for breakfast this morning. I had to fix something quick that I could chug down while packing up a few special treats that would become breakfast “Part Two” not too long afterwards.

Makenzie’s preschool class had a fall party today and I offered to bring the snacks for this little event. I decided to make two of Makenzie’s favorites – one healthier and one just plain ole cute and sugary.

For starter’s, I did a muffin version of Teri’s Pumpkin Gingerbread.

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Full-sized for the adults and some minis for the kiddos.

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Then, for the purely kid-fun treat, I made Oreo truffles dipped in white chocolate and turned into either ghosts or pumpkins with the help of edible markers. Aren’t they cute?

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I think I have finally figured out the perfect dipping technique!

  • stick lollipop sticks into truffles
  • freeze truffles so stick sets and so they dip easier when cold
  • use a teaspoon of oil to make the chocolate smoother for dipping
  • have styrofoam ready to stick the pops into to dry upright

It’s likely old news to many of you, but I had to share my dipping success since it took me a bazillion years to figure it out.

Breakfast “Part Two” most certainly consisted of a muffin and a truffle for me. Mmmmm! And I have quite a few muffins left over for snacks. Although not too many Oreo pops. I shouldn’t be surprised. What would you have picked as a kid? Winking smile 

Well, unless you’re this kid.

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She was way more into the muffins than the Oreos.

Don’t be too impressed. I’m sure she will be begging for her Oreo pop come afternoon snack time. She’s her momma’s kid after all. She loves her sweets, but also enjoys healthier options too. Which is exactly why I went the route I did when choosing snacks for the kids at today’s party.

I don’t want to be the mom that forces food on my own kids, so I certainly won’t take that approach with other children! I think kids can eat healthily without making them – but that’s a whole other topic. I like balance for my kids, so I figured why not approach providing a snack for others the same way? Have a healthier (but still yummy) option and a more standard kid-fare option. Perhaps on some level it’s just going with the status quo, but oh well.

It gives me joy to bring smiles to these faces. Open-mouthed smile

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And other kids’ faces…but we’ll let their parents slather their faces all over the internet at their will, not mine. Or I just think my kids are the only ones worthy of space in my post. Shhhh. Hehehe.

Well, it’s time for me to head off for an afternoon six miler! Ciao, bellas!

  • What do you think about kids and treats?

Posted by on October 24th, 2011 36 Comments

 

 
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Healthier Eating For Kids

Posted: November 19, 2011 at 10:56 am

Thanks to Plum Organics for sponsoring my post about tips for baby feeding magic. What if you let baby choose what’s for dinner? Check out their cute "Quest for Yum!" video and see what happens! As parents, we want the best for our children. We help them to feel loved. We strive to teach them […]

14 CommentsRead more →
 

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