Our Journey to Healthy Eating Part 3: Picky Kids

One of my biggest fears with changing over our eating habits ......

Yep, these three beautiful little boys! I think every kid has some version of "picky". For example, Caleb will eat any vegetable or legume I put in front of him, but give him something with ground beef and it is world war 3. I know that you may be thinking "big deal!" but my little two are typical kids and don't want to touch anything that may look remotely like a vegetable. Dinners at my house can be interesting and I can hardly please all three at the same time.

You still may be thinking, "but you don't know MY kids, they are NOT going to eat anything healthy". Here is my confession time.... before the change my kids normal breakfast was Cocoa Puffs, a normal lunch was bright orange mac & cheese from a box, and we had Little Ceasers or Chick- fil-a at least once a week. Now, they eat whole wheat breakfasts, ask for fruit for snacks and we haven't had any version of fast food in almost 2 months.


Here are the things that worked for us:

*Get rid of the junk! Throw away what you have and don't bring any more in. Kids are actually pretty simple, "out of sight, out of mind". You bet they are going to put up a serious fight if you have Oreos in the house and then tell them they can't have any. They WILL eat the healthy options you have available.

* Make your own snacks. I'm not saying that kids shouldn't have cookies ever. My kids LOVE the Whole Wheat Oatmeal Flax Cookies I make (they are close to this recipe but with flax seed and 1/2 cup chocolate chips). They are full of fiber, have a healthy fat (organic pastured butter and flax seed), and a better sugar (sucanat). They are still an occasional treat but one that I don't have to feel guilty about. When you make your own snacks, you control the ingredients and don't have to worry about all the crazy stuff that is in processed food.

*Make healthy versions of favorite meals. We have pizza almost every week. They could care less that it is whole wheat crust and homemade sauce, to them it is still pizza. They also love tacos with whole wheat tortillas and prefer them to store bought now!

* Make the changes they won't even notice. My kids hardly noticed when we started making muffins, pancakes, and waffles with fresh ground whole wheat (we use soft white wheat that makes everything very light). They loved the change from processed pancake syrup to pure grade B maple syrup! They did notice when I switched to only making my own bread but when that was the only option, they ate it and now prefer it! They don't know or understand the changes to our meat (grass fed local beef & pastured chickens), fats (organic pastured butter and olive oil), or sugars.

* Stick to your guns. I did have a recent battle with my kids about the change to our milk. When I can fit it in our budget, I buy organic, lightly pasteurized, non-homogenized whole milk from grass fed cows (at $7/gal it is a pinch). As you can imagine, it looks very different because the fat rises to the top. Jonah was not happy, but when we told him that he could have water instead he started to like the new milk.

* Educate the older children. Caleb loves to learn why what we are eating is healthy. He asks at almost every meal, "is this healthy". I can't take all the credit here, he just read Tim Tebow's book and wants to be a strong football player. I couldn't convince him that soda was bad but Tim Tebow could, ha!!

I am amazed at how far the boys have come in two months! They are asking for fruit and healthy choices all the time now. Now, I don't want you to get the impression that my kids ONLY eat healthy foods. When we go to Publix, they still get a cookie from the bakery and when we got to a birthday party, they still eat the cake. I don't feel bad when they get those special treats because I know that 90% of the time, we are making wise choices. I also don't want anyone to think my kids are deprived in anyway. All you have to do is look at their faces when they get a Larabar for snack to know THAT is a treat to them!

Now if adults were as easy, I have a much harder time forgetting all the processed food I spent the last 30 years eating!!

Photo Credit- Mango Street Photography