I (April) like candy. And chocolate. And pretty much everything sweet. Twix bars were my favorite when I was pregnant.
Recently, however, after reading this amazing book, I’ve been trying to change our family’s eating habits. More vegetables, fruits, lean protein, and whole food fats. Less sugar and empty carbs.
It sometimes feels impossible to do.
Like on a recent grocery trip with my 14-year-old daughter, Alia…I was kind of stressed out.
I’d already spent my grocery budget on healthy food, and I hadn’t even started on the list of “junk food” my children had requested.
“Everyone’s going to whine,” I told Alia. “They’re not going to be satisfied with all this healthy food, so I’m going to have to go over my budget and buy all this stuff that’s not even good for us.” (I know…it was a weak moment.)
Well, Alia could see my ridiculousness. And within 10 minutes, she’d solved the whole problem.
We bought all our healthy food. We stayed within our budget. All the children were happy.
(If you have a sweet tooth check out these recipes and listen to this 8-minute mini-podcast to hear how she did it!)
Music from Creations by Michael R. Hicks.
Genius idea, both of you! I am totally struggling with the same thing. Now I just need to hear more about your healthy food choices. I need some serious inspiration to replace our junky snacks.
Thanks, Jessica! Yes, I want to do more collaborations here on Power of Moms about HOW to make healthy eating palatable for children. 🙂
Bringing more vegetables into our diet has been huge. Same with smoothies. I find I’m spending a lot more time cooking from scratch, but my kids are old enough to help, and my 11-year-old son has learned to chop carrots and eat those as his after-school snack. The book I linked in the notes above is wonderful. (He doesn’t have children yet, but his ideas got me off to a good start…)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Calorie-Myth-Exercise-Weight-ebook/dp/B00DB3A27E
Good luck!
Here are some additional simple tried-and-true healthy snack ideas. Hope this helps a bit!
http://looslifamily.blogspot.com/2012/11/favorite-snacks.html
What a fun podcast, I love how your daughter is on her way to becoming a great mother herself in the future. This podcast reminded me how eating healthy truly starts at the grocery store! The decisions we make there are huge in how we are going to eat for the rest of the week. My own mother always said “never go grocery shopping when you are hungry. You buy a lot of extra unhealthy snacks when you are hungry.” Also, my husband taught me to try to only shop the perimeter of a grocery store when possible. This way you are buying produce, dairy, meats, and breads that are more nutritious than all the pre-packaged and more expensive boxed and bagged items filled with preservatives and other fats that are best to avoid. This was a great reminder, I’ll be more conscious shopping this week! Thanks!
This is a fantastic idea. When I was in college, my roommates and I xame up with the mantra, “if I don’t buy it I won’t eat it.” it worked really well when it came to junk food. I’ve tried to teach that to my children but I haven’t been very successful. My parents raised me with very limited money so we rarely ate crackers, ice cream or convenience foods. Cereal from a box was a rare treat. Now I understand why. I will have to try this with my family.
I am sooooo doing this!