Lately, I've had several opportunities to get up close and personal with children's meals and snacks. It has been an awakening!
I have two young children. I understand the challenge of consistently providing them with healthy, nutritious foods. Foods that they will actually eat, that is! It's a challenge, yes. But, it's a worthy cause.
We have innate genetic requirements for health. We require purity and sufficiency in the way we eat, move and think. Without this, we cannot create optimal health, function and performance.
Therefore, when it comes to what we're eating, it's got to be nutrient-dense and the least toxic we can find. Those are the simple requirements for health.
This is not what I'm seeing lately! I'm seeing kids that are eating what passes as food simply to fill up, rather than to "fuel up". Food is being selected based on taste, rather than nutritional benefit. I've seen kids taking over the role of nutritional decision maker in many families - frightening!
Sure, it may temporarily ease the battles within the household, but it certainly doesn't provide kids with any chance of building a solid, healthy foundation.
Again, I'm a parent. I know those battles and how they wear us down. However, until my kids are old enough, wise enough, responsible enough and educated enough regarding the true pathway to optimal health and function, I plan on being the one that wears the nutritional pants in our family!
I don't believe that providing healthier foods requires a complete overhaul of our entire diet and lifestyle. Not at all. Many families don't have the time, energy or finances for that anyhow. I believe that simple tweaks here and there can make tremendous differences in our children's health, happiness and performance.
One thing I've noticed when sharing meals with other kids is the lack of natural vibrant color in their meals. I used to call it the "Brown Food Diet", but it has now been upgraded to the "White, Tan, Yellow, Beige, Brown Food Diet"!
I'm seeing an overwhelming amount of cereal, bread, pasta (mac 'n cheese), crackers, chips, pizza, cookies, pastries, bagels, donuts, corn, French fries, cheese sticks and all sorts of fake food concoctions. The drink of choice? Pop, or maybe a 'sports' drink or a juice box. All loaded with sugar, high fructose corn syrup and artificial colors, sweeteners and flavors. Then there's conventional cow's milk... I'll save that for another article!
Where is the color? Where is the life in these foods? Oh, wait. For color, I've seen plenty of M & M's, Skittles, neon drinks and brightly colored breakfast cereal! Not exactly what I had in mind.
We can't possibly be building healthy little people with these ingredients! Once in awhile a tasty toxin probably won't do much harm. But I'm not seeing this stuff only go into the average kid only once in awhile. No wonder kids are now the sickest they've ever been. Chronic illness that was once reserved for adults, like cancer, diabetes, obesity, depression, anxiety and so on, is now growing at epidemic proportions in our children.
In all fairness, I completely understand how parents end up making these choices. These "foods" are usually cheaper, more convenient, more readily available, faster, AND your kids are telling you it's what they want! We get sucked into feeling OK about it because our kids are eating it... we think they're filling up, so they must be OK. They don't look sick, so they must be OK. It's all understandable, but I think we can do better... and it doesn't need to rock our family boat too much!
One of the easiest things we can do to help improve the nutritional health of our children is to add some fresh, natural color to their meals and snacks. Add some live food! Even just adding one serving of fresh fruit or vegetables is a tremendous improvement. The unhealthiest meal instantly becomes healthier with a little fresh fiber added!
Another simple improvement to make is to add more water as the beverage of choice. We require it for health. If your child is not much of a water drinker, even adding one little glass each day is a big step toward better health.
We don't have to take away any of the things they enjoy in order to improve their health. Nor do we need to break the bank. Begin with adding some purity and sufficiency... add the "good stuff" first. If you really want to see dramatic health improvements, of course, we'd all benefit by reducing our toxic intake as well. But, I did say there's no need for an overhaul to see improvements! I'll keep my word! Start off by keeping it simple, comfortable and gradual.
Every choice we make has consequences. Some will be readily apparent right away; some will not reveal themselves for many years. That doesn't make the consequences any less significant. Help teach your children the positive consequences of making healthier nutrition choices.
Dr. Colleen Trombley ("Dr Mom Online") is a leading expert in Natural Health & Wellness. Discover why health-seekers turn to Dr. Mom for practical tips regarding healthy lifestyle, nutrition, exercise, weight loss, parenting, life balance and more. Check out the Healthy School Days Menu for great kids' nutrition ideas! nutrition and health
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