healthier eating

[houseelf]

One of my two New Year's resolution was to really be more cognizant of what I was feeding my family and myself. Everything I've read from financial planner Suze Orman to adolescent girl therapist Leonard Sax to Michael Pollen states that we should be eating real food together as a family. On an intellectual level, I get this. Implementing it has been a bit of a rocky road.

In particular, my oldest child has never met a processed "food-like" product that he didn't love. It makes me sad that I haven't been the best at teaching him healthy eating skills for life. Fortunately, at 11 he understands my reasoning and agrees, but there definitely is a great deal of negotiation over what he consumes. I don't want to be a nag and have him tune me out, but left to his own devices he uses his best 11 year old boy judgment when it comes to what he eats, which is to say he often shovels in the crap.
I'm trying to strike that right balance of being reasonable and yet making sure that he eats mostly good things. I love that I can see what he buys at lunch online. He's allowed one "junky" choice at lunch. A bag of chips means he has to drink milk and a fruit and vegetable and a decent entree. Yes, I'm not new to mothering and I understand that just because he purchased something doesn't means that he eats it. He swears that he does actually eat the things he buys.

Anyway, unlike many of the posters here, cooking is not my strongsuit so eating real, homemade meals tend to be a bit more of a challenge for me. For the past few years I have been trying to slowly make changes. For example, last year I quit buying Danimals and sugary yogurt drinks and now everyone is on normal Yoplait yogurt. Now I'm trying to get people to eat Greek and/or probiotic yogurt. Yep, it is pretty much going untouched in the fridge now. Also, all these healthier foods are fricken expensive! Trying to get everyone to eat 5 fruits and veggies a day is a painful and expensive exercise. I'm not sure I'm succeeding.

I've thought about switching to organic milk, but that would be about $100/month because we go through 4-5 gallons a week! Needless to say, that change is on the list down the line. Maybe if I was a rich dawktor's wife I could afford it.

I'm honestly curious, how do you tweak your family's diet? Do you have naturally healthy eaters or is it a battle? Do you have any healthy suggestions for kid friendly fare? Is this even on your radar? Commiserate with me.

[diggitydot]

We've been eating healthier for probably a decade now. Took the kids a while to get used to it, but they're now REALLY good at making nutrient-dense choices. Don't get me wrong, we still occasionally eat crap, but only once it twice a month instead 2-3 times per day.

To get lots of veggies into a meal, I typically make dishes that already have a ton. Stir-fry with brown rice, whole wheat pasta with chicken and various veggies in a little vinaigrette and olive oil, turkey chilli, spaghetti with whole wheat pasta, etc.

Our kid-friendly meals are things like turkey burgers, a green salad, and either green beans or broccoli and maybe some baked fries.

We also have a vegetarian in the house, so we're really careful about nutrition.

[HouseofWool]

I'm totally with you on it and I live in a house with a 14yo who is on such a high dose of ADHD meds that the rest of us would need to be peeled off the ceiling (and we would be super skinny). Keeping his weight up is a huge concern and he won't eat anything that isn't over processed. I enforce the "must eat some fruit everyday" rule with my kids even if I don't always follow it myself. It is hard and expensive to eat well in this country.

[SoonerTexan]

How funny--I just put in Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food audiobook back in my cars CD player yesterday--I've read it before but needed the reminded. It really got me thinking. I find we do pretty well, but I get lax and the junk/processed food starts creeping back in. DH is a HUGE offender--he can't live without his potato chips, oreos, sour punch straws, and red vines. He agrees with me "in theory" (but that didn't stop him from trying to pick apart every fact or study Pollan mentioned in the book--grrr). He's sort of a PITA in that regard, but he understands I'm trying to lose weight so he cuts back.

We dropped our food share because it was too expensive/not enough variety. Instead I'm trying to buy organic at the local "healthy store" (think cheaper/smaller version of Whole Foods) for the veggies I think matter (leafy, no rind, etc.). I do buy organic milk, but we don't drink all that much of it--maybe a 1/2 gallon every 1.5 weeks. Most of what I cook is from scratch, but I'm trying to eliminate some of the boxed items/sauces with high fructose corn syrup (goodbye BBQ sauce). I'm trying to kick the artificial sweeteners (goodbye Coke Zero) and white flour in cooking, etc.

I think we are better than most, but have a long way to go. Kids will be hard--I'm determined to expose them to processed food as little as possible, though. Spending a weekend with my 6 year old SIL who consumes only chicken nuggest/french fries/dry pasta/brownies is motivating.

I am really lucky to have always been a naturally "healthy" eater, my mom always tells the story of me begging and pleading for more broccoli in the grocery store! She said she was sure I wasn't her kid. My middle sister was a horribly picky eater and most of what she liked was hot dogs, pizza, french fries etc. This was back in the day though so processed foods weren't quite as readily available and my mom and dad were broke so they bought fresh things, which were cheaper! My nieces are the same, one loves fresh veggies the other wants chicken nuggets every day (even if they are the ones made out of soy.) I am not saying I never eat crap. I have a soft spot for potato chips and always have campbell's cream of chicken on hand for the days I have no interest in cooking. If it was up to my husband he would eat McDonald's cheeseburgers 3x a week at a minimum. And I still bake a lot using white flour and sugar. I know that's not that great for us.

We spend a lot on our food budget, we buy organic as much as possible and I love to cook and bake stuff. But I have the time and no kids so this is an easier venture at the moment. I justify the expense of some things, like organic sugar or flour, because if they cost more I use them less and I should be using them less to begin with. I rarely go to Whole Foods (it annoys me on some level) and do most of our shopping at Trader Joe's and *gasp* Walmart with the occasional run to the "normal" grocery store thrown in.

I am a total grazer, I naturally eat 5 small meals a day and to make sure they are healthy I keep "snacky" items on hand all the time. I love cheese sticks and nuts and fruit, but I have found that I have to cut fruit up or else I won't eat it. That's another thing I do, buy things that are already cut-up or frozen and peeled or whatever, it may cost a little more but if I buy regular carrots and never eat them because I am too lazy to cut them up and they get funky and go to waste then it's a better deal for me to buy them cut up already. If I am feeling really broke I do all my chopping on a Sunday and put it in tupperware for the rest of the week. That and I "sneak" vegetables into EVERYTHING, I particularly love to dump a bunch of frozen chopped spinach into whatever I'm making, I love it and it usually breaks down so much my husband never even notices it's in there. I hear this works for real kids too!

It's a pain in the ass and expensive to eat healthy these days and it pisses me off that something so basic has to be so complicated. I can't imagine what we will do when we have kids, if my sisters and my nieces and I are any example it doesn't really matter what you expose them to, they will have their own palates regardless.

[Deebs]

Here are some of the simpler changes we're working on:

50 % of the plate (especially at dinner) dedicated to fruits/vegetables.
I've never done juice or chocolate milk (although the fabulous school lets my 5 year old have choc milk with her snack everyday, even though they prohibit juice for "too much sugar." - weird) - it's milk or water unless someone is sick and I'm pushing fluids
We don't do much red meat - seafood, chicken are more common

Those are my biggies - I feel like they give us a decent baseline (believe me, we could do a lot better, and we definitely have processed foods in the house and eat out too much).

For milk - I try for organic, mainly because it creeps me out that it lasts SO much longer than non-organic. Something MUST be different, right? When money's tight - I go for no hormones added.
I just switched out my flour for white whole wheat flour. No one even noticed the difference - even in pancakes.
I started making my own yogurt last year and adding pureed fruit to it if the kids won't eat it (as in, babyfood, basically).
I kind of gave up on worrying about what foods are traditionally for what meals. Why do I care if the kids want oatmeal for dinner? It's healthier than the chicken nuggets I might otherwise give them when I don't feel like/don't have time to cook.
I keep junk out of the house as much as possible.

That's it. We could do way better, but for now, we're doing our best and working on baby steps.

[Ladybug]

I just did this program at the school and the kids really enjoyed it. They speak rainbow fluently, much more so than daily recommended servings and nutrients. My girls and I still discuss it at home with the mac and cheese. How can we turn our mac and cheese into a rainbow? The challenge is to eat an entire rainbow over the course of the day. There are some good tips on the second page of this print out.

http://www.wegmans.com/pdf/EatARainbowEveryDay.pdf

I stick with healthy snacks. It's the small battles I'm most likely to win. Apple slices and PB, string cheese, fruit.

My kids love building yogurt parfaits too. Fresh/frozen fruit, vanillla yogurt and granola topping. So yummy.

Fruit smoothies?

The cost...groan...I haven't found a loophole yet. I just grit my teeth and try to remind myself that we're lucky to be able to eat healthy. It does feel like they are robbing you blind though. I can't believe how much it cost me to feed this family.

[HouseofWool]

Kelly - would the kids have an interest in eating healthier foods if they participated in growing it? Last summer, Caleb was stunned by how delicious raw green beans are right off the bush and the same with peas. We don't have a ton of space, I don't have a lot of energy for it, but I think it made him more interested in the food we ate.

[scrub-jay]

I started making my own yogurt last year and adding pureed fruit to it if the kids won't eat it (as in, babyfood, basically).

Small hijack: How do you make your own yogurt? We played around with our yogurt maker, but it never turned out quite right. Do you use a starter? Yogurt maker? Please, divulge.

[Ladybug]

Can you frame food at fuel for your DS? There is a great program with the NFL football players and their collaboration with nutritionist because food is fuel for them. I saw it on kidshealth.org. It sounds cliche, but the kids can conceptualize that more easily than the long-term benefits of good nutrition.

[Mrs. MD, Esq.]

I joined weight watchers last may and it helped me eat healthier in a tremendous way. Before that i ate total crap. Fast food was very typical for me. I have to say -- i feel better/healthier than i have in years and i have so much more energy! I have since dropped out of the program (because i don't like their new plan), but i definitely have learned a lot of skills for healthy eating (and still follow the old program on my own).

I think I am a convert for healthy eating just because i actually feel a lot better. I imagine it's harder with kids though...and the expense of fruit really gets me down (except for the summertime when all my favorites are in season and on sale)! My grocery bill is ridiculous since buying fresh healthy food!

[diggitydot]

I make yogurt at home (thanks to Sandy's generous gift of her unwanted yogurt maker), and we eat it all the time. You can either buy yogurt starter or use other yogurt as the starter. We like Greek yogurt, so I just use that as the base.

I like it with frozen blueberries or blackberries with a little agave nectar. We also use it as a sour cream substitute. Tastes exactly like it, even if the texture is a bit different.

We're also making a concerted effort to eat healthier and at home. We used to eat out (a lot of fast food) 4 or 5 times a WEEK (eek). Now we'll eat the occasional Chick-fil-a ("Eat this Not that" says it's the best choice, eat a lot at home, and then we also eat at the gym, which has a decent cafe w/lots of "better" choices. My kids have always been great about fruit - not so much vegetables, though.

I just talked with the boys on Sunday night about my meal plan for the week, why we're doing it, and acknowledging that while we're trying some new recipes we'll likely find some we love and some we DON'T. They boy got on board and even though last night's meal was a huge dud (for me, too), they were sports and gave it a good try. I say this all not to sound like I've got it down pat, but b/c it's sooooo amazing. Jacob will try anything -- Quinn -- is painful. His participation and lack of complaint totally blew my mind.

That's this week. Check back next week.

I'm also giving myself the same kind of break I give myself for MY food intake. Do the best you can, make better choices MOST of the time, and the occasional corn dog or chicken patty will not be your ruin.

Here is a book that my mom used on my nephew and it really helped. He's a fast food junkie, but having hidden veggies helped a lot. As he got older, and she told him what she was putting in the food, he was pretty intrigued, and wanted to try the foods without the "hiding." May be a nice way to put veggies in, for those who have trouble with them.

http://www.doitdelicious.com/

As for the adults: my SO is not the healthiest eater, but I have really helped change that by integration. For me, I had to be honest with certain foods that he would not touch on fain of death: like carrots. Then I had to put in work. I stop buying junk and crap. Because he wouldn't add fruit to his diet, I started taking fruit he liked, like grapes, berries, etc and putting a handful or so in his lunches. Then adding yogurt, healthy, but not greek or Fage (which I love, because I knew he wouldn't touch it). So that added like 2-3 fruits in his diet just with that small addition. As for veggies: I would cook as much as I could, the veggies I knew he would eat, and would try different ways to make them as well. But I like a lot more veggies than him, so I would make a dish of veggies I liked, and he would be curious to what "smelled so good." Honestly he now loves brussel sprouts, and zucchini and squash, because they were around and he tried them and liked them. This integrated a few servings with meals.

But making it a lifestyle was slow. When he would be home on call or otherwise, or studying. I would put a bowel of fruit near him instead of other sweets, and he would just munch on them. (esp when studying, if you put it near him, he will usually eat it lol). Also I would make small baggies of sliced up peppers, and make them easy to get in the fridge, and hand them to him when he was home: and he would munch on those. So now, he'll look in the fridge for the fruits and veggies, something a few years ago, you would have never never thought would happen. His mother was so shocked when I told her the foods he eats now, I felt proud.

There are still those times when he wants something yummy and bad. I don't deny those all the time. It's healthy to eat in moderation. So we'll eat some ice cream or warm cookies from the oven; but that keeps us from eating a quart of ice cream or a dozen cookies in an evening because we are so deprived of them, we need to over indulge.

Hope that was a little helpful!

[SoonerTexan]

For milk - I try for organic, mainly because it creeps me out that it lasts SO much longer than non-organic. Something MUST be different, right? When money's tight - I go for no hormones added.

I've noticed this too, but I think someone mentioned on another thread this is because it is Ultra Pasteurized, or something along those lines. It makes me feel better about buying it, though, because the regular stuff just goes bad before we can use it. The thought of cow pus (whether or not this is even true is debatable) is enough for me to buy it just so I don't gag

When I was a nanny, I occasionally had to do a little shopping here and there for the family. I noticed all three families I was a nanny for (at different times) pretty much bought the same fruits/veggies every week regardless of cost. Grapes, apples, baby carrots, oranges, bananas. When I had the chance, I'd let the kids pick out one random fruit of their choice to try--they got REALLY into it. One family started buying a specific fruit (cant remember what it was) after my sister (also a nanny) had the kid try it and he loved it. Not to mention it is WAY cheaper to buy whatever is in season anyway. That's what my mom always did growing up--grapes were also immediately devoured in our house because my mom would only buy them when they were on sale.

I've started eating less meat too, lately. I have no desire to go vegan/vegetarian, but when I consciously tried to eat better, I noticed I ended up eating more vegetarian meals or meat as a side. In an ideal world, I'd buy only free range/local/grass fed meat for nutritional and "moral" reasons, but we just cant afford it now. At least eating less of it is cheaper. My mom used to buy fresh (as in killed earlier that day) chickens from an Amish family when we lived in Oklahoma. Best. Chicken. Ever. Hands down.

I'm trying to stop caring about fat so much, too. I swear, it is hard-wired in our brains to go for the "low-fat" option, even though sometimes they are actually worse health-wise (see reduced fat peanut butter). As DH puts it--your brain is mostly made up of fat, so we probably need it. I've tried to make "good" fat choices (avocado, olive oil, etc.) and still eat leaner meats, but for weight loss, I'm focusing on total calories instead of fat grams eaten throughout the day.

I know low-fat thinking is messed up when I avoid putting an avocado on my salad because it is "high in fat" but eat a Skinny Cow bar that hardly counts as a real food item because it is low fat/low calorie.

Curious--anyone else read Michael Pollan's books or The End of Overeating?