I get weird looks from people when they see my baby devouring green vegetables and things that other kids would never consider eating. Wait, kids don't usually like what's good for them! Right? Or do they? I've learned that most often the parents actually have the power to instill a taste for healthy foods. It starts in the womb and continues mostly with refereeing all the people in your life that will try to introduce your child to junk food (grandparents, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, neighbors, the ice cream truck, etc).
The moment we step outside of our home I feel like a referee because let's face it, most people eat all kinds of junk, not real food. I'm not paranoid, I let things slide to an extent with some non-organic produce. When we're at one of our grandmas', choices are usually between bleached, enriched white rice or pesticide potatoes. We have a little of both now and then because you can't say 'no' to grandma (don't worry, she doesn't read my blog). Of course grandpa is another story, both of them actually. They think it is OK to slip the barely-17-month-old candy. I have to be extra vigilant there! There are no ingredients in there that can be called 'food'. Mind you, both of them grew up in villages in far aways places eating organic everything from their own vegetable patch. Now they want to bathe my child in this junk. But boy do we love them regardless! They did not have supermarkets. No corn syrup or genetically modified stuff in their diet. Yet they have no idea what they're eating here. Thankfully my father has started eating healthier after having a tumor removed. Quite a wake up call. Still a long way to go.
So how do we get around all this? It's called BYO-. That stand for Bring Your Own _____, fill in the blank. Now we don't go anywhere without some healthy food of our own. Whether it is homemade bread that we'll share with relatives, organic baby food for the convenience of being portable, or a raw avocado. We've always got something. Who said raising a healthy kid is easy?
What about you? I would love to know about your adventures in getting your family to eat healthy. Do you struggle with friends and relatives who don't know or care what they eat?
Photo: Matthew Bowden
+of+ana11+-+Copy.jpg)
I am right there with you. Have to check for corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated oils, etc, everything my kids eat out. My relatives already learned what to avoid. i published a list on my blog as well as a reference.
ReplyDeleteYeah i struggle. Since none of my friends really care about organic and pretty much laugh at me, I am allll on my own. But I have noticed differences. Our friend's son was born december 16th and my son was born on december 15th. Now the boys are perfectly healthy, for now. My son had no shots, always eats organic food only and I eat organic food, breastfeeding him still. He now eats organic vegies, chicken, fruits, pretty much everything. Now that boy is non organic, formula type baby. All he eats is GM's. So you know how it seems as though kids now days are 'maturing' too fast? menstrual cycle, teeth, breasts in girls. I mean every generation it seems gets it faster than the other one. I always thought it was weird. So that little boy already has 2 teeth, can pretty much stand on his own and crawls fast. At first i was like, hmm my baby is a late starter, but than my husband goes, no its because our baby is healthy and his body is doing everything on its own at its own time.. Now, i know that is irrelevant but to answer your question, we bring organic things to every party or get together we go to. And we eat, 99% of the time whatever we bring lol. If thers bbq, we'd bring our own chicken, salad, etc... others can try it but we bring just enough for us and maybe another person... I already invested in glass containers when josiah is older to bring our own food with us ALWAYS so I am there with ya (:
ReplyDelete