It’s one of the things us parents worry about the most – how do I make sure that my children are eating a healthy diet. Are they eating enough? Too much? It’s even harder when faced with the army of food nasties standing to attention on every supermarket shelf and waving at us from colourful and shiny adverts on TV and in magazines.
Me in the chocolate aisle in Coles (Gif via giphy.com)
I’ve always tried to be healthy, but despite my best efforts I’m still overweight and prone to eating a whole block of cheese if the mood takes me. For me it’s a time thing – I don’t enjoy cooking or food preparation. My hubby is a chef and can transform a few squalid leftovers in the fridge into a 3 course meal in about 15 minutes. I can quite often be found hunting through the same fridge and pantry, declaring in dismay that ‘there is nothing to eat’ and ordering a pizza. Or finding a brilliant looking, yet complexly intricate recipe online and deciding that we are having it for dinner, spending 3 or 4 cursing hours in the kitchen over it and using every pot, pan, utensil and surface in the process. (Hubby has often tried to teach me to ‘clean as I go’ but I have absolutely no skill at multitasking in the kitchen).
This is a photo of an actual dinner I made from all the food I could find in the house when hubby was at work one night.
I am slowly learning that simple is better. Especially when it comes to feeding the boys. Young children don’t need wild flavours, additives and seasoning – their taste buds are so pure and new they can appreciate food much more than us (it’s been reported that babies even have lots more tastebuds than we do too). I also find that when I keep things simple it is much easier to be consistent, healthy and stick to a good regime.
This is one of the reasons I loved breastfeeding – it encouraged me to be really mindful about what I was putting in to my body as I knew this would be mirrored in the quality of the milk produced. The other thing I loved about breastfeeding was that I didn’t need to step foot in the kitchen to make meals for my sons! For us, breastmilk was the ideal ready meal – perfect portion sizes, healthy and full of nutrition, on demand, served at the optimal temperature (no chance of me burning it!) -and best of all, free! My style of cooking!
Breast milk – the first ever fast food
Unfortunately the appetites of our boys soon meant a move away from milk and into the world of solids – and what a fun and messy time of discovery it was! Being a vegetarian meant that I prepared lots of different seasonal veggies for the boys – simply steamed and mashed up. They still adore mashed sweet potato, carrots, taro and pumpkins and we still include it a lot in their meals. Fruit has always been another main staple in our weekly meals – when they were younger we steamed, mashed and pureed it, now we make exotic fruit salads served with Greek yoghurt, or mixed fruit smoothies.
-
- From this….
-
- ….to this
Now the boys are a bit older they are getting more adventurous in the food they try but fresh fruit and veggies form the backbone of their diet.
Of course it’s not always possible to prepare food on the go, and in our hot climate fruit doesn’t travel well. With us taking more family trips leading up to our journey around Australia later this year we are always on the lookout for healthy food for the road.
When we heard that Organix had released even more products to their range we jumped at the chance to try them – and we weren’t disappointed. If you’ve not heard of them before, Organix produce organic, tasty foods for babies, toddlers and beyond – and they guarantee all their products with a ‘No Junk Promise’
You can read more about their promise here – in a nutshell they have set the new standard for providing the best possible choice for children’s food on the market.
However it doesn’t matter how healthy something is if it tastes terrible (I’ve been told about the wonders of Apple Cider Vinegar for example but just can’t make myself swallow it!) – which makes it even better that everything we have tasted from the Organix range scores a 10/10 for flavour. The boys both loved the fruit pots which we added to our morning smoothies and the toddler corn puff range are always a hit.
I have a small confession to make – when I opened my box of Organix goodies and spotted the Carrot Stix I instantly hid them. If asked why I would tell you that I was avoiding a riot with there being only one bag of them, also the boys got to try them last time we reviewed the Organix range. Truth be told they are absolutely delicious and I wanted to keep them all for myself (I’m doing all the hard work, right?!) I’m not even going to try and taste test the creamy vanilla or strawberry baby biscuits just in case!
All mine! Mwhahahaha
If you would like to get some Organix goodies for yourself your kids – you can find them at both Coles and Woolworths in the baby aisle. The Organix website is also a great resource for ideas and advice on eating well – including lots of recipes and tips for each stage of development.
My buzz words for our family food is simple, balanced and fresh – something that Organix reflect right back at us.
How often have you heard “How come everything that tastes horrible is good for me and everything that tastes good isn’t?!”? In fact you’ve probably said something very similar yourself as a youngster faced with portions of healthy, but not necessarily very tasty, vegetables!
Obviously I’m not referring to the very healthy AND very tasty Organix theme of your post but to your reference to Apple Cider Vinegar.
As with some of the aforementioned vegetables, before it even gets to your mouth, the smell can turn on the ‘I’m not going to like this’ segment of your brain, which doesn’t help.
You could always try apple cider vinegar on fish and chips instead of malt vinegar, however as it is beneficial in small amounts every day, any benefits might be outweighed by tucking into fish and chips on a daily basis!
Alternatively, here’s a recipe that might just help.
A glass of cold water (I’ve often wondered how much a ‘glass’measures! I think it was Cadbury’s who used to advertise ‘A glass and a half of milk in every bar’)
2 tablespoons of apple or grape juice
2 tablespoons of good quality raw apple cider vinegar
Half a teaspoon of cinnamon
And a spoonful of honey (as opposed to sugar) to make the ‘medicine’ go down.
This will taste so good, be careful not to overdo it. You can have too much of a good thing, I’m told!
Interesting stuff – the mind definitely has a big part in deciding what food we’re going to like. Love that apple cider vinegar tip – I’m going to try it! How often do you do it? Have you noticed any benefits?