Healthy Meals Lead to Healthy Kids

Have you seen those pictures of school lunch from around the world?  There are several places where you can see them, but every time I see the photos I wonder if there is some child on the other side of the camera crying because their plate is full of something they don’t like.

Picky eating seems like such a first-world problem to me, parents complaining that the only food their child wants to eat comes from a blue box or is held in a bun.  What if blue boxes and hot dogs just weren’t available?  At our house, we simply do not buy them (though we do have natural casing hot dogs from time to time in the summer).  We don’t purchase them because I know my children’s exposure to them outside of our home is enough to be eating them in moderation, which is all anyone should ever be eating processed food, in my opinion.

Instead, I choose to serve my children unprocessed food as often as possible when they are home and by sending lunch to school with them in an effort to teach them about moderation and a healthy diet.  I want to teach my children how to eat healthy and enjoy their food by eating slowly and deliberately, enjoying it rather than inhaling it.

By exposing them to healthy meals more frequently, I’ve found my children enjoy the junk food less, crave fresh produce more and learn how to eat their way towards a healthy lifestyle.  The only thing I’ve changed is what food I serve at my own table, and yet it has helped to shape my children’s perception of food and even made them hesitant to eat processed food when it is offered, instead reaching frequently for the fruit bowl or the vegetable tray at barbeques and buffet.

How do you encourage healthy eating with your family?

[photo by Muffet]

Editor’s note: This post was written by Shaina Olmanson, author of the Food for My Family blog.