We all have to eat. Unfortunately, the internet and the modern day food industry has made it almost impossible to determine what is actually healthy eating. With so many fad diets, food pyramids, organic crazes, and homeopathy, it’s hard to find fact from fiction; truth from a sales pitch. I start to look for patterns. Much like a sales pitch video that won’t tell you what the 3 important things you need are until the very end of the video (after repeating themselves ad-nauseum about how rich they can make you) is always a marketing scheme, you can rule out a lot of fads with the “too good to be true” standard.
You would say you can wash all the wacky conspiracy theories too, but considering the Food Pyramid of the 90s was admitted to be paid for by the wheat industry, well…I will keep some conspiracy theories on the table.
Red 40? Does it really affect the brain? Soy? Does it make boys effeminate and girls more anxious? Here’s the problem…we don’t know. There is so much conflicting information out there about what is healthy eating, and too many out there looking to making a sale on the fear mongering of food. The amount of ads for vitamins, or hormonal supplements, or diet plans that I see on Instagram and Facebook is amazing. But, with some thought, we can sift through the haze.
Food on My Plate
The U.S. Department of Agriculture MyPlate . The only reason I am adding the Department of Agriculture (who was responsible for the food pyramid) is because the MyPlate is now more consistent with what a lot of fit body personal trainers had been recommending. Macros, so to speak. You don’t need to know macros for your babies or your family, but since it more follows what works, it seems the most accurate and so that is why I am offering it as a healthy eating example. I am not against carnivore or even vegan diets. But I don’t see them as sustainable if, say, the world went apocalyptic and we ended up back in the dark ages. And the diet our ancestors survived on will probably be the best template for us.
Obesity wasn’t a national issue until 1960s. What was introduced into our food system? High fructose corn syrup, vegetable oils, nut oil, food dyes. To make matters worse, they started putting more synthesized products in our food. There was also a push for low sodium diets, low fat diets…essentially diet fads exploded. So, for me, I decided to go back to basics. What do I know from my own personal experience. My body needs to move. If I don’t move, my body starts to hurt more than if it moved. I know that if I overeat, I don’t feel as good as when I eat in moderation. I know that I don’t feel good when I starve myself, because my body needs energy. Moderation in all things, yes?
Home Cooking for Healthy Eating
One of the biggest ways to be a good steward is to cook the majority of your meals at home. It is also a good way to know what exactly is in your food. You don’t have to make everything from scratch. Who has time for that? Just don’t cook a boxed meal at home if your goal is to minimize processing. There are plenty of recipes and tutorials all over the internet. Now, I am not a fitness guru but I can look at history and look at what makes sense.
Here is the thing about kids. The biggest contributor to them being obese is lack of movement. It is almost impossible for me to imagine my son sitting still long enough to gain any sort of weight, but I do know that when he is the stillest is when he is watching television. When kids are absorbed in it, they don’t move around, then they eat a bunch of junk food.
What’s in a food?
Check out what is in your kid’s snacks. Sugar, usually. But even worse is high fructose corn syrup. You don’t have to get rid of the snacks, but limit the consumption or simply don’t buy them. My kiddo loves berries. So I will buy as much of that as I can until the day he decides he hates the fruit. He also loves fruit snacks. So, I use that to have him eat something first. If you want your fruit snack you need to eat your (vegetable, protein, etc.) first.
What is the problem with enriched and processed foods? Well, it has to do with the body’s absorption rate. High fructose corn syrup is easy to absorb. Same with white breads, pastas, fruit juice, and such. They don’t have the other “stuff”, such as fiber and even certain minerals and vitamins your body needs to properly function. These foods are not inherently bad. But when your diet ONLY consists of these, well, your body isn’t getting what it needs. Chicken nuggets won’t hurt your kiddo. Only eating chicken nuggets will.
Meal Prep for Healthy Eating
If you are going to be homemaking, a big part is cooking. It saves money and, honestly, it tastes better. Get yourself a dutch oven. I have never regretted getting mine for Christmas. I got the Lodge Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven. It doesn’t require the seasoning that a normal cast iron cookware requires. It can replace a slow cooker (though I would get one of those too for the looonnggg cooking.) And it comes in pretty colors.
I am not particularly good at meal planning for the week. Mostly, because I feel scatter-brained most of the time and don’t want to think that far ahead. But I do know that when I do plan ahead, it makes my week so much easier. One less thing I have to come up with. So, what are some common foods my kids will eat that can go with just about everything? Noodles, rice, spaghetti sauce. Potatos. Chop up some veggies at the start of the week for snacks. My kiddo loves bell peppers. So I cut a couple peppers up to have ready for snackage. Make it easy on yourself.
Picky Eaters
Eating your greens is all well and good until your little ones refuse to eat it. What do you do if your babies decide all they want is cheerios? Or chicken nuggets? I’m grateful that my son loves fruit and take it as a win. Sometimes I can convince him to eat the “little trees” aka broccoli. Every kid is going to react differently to choices, but offer them the choice. My two year old will often grab a fruit snack in the morning and bring to me. I don’t tell him “no,” I tell him that he has to have breakfast first. I will suggest food items and sometimes he can point to them in the fridge. It is not a swift process… but he gets to have some control over what he eats.
Other tactics are when he tells me that he is “all done”and most of his food is still on his plate, I will tell him he needs to eat more. If he does not want to, I will remove the plate and just put the amount I want him to eat in front of him (if he has five pieces of chicken left, I will put two pieces in front of him). If he refuses that, I tell him he doesn’t get any more food until the next meal. Sometimes he eats it. Sometimes he doesn’t and he doesn’t get more food later. Another tactic, if he won’t eat at all, I set the plate close, but not directly him front of him while we are all eating and I don’t make a fuss about it. He eventually starts to eat.
Make Healthy Eating Simple
Ultimately, moderation and keeping things simple is key. Moderation is also a key. What do you know is good for you? Vegetables are good. Fruit is good. Meat is good. Dairy is good if your body can handle it. Fats are good. Our ancestors ate these things and they survived long enough to get us here. The Bible speaks on these things – moderation and eating whole foods, avoiding an overabundance of delicacies. Drink water. It doesn’t have to be hard. I find the hard part is detoxing from the snackage. And fatigue. I had an epiphany the other day. I was grazing at home, just constantly hungry even though I had just eaten. Suddenly, I realized that I was not bored eating. I was tired. My body was craving energy, but what I really needed was sleep. This was pretty eye-opening for me.
Keep your children healthy by keeping them moving. Eat relatively healthy foods, fruits and veggies and a protein. The rest will work itself out.