Top things to talk to you kids about eating

[Billie]

What three or four things would you make sure you drilled into your children's head? I am betting before PP and after PP they would be quite different, here are mine:

1. Take time to research yourself what is healthy and was is not, don't rely on others to do it for you.

2. Protein is really important for good health, but why, have a discussion about why protein is an important fuel for the body.

3. Gimick diets are just that. Learn to eat for a healthy active life, and the do that, be healthy and active. In otherwords don't get entrapped with a quick weight loss, no such thing.

[SherryJ]

Tonight at dinner, Billie, Mr. Youngest looked at me and said, "Mom, I got my protein in during my chicken. I got my good fats in with the olive oil in the veggies... which means I got my veggies! ;) But, I'm still a little hungry... I've not had any sugar for 3 days... do you think I can have an ice cream sandwich that you got at Whole Foods? (organic!)"

"Are you still hungry, or does it just sound good?"

"It surely sounds good, but I'll wait a little while, Mama..."

I'm pleased with that, especially for a six year old! None of the guys have a weight challenge, and Mr. Wonderful doesn't want them to have NO sugar, but a reduced amount, for sure. (And, no, he never asked for more later...)

My boys also are taught to eat well becuase "they do NOT want to fight the weight battle like Mama does"! We've already got a semi-schedule set up for summer... starting the day with a 3+ mile walk for me, which means they will ride their bikes 4-5 miles each day! (I walk a circuit, and if I can see them, they ride to their hearts' content, which they do!) I think we're on the right track... :) I truly hope so!!!

Sherry

[mcsblues]

My number one thing would be to teach them to cook for themselves (and the rest of the family) and to enjoy what they make.

But that is something I would have said before LC as well - but so many people fail on this WOL because they have no idea how easy, cheap and quick it is - and it makes it simple to eat healthily if you control all the ingredients.

If you can give your kids that, they are going to be way ahead of the rest even if they do stray from LC a bit.

[Billie]

Sounds like he is being brought like a "pp kid" Sherry and I have no doubts about the rest of his great family life!

Malcom, I hear ya! Both my kids cook for themselves but they are pretty heavily in carbs, one does fine with it and one does not. But self-suficient in the kitchen and grill they are!

[SherryJ]

Ohhhh, thank you, Billie... you always have the greatest things to say about my family!

Malcolm, you are RIGHT! And, with Mr. Wonderful having been a professional chef for seven years, the boys get in the kitchen any time he cooks... :)

Sherry

[Donna7]

Well, I usually try to warn them that they are at risk for diabetes, since I have it and their Grandpa had it on my husband's side. I don't try to scare them, but it's never too young for them to develop healthy habits. My oldest daughter, who is married, is pretty careful with the way they cook and eat. Her oldest son, who is almost five, seems to be really sensitive to sugar, and gets out of control and over emotional when he has even a moderate amount. When he's begging her for sweets, she explains to him how they will make him feel, and he usually accepts that, since he doesn't like the way he feels, either! Of course, he does still get some occasionally..his Papa is a jelly-belly-a-holic! With my two younger daughters, they will eat pretty much what's in front of them...if I make junk, that's what they eat. They do love a lot of veggies, though, and if we're eating out they usually ask if they can substitute a salad for the french fries! Yeah!!! They've become pretty aware of what is carbage, and, like me, the more they avoid it the less appeal it has! My 11 yo daughter had a cookie last night after not having sweets for some time, and she said it was too sweet! As far as my two college boys...I'll just have to pray that they marry girls that will cook healthy for them...left to themselves, they'll eat nothing but Grape Nuts and Klondike bars :eek:...

Since we homeschool, I have a lot better opportunity to teach the little ones what REAL good nutrition is, without having to unteach the USDA pyramid and other popular "health" notions currently being taught. Not to mention protecting them from the schools' lunches! I'm really thankful for that. I realize though, that much, much more is taught by example than by what is said...that's really a big responsibility, especially when we have such a family history of serious health problems relating to unhealthy eating habits!

Sorry this got a little long...I'll get off my soapbox now:o
Donna

[Billie]

Donna not at all! We all have important experiences to share that might help someone else, I think that is what is so important about this board, you never know how YOUR experiences will help someone. You have a large family, and that also can mean stretching your budget, another thread we need to start is how do we manage that with large families.

Though for you teaching your kids, making them aware of diabetes concerns are something you have passed on, that's is terrific I think.

[Inez]

An interesting issue that has come up with my teenage daughter lately is vegetarianism. There's a lot of peer pressure at school from kids who are vegetarian on those that aren't and since my daughter is a very intelligent and sensitive person, she hears a lot of half truths from these kids laced with a big dose of guilt and it's hard for her to deal with.

[Gaelen]

An interesting issue that has come up with my teenage daughter lately is vegetarianism. There's a lot of peer pressure at school from kids who are vegetarian on those that aren't and since my daughter is a very intelligent and sensitive person, she hears a lot of half truths from these kids laced with a big dose of guilt and it's hard for her to deal with.

Inez, vegetarianism is a popular thing for teens to explore, has been that way for a long time. Many of my friends' kids explored vegetarianism, just as they also explored different music and different spiritualities than their parents embraced (although my own nephews never were really attracted to vegetarian choices.) When I was in high school and college, we didn't explore vegetarianism...we explored musical and political protest. Consistent vegetarian practice only came up because we were broke and meat was too expensive! ;)) My earliest vegetarian explorations were based on the awesome recipe experimentations happening around me, and the work of really good cooks like Mollie Katzen, Anna Thomas, Francis Moore Lappe and others, as well as the desire for more sustainability in my own life (I could produce a lot of what I needed, or trade for it), and to some extent on the spiritual teachings I was discovering in Hinduism and Buddhism. There were actually CLASSES in how to do things correctly in the 70s, and a lot of sharing going on informally in kitchens and meditation circles. But for me, exploring vegetarianism had nothing to do with guilt or the rants of any group like Ingrid Newkirk and her PETA friends!

The kids I've watched explore vegetarian practice based on what everyone else in school was trying didn't all fully embrace some form of vegetarian practice for the long term; some did, but for others, it was a phase. Setting limits on what they eat and what they listen to and what they wear, and figuring out what they really believe by 'trying on' other philosophies, is one of the few items in their lives that teens can control, so here come the experiments!

The problem is that now, Newkirk and PETA do have a disproportionately large voice in promoting vegetarianism as an humanitarian obligation as part of its larger, less-exposed agenda. The PETA crowd aims hardest at the most easily impressed and horrified, and kids are a prime target for that. That's not to say there aren't horrors in factory farming, but it's not the only way to obtain food. PETA leaves that part out of the 'sell,' one kid tries things based on a half-fleshed out idea, and a whole group of kids is off to the races.

There are plenty of *healthy* approaches to vegetarian practice that don't come with a heaping serving of dogma or activism, but with a heaping serving of appreciation of good food and nutrition. If you're truly concerned about the information/pressure your daughter is getting from her friends to embrace vegetarianism without a nutritional foundation, give her better information about how to be a healthy vegetarian, and the freedom to explore those choices. Choosing to be vegetarian isn't the worst choice she could make; she could only want to live on fries, pepperoni pizza and Coke. ;)