In the August: Week 2 Meal Plan, I’m sharing some kid-friendly recipes to help kids eat more veggies. Plus a little peek into my family’s philosophy on healthy eating and how we’re sharing that with our girls.
Kids hate veggies. My kids included. It’s like a universal truth. Even though I’m a health-conscious Mama working hard to set a healthy example for my kids, our family is not perfect.
Hubs and I realized that our eating habits, especially what we expect our kids to eat, were not as good as they really need to be.
Out of convenience, and our own love of sweets and chips, we’d allowed our girls to have those foods too. In moderation, of course. But kids’ brains don’t work the same as adults. They can’t self-regulate and opt for a food because it’s healthy. If there is a tastier option that’s less healthy, it will win every time.
What we found was that our girls were enjoying their “treats” then eating as little healthy food as possible, knowing they’d get more junk food later on. The worst part for me was knowing that their brains were becoming addicted to these junk foods. And because of that addiction, they were losing their taste for the healthy foods that will nourish their bodies and minds.
Our Parenting Philosophy on Food
Hubs and I want our girls to grow up understanding how to make healthy choices and eat foods that support their mental and physical health. We don’t want our girls to ever feel ashamed of their food choices or their bodies. There’s entirely too much negativity in this world on those topics already.
Our job as parents is to teach them about how foods affect our health and support healthy relationships with healthy food. Not create negative, shaming relationships with bad food.
We teach that some foods support our bodies and some foods make our bodies sick. That’s why we choose healthy foods. It’s always a choice, and you are not less of a person for making poor choices sometimes.
Read More:
4 Steps to Create Your Healthy Diet
How a Healthy Gut and Healthy Food Make a Healthy Body
Our New Plan
Starting with this August: Week 2 Meal Plan, we decided to remove all the junk foods and focus on feeding the girls their 3 square meals of healthy goodness each day. For the most part, we’re eliminating snacking to encourage them to eat better portions at mealtime. But I’ll still plan for a small, healthy snack option in the mid-afternoon just in case.
We have to retrain our girls’ tastebuds so they won’t turn their noses up at their healthy meals anymore. For the August: Week 2 Meal Plan, I’ll be “hiding” veggies in more foods. Muffins and tots are the easiest place to start. Plus, my oldest LOVES making muffins so she can get hands-on with healthy foods and really appreciate eating her own creations!
Here are 6 of My Favorite “Hidden Veggie” Recipes:
- Zucchini Tots
- Vegetable Savory Muffins
- Avocado Muffins – Orange Choc
- Apple & Carrot “Superhero” Muffins
- Zucchini Muffins
- Fruit and Veggie Smoothie Muffins
What do you want to teach your kids about healthy eating?
This is a huge topic and every family is different. I don’t think there’s any truly “right” or “wrong” philosophy since we’re all doing our best as parents with the tools we have. I’d love to hear where you’re at with this topic: What tools do you have? What would you like to learn more about?
The August: Week 2 Meal Plan
Breakfast
Granola and Fruit
Coconut Chia and Almond Butter Smoothie – I use Cheryl’s PB&J Inspired Chia Pudding without the fruit topping and add about 1/4 cup extra coconut milk to make it drinkable!
Lunch
Leftovers
Sandwiches
Dinner
Green Chile Burgers w/ Zucchini Tots and Salad
Herb Butter Chicken Thighs w/ Roasted Carrots and Broccoli
Leftovers
Snacks