If Your Kids Are Anything Like Mine....

Because I am a health food educator and mom to two teenagers, people assume that my family eats healthy 24/7. I wish that would be the case but let’s debunk this myth.

My family lives in the US of A and like any other family is more influenced by TV, commercials, video games, peers, school, Internet, billboards, smell of junk food stores, well anything besides mom. If we don’t change as a society our kids won’t change either and that’s why I really admire what the First Lady is trying to do, even I must say I started my business a year before she came to the White House.

My kids like burgers and fries and full fat ice cream topped with junk like any other kid given the choice. How can we fix that?

Long ago, I realized that we can’t change it by force feeding them broccoli and cauliflower. They will hate it and hate us too. So I started to change them marginally by teaching them how to make chocolate chip cookies only a bit healthier with no white sugar and with fewer and darker chocolate chips that have flavanoids. Adding a bit of flax seeds to them. They actually loved it.

Also, keep in mind that opening and closing the refrigerator is an epidemic of their generation. I think they do it when they don’t know what else to do with themselves. So the best tip I have for you is to have some ready washed and chopped veggies and fruits ready on a shelf they can see so when they open that door they have no choice but to go for them. 

Empower them to make their dinner. If they like French fries, teach them how to make oven baked fries, which have less calories and actually they taste better too.

I have learned that peer environment works best for any type of learning. I have observed at my own camp that when kids are together they would even eat stones if the kid next to them tried it. My daughter has tried things like salsa, hummus, vegetable chili, zucchini pancakes and kale chips at camp, which she would have never had at home!!! And then she has a Eureka moment and screams: mommy I tried salsa and I really liked it.

If you have any other great idea, please share them with me at bibi@harvardcookingirl.com