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Changing a family's diet comes down to gradually serving more of what is
healthy, and less of what is not. Change happens more effectively when taken in
small steps. No one wants the kids (or the adults!) to freak out with too many
changes all at once. At the same time, it doesn't seem very helpful to kids
when adults make food choices based on what they think kids will eat, instead
of what's healthiest. My dietician friend tells me that it's the adults' job to
serve the best meals they can, and the kid's job to eat when she's hungry.
Sometimes it takes many exposures (like 8-15) before some kids will like a new
food. Hopefully, taking it slow, serving food that really does taste good, and
having some adventurous eaters in the group will help those who are a little
reluctant.
Putting a little more emphasis on healthy food at home could mean serving more
nutritious food (nutrient-dense), or that you serve higher quality food
(organic, fresh, not processed) - or both. Here are some ideas for both more
nutritious and higher quality foods.
Serve whole grains instead of white
- Switch to whole wheat noodles and brown rice. Mainstream grocery stores now sell good whole wheat pastas; where I live they cost about $1.50 per pound.
- Look for a whole wheat bread that has whole wheat flour as the first ingredient.
- Serve whole grain crackers like Ak-mak, RyVita or whole wheat pretzels. All of these crackers have few other ingredients, and are low in fat.
Serve fewer or better processed foods
- Take hotdogs, chicken nuggets, and canned soup out of the rotation. (Sorry! You knew I was going to recommend that though, right?)
- Upgrade to a macaroni and cheese product that has real (and/or organic) cheese, whole grain noodles, and/or no artificial colors.
- Switch to butter, if you haven't already. Margarine is really, really not good for you.
Bring a few more vegetables into the mix
Sweet potatoes are said to be the most nutrient dense item in the produce aisle, and they are yummy. Bake them, boil them, roast them, mash them : you can't go wrong, unless you put marshmallow cream on top. Other nutrient dense veggies include broccoli (more Vitamin C than an orange and half as much calcium as milk), cauliflower, bell peppers, carrots, and (of course) dark, leafy greens.
Organic vs. conventional produce
People have a lot of different opinions about which fruits and vegetables it's most important to get organic. A general rule for fruit would be that if you're going to eat the skin, try to have it be organic. For vegetables, I would try to avoid conventional potatoes, peppers, and celery. If using conventional potatoes, be sure to peel them.
Organic vs. conventional meat and dairy
Conventional meat and dairy are two big things to think about reducing or eliminating. Conventional milk and meat generally come from herds that are fed antibiotics and growth hormones on a regular basis. There is growing evidence that these drugs are traveling far and wide through the food system. The more you know about them, the less you want to eat them. With the dairy, both the growth hormones and the routine use of antibiotics are a concern. The good news is that in many places there are plenty of clean dairy products available. Same is true of meat. At our house, we eat some meat but not a lot, because the meat we get is relatively expensive.
Milk and cheese
If you do decide to get organic milk, watch out for "ultra-pasteurized" kind. Stores that don't sell much milk often carry this because they can leave it on the shelf for weeks or months before it goes bad. The problem is, the "ultra" pasteurization means it got heated higher, longer. Besides the nasty effect on the taste, my understanding is that the protein is rendered totally indigestible.
We try to buy organic cheese, but it is often expensive. Some stores carry some "rBGH free" cheeses, which are kind of a middle ground. They're not organic, but at least there were no growth hormones used on the cows.
Creating your own guidelines
It is helpful to create some guidelines about what types of food you want to encourage, and what kinds you want to avoid. This makes decisions about individual foods easier. For example, you might decide to start emphasizing whole grains instead of white foods (pasta, rice, crackers). Or you might decide to not serve foods with high fructose corn syrup in them. The corn syrup has no nutritional value, and this rule keeps you away from most of the junk. Same with hydrogenated oils and artificial colors - there's reason to believe these things are worse than previously thought, so we may as well avoid them.
Here is a list of things that you could consider reducing or avoiding - not all at once, and maybe not ever for some of them, depending on your priorities and preferences.
- Conventional (vs. organic or rBGH-free) dairy
- Conventional meat
- Certain conventional fruits and veggies
- High fructose corn syrup
- Artificial colors
- "White" foods (pasta, rice, crackers)
- Genetically modified ingredients (includes all non-organic corn and corn products)
- Refined sugar
- Juice
- Processed foods
Here's an example of how you might categorize these. You could use something like this in communicating with parents about the changes you're making:
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