If you’ve read my blog intro, you’ll know that I grew up in rural Ontario with ready access to lots of fresh, healthy food. Often a snack was a freshly pulled carrot from my Mom’s garden, rinsed under the garden hose. I didn’t often get to ride the kid-food merry-go-round with my friends. Sugary treats were not the norm, yet I always had tonnes of energy to enjoy the activities of childhood.
I remember the excitement surrounding the occasions where “special” food was served. The big punch bowl came out of storage, savory hors d’oeuvres were passed around, and decadent desserts were displayed. The combination of loved ones gathering to enjoy great food and conversation was always special.
Sharing a meal is a timeless ritual at the heart of friendship and family.
As parents, Peter & I have always been intentional about having regular family mealtimes. Eating together provides us with regular intervals in the day to check in with each other and really connect. Some of our best conversations have taken place around the dinner table. It’s also a time where we get to instil important life lessons in our children.
It’s a lot like how most of my generation grew up. But it’s harder to maintain in current times.
There are so many more opportunities to celebrate with “treat” food than when I grew up. Many kids today have countless opportunities each week to indulge in sugary, high fat treats. Play dates, pizza day at school, fast food dinners on the way to practice, hot dogs, pop and fries at the movies. These food rituals may be at the root of many of the health challenges these children will face as adults, if not sooner.
Like most parents, I struggle with setting the boundaries of healthy eating with my kids. We want them to develop healthy habits, but we don’t want them to obsess over food. We want them to eat a balanced diet, but we want them to enjoy being a kid. And doesn’t being a kid involve candy, cookies, chips & ice cream? In fact, these are the very foods that many of us as adults are so tempted by.
We may not realize it, but some of our taste buds never “grew up”.
So how do we get off this kid-food merry-go-round? Like anything else, one of the best ways to alter our eating habits is to look at our life as a whole. What we eat fuels our life and how we live it. I love the 90/10 rule of eating, which is based on 90% healthy, whole foods and 10% smart indulgence.
Smart indulgence means choosing treat food with the best ingredients, wherever possible. Some examples are: raw sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup, butter instead of synthetic substitutes, and lean cuts of meat. There will always be times where your options are limited, but that’s no big deal because you go back to whole foods the next meal.
Once you’re aware that the food you eat impacts your health one meal at a time, it becomes easier to make better choices. Helping your kids enjoy healthy eating now will hopefully set them up to make good choices as adults as well. This could be one of the greatest gifts you can give them.
How do you deal in this area? I’d love to hear some of the ways you balance healthy eating with treat indulging. Please share in the comments below.
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Blessings,
Sheila
