Top Tip Tuesday - Give Some Choices

Let me start by saying that there's no short-order cook in our house. We all eat what's cooked - or we don't eat. So making each kid a separate meal is definitely not the type of choice I'm talking about giving. As I've mentioned before, I feel strongly that good nutrition is just as much of a safety issue as using carseats/seatbelts and should be treated just the same (as in, not optional). But that said, I still look for ways to give the kids small choices when I can.

Often, if I'm making something loaded with veggies, I'll let the kids each pick one thing for me to leave off. For our recent Roasted Veggie Sandwiches, Big Sprout chose to leave off the artichokes and Little Sprout opted out of zucchini. It's no more work for me, and they get to feel like they have a say in what they're eating - plus, I get all the other veggies in the sandwich in them with no complaints.

I'm also happy to give options when there is no "bad" choice. "Would you like strawberries or oranges with your oatmeal?" or "Should we have our salad plain or in a wrap?" Again, it makes no difference to me but empowers them with choosing between two healthy options. 

Top Tip Tuesday - Think You Can't Live Without Cheese???

I really did laugh out loud when I saw the article "I can't live without cheese" posted on Facebook recently, because that's always the first thing people say to me when they find out that we're vegan. And I laugh because I had said it myself many times. And then I had a reality check.

I'm sure that smokers say "I could never live without cigarettes" and alcoholics say "I could never live without another drink." That doesn't mean of course, that they should continue consuming those things or that they are healthy for them in any way; it just means that they're being controlled by an addiction. And there's no way that I was letting cheese have that much power in my life. After all, the basic human needs, contrary to popular belief, are not air, water, shelter and cheese.

Giving up cheese, for me, took a major shift in my outlook. Instead of looking at cheese as something that came in a package, I began to investigate where it came from, how it was made and everything that went into putting it on my plate. And it was pretty shocking to learn the truth. After all, the dairy industry had been spending millions to convince me otherwise all my life.

First of all, cheese is made from milk. Duh. That didn't phase me at first, until it clicked with me that milk isn't something that comes out of a carton and goes on my cereal. Cow's milk is food for baby cows. As the authors of Skinny Bitch put it so very well . . .

"Cows’ milk, by design, grows a 90-pound calf into a 2,000-pound cow over the course of 2 years. It allows calves to double their birth weight in forty-seven days and leaves their four stomachs feeling full."

Well, I don't have four stomachs, and nothing about weighing 2,000 pounds sounds remotely appealing. And as a nursing mom at the time, the idea of drinking the breast milk of another species just started to gross me out. Most moms I knew would balk at the idea of their baby drinking the breast milk of another human - yet we didn't hesitate to give them breast milk from a cow. Weird, right?

But since we're not cows and we can't digest cow's milk (we lose the enzyme needed to digest human milk very early on in life), something called rennet is added to cheese. Have fun Googling that one. Here's what Wikipedia had to say about it:

"Natural calf rennet is extracted from the inner mucosa of the fourth stomach chamber (the abomasum) of young, unweaned calves. These stomachs are a by-product of veal production. Dried and cleaned stomachs of young calves are sliced into small pieces and then put into saltwater whey, together with some vinegar or wine to lower the pH of the solution. Deep-frozen stomachs are milled and put into an enzyme-extracting solution. The crude rennet extract is then activated by adding acid." 

 

Ewwww! Nothing about that sounds good to me. Add in some hidden camera footage from a dairy farm and the knowledge that dairy cows have their calves taken away and sent for slaughter (as veal), and it's actually quite easy to live without cheese.

Still struggling to give cheese the boot? The GHS "top tip" for the week are these five great tips for (pardon the pun) weaning.

Top Tip - Make Food Fun

Making the switch to a whole-foods diet doesn't mean that food has to be boring - in fact, the opposite is often true. So many times, I hear about kids who only eat a few items (often as few as can be counted on their fingertips). How much more opportunity for fun is there by introducing dozens of new healthy, colorful foods in the form of fruits and vegetables?

Need some ideas??? Check out our Fun Friday posts, and don't forget that all our recipes include Sprout Ratings so you can see which ones get the Sprouts' stamp of approval.

Also, check out this list (with recipe links) of 100 Vegan Recipes that Even Your Kids Will Eat. I love that they're broken down by meal type, and I already see several new dishes for us to try!

Top Tip - Lead wtih the Lettuce

This tip is one that's been around for a while . . . so long, in fact, that it's well-ingrained in both my Sprouts. At each meal, I have them start with the salad or veggies, move on to the "main dish" (soup, sandwich, pasta, etc.) and save any "treat" like bread or crackers for last. On more than one occasion, when eating out, they've actually informed our server that they need their salad before they can eat anything else.

Not only does it give them a great incentive to finish their greens, but if they happen to fill up before they've finished, at least the most nutritious food got in first!

Top Tip - Educate (Not Mandate)

Today's top tip comes from Big Sprout . . . when I asked him what he thought would most help kids chose healthy foods, he said it was teaching them how food affects their bodies - that whole, plant-based foods contain micronutrients the body needs to stay healthy while processed foods make our bodies work harder and affect our body both inside and out. Okay, so I added the "micronutrientss" part, but that was the gist of his idea.

It really made me happy to hear, because we've always tried to educate the kids on the reasons for our choices - on both why healthy foods are important and the specific reasons we avoid trans-fat, HFCS, animal foods and artificial colors, flavors and preservatives. I know that I can only control their food choices for so long, so educating them about nutrition is my "insurance policy" for keeping them on the healthy path (hopefully!) once they're old enough to be the ones calling the shots at the grocery store and in the kitchen.

One of our favorite, at-home experiments is to demonstrate what happens when our arteries get clogged from eating too much high-fat, processed foods. Want to try it? Take two plastic straws, and stuff a bit of Play-doh into one of them (enough that you can still blow through it but it takes some effort to make the air flow through). Now take turns blowing through each of the straws.

With healthy diet and lifestyle choices, you can keep your arteries like the empty straw - the blood can flow through them as easily as you can blow through this straw. But poor choices (no matter how tasty!) can cause your arteries to become clogged over time, like the Play-doh straw. You have to work harder to blow air through it, just like your heart has to work harder to pump blood through clogged arteries.

Follow it up with some thought-provoking questions ("What do you think happens when your heart has to work harder and harder with no rest?", "What do you think would happen if we added more Play-doh to the straw every day?"), and you'll make a much stronger argument for munching on veggies than "because I said so" (although I've been known to use that on occasion, too!)

Top Tip - Michael Pollan's Food Rules

I haven't read any of Michael Pollan's books, and I didn't hear the greatest things about his recent appearance on Oprah, but I sure did like this list of Food Rules that a friend passed on to me last week. Although he clearly doesn't advocate an entirely plant-based diet, these tips seem like a great starting point for those looking to improve their family's nutrition.

The tips range from the practical ("Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.") to the humorous ("Donʼt eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.) . . . and my personal favorite, "Itʼs not food if it arrived through the window of your car."

I hope you find a few tips that resonate with you to help you on your journey towards health!


FOOD RULESMichael Pollan, Penguin Boots

EAT FOOD. EAT MOSTLY PLANTS. EAT IN MODERATION.

1. Eat food. Real food. Not genetically modified, chemically altered or processed science experiments.

2. Donʼt eat anything your great-grandmother wouldnʼt recognize as food.

3. Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human being would keep in the pantry.

4. Avoid food that contain high-fructose corn syrup. Sugar is sugar not matter what you call it.

5. Avoid foods that have some sort of sugar or sweetener listed among the top three ingredients.

6. Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients. More ingredients = more processed.

7. Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce.

8. Avoid food products that make health claims.

9. Avoid food products with the word “lite” or the terms “low-fat” or “non-fat.” Usually the fat is replaced with carbs (sugar) which means more calories.

10. Avoid foods you see advertised on television.

11. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.

12. Eat only foods that will eventually rot.

13. Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state growing in nature.

14. Get out of the supermarket whenever you can. Go to a farmersʼ market instead.

15. Buy your snacks at the farmersʼ market.

16. Eat only foods that have been cooked by humans.

17. Donʼt ingest foods made in places where everyone is required to wear a surgical cap.

18. If it came from a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, donʼt.

19. Itʼs not food if it arrived through the window of your car.

20. Itʼs not food if itʼs called by the same name in every language. Big Mac, Cheetos, Pringles.
21. Eat mostly plants. Especially leaves.

22. Treat meat as a flavoring or special occasion food.

23. Eating what stands on one leg (mushrooms) is better than eating what stands on two legs (fowl) which is better than eating what stands on four legs (cows, pigs, and other mammals).

24. Eat your colors. Green. Orange. Red. Blue. Purple. Yellow. More vitamins and anti-cancer compounds.

25. Drink the spinach water. The water you used to cook vegetables is full of vitamins. Make soup.

26. Eat animals that have themselves eaten well. Grass fed. Not hormone, corn and anti-biotic fed.

27. If you have the space, buy a freezer. Plus a juicer, slow cooker, and blender.

28. Eat like an omnivore. Variety. Colors. Textures. Minerals. Fiber. Vitamins. Tastes.

29. Eat well-grown food from healthy soil.

30. Eat wild foods when you can.

31. Eat foods that have been predigested by bacteria and fungi. Yogurt, soy, sauerkraut = B12 = Brain food.

32. Sweeten and salt your food yourself.

33. Eat sweet foods as you find them in nature.

34. Donʼt eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.

35. The whiter the bread, the sooner youʼll be dead.

36. Favor the kind of grains that have been traditionally stone-ground.

37. Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself. How often will you really bake cookies, cakes? Make your own chips and fries? Under those circumstances, not often I bet.

38. Be the kind of person who takes supplements – then skips supplements. Have the health conscious awareness of one who takes supplements, but instead of taking them, eat a healthy diet instead.

39. Eat more like the French, the Japanese, the Italians, or the Greeks. Fresh. Natural. Small quantities.

40. Regard non-traditional foods with skepticism. Soy protein isolate? Just eat soy. The real stuff.

41. Have a glass of wine with dinner. Polyphenols = good for the heart.

42. Pay more. Eat less. Higher quality food = less processed = more expensive = but better for you. Pay more either at the grocery store or at the drug store. You choose.

43. Eat less. Period. No seconds. No snacking. Eat slowly. Enjoy your food.

44. Stop eating before you are full.

45. Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored. If youʼre not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you are not hungry.

46. Consult your gut. It takes 20-minutes for your stomach to tell your brain you are full.

47. The banquet is the first bite. It tastes the best. The 10th cookie doesnʼt taste any better than the first.

48. Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it.

49. Buy smaller plates and glasses. Youʼll eat and drink less.

50. Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper. Your biggest meal should be your first.

51. Eat meals. Not snacks.

52. Limit your snacks to unprocessed plant foods. Fruits, vegetables, nuts? Youʼll eat fewer of those rather than an entire bag of cookies or a carton of ice cream.

53. Donʼt get your fuel from the same place your car does. Gas station “food” = high in salt, sugar, fat.

54. Do all your eating at a table. Take your time. Eat mindfully. Make eating an event to be enjoyed.

55. Try not to eat alone. You will eat less with company than standing over the kitchen sink by yourself.

56. Treat treats as treats. Enjoy goodies in moderation and buy only the highest quality.

57. Leave something on your plate.

58. Plant a vegetable garden if you have the space, a window box if you donʼt.

59. Cook. Youʼll eat better and cheaper.

60. Break the rules once in a while. All things in moderation. Including moderation.

Top Tip - Rethink the Four Food Groups

Just getting this out there as one of those things you should know about me . . . I have very little faith in the organizations shaping health and nutritional guidelines in this country.

Call me cynical, but they all seem to have strong ties with companies that benefit financially from selling us unhealthy food (junk food manufacturers, meat and dairy farmers) or that benefit financially from us being sick (pharmaceutical companies). I mean, just the fact that one agency oversees both food and drugs seems like a huge conflict of interest.

End of mini-rant and moving on . . . so where have the traditional food groups and food pyramid gotten us??? Fatter and sicker with each passing year. And that's why I chose to seek information from impartial, research-based sources rather than, for example, the American Dietetic Association, whose current sponsors (please click and see for yourself!) include Coca Cola, Hershey's and the National Dairy Council (just to name a few). Hmmm . . .

In the process of my research, I stumbled upon the Power Plate, which I think is an especially fun idea for teaching kids about the most nutritious foods. It defines the four basic food groups as fruits, vegetables, legumes and grains and provides tips and recipes for each group. Definitely check it out if you're trying to incorporate more of these health foods into your family's diet.

Top Tip - Serve Healthiest Foods First

This is one of the most commonly-used tip in our house - so common, in fact, that I even use it on myself. The healthiest foods always go down more quickly when you're really hungry - and when the other (and sometimes the more preferred) food is waiting.
We use this tip at both snacks and meals, just in slightly different ways. 

For snacks, the kids generally have their choice of fruit, nuts or something from the veggie tray. This way, I know that they're snacking because they are really hungry and not just because I picked up a box of crackers that they can't resist. Plus, even if they do snack too much and only have a small appetite for the next meal, I know they've filled up on the healthiest foods. During our classroom time each day, the veggie tray is the only option. It gets a lot of raw veggies into them while eliminating trips to the kitchen every five minutes.

At meals, they know that the salad is to be eaten first. I've been fooled too many times by them filling up on soup and bread (or whatever else I'm serving), so salad first is now our rule. Again, I feel good knowing that if they fill up before they finish everything, they've at least eaten the most nutritious part of their meal . . . and it gives them a good incentive to eat their salad quickly so they can get to everything else.

Top Tip - Model Good Habits

We all want our kids to eat healthy food but often struggle with making it happen. On Tuesdays, the Sprouts and I will share our top tips for making healthy living a habit from both a parent and child's perspective.
Last week for Top Tip Tuesday, I shared a story of a pivotal moment for me in my journey towards health . . . a time when Big Sprout, as a baby, reached for a bite of what I was eating and I didn't want him to have it.

At that moment, I decided that if it wasn't good enough for my baby, then I probably shouldn't be eating it either. It made me look at nutrition in a whole new way. But even more than that, it made me realize that he was old enough (at the ripe old age of one, by the way) that I couldn't tell him one thing and then do another. I couldn't tell him to eat carrots while I ate cookies. The effects of my words would only last for so long . . . instead, I needed to model the behavior I wanted him to adopt.

So that's where our journey towards health started, and we've been traveling a healthier path ever since. It's much easier to keep the kids eating healthy when Jim and I aren't bringing into the house any treats for ourselves. It's easier to keep them active when they see Jim and I committed to our own activities, whatever they may be at the time. And during times - such as the holidays - when we digress a bit, I can see an immediate different in the kids' habits as well.


Call me crazy, but one of the parenting fundamentals I'm most stuck on is teaching independent thinking. I don't want my kids to do what I tell them to do without ever questioning it. Okay, well sometimes I want them to but in my heart, I know that being taught to think for myself and make my own decisions was one of the best life lessons I ever received. Instead of just learning to "obey" (in quotes because it's a four-letter word in our house), I want them to learn the reasons behind each decision, the alternate choices and the consequences of each. And then, when the time comes, I want them to (insert deep breath here) make the best decision for themselves.

Of course, deep down I secretly hope that they'll ultimately agree with me - but I know it's not really my decision. And that's why I'm such a stickler for teaching my kids why nutrition is so important rather than just telling them to eat what I feed them. I know that one day they'll be grown and I won't be there every day telling them what to do. Instead, they'll be making their own decisions about what is and isn't healthy (or whether or not to even care). And all I'll be able to do at that point is hope that the example we have set and the knowledge we've imparted are enough to have shaped their healthy habits for a lifetime.

Top Tip - Ditch the Kids Menu

We all want our kids to eat healthy food but often struggle with making it happen. On Tuesdays, the Sprouts and I will share our top tips for making healthy living a habit from both a parent and child's perspective.

Before you gasp in horror, just hear me out. Remember that kids are just small adults. They need the same type of nutrition that we do - in fact, maybe even a little more since they're so busy with all that growing. So keeping all that in mind, on what planet are chicken tenders, pizza, grilled cheese and French fries considered healthy foods??? (Just a hint - it's not this one!)

No one would try to argue that these types of junk food are healthy. And if they're not healthy for adults, they're certainly not healthy for kids. These types of food, along with many others, are marketed as "kids food" by large corporations who have their bottom line - not your child's health - in mind. They all look really exciting and probably taste really good too, and left with the decision-making power, kids will probably choose to eat them. Fortunately for them, we're the ones who actually control whether or not they get to.

So before you say that your child won't eat broccoli or that they can't live without a weekly Happy Meal, remember that you have more control than you may think. After all, it's parents who control what food comes into the house, parents who control what types of meals are cooked each day and parents who pick up the tab when eating out. Right???

Fortunately, Jim and I have been on the same page about nutrition from the start, and that helps a ton. In our house, nutrition is as much of a safety issue as wearing seat belts. Certainly our kids would love to ride in the car with no carseat (trust me, they've asked), but as parents, we know it's not safe and we enforce the carseat/seatbelt rule. Healthy food choices are much the same . . . they may not be a child's first choice when given an option, but when made mandatory, they become a healthy habit.

If healthy food is the only option, kids will eat it. And if you are proactive about teaching them about the importance of nutrition, they may even grow to enjoy and appreciate it.