Tips for healthier kids?

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-09-2003
Tips for healthier kids?
9
Tue, 07-05-2005 - 6:16pm

My daughters are hitting that age where what they eat is really effecting their weight. I really try to set a good example for them etc. Try to keep healthy choices available. However, they aren't very receptive of my suggestions.


I don't keep soda in the house just to keep myself from drinking it but we occasionally have get togethers and just did for 4th of July so we have several left over 2 liter bottles. One daughter actually doesn't drink soda, actually inspired me to do better. However, the other drinks it like she's never going to have another glass. I think I've convinced her to drink one glass of milk or water for every glass of soda she has and only drink 8 oz. glasses.


We still seem to run into the problem of chicken nuggets, corn dogs, french fries, etc. They are on their own during the day so I like to have easy to fix economic food for them but I can see how this isn't going to be the healthiest choices in the long run.


What works for your families that is realistic. Keep in my mind my husband is only partially on board and he does a lot of the cooking too. We do eat mostly wheat products like bread, crackers, tortillas and pastas.


What are good "kid" alternatives for breakfast cereals and eggo's? They get sick of Cheerios which is about as healthy as I have been able to get with cereals.


Any ideas would be great!


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2005
Tue, 07-05-2005 - 7:38pm
Ahhhh, the joys of motherhood!
I actually teach a course about this very subject, and I'm sorry to say, my oldest (7) is a picky eater. Just a few tips:
1 - Make sure they know WHY you want them to eat healthy food. Be honest. Tell them, look guys, I spent a lot of time and energy undoing the damage from eating too much junk. I don't have the energy I would like, I don't like my body sometimes and it hurts me. I don't want that for you. Then explain and enforce the 80/20 rule - 80% of the time our bodies need healthy food. 20% of the time it's ok to think of our mouths first.
2 - Throw out the bad stuff. I usually do this ceremoniously, I say 'this was a fun weekend and I really loved having ice cream in the house, but it's time to go back to real life now'. I might give everyone one more serving of whatever the coveted junk is, but after that, its out of the house. If they complain, be honest 'It seems like when we have soda in the house, you aren't interested in healthier choices.'
3 - pick a day and precook to make your own fast food. I make all of our own chicken nuggets (usually baked sometimes fried) then I put them in the freezer, make extra of whatever dishes they like that are healthy and stash them in the freezer (sorry, that doesn't work for fresh veggies, that's a constant battle at our house too.) I make it into a big day, the kids and I talk about what food they like, if it is healthy or not and how we can make it a better choice. THen we make a shopping list, go shopping and set aside a day (Usually Sunday after church) and we all cook together. My littlest one cleans veggies and does jobs that don't involve knives or the oven. My son does SOME cutting, a lot of prep and some cooking. Then we all put it in freezer bags and into the freezer it goes. They eat more because they worked for it. Then, to cap off our day of healthing cooking, I let them get Chinese Takeout.
4 - live by the one sweet a day rule. YOur kids will learn pretty quickly that a glass of soda counts as a sweet, and they might rather spend it on ice cream. I rarely have to say no any more,if my kids ask me for something I'll say 'that is a sweet. Is that what you want today?' if the answer is yes, then I give it to them, if not then I don't. By the end of the day if they ask for something else I just need to remind them.
5 - I'm not sure how old your kids are, mine are 7 and 5 and sometimes when I'm making dinner, I draw a triangle and have them put where everything falls in the triangle. It really helps the older one to see where his food goes. When his bread spot gets full, we talk about how the rest of the pyramid looks hungry. This might work with older kids, if you made it a little more mature. For us, it's a fun game that we have always played, so even if it is a little childish, they love it.
6 - Make good food easier than junk food. If your kids love strawberries, keep them cleaned and ready to go in the front of the fridge, keep the junk in the bottom of the freezer in the basement. If you buy soda, buy one your daughter doesn't like. If you buy chips, buy the little bags. They're more expensive, but it's a pain in the butt to open 2 or 3 or 4 bags of chips while you're watching TV. It's also harder to hide the fact that you're overeating when several bags of chips go missing.
Good luck.
Karen
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-09-2003
Wed, 07-06-2005 - 11:43am
Those are great ideas, thanks! I like the ceremonial after a special occasion or whatever. I will definitely give these idea a try.


iVillage Member
Registered: 12-04-2003
Wed, 07-06-2005 - 12:35pm

Hey Gretchen I'm having similar difficulties with my son, and constantly try to find ways to make sure we're both eating healthy.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-09-2003
Wed, 07-06-2005 - 1:19pm

Good idea's about the left over meats and wraps, I'm thinking they would go for that.


Years ago when my son was like 12, he's 17 now, we use to get canned soda. One day went in his room and he had at lease 2 dozen empty or almost empty cans stuffed in drawers, under the bed, etc. Couldn't believe he was too lazy to throw them away. Anyway that's when we stopped the canned and try not even do the 2 liters but occasionally we end up with them.


I'm thinking it's a good time for the kids to try new things being summer and all. They seem to like to cook and experiment so I'll get them together and we'll go over some of these ideas, get a list together and go shopping.


iVillage Member
Registered: 12-04-2003
Wed, 07-06-2005 - 3:35pm

Gretchen, I think we may be related!

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-09-2003
Wed, 07-06-2005 - 3:56pm

My goodness $200.


My son works at Dairy Queen, yep Blizzards at a discount, *sigh* anyway he eats at least one meal a day there. Now I haven't looked at his checks lately but I wonder if they have a "year to date" on his charges. Not sure he realizes how much he spends on food and what he could get with the money he would save. If he ate their 5 times a week at say $3.50 a meal he spend $910.00 a year. Hmm maybe I should do that with my eating out expenses. lol


iVillage Member
Registered: 08-18-2003
Wed, 07-06-2005 - 6:55pm

That's a great idea...if you really want to shock yourself out of eating out really often ~ use nothing but a debit card and track your expenses for a month.

~~ Steffy ~~
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-21-2003
Wed, 07-06-2005 - 10:10pm

Tracking expenses can be dangerous.

~Steph~

cl-Post Baby Weight Loss

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-04-2003
Thu, 07-07-2005 - 11:34am

I agree about being shocked out of your pants when you track your expenses!!