Healthy Eating

Okay, so I know you don't come here to hear about stupid things, but when it comes to my kids, I tend to think everything is important.

When Chris and I married, I was used to cooking, so cooking for two wasn't a surprise. Keeping up with his crazy over-active metabolism however, was a different story. I had to change the ingredients I cooked with. I began using a lot more whole grains (breads, cereals, pastas), less processed sugary things (speeds up digestion and absorption), stopped almost all salt (our food comes with enough already), and basically a quick, relatively overhaul. Thankfully, this was a learning process and Chris was very good about it, reminding me that certain dinners didn't fill him up or that he'd still want more later that night. To cut down on how often and how much I had to cook at a given time, I changed the way I cooked.

What's that got to do with my kids you ask?

Well, when you're pregnant, at least the first time, you have a tendency to go a little nuts with the health thing. I realized we didn't eat enough fresh vegetables or fruit, and that, though we got the right calories, fresh had it's place too. So we added that to every meal. I also realized that I often forgot to eat breakfast, or just wasn't hungry. I changed that by making sure I had things like Instant Breakfast, granola bars, easy to grab fruit, or instant oatmeal/cream of wheat. The easier it was to get to my mouth the more likely I was to actually eat it.

So, by the time I had kids old enough to eat with us at regular meals, my cooking had changed quite a bit. I tended to stay away from pre-made things and just did it at home. Doesn't that sound so responsible?

Of course, that only lasted until I had my second baby, so about a year and a half. After JC was born my time was so much shorter. Cooking, while still something I enjoyed, was a bigger deal for them and less of one for me. I just wanted to get it done so I could relax. Now with a third starting table foods (she's so cute!!!) and a fourth on the way, cooking, while still something I take a good deal of pride in, is not as much a priority for health (though that's a main reason) it is however, a priority for our budget. Even with all the groceries and extra time it takes to cook, we still save over 100$ every paycheck by limiting our eating out to once a week max. Sometimes we don't go out at all. I've also limited the number of dinners I make a week to four. Otherwise I start to hate cooking and my fridge won't hold the leftovers.

So, why this great and I'm sure interesting, but boring insight into our family's eating habits? Well recently my kids have decided that the healthy frozen chicken nuggets that I buy for those last minute dinners or quick lets-get-you-to-nap time-now lunches are not good enough. They won't eat them. They'll eat the string cheese, the juice, and the fruit, but not the meat (which is the important one if you know kids). So I was in the store buying our groceries for this paycheck and saw something I hadn't tried for my kids. It was that Chef Boyardee pasta in the can. I usually steer clear of that kind of thing because one of the first ingredients is either a ton of sugar or a ton of salt. My kids already try to get as much of the first as possible. But, I was needing options, and I remember a commercial recently that mentioned how many servings of vegetables now come in one can. So I grabbed a couple to replace the nugget meal.

Holy Cow! My kids loved it! They thought they were getting a treat. It was only a 1$ a can, and it had tons of meat, whole grains (the important kind of carbs), and a lot of vegetables. I wasn't crazy about the salt content at 250 grams a serving, but it was comparable to other things that they had eaten. Plus, it's not like this is the only meal they get or even one they will be getting very often. It has it's place though. And the best part was, sugar was still in the list, but it didn't even make the top 10 ingredients! (Ingredients are listed by the amt included for those of you who don't read labels) This little cheap can of past my kids consider a treat for lunch was healthier than the nugget lunch I was replacing! With a cup of fruit and a glass of milk my kids were still eating healthy.

I was blown away. I remember eating those kinds of things when I was a kid and even in college on a camping trip. They're awesome, but they were never as healthy as they are today. Go figure! I guess that's why it's important to be aware. We would have missed out on something that makes my kids healthy and happy and still fits into our very tiny food budget.

Awesome is all I have to say.