Do Your Kids Eat Healthy?

  All of my children have been 'nutritionally challenged' at some point  in their lives. Kaytee was always way taller than her weight and the doctors were always on me about getting more calories into her. Ashley was born with severe food allergies and then developed intestinal bleeding and serious infections. Levi is also tall and super skinny. At the age of three when he got an intestinal bug he ended up in the hospital for a week and came very close to coming home with a tube down his nose to provide liquid nourishment. Ahren has problems chewing and swallowing, so we have had to modify his diet. Luckily he has never gotten too thin. And then there is Seth. He had such serious control issues around food and subsequently was extremely small and skinny for his age.

  So today's post is about how I attack the eating issues around here, and how I have learned to get good nutrition into my kids but not obsess about it.

Rule #1: They do not have to eat well at every meal. View their diet in the big window. Over the course of a week, do they get enough calories, protein, fiber, etc? Most children have those days where they seem to eat nothing, and others where you just cannot fill them up. If, over the course of time, it adds up, stop worrying.

Rule #2: A good multivitamin makes a Mommy worry less. Maybe they need it and maybe they don't. Think of it as insurance. It sure can't hurt!

Rule #3: Think outside of the box. Breakfast can be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Dinner can be pancakes and sausage.

Rule #4: Break meals into snack size mini-meals. If a child can scarf down a bit of food and get back to playing, they will be much happier. Take lunch and give them part at 11:00 am, the main portion at noon, and the rest at 1 pm.  Kids are natural snackers. Build on that. Of course, if an evening meal all together as a family is important, stick to it.

Rule #5: Add calories and nutrition any way you can. Add whole cream to pudding, blend tofu into sauces, extra butter in mac-n-cheese, use dipping sauces that encourage them to eat more ( I love the peanut butter/cream cheese dip Reba made the other day. Protein and calories in a yummy dip that gets kids eating fresh fruit) One of my favorites is to finely dice tofu and mix it into anything chunky or with mozzarella cheese in it. You can't taste it, you don't see it, and you get a big protein boost.

Rule #6: Don't sweat it. If food becomes a battle ground, the child will always win. It is one of the very few things they can control. Even if it is to their favor to eat, they will not if it means they maintain control. Seth used to eat and then throw it all up, just to prove he was in control. You will NEVER win this battle, so do NOT fight it. Put the food there, offer them a variety of healthy nutritious food and walk away.

  Here's a funny story. I have been reading and hearing a lot lately about a 'super-grain' called Quinoa, pronounced Keen-wah. Ounce for ounce it has more protein than meat, no fat and no cholesterol. Well, now, that sounds pretty fantastic! Supposedly you can make many yummy things with it. It has a nutty taste and cooks like rice. It sounded like the perfect thing for us to try. So I googled recipes, decided we would try a sweet dessert recipe which was very much like rice pudding. I cooked it according to the recipe and excitedly served it to the family. Cinnamon, raisins, sugar and heavy cream. it had to be yummy, right? I got 4 ratings of YUCK from the men folk. Apparently the texture of the Quinoa was too chewy and crunchy for them. Oh well, I liked it and will eat it all.