Your Child Eats What?
Every parent has the challenge of finding food that is healthy and that a child will actually eat. Tougher than it sounds, eh?
No Accounting for Taste
We hear constantly about childhood obesity and that obesity = malnutrition. It’s a dilemma for parents, though, especially when a child has particular tastes. Humans are born with an innate preference for sweet. However, it’s not just an inborn trait for us to feed.
Food taste is also developed through experience, as every culture serves its preferred foods. Further, food tastes can migrate–after all, pasta first came from China. With this in mind, parents can direct their focus to serving new foods that benefit health and still rank high on the Kid Popularity Scale.
From the Ground Up
It’s hard to change eating habits overnight, and it’s unrealistic to think you can. In order to get new ideas and keep things easy, you can start with a healthy cooking class designed
for families. Kids Kitchen teaches these regularly in Austin, including at Eco Kids on June 1st. That’s one way to start out and learn together. Besides, once your child gets the knack of cooking healthy food, you can let him or her prepare dinner once in a while. (This is a dream for working moms, right?)
Organic Food a/k/a “Food”
The truth is, a major reason for eating poorly is because it’s a habit. We know the sugary cereal is not a great choice, but it’s what we always buy and we have no idea what to get instead. Or we hear the phrase “healthy food,” but don’t have a mental picture of what falls into that category. Or maybe it’s because the store with the good produce is farther or more expensive. At any rate, doing something different involves conscious effort.
Good news. With the consumer movement toward organic, fresh and local foods, companies like Greenling have become the front runners of integrating convenience with access to healthy meals. Now that the best foods are more available, a family can cook as a team and find the most appealing recipes together. Trust us. This is worth doing.