Healthy Happy Kids and Teens

The fundermental rule about food is simple, provide food that looks like it came from Mother Nature.

After the first year and while food is gradually introduced the natural health principles encourage unprocessed foods at their best, raw, cooked or used from frozen. Organic produce is great however economic for all. So try to by local, spray free and hopefully you may grow veges to help supplement your grocery bill.

In general, what did all our ancestors eat that fed them so well that we are, hundreds of generations later all here today?

They ate veges, fruit and some nuts in season, some eggs, meats, fish and fowl.  Since the agrarian age began about 5000 years ago, wheat came on the menu in greater amounts as did more milk, but even then nothing like what we have all eaten in our daily lives of the last century.  There is a big debate now about the high gluten flours that do appear to be undermining health as does pasteurised milk devoid of all the naturally occurring good bacteria for our digestive systems.

Keep it simple. Plan ahead and prepare extra a dinner for healthy lunch the next day

Think about what we as adults eat in our healthy meals, and prepare according to the age and personality of your child.

Vegetables, some cooked and some raw are best just as they are for adults. Staying clear of all grains and dairy products may still be required for children and teens prone to exceama. Vary the flavours and textures. For great ideas go to a site called the www.Weston Price Foundation. They bring back common sense to eating.

Shop for several days with the intention of preparing enough food for 2 meals at a time.  ☺At dinner have   extra fish or meat, vegetables (salad) and complex carbohydrates (roasted veges or wholegrain rice) that may be made into a soup or salad for the following day.

Eat with your kids, they are bright little buttons and will watch you and want to copy, it is a social event that creates communication and builds relationships.  Getting them to participate teaches them how to prepare food and these will become life long habits, even with some erratic habits in the teenage years

In hot months and do provide water, cold and with a twist on lemon and mint, them to water, mostly between meals.

Never allow yourself to be seduced into buying expensive high sugar cordials or cereals. Do the best thing and use either a glass bottle or a stainless steel Ecotanker so that children are not drinking plastic!!!

Do not eat treats such as icecream and such foods in front of your children if you don’t want them to have such foods. They will learn what we role model to them! If you eat well children will grow into teens that will eat almost any foods. In essence kids their parents habits and behaviour. Now that not just food for thought!

Nature’s bounty – Choose food from all food groups and make it is colourful, fun and a taste sensation,

Shop for several days with the intention of preparing enough food for 2 meals at a time.  ☺At dinner have extra fish or meat, vegetables (salad) and complex carbohydrates (roasted veges or wholegrain rice) that may be made into a soup or salad for the following day.

Leave kids at home if with any one ! Dad or a friend. While it is a brief opportunity to have some space,  you will save lots of agony when they ask for all the foods you do not want them to have at home AND it will save you a fortune!!

Eat a great variety of seasonal food that looks like it has come from the garden or the farm, is colourful, smells good, and where possible is not wrapped in plastics (plastic leaches into our food and is NOT good for any of us)

Portion size guidelines for each meal –Protein, the size of your or your kids palm, Veges  the size of both of fists, and fats the size of a teaspoon, with each meal and perhaps an extra potato or spoon of wholegrain rice depending on how much exercise you get.  As many people are sensitive to bread and the sensitivity can be passed to babies, avoid bread where possible (except glutenfree in moderation) by enjoying lots of veges and complex carbohydrates.

Breakfast is so important to stimulate metabolism, energy and milk production. ☺Enjoy raw, unsweetened muesli soaked overnight in water and natural unsweetened yoghurt or rice milk. In the morning add fresh fruit and a tablespoon of almond butter or tahini and add ground linseed or LSA for breakfast and. ☺Make enough to keep for a high energy pick up in the mid afternoon instead of a muffin!! By soaking muesli your food is easily digested.  Alternatively enjoy eggs or sardines on toast are terrific brain foods. You will be full of energy until morning tea.

For snacks (even in the middle of the night), savour antioxidant packed fruit best eaten between meals will provide you with readily available energy, fibre and water to promote efficient digestion and protection from oxidative stress during the long days and nights. Other great snacks are small handfuls of walnuts, almonds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds or as stated above sardines, tomato and avocado on a gluten free bread or some left over muesli.

Lunch is a must for energy, so enjoy those leftovers as a soup or salad.  Salads are lovely life giving energy and a good oil dressing made from extra virgin olive and flaxseed oil will feed you essential fats and a tasty apple cider vinegarette.

Dinner, just think colour and all food groups, some raw, some cooked, add herbs, some sea salt and a little in the way of spice, make food yummy, present it well. Savour this knowing that you have just made your lunch!

Lastly, remind yourself that this beautiful food is your kids fuel that makes them happy and strong.