This is a truly joyous sight, and I’m posting it because it doesn’t happen every day. But when it does, my chest puffs up with pride. My kid loves food. And he eats it. A lot of it.
In many ways his dairy and nut allergy has ended up a blessing in disguise. I’ve become so much more conscious of the food that enters his mouth and wherever time and energy allows, we give him fresh fruit and vegetables and avoid packaged nasties. Don’t get me wrong; he’ll eat bottled pasta sauce (and there’s no way I’m making fresh pasta), and he’s in love with baby rusks and corn thins. But if I had to pick it, his real love is fruit and he’s a sucker for a juicy baby tomato or a nibble on a lamb cutlet.
Because he’s getting older and becoming more indignant independent and getting him to eat what’s on his plate is becoming more of a challenge, I actually sat down to listen to a free webinar about health lunch boxes. It was run through a local business called The Root Cause. Admittedly I haven’t finished listening to the whole seminar (time escapes me, as it does for all parents) but Bel Smith, who ran it, offered a lot of brilliant advice (along with scientific know-how) about what to feed your kids and how to make it enjoyable. And, given my unhidden love affair for food, I’m a huge fan of making eating less of a battle and more of a happy affair.
So, I totally recommend parents head on over to Bel’s site and sign up for her stuff.
It was really reaffirming to know we’ve done a few things right. Namely:
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Sticking to whole grain food where possible. We’ve recently introduced quinoa (bub’s not the biggest though) but we eat brown bread and – when the husband can tolerate it – brown rice. Growing up in a Filipino family makes transitioning from white rice pretty difficult though.
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Providing plenty of colour on the plate! The colours all have a part of the body they help heal and build… from memory red foods = heart and memory, orange and yellow foods = joints, eyes. and green = teeth, bones, lungs, skin. Obviously I need to eat more red foods because I can’t remember what blue, purple and white foods help with. 🙂
- Sticking with good fats (like avocados and coconut oil).
There is so much more in Bel covered and new ideas (eg avoiding sandwiches) that I want to reflect on… and I’ll post those – and some of my new recipes! – up soon. In the mean time though, I totally recommend parents head on over to Bel’s site and sign up for her courses. <3
Here’s to happy meal times!