I'm often asked how to get kids to jump on the healthy eating wagon.. Well it's actually pretty easy to do. All you have to do is be the change you want them to make. When we tell kids they need to eat a certain way or specific foods that are "good for them" . It goes in one ear and out the other. They may even rebel.
But if we fill our lives, our homes and our cupboards with good wholesome foods this is what they will be immersed in. We cook and prepare healthy homemade meals, we eat and snack on healthy simple foods, we don't buy packaged processed foods and we stress the importance of the reasoning behind it. Not while we're lecturing, but while we're preparing meals together, while sitting at the dinner table, while grocery shopping, listening to podcasts together, .... in short, while immersing ourselves in our health and our family. It may take a while, but being persistent and consistent, eventually it starts to sink in.
Some people tell me that either they don't have patience or time for healthy cooking. They say their kids won't eat anything but corn flakes. What if there wasn't cornflakes in the house? They will eventually eat because they are hungry. Many feel that they can't stand up to th tantrums when the kids don't get what they want. But when we recognize the damage that these foods are doing to our kids, that we are now overcoming disease that began with junk food in our childhood, and that we don't want that for our children, it's easier to change the bad habits for our kids.
I know it's not always easy. It's addictions that need to be released and recognizing voids that need to be filled. But understanding that these foods are only damaging our kids health, as well as our own, it's easier to own up to what needs to be done. Despite the difficulties, we can stock our shelves and fridge with fruit and other whole foods. As their taste buds adjust and change, they will begin to ask for healthy foods, because their bodies recognize the nutrition it is so desperately seeking. Give it time, it might take awhile, but every day is a step in the right direction.
Parasites and emotional traumas are causing us crave bad foods, chase highs, and eat ourselves to death. Heal these for yourselves and for your kids by making healthy choices, shopping with this in mind and teaching the "whys" along the way. Learn about the body together, what it needs to stay healthy, how amazing it is and how we are responsible for our own health depending on the choices we make.
My husband and I were drinking celery juice for over 6 months every morning. I never said a word to the kids or pressured them in any way, but one day one of the kids came to me and said he'd like to try it. Then he said he'd like to drink it every morning as well. Then some his brothers said the same. Now all of us drink the juice every morning. No pressure, no coersion, not a word of preaching from me. But this is how it works. What they see, they copy. The entire time I was drinking for those 6 months, I was explaining why I was drinking it and what it was good for and how it helped me and my husband. I was reading books, listening to podcasts and letting the interest sink in unconsciously.
This is how I have done everything else I stand by. Patience, consistence, and persistence. We only buy simple healthy food. I don't have packaged processed foods in the house. It has been this way for 20 years. The more I learn the more I share and incorporate into our lives. This is all they know at home. It's not about diets, fads or temporary fixes. This is how we eat and how we care about what goes into our bodies to keep us at the top of our game.
After so many years, they can actually see the differences between our family and their friends and other family members. We , thank God, are rarely sick, recover quickly, have lots of energy, few ailments, no extreme mood swings, we don't have doctor visits, we have healthy skin, bright eyes, we are not overweight, and we are able to tackle difficult situations with grace.
This is what nutrition can do for you and for your kids. When you commit to this way of life, you will all see the changes taking place right before your eyes. When the kids are immersed in this way of eating and seeing the world through healthy eyes, they will begin to make their own healthy choices even when they are away from home. They will begin to recognise how they feel after they've eaten something healthy or something made of junk. They will begin to see the way their pimples clear up, their energy and mood improves and their digestion moves more freely without complaints.
But it all has to start with you choosing to eat this way and paving the road for them to follow suit. Not just talking about it, but actually doing it consistently, and patiently .
Have you ever seen someone doing something so inspiring that you feel called to do the same? Be that person. This is how change occurs . Turn healthy eating into your truth. Make it so that your kids don't want to do anything but this. That's all it takes.
