Creativity Pays Off

Look at what my awesome friend Tess made for her son's breakfast:

It's an organic rice cake topped with peanutbutter, raisins for the eyes and nose and walnuts for the mouth.  After making this she also thought it would be a good idea to "gule" two pieces of spinach to the back with peanutbutter for ears.  Then I started thinking about what else you could do too.  You could turn this into a cat by making whiskers out of carrot or zucchini sticks.  

Usually her son will not eat a rice cake, but he was excited to eat this one!  A little creativity can help a lot!  Think of how nutritious this breakfast is in comparison to a typical dry cereal that parents feed their children.  Usually these cereals are filled with refined sugars, high fructose corn syrup, white flour, dyes, preservatives, and artificial flavors.  These cereals are so void of nutrition that they have to be fortified with vitamins.  How sad that this is the breakfast that most children in America start their day with!  Tess' breakfast choice for her son, on the other hand, is full of complex carbs, natural sugars, protein and vitamins.  

I think with children we often assume that they aren't going to want to eat certain healthy things so we don't even bother offering them.  I know with my children, I was pleasantly surprised at how many healthy foods they enjoyed once I started offering them.  They like things that I never would have thought they would.  Because of this, it really was no struggle to transition from processed foods to whole, healthy foods.   Of course, they are quite young.  I do realize that if you are making changes with older children that they may resist, but their health and mental wellbeing are at stake.  It is worth the struggle.  I believe that in no time they will start to love natural foods and crave them.  They will realize how much better they feel when eating clean.  Give it a shot.  And like Tess, use a little creativity.  If you're kids are old enough have them help make their food.  Let them choose the ingredients.  Get them excited about eating healthy!