“Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.” — Michael Pollan
I was brought up in a household where my mother cooked a home cooked meal every night and the plate consisted of a meat, starch and at least two vegetables... So I have grown up with this kind of "expectation" on a plate. I have also grown up into a woman that cooks food for her family every single night of the week.
Now whilst I don't eat carbs anymore, and for that reason, the amount of carbs served on my plates of food are limited, I do still give them to my son, as I believe kids need carbs - not an excessive amount of carbs, but some at the very least.
Since Jude was in nappies he has been raised with healthy eating habits. When I was a child there was a ZERO tolerance for not eating the food that was presented to you on your plate, and this mostly arose from financial constraints and limited food, but those strict values were instilled on all of us and I now impart the same onto Jude.
Eat it, or starve!
Yes, yes - sounds harsh to most "new age" style parents... but if I am honest, I don't have much time for many of them anyway as 99.9% of their kids are self-absorbed, demanding brats who think the world owes them a favour and won't do anything other than what they want.
I am de-railing lol... the point here... being FOOD and nutrition lol...
Jude has been brought up understanding the importance and value of food and I am EVER grateful for persisting with this as I now have an eight year old boy who will opt for savouries over sweets ANY DAY! And his "go to" drink is ALWAYS water!
Jude likes the "idea" of sweet stuff and soft drinks but will generally put one or two mouthfuls in and then ask for something else.
Long may that last!!!!! lol
I am normally one to balance colour on a plate of food... it must be the creative in me... lol but tonight, it ended up being a plate of complete green... other than the meat content... which comprised of: Two lamb chops, baby peas, blanched broccoli stems, cucumber, and avocado pear.
Put a plate like that in front of 99% of children these days and you will be met with much resistance no doubt!
Please excuse the "camping plate" but when Jude has done well with something at school or at home, he is rewarded by being allowed to eat on his lap and watch his cartoons.... so the camp plate works better (and my OCD child actually prefers it because it keeps everything separate lol)
I am enormously grateful for the fact that Jude will greet a plate like the above with enthusiasm!
Parents who continuously feed their children rubbish need a SERIOUS wake up call!
The dietary habits that you instill on them as kids are what they are going to carry into adulthood and as adults, we ALL know the repercussions of bad choices earlier on in life!
My point being -
When your kids are young it is not up to them what they eat (within reason obviously) it is up to YOU as a PARENT!
Make sure you make the CORRECT choices for their future!
Until next time...
Much Love from Cape Town, South Africa xxx
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I was raised in a similar home environment -- except, instead of, "Eat it, or starve!" we were told to sit there until it was gone. We had to eat at least one small serving of everything Mom cooked; the only rare exceptions were uncommon fare, such as asparagus.
In hindsight, I am rather glad my parents were this way because it acclimated me to enjoying most foods. The only food I can't tolerate is beef liver, but I never had that until I went off to college and it was served in the cafeteria one day. Yuk! And grapefruit is yuk, unless it is the pink variety. But, I've never had any other meat or fruit, any vegetable, or any bread that I don't like!
It's frustrating to go out to dinner with other people and it turn into a struggle to pick a restaurant because one person hates pasta, one hates Chinese food, someone else doesn't like fish, and so forth. I'm always the one that keeps repeating, "Anything is fine" and will be happy wherever we go. It's all "Yum!" to me! 😊
With all the smothering and helicopter-parenting these days, it is refreshing to see someone raising their child to appreciate foods of real value! Good for you!
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Thank you @thekittygirl yes it would seem that parents like myself are becoming few and far between these days sadly.
Thank you for the wonderful comment!
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The most beautiful of all is your love for your son. It's really very emotional @jaynie
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He is my be all and end all :) Thank you @dobartim :)
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xxx
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Your kid is very lucky to have you !
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I will be sure to remind him of that hehe! Thanks @fancybrothers :)
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Right on I totally believe in that and I try to eat healthy with some specially yet teaching my kids how to eat healthy as well.
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your son must be happy to have you.
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I would like to believe so. lol Thanks @richforever :)
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ma pleasure
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nice post
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nice post
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I agree with you, teaching them at an early age is the best. I never allowed soft drinks in our house (we just never bought them) so the kids where never tempted. As for the carbs, I too do not consume any simply because all of them are GMO today, and my body does not respond well when I do eat them, althought I must admit I loooove pasta and a nice fresh bread roll or wholewheat bread. I just stopped eating it one day, and too my surprise after a about 3 days the cravings stopped. Now I don't even miss it. My kids too, have grown up knowing the value of food and for the most part all of them eat a healthy diet, as far as that is possible with all the GMO's, antibiotics and growth hormones it contain. Unfortunately half the time we do not know the origin of the food so we have no idea what's in it because because it does not have to be labelled, and relying on the label "organic" is also deceptive. In order for a food to be labelled "organic" it only need to be 5% organic, lol. In my opinion you are doing the best and most responsible thing any parent can do, and that is to teach your kids that food should be your medicine.
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Fantastic post! I agree whole-heartedly. I like your writing style, too! Hello from a fellow foodie-blogger.
I grew up with my grandma, who also cooked nearly everything from scratch...and man oh man, did it taste good. Like the way you were brought up, there was meat, vegetables, and a "starch" (oh you hardly ever hear that word anymore!) and most days, there was a salad, too. She was very intentional with what she ate, and while I started off kind of rough as an adult, I have become the same way. Thanks for the encouragement!
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Thank you for such a lovely comment @catiellen - it is a pleasure to meet you too :) And yes... nothing beats home cooked food :) Your grandmother sounds like an amazing woman :) Thanks for stopping by love :)
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