Who decides what baby’s first food will be? Or what goes into your child’s lunch box for recess? And who decides what the family will eat on a daily basis?
Mom, I believe it is you.
Mom’s in charge
Like it or not, mothers, we are the gatekeepers of our children’s health.
Whether you are a stay-at-home-mother or not, most likely you are the one in charge of grocery shopping and meal planning. Even if you have a live-in helper, you will most likely be the one telling her on what to buy and cook.
A few blessed ones amongst us live with parents or parents-in-law who take charge of meals. Even more blessed are those who have husbands who like to cook. But I can safely say you are in the minority.
Our choices affect our children’s health
Because we are the ones doing the shopping and cooking, we become the gatekeepers of our children’s health. What we decide to store in our pantries and cook in our kitchens affect their taste buds and habits. Even after they leave home.
My children love junk food
Because we generally eat no processed foods at home due to food sensitivities, my children tend to go wild at such times. I hear people raving about how their children shun processed junk food because they were never fed them.
It has totally not happened here. My children? They would absolutely choose to eat the junk food. So would I, actually, if it were quality junk food. So if you are also struggling with this, {{{hugs}}}.
Gatekeepers of our children’s health
But since I am the gatekeeper of our children’s health, I choose not to buy and keep junk food in the house. Not that they don’t ever eat them. But they are not offered as daily fare.
Research has shown that we don’t just develop disease because we have the genes for it Instead, that gene needs to be turned on for us to actually have it. And it can be turned on by our diet and lifestyle choices and then they pass on that gene to their offspring. So what we feed them affects their current health and their children’s health
Experiments in mice show that changing their diet can change the outcome of its offsprings’ health. (See Nutrition and the epigenome). The obese unhealthy mother mouse gave birth to healthy baby mice. All because she was fed a heath promoting diet.
Are we helping our children be healthy or unhealthy?
The problem is no one can agree on the definition of healthy. Everyone has an opinion on it. I like Michael Pollan’s 3 basic food rules “Eat food. Not too much, Mostly plants”.
On top of that, we should concentrate on eating real food. Not food that comes out of packages, boxes, cans or jars, and/or has a label with unpronounceable ingredients. Neither should we be eating foods created in labs. We should also be eating way more vegetables than what most of us do now. Fruits should be a treat. Because sugar is sugar.
The love for convenience will kill us
But all this is truly easier said than done. Because we are all pressed for time. And some of us do not relish the idea of slaving away in our humid kitchens. So we often choose convenience over health. Resorting to jarred sauces or pre-mixes, MSG laden fast food and takeouts. And then our taste buds change. We prefer, sweeter, saltier, oilier foods.
How are you guarding your family’s health?
This is not a post to make you feel guilty but to get you to start thinking of what you are feeding your children. And it is not only about food.
Exercise should also be a part of our lives but I will be the first to admit that exercising in this humid climate takes a huge effort! However, I also know that if you love sports, your children will love sports too. But if you prefer to crash and burn on the sofa, so will your child.
Start by reducing sugar first
If there is one thing I recommend doing immediately, it would be to reduce or even eliminate sugar in our diets. Watch this Youtube video on what sugar does to our brains. It is enlightening.
Watch this Tedx Talk, This is Your Brain on Sugar by Amy Reichelt
Sugar impacts the hippocampus of the brain which affects memory retention. Is this why our children can’t remember what is taught? Is that why WE cannot remember things? Stressed out mothers often crave sugary foods.
No bread and spread breakfasts
If you regularly give your children bread and spreads for breakfast, be aware that spreads like Nutella have sugar as its main ingredient! It isn’t the health food the manufacturer touts it to be. Read What REALLY goes into a jar of Nutella, shared on our Building Up Moms Facebook page recently.
Half a jar of Nutella is made of sugar. Yes, HALF! Never mind about the other additives and chemicals in it. A friend who shared that link had her friend comment that she gives Nutella to her daughter DAILY. By the way, kaya isn’t that much better. And we wonder why our children cannot sit still and concentrate during school hours or why they are uncontrollable at times. It’s the sugar rush and crash!
Give bread by all means but give it with a protein like egg or meat (chicken/sardines). But no luncheon meat, please!
Eliminate processed foods
Eliminating sugar actually eliminates a lot of processed foods from your diet. And as you work on elimination you will need to replace them with healthier but delicious options. Yes, it will not be easy at first because sugar and processed foods ARE addictive. So there is some withdrawal effects. A suggestion is to replace sugary snack with fruits at first and then slowly cut down the amount.
Mothers, what will we do to help our children live healthier lives and for us to be healthier to be there for them? Oh! And remember that home-cooked food is not necessarily healthy.