I was never one for fast food or highly processed for for the kids. I still am not. The kids know they are not allowed to eat fast food and it is a treat to go out to dinner and get chicken tenders and french fries. I do order them fruit salad when available or steam veggies for my rabbit child Riley.
Devin is a super picky eater. Always has been. Even from 6 mo on when I introduced veggies to him. Gag and spit it up for every new one. He did like sweet potatoes for the most part, but forget peas, green beans or carrots. He devoured fruits when introduced then at 12 mo with the introduction of eggs and cows milk his body rejected those both. No adding butter/cheese to veggies for him which left only straight up steamed or oven roasted. Needless to say he is not a fan still. He has to try them every night and has to eat the ones I know he will tolerate. He still gags and sometimes vomits (BC of his own psyche) when he does not like the texture. It is frustrating and at least Riley eats EVERYTHING. I mean we went to lunch the other day and she polished off her entire serving of broccoli and side of apple sauce before eating her chicken tenders. What 3 year old does that?
I only give the kids v8 Fusion for juice since it is a full serving of fruits and veggies in a cup. Now I know it is not a substitute for hte real deal, but at least I know "juice wise" it is one of the top choices. We did try Kagome for a while as well as the Naked machine blends but they are too thick for sippy cups. At least I know via juice they are getting some kind of nutrients in them. We also freshly squeeze OJ over the weekend and they love that...who doesn't? I also made fresh fruit smoothies last summer almost daily in Vegas. They drank those up. I made them in the blender with ice and a touch of their V8 fusion to thin it out with no dairy since Devin is still allergic.
We now have a whole new option....The Jack LaLaine power juicer thanks to Mom and Dad Skinner. We broke that out this morning. The kids picked their ingredients. Riley chose pineapple, strawberries, carrots, green grapes, apple and kiwi. Devin chose strawberry, apple, carrots, green and red grapes and pineapple. They loved it. Smoothies they actually consume the pulp, but this way I can get fresh veggies in their juice when with a blender that was too difficult. I will have to buy some more leafy green veggies for them and keep up our fruit stock for this juicer. Horray for one more option and they love being able to help and see the results immediately.
I am not a mom who never gives them treats...they definitely get their fair share of whole grained fresh chicken nuggets and pizza...I just try and make sure they have lots of veggies and new things often. They also get fruit snacks for special occasions and garden veggie "chips" for a treat snack after they ate their fruit or lunch etc. They were raised on all organics before turning one and I tried to keep that up as long as possible but with Devin's allergies and the pure cost of food for a family of 4 to eat all organic I now choose what is and isn't bought organic. Devin still cannot have eggs and dairy items in certain forms so that is still a challenge but it is leaps and bounds better than it was in the past.
I monitor what they eat and do the best I can. I know I could not allow the occasional fruit snacks etc, but they are kids and in my mind it's ok now and then. We still have a jar full of Halloween candy the haven't eaten yet since they are not allowed to have candy for no reason. I had to dump their Easter candy at Halloween this past fall and at Easter this weekend will probably dump their Halloween candy. Its totally stale anyway so I should do it now-I just forget and then remember and then forget again. They still think 2-3 m & ms is a treat. :) I guess this thinking is also backed by my own thinking if you don't feed them crap, they cannot get fat and in turn you as a parent are not contributing to the astounding population amount of fat/obese kids. They can do what they want as adults, but I will try and make sure htey have a healthy and great start...
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