Unhealthy food and the LOs

[jewel441]

How do you handle unhealthy food and the littles?

This morning we gave LO a little bite of scrapple and she loved it and kept asking for more. We gave her some but not a lot... just curious how people handle it. For those of you who don't know scrapple is a breakfast meat local to PA (IDK how we even found it here...), health wise I would put it in the same category as hotdogs...

On the one hand that's not very heathy, on the other hand I am proud she was able to eat and liked the flavor bc it's a bit spicy/peppery and really not a mild flavor.

She has still never really had sugar, maybe a little in stuff but very little. I am gonna make a baby smash cake that is not a real cake but I was planning on using real frosting since I have to make that for the regular cake anyways... that will be the first real sugar experience I guess.

No judgement, just curious how people handle this with the littles and older kids too... in general we eat pretty healthy but I definitely have a sweet tooth.

[SheilaTheTank]

I'm really strict about sugar but I have fed K KFC and McDonald's. I try to give a variety and include a veggie pouch. If it's a well balanced meal I'm not worried.

I'm strict on sugar because I am a dessert fiend and it shows. I wanted her to like a large variety of foods as well. She really doesn't need sugar so I didn't give her any until her bday party.

[Deleted]

DH and I both have an unhealthy relationship with food and were fed a lot of junk as kids and it continued into adulthood. We've had to work really hard to overhaul our diet so I don't want to go down that road with J. I'm fine with a treat every once in a while, but I hope to keep the junk food to a minimum. We'll see how it goes.

[Deleted]

Duplicate post

[sunshineshades]

I don't worry about it too much. She's had a bite of chocolate chip cookies and will be getting cake at her birthday and birthday photos. So far she hasn't had hot dogs, but does eat sandwich meat.

I think everything in moderation is fine. I feel like refusing treats can also lead to an unhealthy relationship with food when they are older. Then you get them binging on junk at friends houses etc because they never get it at home and don't know how to moderate. Just my opinion though.

We've become less strict on unhealthy food with dd1 over the years, so I can see being less with E too. That being said in general we eat healthy anyways.

[jewel441]

H and I grew up in houses that had completely different approaches to food, and we are trying to combine the best of both.

My family did a great job with exploration of flavors, family meals, encouraging trying new things and that veggies are just another food. We ate out at nice restaurants as kids, and were never given kids menus. My dad always said he felt a sense of pride taking us out to eat with other people bc we were sophisticated eaters. A favorite family story is my brother is 4 or 5 and we're at a seafood restaurant and I'm reading him the menu and my dad is wondering what we are going to eat and with no prompting when the server comes my brother says "I'll have the swordfish" my dad said after that he never worried about it again.

That being said it was a very restrictive household. we weren't allowed to have soda or juice, I had never eaten at McDonald's or any fast food until college, my mom sill scrutinizes everything I eat. I am literally a walking calorie database from this. I would hide cookies and candy in my room. I love the first part and want that for my kids, but definitely not the second.

H's family was the opposite. They were allowed whatever they wanted, but he didn't know vegetables could taste good until we started dating... guess who has a bigger sweet tooth?

Hopefully we can find a balance. I love food and want to pass that on but would like to do it in a way that encourages healthy choices without the caloric obsession.

Sorry for the novel...

[arbe]

I give her everything my big kids eat now with exception of dessert. And she eats everything. I feel strongly about allowing kids to try everything, in moderation of course. Short story: My cousin's son is 4 weeks older than my son. She avoided solids for an extremely long time out of her own fear, once introducing purees he rejected and she waited months before trying anything again. I don't think he had 3 meals a day until 15 months. Well that kid is allergic to everything and a picky eater on top of that... my son, great eater and no allergies. My boy (5) eats like a teenager and towers of his older cousin.

I know its just one example but I feel that deprivation of these foods contribute to the abundance of allergies.

[carissa325]

DH and I are both overweight and grew up in households where food was back and forth from eat anything and everything to very strict dieting. We are determined for our children to have a better relationship with food. We let them have sweets on occasion but healthy balanced meals are our main focus.

[rachelilly23]

Feb 24, 2017 15:36:49 GMT -5 carissa325 said:

DH and I are both overweight and grew up in households where food was back and forth from eat anything and everything to very strict dieting. We are determined for our children to have a better relationship with food. We let them have sweets on occasion but healthy balanced meals are our main focus.

We are similar. H is only slightly overweight and his weight really fluctuates based on whatever frame of mind he's in. So sometimes he's right on the border of a healthy weight range (usually every 6 months when he has to weigh in for the Navy's physical tests...) I have been overweight my whole life and go through phases also where I get back on track and am in decent physical shape, but I really have to work hard and commit to that. Basically 90 minutes at a gym 5 days a week. I'm still sitting at 50 lbs heavier than I was 2 years ago, and that's because my eating habits are terrible right now and I haven't been exercising much. We've been in survival mode since we moved, and our unhealthy relationships with food tend to really throw us off when life is chaotic.

As for the kids, we do everything in moderation. We are a vegetarian family, and my kids are really good vegetarians. They eat a variety of healthy foods most of the time, so I give them treats when they deserve it. K doesn't get juice, sugar, or sweets really... a bite of ice cream here and there. She also is a good vegetarian eater- she loves tofu the way mommy makes it. I feel like as long as she's getting a good amount of veggies, fruits, proteins, and fat, she's doing well. When she turns one, she will have birthday cake for sure.

We're doing something right because my 6 year old loves all kinds of food, including veggies. He loves Asian food more than anything. Give him a stir fry with tofu, broccoli, and rice noodles and he's good to go. He doesn't snack much but eats huge meals, usually with more than one serving. He reads nutrition facts and asks about certain nutrition in foods. When offered cookies or treats, he often declines because "it has too much sugar." I think some of it he's learned in school, but I love that he's learned at home and school how to have a healthy, balanced diet.

[katespade]

J had a tiny piece of hot dog with no skin. She was meh about it. Now BBQ chicken? Destroyed it. She has had a nibble of French fry but otherwise, she hasn't had any sweets or anything super terrible.

I believe in moderation. She gets fruit and veggies (predominantly through pouches because she's obsessed with them) and she sits down for 3 meals a day with me. As long as she is eating relatively balanced each day, that's all that matters to me.

I did, however, put the kibosh on attempts to give her ice cream over the holidays. No ma'am.

[halfahippy]

I do my best to keep things healthy and balanced. We do, however, spend a ton of time with my grandma. She has the biggest sweet tooth I've ever seen and loves to share with all the kids. I do my best to discourage it, but it's hard to always have to be the bad guy. She is really bad about offering a bite of her cookie or whatever and then saying, "only if your mom says it ok!" Hard to so no so often and deal with the fallout.

[peachesncream]

We don't keep too many sweets in the house and I try to avoid breaded or fried foods whenever possible. I am more breezy about it with my M16 kid but those are kind of our loose guidelines we try to live by. I don't consider hot dogs too unhealthy and my 2 yo gets chicken nuggets for lunch probably about once a week.

[SheilaTheTank]

I haven't given K hot dogs yet because I'm too afraid of choking. I haven't given her grapes either. I figure when she's in high school she'll be old enough to have them. lol.

[peachesncream]

Feb 28, 2017 9:43:09 GMT -5 SheilaTheTank said:

I haven't given K hot dogs yet because I'm too afraid of choking. I haven't given her grapes either. I figure when she's in high school she'll be old enough to have them. lol.

I still cut my toddlers hot dogs into quarters lol.  Grapes too.  I cut blueberries in half for my M16 baby.  Sitting with you on the paranoid bench ;-)

[rosetyler72]

We are pretty lenient with food I guess. He's had cake a few times in the last 2 weeks. We also give him french fries and tater tots when we eat them. He eats a ton of fruit and vegetables too though. We eat pretty healthy for the most part so as long as he's eating what we eat I'm not too worried about it.

[katespade]

I was cutting Js blueberries in half but I found that way made her more apt to gag on them. Giving them to her whole made her mash them up and she stopped gagging on them.

[chatterbox]

We're not too strict about food. They pretty much eat whatever we are eating. DD drinks more juice than I would like, but it is very diluted and DS still hasn't had any and I'm going to hold off as long as possible. We only have it to DD because of constipation issues. I don't really eat sweets in front of them, so that hasn't been an issue. We do eat chicken nuggets and fries once a week after music class and DS loves the French fries. That's probably the worst thing we've given him. I think as long as their diet is mostly healthy, I'm not going to stress about a little junk food now and then.

[cinnamonsmiles]

Mar 1, 2017 16:58:30 GMT -5 katespade said:

I was cutting Js blueberries in half but I found that way made her more apt to gag on them. Giving them to her whole made her mash them up and she stopped gagging on them.

The only time DS choked on blueberries was after cutting them. So odd, but we too now serve them whole.