One way to keep our children nourished is to have healthier snack alternatives in your pantry.
Children love to snack, as we all know.
As a parent, I have so much peace of mind in knowing that I have total control over what my children eat when we are home.
In knowing that I have that total control only at home, I keep healthier snack alternatives in my pantry.
That way when we leave the house, I can be flexible and let go of that control.
I want to teach my children about balance. I do not want to deprive them and create another set of issues later on.
I posted on Instagram the other day how we shouldn’t demonize food. It can potentially encourage disordered eating.
Also, labeling our children as “crazy” for eating certain foods that all of their peers and even adults eat, is not the way to go either. Their inner narrative will become “I am crazy.”
How I teach my children about food
“Some foods nourish us. Allows our bodies to work properly so they can jump really high, see really far, run really fast, grow as tall as they can, and heal cuts with superhero powers.
And some foods can get us off balance when we have too much of it.”
That is it.
I honestly do not give it much energy at all.
If they are wanting too much sugar, I say “we need to get back to balance so our blood sugar levels are stable and we feel good.”
They might not know what blood sugar levels are but I’m teaching them about it early on.
Do I love when they eat artificial dyes, flavors, and 20,000 (exaggerating of course) grams of sugar? No I do not.
Do I secretly wish they weren’t eating it? Yes.
That is my problem though that I do not need to project on to them.
In regards to drinks
I waited until my first son was 4 and started going to birthday parties, to introduce him to anything other than water. My toddler has already been introduced because of her brother but I am still trying to hold off as long as possible.
When we are at restaurants, I ask for half lemonade half water.
When we go out for breakfast he can have orange juice if he would like.
At birthday parties, he has 2 juices and then we stick to water.
Soda, he has never had because we never drink it. We all have this alternative once in a while. I am going to keep this policy for as long as I can. I know one day I won’t be able to keep him from drinking soda but it’s just something we do not drink as a family.
Sports drinks, he only has them after a t-ball game when another parent brings them for the whole team.
I do not demonize, I simply state “our bodies are mostly made up of water. We need water to keep it hydrated and functioning properly.”
Snack Alternatives
- Simple Mills: Anything this brand makes I am game. My favorites are:
- Granola bars
- Seaweed snacks made with either EVOO or avocado oil
- Unsweetened organic applesauce. This can be any brand. Just look for organic and no sugar.
- Annie’s organic cheddar bunnies. Again, this isn’t one that is my favorite because it really does not have nutrients but I honestly had no choice. My son saw it at school and he wanted them. I would rather keep this at home than goldfish.
- Fruit jerky. Just simply the best. I like these for myself as well!
- Speaking of fruit. My kids are obsessed with these from Trader Joe’s.
- Coconut water instead of juice.
- When my son insists on buy juice, I will buy it but very infrequently. My choice is the Honest brand.
- Popcorn
- Puffs
- Pretzels
- Plantain chips
- Dates
- Toddler snack bars
- Goji berries. You will be surprised how obsessed with these your children will be.
- Cashews. Unsalted and raw. Again, you will be surprised your children will be with cashews.
- Veggie sticks. I always stick to organic.
- Pringles alternative
- Tortilla chips
As you can see there are so many options!
Remember, food does not make us good or bad. It just is. Our bodies natural intelligence will always crave what is nourishing. Children naturally want to experiment. That is okay. They should have the freedom to do it, with boundaries and no shame.
Let’s chat
Speaking of natural intelligence.
Learning how to trust your body and to listen to it, starts by learning to love yourself.
Because when you love yourself you will do what is right for you. What will nourish you. What will make you feel good. You will actually want to listen to to your intuition instead of doing what everybody else has told you to do.
If you are ready to dive deeper into what loving yourself means. Then you are ready to take my Self-Love Masterclass.
Learning to love yourself means that you will change:
- How you eat
- How you parent
- What you will or will not allow into your life
- Your confidence
- How you show up at work and in relationships
- Your mindset
If you are ready to CHANGE from WITHIN – you do not want to miss it.
Say goodbye to toxic habits and join me for just $25.99 on May 31st, 2023 at 8:00 PM E.T.
Life Update
It’s officially summertime in the Ruff household. This year has gone by so quick.
So a little bit more about me ( I love this life update section because I slowly get to introduce you guys more to my life where I probably wouldn’t be able to otherwise). I got breast implants when I was 22-years-old.
I am 33-years-old now, which back in March it was my 11th year anniversary.
I wish with every bone in my body that I wouldn’t have gotten them.
I am going to bring up childhood again because this will show you, again, how powerful our childhoods are in shaping us. So therefore, what we do now for our children will shape their future.
My entire childhood I saw most of the women in my life get breast augmentation surgery or a facelift. Botox and fillers too of course. That was the bare minimum.
So to me, that was completely normal. It was just a matter of when it was my turn.
Senior year of college was the year I decided to do it. I decided to do it “for myself.” No one talked me out of it because they couldn’t LOL. They all had one!
Now, that I have healed the relationship with myself, I want these fake implants out ASAP.
I also want to break that generational pattern for my daughter.
I’ve been wanting to get them out for the past couple of years but I have decided to wait until I was done breastfeeding to do so.
I love breastfeeding so much I didn’t want to risk it.
Luckily, I haven’t been affected my BII (breast implant illness) but have seen so many women that have.
I can’t help but wonder how these implants have been affecting me though. I am SURE they are. I just have this inner knowing telling me that they are.
I have decided then that I am officially going to get an explant this year. I booked 2 consultations for June. I want to make sure I go to the right surgeon.
It has taken me this long to finally move forward with the decision because:
- have been pregnant or breastfeeding for the past 6 years. Physicially wasn’t able to.
- I won’t be able to pick anything up over 10 pounds for 4 weeks following the surgery. Which means I wouldn’t be able to pick up my babies. I wanted to wait until Lucy was closer to 2 to be okay with that.
- Cost. I didn’t realize it was so expensive. The reason being that I will probably have to get a lift afterwards too. As all my breastfeeding mamas know what happens to our breasts after. Not only am I taking an implant out but I have been breastfeeding for a total of over 2 years. That is a lot of volume loss. I’m all about being au natural but I do have boundaries hahahaha.
I will keep updating you on this journey! I am probably going to document the entire process.
Has anybody gotten an explant and is there anything I should know beforehand?
So happy you are here.
Happy Memorial Day weekend!
Alejandra at Living Well Co.
References
Ambwani, S., Shippe, M., Gao, Z. et al. Is #cleaneating a healthy or harmful dietary strategy? Perceptions of clean eating and associations with disordered eating among young adults. J Eat Disord 7, 17 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-019-0246-2