I know this is probably a dumb question, but where can I find the recipe for the anti-cancer soup? Is it just in a book or has someone posted it somewhere?
And I have some questions about a bit of philosophy here...sort of. I was raised in a healthy household but my mom was very controlling about food...when we ate, what we ate, how much we ate. Personally, I think this approach backfired and when I got married (at 20...I'm 34 now) I figured I didn't want to run my house that way. We now have a 6 yr old boy, and I know we are much healthier than the average American household, but we'd like to do even better. My husband and I need to loose weight and we know cholesterol is an issue on his side, so we'd like to get closer to that 150 mark. We were much better about things in the first 2-3 years of our son's life...we lost some of our momentum for awhile (I've gained weight) and now we're trying to get back in the groove. I do not want to become the food police for anyone. I do want to be a good example and hope that our choices now will be ones that he wants to carry with him into his adult life. I guess I'm conflicted on how to carry this out in a manner that is not overbearing and controlling. Our son probably eats more veggies and fruits than most kids his age I know, but he's not usually excited to try new things, and I am not excited to get into food battles with him. We've done it before and it's miserable.
Anyway, I'd love to hear more about how folks implement healthy eating in their households and with their kids.
Elaine
Comments and constructive critique always welcome!
I know this is probably a dumb question, but where can I find the recipe for the anti-cancer soup? Is it just in a book or has someone posted it somewhere?
My version of it is in the tastebook, which is linked in the first post in this thread.
I am still very new to this and this style of thinking/cooking, so I'm still learning the ropes too, especially at the grocery store. The best thing Ive found so far (apart from experience and learning from mistakes like "D'oh! I forgot to buy carrots!") is the intro bits in the cookbook Veganomicon. They provide must-have spices and pantry items for days when you don't have time to go shopping but still want a real meal. They include things like beans, tomatoes, miso, apple sauce, things like that so there is never a "There's nothing to eat."
Personally if I have some romaine, tomatoes, and beans in the house I'm good. As well as raw carrots and celery and hummus.
Bethy, you're looking GREAT. And so does your cooking!
I know this is probably a dumb question, but where can I find the recipe for the anti-cancer soup? Is it just in a book or has someone posted it somewhere?
And I have some questions about a bit of philosophy here...sort of. I was raised in a healthy household but my mom was very controlling about food...when we ate, what we ate, how much we ate. Personally, I think this approach backfired and when I got married (at 20...I'm 34 now) I figured I didn't want to run my house that way. We now have a 6 yr old boy, and I know we are much healthier than the average American household, but we'd like to do even better. My husband and I need to loose weight and we know cholesterol is an issue on his side, so we'd like to get closer to that 150 mark. We were much better about things in the first 2-3 years of our son's life...we lost some of our momentum for awhile (I've gained weight) and now we're trying to get back in the groove. I do not want to become the food police for anyone. I do want to be a good example and hope that our choices now will be ones that he wants to carry with him into his adult life. I guess I'm conflicted on how to carry this out in a manner that is not overbearing and controlling. Our son probably eats more veggies and fruits than most kids his age I know, but he's not usually excited to try new things, and I am not excited to get into food battles with him. We've done it before and it's miserable.
Anyway, I'd love to hear more about how folks implement healthy eating in their households and with their kids.
I'd love to hear other responses to your question. I can tell you the little that I've done, but I also have a lot more to learn in this regard. I've got two kids (10 and 13). The 10-year old is extremely active (multiple sports), quite thin and a very picky eater. Outside of an occasional helping of broccoli or peas and fruit, many of her tastes are not what we would now consider on the healthy side. I've had food battles with her before and I'd agree they are definitely not fun. The 13-year old is not so active, a bit heavier than he should be, but will try almost anything in new foods and often eats what we eat.
For the 13-year old, we just started offering him what we eat. At first, he'd only take certain things and we let him eat other things when he wasn't interested. Over the period of a year, he has shifted so that he almost always eats what we eat. Last night, the three of us (not the 10 year old) had a huge salad for dinner and my 13 year old loved it. He's even announced that he may quit eating meat.
For the 10-year old, we've had very few successes. She's not very open minded to trying new things and the things that she likes are nearly all refined carbs or sweets. Fortunately, she likes fruit so I'm making a concious effort to get her a lot more fruit, especially in situations where she would have had some sort of refined carb previously. Some things we've been able to do with her are switch to brown rice, buy healthier breads (with more fiber and other whole grain nutrients), substutute fruit or fruit smoothies instead of some sweets. To our surprise, she does like two green vegetables broccoli and peas, so we can take advantage of that and make that part of our meal fairly regularly, though she eats pretty small quantities of them.
My biggest success with her so far was challenging her to go on the internet and find a recipe with no meat or dairy in it that contained a vegetable that she would like. We then went shopping together for the ingredients, prepared it together and she loved it. So far, that's been one success, but I think it shows that if I get her involved in the right way, she can get interested in some new things. My mission (over the next two years - I'm giving myself that long) is to repeat that success often enough that we end up with a staple of healthy meals that she will eat.
I'm also hoping that her tastes will mature some in the next few years and that being around the three of us eating other foods and talking about the benefits of eating those other foods will rub off on her. That is what happened to my 13-year old who now wants to "eat like his parents" and is more aware of the benefits and reasons for eating healthy.
Anyway, you're reminding me that I need to try to recipe challenge with my 10-year old again and see if we can find the second success.
Before I cut out oils, one of my favorite salad dressings was Annie's Natural's "Goddess" dressing. I just threw together an oil-free version in the blender. Not exactly the same, but still OK:
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup water
2 T tahini
1/3 cup raw unhulled sesame seeds
1 clove of garlic
1 tsp dried chives (I'm sure freshwould be better but this is what I had on hand)
juice of 1/4 lemon
dash of low-sodium soy sauce (maybe 1 tsp or less?)
Whizz it up in the blender and it makes enough for several salads. It's like hummus but stronger, tangier, and of course runny. I have a bit of a cold now and so my tastebuds might be a bit muted, but I am really greatful for an alternative to the (also very good) tomato-balsamic that I've been using for months.
Before I cut out oils, one of my favorite salad dressings was Annie's Natural's "Goddess" dressing. I just threw together an oil-free version in the blender. Not exactly the same, but still OK:
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup water
2 T tahini
1/3 cup raw unhulled sesame seeds
1 clove of garlic
1 tsp dried chives (I'm sure freshwould be better but this is what I had on hand)
juice of 1/4 lemon
dash of low-sodium soy sauce (maybe 1 tsp or less?)
Whizz it up in the blender and it makes enough for several salads. It's like hummus but stronger, tangier, and of course runny. I have a bit of a cold now and so my tastebuds might be a bit muted, but I am really greatful for an alternative to the (also very good) tomato-balsamic that I've been using for months.
Also, I will try running the food processor longer. So far I've been avoiding that because it's loud and I'm a wimp.
-Anne
Ha, yeah Sam came into the kitchen last Saturday when I was running my food processor to make some bars and put his big home-depot sawing earmuffs on me.
I'm also hoping that her tastes will mature some in the next few years and that being around the three of us eating other foods and talking about the benefits of eating those other foods will rub off on her. That is what happened to my 13-year old who now wants to "eat like his parents" and is more aware of the benefits and reasons for eating healthy.
Thanks for sharing your experience, this is very insightful. My son is not quite 3 and I can already see the battles coming. I've been dipping my toe in the veg*an pool off and on for the past year, and feel ready to give it a real go. His daycare is fantastic except for one aspect - the crappy food. Fish sticks, chicken nuggets, pizza.... rinse, repeat. Even though we haven't entirely cut out dairy & lean meats at home, we've been soymilk and veggie + seafood heavy household for as long as he's been eating solids. Yet he's already starting to show a preference for the processed stuff, saying "yucky" to foods he used to love (like edamame, steamed spinach, etc). And the times I do buckle and serve veggie pizza or chicken he wolfs it down. He asks for juice yet I don't stock anything but water and soymilk at home. I know this time is crucial in his palate development so I want seize the day without going into a panic. I feel like the food is a silly reason to rip him out of an otherwise perfect arrangement. But yet it's clearly so important! Ok, enough thinking out loud for today....
Congrats on finding ways to engage that 10 year old. I hope the example will eventually wear off on her!
Thanks for sharing your experience, this is very insightful. My son is not quite 3 and I can already see the battles coming. I've been dipping my toe in the veg*an pool off and on for the past year, and feel ready to give it a real go. His daycare is fantastic except for one aspect - the crappy food. Fish sticks, chicken nuggets, pizza.... rinse, repeat. Even though we haven't entirely cut out dairy & lean meats at home, we've been soymilk and veggie + seafood heavy household for as long as he's been eating solids. Yet he's already starting to show a preference for the processed stuff, saying "yucky" to foods he used to love (like edamame, steamed spinach, etc). And the times I do buckle and serve veggie pizza or chicken he wolfs it down. He asks for juice yet I don't stock anything but water and soymilk at home. I know this time is crucial in his palate development so I want seize the day without going into a panic. I feel like the food is a silly reason to rip him out of an otherwise perfect arrangement. Sorry for the rant....
I'm not a doctor, but at that age of your child, I've heard a lot of recommendations to make the food that you think they should eat and that's what you serve them - period. Don't sweat it if they don't eat it some nights (e.g. no battles about it) and no worries if they don't eat much some nights. There are many, many books written on this subject, particularly for young kids like yours. It might be helpful to peruse a few in a bookstore (I own a few of them).
Sooner or later their body will be hungry and they will wolf it down. I've been told numerous times that kids won't get malnourished just because they don't like something. Hunger is more powerful than that. Now, it's impossible for some people (primarily moms in my experience) to do this. They have it in their head that if their kid doesn't eat, they're being a bad parent, so if the child won't eat the main dish that's serve, they often get something else (usually not nearly as healthy). You can imagine what that does to the ability to train the child to eat what is served.
I'm working primarily on what we can control at home and not worrying about meals away from us for now. I figure the only real way to control that in the long term way is for them to learn how to eat right and make their own choices in that regard.
I'm not a doctor, but at that age of your child, I've heard a lot of recommendations to make the food that you think they should eat and that's what you serve them - period. Don't sweat it if they don't eat it some nights (e.g. no battles about it) and no worries if they don't eat much some nights.
Yep, I totally buy in to that philosophy (you would never hear me say "eat 3 more bites") and have employed it for most of his young life. For some reason, now that he's talking all of a sudden (and raiding the fridge while I'm in the bathroom ) I've forgotten the building bricks that served me until this point! Parenthood is about starting over the minute you have them figured out!
I'm working primarily on what we can control at home and not worrying about meals away from us for now.
Letting go, that's going to be the tough one, but I believe you are right. It's a working mom's dilemma and I hate it, but it's reality.
Sooner or later their body will be hungry and they will wolf it down. I've been told numerous times that kids won't get malnourished just because they don't like something. Hunger is more powerful than that. Now, it's impossible for some people (primarily moms in my experience) to do this. They have it in their head that if their kid doesn't eat, they're being a bad parent, so if the child won't eat the main dish that's serve, they often get something else (usually not nearly as healthy). You can imagine what that does to the ability to train the child to eat what is served.
I'm working primarily on what we can control at home and not worrying about meals away from us for now. I figure the only real way to control that in the long term way is for them to learn how to eat right and make their own choices in that regard.
Yep...I agree with that mode, too. I'm not a short order cook and what we serve is what we have. It's a little pathetic when your kid says something like, "Water keeps you alive too, right?" Our guy has gone to bed hungry before because of his unwillingness to try something new. Drives. Me. Crazy! When we do try something new, I do try to include something healthy that I know he likes as well.
That being said, I guess I shouldn't complain too much...he'll eat broccoli, asparagus, bell peppers, carrots, celery, cucumbers, potatoes, corn, fresh green beans, lentils, black beans, kidney beans... He is not into squash or green leafies, but he's OK if we chop up some fresh spinach to have in a burrito, as long as it's hidden well...even though he knows it's in there, he doesn't want to taste it or hardly see it. He goes in spurts with hummus...he used to eat it with a spoon and now somedays he loves it and some days he doesn't want any. He loves smoothies and berries and bananas and melons.
We've bought no-enriched-flour bread for years, but honestly have ended up throwing out the remainder of loaves lately because we just don't eat bread very often and it gets old even in the freezer. Whole grain/veg pastas are the norm too. We usually do some sort of mixture of rice (brown and white basmati, for example). He didn't have any dairy until he was about 3...now we sometimes have cheese and sometimes have ice cream. (Boo - I know.) We are a water drinking family (no soda!) and we sometimes have a little juice for breakfast or in a smoothie.
Anyway, it was great to hear about your own experiences and how differently your kids are taking this...great news about your oldest and good ideas on involving the youngest.
Before I read your post, I was thinking about how important it is for the kids to see the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle...how that is what may be the connection for them to want to adapt this for themselves when the choices are completely up to them. We also want to do our best to present the best options at home and not get too worked up about things being different when away from home. If he's able to compare and contrast on his own later, I would hope he could see that making these choices is the healthy and beneficial thing to do.
Sorry for the long post (again!). I'd love to hear more from the parents of young kids out there!
Elaine
Comments and constructive critique always welcome!
Eat-2-Live mailing list
I just discovered that there's a very active Eat-2-Live mailing list with lots of discussion of food. The current discussion seems to be about breakfast smoothies with fruit and veggies in them, but the history on the list shows many topics.
My son is not quite 3 and I can already see the battles coming. His daycare is fantastic except for one aspect - the crappy food.
Oy how I relate to this.
The one kid I sent to preschool (a Montessori program that I adored!) came home one day deciding that he loved chicken nuggets. I struggled with how to handle this, as we are a "mixed" family in the sense that my husband is not veg*n and our children see him consuming meat outside of the home.
I remember the late 2s up through the early 4s as being a time of food evolution, for all of my kids. It was most noticeable in the ones that went to preschool, I'd guess because they are regularly exposed to a different diet so it becomes "normalized" to them. Of course they want to try it, you know? I struggled with this because I was torn between my role as "I'm the parent and I know this food is crap for you" and wanting them to reach that decision on their own. Me personally, I'm the type of parent that people whisper about - I'm weird. I can admit it and even embrace it most of the time! I wanted them to feel empowered enough to make and learn from their own decisions, even as toddlers; I felt my role was/is more of a faciliator than a dictator. I have a 2.5 year old right now who has never been to school or in any kind of alternate care, but who is STILL revolting against longtime favorites she's just exercising her newfound right of refusal. Some days she refuses certain outfits that previously she had worn every day for two weeks; some days it's certain foods that she was begging for just a day earlier, ya know?
At 3.5 my son was served chicken nuggets by a substitute teacher who didn't bother to check the food roster. I can only thank heavens that nobody was served something that resulted in an allergic reaction, but since that time my son has gone back and forth from eating chicken (never any other meat) to being veg*n. He's now 7. I do remember that upon that first taste, he had a hunger for chicken rivaled only by my 'hunger' to keep him off of it! He ate it whenever it was offered at school for probably 4-5 months before he OD'd on it. From that point forward he has only eaten it on occasion.
My rule with ANY meat is that I don't buy it or make it, and it doesn't enter my house. That was my rule with my husband, from Day 1, and I simply extended it to the rest of the family. They can live with that, and so can I. They know that they can eat it at school (if served) or at my inlaws house ... but know not not to order it if I'm taking them out to eat, or to ever write it on our grocery list. It's just like anything else, knowing that different environments have differing rules. I find that this particular son's interest in chicken is cyclical; he'll go months abstaining and then have a few weeks' time where he wants it. He has never shown any interest in any other type of meat, and regularly refuses requests to "just try it" as far as cow, pig, goat, lamb, or fish so with the children I had following him, I did my best to just avoid that first ever taste. So far, so good and my youngest is halfway to 3. At this point I wouldn't deny her a taste if she requested it.
Yet he's already starting to show a preference for the processed stuff, saying "yucky" to foods he used to love (like edamame, steamed spinach, etc). And the times I do buckle and serve veggie pizza or chicken he wolfs it down.
As far as the processed foods go, in my life they're an inevitable reality. I've gone from the extreme of struggling to live this "ideal" life and learning to accept that moderation is the key to my sanity and family harmony. I keep a snack drawer filled with containers I've pre-packaged with snacks. Kids help themselves at any time, it's stocked weekly. I throw in a bunch of (my) preferred items and usually one of theirs - the compromise is that they may choose x-food but it needs to be from y-brand (of my choosing, usually organic). They love the fig newman "cookies" and rice crackers, neither of which are "ideal" but are decent alternatives to Cheetos or Oreos IMO. Once those containers of junk food are gone for the week, they're GONE for the week. No arguments, they can eat their share on the first day or spread them out over the course of the week .. that's on them to figure out (even the toddler). And they do! Family harmony, that's the name of the game .. and in my house, a sense of control on their part seems to do wonders. I bite my tongue a lot, though .
The kids are all heavily involved in multiple sports, and we get lots of prepackaged snacks at sports events. Your son is in preschool, and it's just as inevitable there. It boils down to just doing the best you can; moderation. And everyone knowing in advance what to expect.
I'll say that each of the four older ones are veg*n (the exception being the aforementioned son who waivers back and forth, but is currently veg*n for Lent). I feel better knowing that they've arrived here thus far on their own accord. It's not an option all parents feel comfortable with, but it works for us.
He asks for juice yet I don't stock anything but water and soymilk at home.
I never had juice at home, probably because we never drank it when I was a kid so I've never developed a taste for it myself. By the time my kids got to school, all they had ever had was breastmilk and water. I think by that point the juice was overly sweet for them, because none of them ever got hooked on it. None of them drink it now. But one of the boys likes flavored water. Might that be an acceptable compromise?
I had a customer request a special drink once - 1 part club soda to 2 parts cranberry juice. She said it tasted like soda light; she got her fizzles but also her juice. I've always remembered that, not sure if that's another option for you or anyone else trying to wean down to primarily water.
They have it in their head that if their kid doesn't eat, they're being a bad parent, so if the child won't eat the main dish that's serve, they often get something else (usually not nearly as healthy). You can imagine what that does to the ability to train the child to eat what is served.
I'm working primarily on what we can control at home and not worrying about meals away from us for now. I figure the only real way to control that in the long term way is for them to learn how to eat right and make their own choices in that regard.
I should have read the rest of the thread before I replied why does it take me three times the number of sentences to say what has been summed up so nicely above?
Me, I'm Asian. Food is center to everything in my culture. Meals are as much about socializing as they are about nourishment. I refuse to create or engage in conflict when I have a bowl of steaming hot veggie noodles in front of me . Pretty much everything I have in the home is "acceptable" in terms of what I want the kids to eat. I don't cook a separate meal for anyone, but if someone doesn't like what I've prepared I'm more than okay with them making their own dinner and joining us at the table.
Even my 2 year old. Today she didn't want to eat the my noodles. She rummaged around the pantry and found a potato. So we baked it. She had her brother help her with the oven dials and the timer; while she waited for it to cook she decided to have an "appetizer" of veggies that the rest of us were eating. Her brother didn't mind, and neither did I. He gets to set his own rules, and he's okay with being a short order cook . I figure that so long as I've bought it and brought it into my home, I'm okay if the kids want to eat something other than what I've made. SO long as they're okay with making it themselves I'm good with training them to be self-sufficient. Or brother-dependent .
And dang if you don't make one seriously adorable kidlet. I'd be hard pressed to tell that sweet face "no" to anything he asked for!
thanks stirfry....kidlet....love that word!
and thanks for your post, I always enjoy reading your writing, and appreciate the peek into the veg*n family lifestyle! Thank you!!!
And it is so funny, I toured an all day montessori preschool last week (right now he's just in a daycare, I'm hoping to enroll him for this fall) and I was soooo excited to learn that every kid packs their lunch, and given the ethnic diversity of the class, they are very receptive to differences in cuisine "lifestyles".
"Michael Pollan is the author, most recently, of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. His previous book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, was named one of the ten best books of 2006 by the New York Times and the Washington Post. It also won the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, the James Beard Award for best food writing, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His website is www.michaelpollan.com"
Article: Can We Learn Health Lessons From Vegetarians?
An interesting article. Vegetarians have 75% less heart attacks. Vegans have 90% less heart attacks. Unfortunately, they don't include the source of the data, but those are pretty easy statistics to get your head around.
I'm glad someone brought up the issue of feeding kids (especially toddlers) healthy food.
I have 2 year old twins and a 4 month old daughter. For our family it's been easy to stick to whole grains and stay away from meats and cheese (mostly). They are great with eating whole fruits and some whole veggies. The veggies they aren't into (yet? ) I mix into whole grain foods (muffins, bread, pasta). They're also great with eating lots of nuts and seeds.
Someone mentioned that they don't like their kids to drink much juice. We give our kids fluoridated water in between meals, then for meals unsweetened soymilk, carrot juice and sometimes smoothies. Lately we've been vitamix'ing apple juice with handfuls of spinach and stick it in a sippy cup. They go DOWN on it.
After a nearly catastrophic attempt at the Anti-Cancer soup recipe last night, I just pulled the trigger on a Vita-Mix. My DW will not be pleased... :uhoh Our old blender just couldn't handle the soup, so the consistency was a bit like sludge. Definitely not what I had in mind. It bogs down on smoothies too, so I have lusted after a Vita-Mix for a while now.
SWMBO(), on the other hand, keeps finding "powerful" blenders at stores and calling me to tell me so. "Look, here's a 600 watt one for $125! This one's 750 watts for $150! We don't need to spend $500 on a stupid blender." I keep explaining that I know for a fact that the Vita-mix will do what I want, and I don't have that confidence in these other brands she finds. I get a lot of eye-rolling in response!
The good news: They had a special on reconditioned 5000's with a full 7-year warranty, $329. Then I found a $25 shipping discount as well. So that's not as bad as it could have been...right?
This blender better blow her socks off or I'm gonna have some 'splainin to do...:D
SWMBO(), on the other hand, keeps finding "powerful" blenders at stores and calling me to tell me so. "Look, here's a 600 watt one for $125! This one's 750 watts for $150! We don't need to spend $500 on a stupid blender." I keep explaining that I know for a fact that the Vita-mix will do what I want, and I don't have that confidence in these other brands she finds. I get a lot of eye-rolling in response!
Watts are one thing... just say "2 horsepower" and let it go at that
Explain that if your garage door opener stops working you can just use the blender to power it
Make sure she watches the video that comes with it... the amusement value is probably worth the cost difference. The matching blue shirts and khaki pants done in true infomercial style. It's actually really useful, but you gotta laugh at the marketing aspect of it.
Comments
Ingredients
Special, High Potency, Non-Active, Nutritional Yeast Grown on Beet Molasses, Soy Flour, Plus the Following Fresh Dried Ingredients: Ground Parsley, Ground Celery Leaf and Stalk, Ground White Onion, Ground Toasted Onion, Ground Dill Seed, Ground Beet Root, Ground Spinach, Ground Alfalfa, Ground Carrot, Ground Sweet Paprika, Crushed Basil, Garlic Granules, Ground Kelp, Ground Cayenne Pepper, Ground Lettuce, Ground Celery Seed, Fancy Parsley Flakes, and Tomato Powder.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
And I have some questions about a bit of philosophy here...sort of. I was raised in a healthy household but my mom was very controlling about food...when we ate, what we ate, how much we ate. Personally, I think this approach backfired and when I got married (at 20...I'm 34 now) I figured I didn't want to run my house that way. We now have a 6 yr old boy, and I know we are much healthier than the average American household, but we'd like to do even better. My husband and I need to loose weight and we know cholesterol is an issue on his side, so we'd like to get closer to that 150 mark. We were much better about things in the first 2-3 years of our son's life...we lost some of our momentum for awhile (I've gained weight) and now we're trying to get back in the groove. I do not want to become the food police for anyone. I do want to be a good example and hope that our choices now will be ones that he wants to carry with him into his adult life. I guess I'm conflicted on how to carry this out in a manner that is not overbearing and controlling. Our son probably eats more veggies and fruits than most kids his age I know, but he's not usually excited to try new things, and I am not excited to get into food battles with him. We've done it before and it's miserable.
Anyway, I'd love to hear more about how folks implement healthy eating in their households and with their kids.
Comments and constructive critique always welcome!
Elaine Heasley Photography
My version of it is in the tastebook, which is linked in the first post in this thread.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
I am still very new to this and this style of thinking/cooking, so I'm still learning the ropes too, especially at the grocery store. The best thing Ive found so far (apart from experience and learning from mistakes like "D'oh! I forgot to buy carrots!") is the intro bits in the cookbook Veganomicon. They provide must-have spices and pantry items for days when you don't have time to go shopping but still want a real meal. They include things like beans, tomatoes, miso, apple sauce, things like that so there is never a "There's nothing to eat."
Personally if I have some romaine, tomatoes, and beans in the house I'm good. As well as raw carrots and celery and hummus.
Bethy, you're looking GREAT. And so does your cooking!
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
Thanks, David!
Comments and constructive critique always welcome!
Elaine Heasley Photography
I'd love to hear other responses to your question. I can tell you the little that I've done, but I also have a lot more to learn in this regard. I've got two kids (10 and 13). The 10-year old is extremely active (multiple sports), quite thin and a very picky eater. Outside of an occasional helping of broccoli or peas and fruit, many of her tastes are not what we would now consider on the healthy side. I've had food battles with her before and I'd agree they are definitely not fun. The 13-year old is not so active, a bit heavier than he should be, but will try almost anything in new foods and often eats what we eat.
For the 13-year old, we just started offering him what we eat. At first, he'd only take certain things and we let him eat other things when he wasn't interested. Over the period of a year, he has shifted so that he almost always eats what we eat. Last night, the three of us (not the 10 year old) had a huge salad for dinner and my 13 year old loved it. He's even announced that he may quit eating meat.
For the 10-year old, we've had very few successes. She's not very open minded to trying new things and the things that she likes are nearly all refined carbs or sweets. Fortunately, she likes fruit so I'm making a concious effort to get her a lot more fruit, especially in situations where she would have had some sort of refined carb previously. Some things we've been able to do with her are switch to brown rice, buy healthier breads (with more fiber and other whole grain nutrients), substutute fruit or fruit smoothies instead of some sweets. To our surprise, she does like two green vegetables broccoli and peas, so we can take advantage of that and make that part of our meal fairly regularly, though she eats pretty small quantities of them.
My biggest success with her so far was challenging her to go on the internet and find a recipe with no meat or dairy in it that contained a vegetable that she would like. We then went shopping together for the ingredients, prepared it together and she loved it. So far, that's been one success, but I think it shows that if I get her involved in the right way, she can get interested in some new things. My mission (over the next two years - I'm giving myself that long) is to repeat that success often enough that we end up with a staple of healthy meals that she will eat.
I'm also hoping that her tastes will mature some in the next few years and that being around the three of us eating other foods and talking about the benefits of eating those other foods will rub off on her. That is what happened to my 13-year old who now wants to "eat like his parents" and is more aware of the benefits and reasons for eating healthy.
Anyway, you're reminding me that I need to try to recipe challenge with my 10-year old again and see if we can find the second success.
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1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup water
2 T tahini
1/3 cup raw unhulled sesame seeds
1 clove of garlic
1 tsp dried chives (I'm sure freshwould be better but this is what I had on hand)
juice of 1/4 lemon
dash of low-sodium soy sauce (maybe 1 tsp or less?)
Whizz it up in the blender and it makes enough for several salads. It's like hummus but stronger, tangier, and of course runny. I have a bit of a cold now and so my tastebuds might be a bit muted, but I am really greatful for an alternative to the (also very good) tomato-balsamic that I've been using for months.
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I love Goddess Dressing. Can't wait to try this!
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Ha, yeah Sam came into the kitchen last Saturday when I was running my food processor to make some bars and put his big home-depot sawing earmuffs on me.
Thanks for sharing your experience, this is very insightful. My son is not quite 3 and I can already see the battles coming. I've been dipping my toe in the veg*an pool off and on for the past year, and feel ready to give it a real go. His daycare is fantastic except for one aspect - the crappy food. Fish sticks, chicken nuggets, pizza.... rinse, repeat.
Congrats on finding ways to engage that 10 year old. I hope the example will eventually wear off on her!
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thanks!!! Supergluepermabookmark on that one!
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I'm not a doctor, but at that age of your child, I've heard a lot of recommendations to make the food that you think they should eat and that's what you serve them - period. Don't sweat it if they don't eat it some nights (e.g. no battles about it) and no worries if they don't eat much some nights. There are many, many books written on this subject, particularly for young kids like yours. It might be helpful to peruse a few in a bookstore (I own a few of them).
Sooner or later their body will be hungry and they will wolf it down. I've been told numerous times that kids won't get malnourished just because they don't like something. Hunger is more powerful than that. Now, it's impossible for some people (primarily moms in my experience) to do this. They have it in their head that if their kid doesn't eat, they're being a bad parent, so if the child won't eat the main dish that's serve, they often get something else (usually not nearly as healthy). You can imagine what that does to the ability to train the child to eat what is served.
I'm working primarily on what we can control at home and not worrying about meals away from us for now. I figure the only real way to control that in the long term way is for them to learn how to eat right and make their own choices in that regard.
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Yep, I totally buy in to that philosophy (you would never hear me say "eat 3 more bites") and have employed it for most of his young life. For some reason, now that he's talking all of a sudden (and raiding the fridge while I'm in the bathroom
Letting go, that's going to be the tough one, but I believe you are right. It's a working mom's dilemma and I hate it, but it's reality.
Thanks for your advice!
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Lots of fuhrmanized recipes here: http://www.fatfreevegan.com/etl/index.shtml
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Yep...I agree with that mode, too. I'm not a short order cook and what we serve is what we have. It's a little pathetic when your kid says something like, "Water keeps you alive too, right?"
That being said, I guess I shouldn't complain too much...he'll eat broccoli, asparagus, bell peppers, carrots, celery, cucumbers, potatoes, corn, fresh green beans, lentils, black beans, kidney beans... He is not into squash or green leafies, but he's OK if we chop up some fresh spinach to have in a burrito, as long as it's hidden well...even though he knows it's in there, he doesn't want to taste it or hardly see it.
We've bought no-enriched-flour bread for years, but honestly have ended up throwing out the remainder of loaves lately because we just don't eat bread very often and it gets old even in the freezer. Whole grain/veg pastas are the norm too. We usually do some sort of mixture of rice (brown and white basmati, for example). He didn't have any dairy until he was about 3...now we sometimes have cheese and sometimes have ice cream. (Boo - I know.) We are a water drinking family (no soda!) and we sometimes have a little juice for breakfast or in a smoothie.
Anyway, it was great to hear about your own experiences and how differently your kids are taking this...great news about your oldest and good ideas on involving the youngest.
Before I read your post, I was thinking about how important it is for the kids to see the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle...how that is what may be the connection for them to want to adapt this for themselves when the choices are completely up to them. We also want to do our best to present the best options at home and not get too worked up about things being different when away from home. If he's able to compare and contrast on his own later, I would hope he could see that making these choices is the healthy and beneficial thing to do.
Sorry for the long post (again!). I'd love to hear more from the parents of young kids out there!
Comments and constructive critique always welcome!
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Dinner tonight: David's Braised Kale with marinated Tempeh
Harry was less than impressed
But luckily I had some roasted asparagus in the oven, so I got the "hmm, this isn't bad, I think I'll eat it" face.
Luckily his entree will be my lunch tomorrow
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I just discovered that there's a very active Eat-2-Live mailing list with lots of discussion of food. The current discussion seems to be about breakfast smoothies with fruit and veggies in them, but the history on the list shows many topics.
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Oy how I relate to this.
The one kid I sent to preschool (a Montessori program that I adored!) came home one day deciding that he loved chicken nuggets. I struggled with how to handle this, as we are a "mixed" family in the sense that my husband is not veg*n and our children see him consuming meat outside of the home.
I remember the late 2s up through the early 4s as being a time of food evolution, for all of my kids. It was most noticeable in the ones that went to preschool, I'd guess because they are regularly exposed to a different diet so it becomes "normalized" to them. Of course they want to try it, you know? I struggled with this because I was torn between my role as "I'm the parent and I know this food is crap for you" and wanting them to reach that decision on their own. Me personally, I'm the type of parent that people whisper about - I'm weird. I can admit it
At 3.5 my son was served chicken nuggets by a substitute teacher who didn't bother to check the food roster. I can only thank heavens that nobody was served something that resulted in an allergic reaction, but since that time my son has gone back and forth from eating chicken (never any other meat) to being veg*n. He's now 7. I do remember that upon that first taste, he had a hunger for chicken rivaled only by my 'hunger' to keep him off of it! He ate it whenever it was offered at school for probably 4-5 months before he OD'd on it. From that point forward he has only eaten it on occasion.
My rule with ANY meat is that I don't buy it or make it, and it doesn't enter my house. That was my rule with my husband, from Day 1, and I simply extended it to the rest of the family. They can live with that, and so can I. They know that they can eat it at school (if served) or at my inlaws house ... but know not not to order it if I'm taking them out to eat, or to ever write it on our grocery list. It's just like anything else, knowing that different environments have differing rules. I find that this particular son's interest in chicken is cyclical; he'll go months abstaining and then have a few weeks' time where he wants it. He has never shown any interest in any other type of meat, and regularly refuses requests to "just try it" as far as cow, pig, goat, lamb, or fish
As far as the processed foods go, in my life they're an inevitable reality. I've gone from the extreme of struggling to live this "ideal" life and learning to accept that moderation is the key to my sanity and family harmony. I keep a snack drawer filled with containers I've pre-packaged with snacks. Kids help themselves at any time, it's stocked weekly. I throw in a bunch of (my) preferred items and usually one of theirs - the compromise is that they may choose x-food but it needs to be from y-brand (of my choosing, usually organic). They love the fig newman "cookies" and rice crackers, neither of which are "ideal" but are decent alternatives to Cheetos or Oreos IMO. Once those containers of junk food are gone for the week, they're GONE for the week. No arguments, they can eat their share on the first day or spread them out over the course of the week .. that's on them to figure out (even the toddler). And they do! Family harmony, that's the name of the game .. and in my house, a sense of control on their part seems to do wonders. I bite my tongue a lot, though
The kids are all heavily involved in multiple sports, and we get lots of prepackaged snacks at sports events. Your son is in preschool, and it's just as inevitable there. It boils down to just doing the best you can; moderation. And everyone knowing in advance what to expect.
I'll say that each of the four older ones are veg*n (the exception being the aforementioned son who waivers back and forth, but is currently veg*n for Lent). I feel better knowing that they've arrived here thus far on their own accord. It's not an option all parents feel comfortable with, but it works for us.
I never had juice at home, probably because we never drank it when I was a kid so I've never developed a taste for it myself. By the time my kids got to school, all they had ever had was breastmilk and water. I think by that point the juice was overly sweet for them, because none of them ever got hooked on it. None of them drink it now. But one of the boys likes flavored water. Might that be an acceptable compromise?
I had a customer request a special drink once - 1 part club soda to 2 parts cranberry juice. She said it tasted like soda light; she got her fizzles but also her juice. I've always remembered that, not sure if that's another option for you or anyone else trying to wean down to primarily water.
I should have read the rest of the thread before I replied
Me, I'm Asian. Food is center to everything in my culture. Meals are as much about socializing as they are about nourishment. I refuse to create or engage in conflict when I have a bowl of steaming hot veggie noodles in front of me
Even my 2 year old. Today she didn't want to eat the my noodles. She rummaged around the pantry and found a potato. So we baked it. She had her brother help her with the oven dials and the timer; while she waited for it to cook she decided to have an "appetizer" of veggies that the rest of us were eating. Her brother didn't mind, and neither did I. He gets to set his own rules, and he's okay with being a short order cook
Um, drool. That looks DIVINE.
Isn't tempeh grande? ::swoon::
And dang if you don't make one seriously adorable kidlet.
thanks stirfry....kidlet....love that word!
and thanks for your post, I always enjoy reading your writing, and appreciate the peek into the veg*n family lifestyle! Thank you!!!
And it is so funny, I toured an all day montessori preschool last week (right now he's just in a daycare, I'm hoping to enroll him for this fall) and I was soooo excited to learn that every kid packs their lunch, and given the ethnic diversity of the class, they are very receptive to differences in cuisine "lifestyles".
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"Michael Pollan is the author, most recently, of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. His previous book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, was named one of the ten best books of 2006 by the New York Times and the Washington Post. It also won the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, the James Beard Award for best food writing, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His website is www.michaelpollan.com"
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An interesting article. Vegetarians have 75% less heart attacks. Vegans have 90% less heart attacks. Unfortunately, they don't include the source of the data, but those are pretty easy statistics to get your head around.
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I have 2 year old twins and a 4 month old daughter. For our family it's been easy to stick to whole grains and stay away from meats and cheese (mostly). They are great with eating whole fruits and some whole veggies. The veggies they aren't into (yet?
Someone mentioned that they don't like their kids to drink much juice. We give our kids fluoridated water in between meals, then for meals unsweetened soymilk, carrot juice and sometimes smoothies. Lately we've been vitamix'ing apple juice with handfuls of spinach and stick it in a sippy cup. They go DOWN on it.
SWMBO(
The good news: They had a special on reconditioned 5000's with a full 7-year warranty, $329. Then I found a $25 shipping discount as well. So that's not as bad as it could have been...right?
This blender better blow her socks off or I'm gonna have some 'splainin to do...:D
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Watts are one thing... just say "2 horsepower" and let it go at that
Explain that if your garage door opener stops working you can just use the blender to power it
Make sure she watches the video that comes with it... the amusement value is probably worth the cost difference. The matching blue shirts and khaki pants done in true infomercial style. It's actually really useful, but you gotta laugh at the marketing aspect of it.