motherhood

The Battle Over Healthy Foods

Sheri (When the Kids Go To Bed)

eat fruit

As I sat down for dinner with my family Sunday night I felt defeated. I honestly could have just crawled under the table and curled into a ball. Why is it so hard to get my family to eat healthy? It’s not like I’m trying to make them love tofu. It’s plain old chicken people. CHICKEN! Chicken not shaped like a dinosaur! I’m not trying to poison you like those dinos will.

You see that is my greatest fear. Fear that what my children are putting into their bodies is going one day cause major health problems. It’s what I think about at night when I try to sleep. I’m not always the one there feeding them. I’m not going to tell a friend or family member, please make sure you give my child fruit with their lunch, and you need to soak it in vinegar and water first to take off all that gross sulfate crap. No matter my efforts they’re still eating junk. No matter my efforts they still battle me, my husband battles me. It’s me against everyone. That’s how I was feeling that night. I’m the “nazi mom.” The “mean mom.” The mom that said, “No, I’m not buying those Cheetos that are going to rot your teeth and you can’t pronounce the ingredients.”

Is it awful that I want them to eat and love healthy foods? They used to love avocados, blueberries, and spinach raviolis…now serving those things to them is seen as torture. “How many bites do I have to eat?” It seems like I take one step forward in my quest and then two steps back. My kids know how to make healthy choices. They know the food groups and what foods do what for the body. Why do we argue time and time again? It’s exhausting but I’m NOT giving up.

I made chicken again tonight. Gave everyone a different vegetable because they don’t like the same things and I wasn’t in the mood to argue. Surprisingly everyone ate it without a complaint (most likely because this time I used panko and made it like a nugget). So although the battle is tough and sometimes I just want to get under that table, I’ll keep trucking on. I love my family and some day they will realize that me making them eat certain things is actually a form of love. And I have an asparagus fan now, pinch me!

Keep up the fight!

11 thoughts on “The Battle Over Healthy Foods”

  1. Good luck with your battle! My kids are somewhat selective–but they still eat lots of fruit and protein. Would love if they would eat some more variety, so I’ll keep trying too!

  2. We often have trouble with protein around here too. My little one is going through a phase with veggies. At least I hope it’s a phase. He used to eat all of them and recently rejects it. My older son is great about veggies, but does the “how many bites” with whatever protein I put in front of him aside from fish, even things he once loved. All we can do is keep trying, right?

  3. I know how you feel… Braxtyn is on a Velveeta shells and cheese kick. Like, that’s ALL he will eat the past 2 months :-/ I think some bribing may be in order for some more natural foods… any advice? You’ve been doing this longer than me 🙂

    1. My kids would eat mac n cheese every day if I let them. Now I just use it as a side dish that they can stick their veggies in. Berenstain Bears Too Much Junk Food was my first step. Switch out the velveeta shells for Annie shells and throw in some peas and hope for the best. Candle light dinners when trying new foods can be fun too (its harder to see the hidden green stuff). Good luck!!

      1. I know, I am partly (or mostly) to blame for buying it! I like the idea of switching it up with an organic brand and throwing in the veggies though…

  5. My kids love Mac n cheese and chicken nuggets too! Fruit is a bit easier, but veggies are a struggle too at times. Some meals are better than others. Good luck!

  6. This is all too familiar to me! My battle is also with the grandparents who seem to think I am depriving my children of ‘fun’ by asking that they don’t feed them hot chips and lollipops on a regular basis. I wish people would understand that wanting your kids to eat healthy food is about wanting them to have long, happy lives.

  7. We made a deal with the kids ages ago that if they ate a plate full of raw veggies before dinner (carrots, cucumbers and peppers) we wouldn’t make them eat whatever cooked veggies we were serving with dinner. They resisted for a while but now it works like a charm (especially since they’re usually starving by the time dinner goes on the table, so they practically jump on the raw veggies I put out, since there’s nothing else being offered before the meal).

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