Adoptive Parenting, Child Parenting - Top 5 tips for eating healthy with a toddler

02/08/07

Top 5 tips for eating healthy with a toddler

Posted by : Lauri in Adoptive Parenting Blog at 07:40 am , 401 words, 125 views
Categories: Eating Issues

If you’re a toddler Mom you probably have a pantry full of goldfish cracker, teddy grahams, Chocolate chip cookies, snack packs of pudding, mac & cheese, chicken nuggets and other toddler centered foods. If your one of those Mom’s who manage to eat all organic, whole wheat and get your kids to eat the same…. How do you do it? I know, I know our children can only eat what we offer them and all that jazz. But getting toddlers to eat is difficult and sometimes a whole grain teddy graham is the only grain they will eat. Surprisingly I did not gain a bunch of weight going from working to staying at home 10 months ago, probably because I’m running after a toddler all day long. I’m always striving to provide my family with healthier options such as whole wheat and fresh fruits & veggies. I try my best not to overdo it with snacking, most toddlers are snackers and now that its winter I’m finding myself snacking right along with her and those lbs can creep up. Besides working out twice a week here are my tips for eating healthy and keeping the lbs away. My biggest downfall is snacking.

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1.100 calorie snack packs- ingenious, they have them in every possible snack option- oreo, pecan sandies, chips ahoy . You pay for the convenience factor but so long as you just eat one you get a snack that is low fat & a sugar fix, I like to pair one with a yogurt.

2.Never eat out of the container, box or bag- don’t grab a bag of cookies or chips and sit by the TV, you can mindlessly eat the whole thing without even thinking about it. Instead put a set amount in a bowl.

3.Keep dip able veggies in a ziploc bag for snacking- then you can just grab them to munch on.

4.Bagged salad and precut veggies are more expensive but make preparing a salad much easier- I love salad but sometimes its such a pain to clean and get it all ready.

5.Modify your meals- If I’m making Livi nuggets for lunch and they are looking yummy, I throw a few ( 3) nuggets cut up in a big salad loaded with veggies for me with some lowfat ranch dressing.

How do you eat healthy when bombarded by toddler junk food?

Picture- Livi eating a typical lunch

7 comments

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: Sunbonnet Sue [Member]

When our son came home at age 13 months, he refused to eat everything except peanut butter crackers and juice. Turned out he had lots of food allergies. Eating, for him, was often a painful process. Many toddlers are more adventurous. We had a two year old foster girl who would eat nearly anything put in front of her.

Sue

Permalink 02/08/07 @ 08:43

Comment from: Elle [Member]

I limit the number of sugary foods in the house all together. I am not much of a snacker to begin with, but if there are little candy bars or such I will eat them. No, I don't feed little candy bars to the boy. We don't have many toddler centered foods around our house either. Goldfish crackers are about it. He eats the same things we eat at nearly every meal.

Permalink 02/08/07 @ 09:21

Comment from: jeneflower [Member]

· http://threesons.clubmom.com/

We don't keep a lot of snacks or toddler food around either. She eats what we eat except she also gets 3 bottles of pediasure a day/ and or carnation instant breakfast drink. That was recommended by our doctor.

Permalink 02/08/07 @ 20:56

Comment from: Lori [Member]

I am hardly the all organic type of mom, but my kids eat very little junk.
More than some kids but less than most. I just don`t buy a lot.

When Joey was a toddler he did not have a single piece of candy until after his 2nd bday and then it was a rare treat. Dawn was not so easy because she had already developed a major sweet tooth ( foster care)

Joey simply ate what he knew. He did not miss sugar and such because it was not a part of his diet.

Now that they are older we teach nutrition. Of course this is often off set by the peer pressure to eat the crud their peers eat.

My motto is everything in moderation. I have a friend that allows NO SUGAR, NO MILK, NO TRANS FAT, NO FAST FOOD etc etc. I am convinced she is raising a future teen that is going to eat himself sick the first solo visit to the mall. One time at our house he stumbled across a place of cookies a friend had given me, he snuck them all into the playroom and ate every last crumb.

This same friend is sometimes snarky about they way my kids eat. I figure the proof is in the pudding ( bad pun lol) my kids are hardly ever sick, I must be doing something right.

Permalink 02/08/07 @ 21:12

Comment from: Chance [Member]

We just don't have the foods in our house. All of our kids will eat the same food that we have. We just have to model it for them. If they have cookies its the oatmeal/peanut butter cookies that we make. After every meal my 3 year old will ask if he can have either a) yogurt or b) fruit. We don't have second helpings so he has learned if he is still hungry, then he has something healthy.

snacks consist of apple sauce, yogurt, fruit, cut veggies, jello or homemade cookies/gronala bars (which are not that often as both my husband and I work full time, and care for our kids full time).

Permalink 02/08/07 @ 23:16

Comment from: Lea Pisarik [Member]

I try to make sure our kids eat at least 2-3 helpings of fruit and 2-3 helpings of veggies a day. So far, they are not very picky eaters, although it won't surprise me if they day comes. They snack on sugar free, all natural yogurt, wheat bread/toast with cream cheese, all natural applesauce, cheese and fruits. They normally eat what we eat, however if we are eating something too spicy, I'll fix them something else. They love sweet potatoes, corn, green beans, peas, brocolli, carrots, potatoes, etc. I make up some pasta using wheat pasta, jars of sauce and chicken (using the roasted chicken already prepared at the grocery store). They love it; it's delicious, everyone who has tried it loves it. We have not bought any cookies since the boys came home and the only time they have goldfish is when we are runing errands and need a quick snack. I do, however, need my chocolate fix on a regular basis.

Permalink 02/09/07 @ 15:21

Comment from: Lea Pisarik [Member]

A friend of mine sent this to me today. Good link for healthy snack options.

http://www.bostonhealthcoach.com/healthysnacks.html

Permalink 02/09/07 @ 15:23

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