Really, You Can Enjoy the “Junk” Now and Then
It’s Mother’s Day and I’m on another mission. I have my husband, my brother with Down Syndrome and my two girls with me for the day. (My Mom is working and we’ll catch up with her later.) Of course, it’s up to me to decide what to do and we I’m thinking a fire outside while we teach my youngest to ride her bike would be a great family activity. The downside is that we’ve had cookouts a few times this week at other homes and I just can’t feed my children another one of those hot dogs that have questionable ingredients. I decided it was time for a trip to Whole Foods.
Usually I head to Whole Foods by myself. Cruise the aisles, read all the ingredients and somehow actually find some relaxing moments when I find the perfect ingredients for a great dinner. With the whole family in the store, this trip was a bit different. My kids, brother and husband all found the “junk” that I somehow manage to avoid. Cookies, cakes, chips, flavored drinks and then of course the bakery. Relaxing in the store was not going to be option… or was it?
I decided that I wasn’t going to stress over the family choices. Within reason (in other words 1-2 treats each) I let them pick out whatever their little hearts desired (husband too!). Hey, everyone deserves a little fun, right? So here are some treats we now have at home: 2 boxes of cookies from the bakery, some cereal with sugar that will be snacked on and avoided at breakfast time, and gummy bunnies. Not too bad!
The best part is that the kiddos also choose fresh bulk carrots for juicing, raw broccoli for their lunches and spelt bread for their sandwiches. Of course, we did remember the grass-fed, all beef, organic, uncured hot dogs for our cookout too! Keeping my cart contents in perspective, I’m really proud of my family and the choices they were able to make in keeping the healthy food choices more plentiful than the desserts. This was a great test to let go and see what happens, knowing that even if they picked with worst of the worst treats in the store, they were still avoiding high fructose corn syrup, artificial dyes and toxic preservatives.
So Mom and Dad, as your on your mission in the grocery store next time and you have the children in tow, see what they choose when they have a little freedom and you’ll see where your nutrition education needs to be improved. My next nutrition lesson based on our cart will be learning how to find food other than snacks, in fact I think they’ll each be shopping for the ingredients of their favorite recipes.
