My kids don’t always love me for it, in fact it drives some of my kids downright crazy, but I try to be a stickler about what my kids eat. Â That means that most of the time when we are going through the grocery store I’m saying “No”,……”No”,….. “Um, no”,…….. “Are you serious?, No!” Â Do you ever have conversations that like with your children?
Children who have been adopted can have major issues surrounding food, particularly if they spent time in an orphanage or experienced abuse/neglect.  Even if a child experienced hunger as an infant, it can be something that they carry with them for the rest of their lives at a subconscious level.  Also, of course, the chances are very good that the nutrition they received while in their mother’s womb was barely adequate at best.
I know I feel better, think more clearly, have more energy, and just am generally in a better mood when I’m eating good food. Â Little bodies have got to feel better too when they are fueled with proper energy, not a bunch of sugary chemicals created in a lab. Â Especially those bodies that are sometimes overtaxed as it is with sensory and attention issues.
Good nutrition is extremely important regardless of how a child started out in life, but for my children whose start in life is questionable, good nutrition for them now is even more vital.
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| Jonah in Russia! |
Our quest to start eating better began when a certain blond boy, who shall remain nameless, was preschool age. Â He was busy! Â In to anything and everything busy. Â My mother in law mentioned that there was a diet that cut out the red dye in food and that led me to the Feingold Association, which then opened my eyes to all the crap that companies try and pass off as “food”. Â While we don’t necessarily follow that particular plan anymore, I do make an effort to buy things without artificial flavors, colors, msg, high fructose corn syrup, and preservatives. Â So, you can see why I say no quite a bit at the grocery store when my kids are with me.
There is so much confusing and conflicting nutrition information, it’s overwhelming.  Diary or no diary (we don’t), meat or no meat (I don’t, but the rest of the family does), carbs or no carbs (we do!).  I’m no nutrition expert and being informed about what is right for your family does take a bit of effort.
In my un-educated opinion a good start is using real, whole foods as much as possible. Â Avoid drive-thrus, and don’t drink empty calories like soda and “fruit” juices. Â Cooking from scratch isn’t really that much more time consuming and the health benefits are tremendous.
Keep in mind that if you are looking to make big changes, gradual is probably a good idea.  Start paying more attention to labels and ingredients.  I don’t stress too much about what my kids eat when we are out with family and friends.  Moderation is key and I certainly don’t want food issues that might be hanging around to become even more prevalent.  A majority of the time we eat at home, so 80-90% of the time our diet is pretty healthy.
I highly recommend checking out the Spoon Foundation, particularly if you are contemplating an adoption or in the midst of an adoption. Â Lots of excellent information.
Dr. Sears books have been a great resource for me, particularly The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood, another good place to get started is 100 Days to Real Food.
Getting proper nutrition is just as important as making sure our kids get adequate exercise and enough sleep, it really will make a difference!
Jen I love this post! I would love to sit down with you and chat about this. I too found the Feingold Diet and found it to be a tremendous source of information. Like you I removed food coloring from everything, including switching to natural toothpaste and hand soap! My family thought I was going overboard but now my oldest agrees that red 40 is not a good thing for her body (or anyone’s!)
Changing my family’s diet was work and at times it was a struggle. Who would have known that a year or two later we would be dealing with real food allergies (severe sensitivities) and all that work made the transition to removing even more foods easy.
This is a gift to your children. Many times it is easier to say yes. Yes to the processed granola bar. Yes to the fast food drive through. I can’t lie and say we never have fast food. We enjoy 5 Guys burgers every now and then. But knowing that when we are home I am doing all I can to give my kids what their bodies needs, makes me feel good.
Thanks Jessica, I could talk about this all day! My kids are slowly recognizing that the junk isn’t good for them, but we still eat more of it than I would like. Baby steps! I agree that it is easier to give in, but worth it in the end to stand our ground. Thanks for your response!
Great post Jen. We too eat a whole foods, when possible organic diet as well. About two years ago we gave up meat and about 5 years most dairy other than using organic butter here and there. I often wonder if our adopted kids issues would be worse if they ate all that stuff but they get it so rarley I wouldn’t know and don’t want to find out 🙂 We eat a little meat if we are going out, visiting and sometimes as a treat for a feast day. But we keep it as a treat just like the junk food and processed foods. It sure makes a person feel better and nothing makes one realize that like eatting junk again!
We also started making our own bread, then from there grinding our own wheat and now we are making sour dough. Its amazing the difference in the bread and how we feel especially with the sour dough! I highly recommend it… along with the fresh ground flour, talk about improvement to diet!
God bless!
We feed both of our kids whole unprocessed foods as much as possible. Our budget doesn’t allow for Mama and Daddy to also eat this way, but I want to be able to provide what is best for my kids first.
A neighbor of mine is very knowledgeable with the Feingold Association. I completely forgot about that one until you mentioned it. And Jonah! What a doll baby 🙂
Patty, I would agree, when life gets crazy it seems the first thing that can go out the window is the good food choices!
Julie, thanks for reading and for your comment! I have found that the package food from the health food store is pricey, but cooking from scratch I’ve found is generally less expensive. I keep things pretty simple most of the time and that helps keep the grocery bill in check.
I have never tried making sour dough bread, you will have to share a recipe! I like following your Pinterest boards 🙂
Neat post! I definitely have those conversations with my kids! We are not a family who stays away from anything in particular. We try to eat balanced meals and I’m always preaching that we have a fruit or vegetable with every meal. We eat sweets once in awhile but not all the time. We break down and eat fast food sometimes but not very often. I just keep going back to *balance* for our family.