I Do It For Their Health

There is a funny conundrum that comes along with deciding to provide your children with healthy, whole foods, and limiting or avoiding processed foods: others who choose a different lifestyle can take personal offense and feel attacked. It's a difficult situation. I sometimes feel like I have to tread lightly when I decline a certain food for my kids that someone else may be feeding theirs at the exact moment. But please understand, I am by NO MEANS judging you for what you feed your child, I just choose to do otherwise for mine.

The author of one blog that I follow, 100daysofrealfood.com, recently found herself under attack when it came out that her child was sneakily eating junk food at school. For some reason, people saw this as an opportunity to reprimand her for feeding her children only whole foods (with an occasional treat). "Restriction will only have the opposite effect" and all that jazz.  She received about 3,000 comments on her Facebook page about what I would consider a personal family matter. However, beautifully, instead of caving under the negativity of the moment, she found some really amazing positivity. Amongst the ugly things being posted, there were comments of reassurance. People with significant health issues wishing that they had learned the importance of a healthy diet when they were young. [Read the post entitled, "Raising Our Children on a Healthy Diet is Not Going to Ruin Them" HERE.]

 Lando the Monkey

Park the Veggie Monster

This brings me to why a choose to feed my children a healthy diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. What I want for my kids is that when they grow up, eating healthy, nutritious food is a no-brainer. Grabbing an apple and dipping it in sunflower butter is a snack they choose because it is delicious, satisfying, and they know it will give them nutrients they need. To me, it's like choosing to teach your children a second language at an early age. When you start them young the language is embedded in them. It becomes second nature and they don't have to over-think it like those who learn a second language later in life (like me in high school Spanish, "What is the word for food?" Oh, como. No, no that's not it.... Ah! Comida. Right!").  Eating healthy is what they know, what they like, and so, inevitably, what they do.

Parenting is about the hardest job around. We are all doing our best. I would never put someone down for what they feed their child, that's their business. I'm not perfect and I'm still learning, but I also will never stop trying to offer my children healthy, whole foods. I am teaching my kids so much right now: how to count to 20, how to sing the alphabet, how to use the potty, how not to put dirty shoes in their mouth (talking to you, Parker). And I also am teaching them to eat delicious, healthful foods that will set them up for a life of good health.

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Baby Food Makin' Mama

Now that Parker has approached the exciting age of eating solids, I have decided to do something I didn't do with Landon - make all of his baby food. I am happy to say that he is yet to have a single store-bought food, and boy is he eating up everything that comes his way.

There are so many reasons why I decided to make his food. With Landon, I did make him a couple of things, but because it was after he'd had only store-bought, the natural texture that comes along with homemade food proved to be too much. Also, I was SO AFRAID I would do something wrong, or that the foods I would use wouldn't be up to the quality of the "professionals." Fortunately, I see things very differently this time around.

Making Parker's baby food means giving him the best ingredients. It means that I am in control and he will not be getting any of those unnecessary additives that can come in jarred foods. It means saving money; always a bonus. And it means that I get to train his palate to accept the real textures and tastes that come along with the healthy foods that I love.

As I've gone about making his food, two things have become very clear: it is much easier than expected, and I enjoy it.... LOVE it, in fact. The difference seems to be in thinking about his food not as "baby food," but REAL food. Foods that I love, too, and now get to share with him. It's so fun to take vegetables and split them up, half for Parker, other half for our dinner that night. And, thanks to my vegetable steamer and trusty Vitamix, it really has been easy. Here's a step by step of the carrots I made a couple weeks ago:

Delicious organic carrots:

Peeled, chopped and in the steamer:

A quick blend:

Voila! My happy customer couldn't get enough!

What I don't serve that day gets frozen for another day :)

Something else that has become very apparent is the beautiful, rich color and flavors that come along with making baby food. I remember tasting Landon's food and it having NO FLAVOR. Homemade is flavor-packed. Again, this is just preparing Parker to love the REAL foods and flavors he will eat later, in their true form. Have you ever seen store-bought peas? They are usually a darker murky green color. Check out these peas I made - I love the color:

 

Now, I'm not saying that making baby food is right for everyone. What I am saying is that I absolutely love picking out, preparing, and making the food for my little (big) man. And now, a couple more pics of my littlest man eating.... because who doesn't love seeing that?

 

In case you're wondering, here are the three books I've been using. The first Cooking for Baby is a great recipe book for the little ones from baby to toddler-dom. Feeding Baby Green is more of the theoretical approach to making homemade foods. It did a great job of explaining the "why" and, also, making me see how simple and enjoyable making your baby's food should be (it reaches from womb to toddler years). First Foods is another recipe book and what I like to think of as "Making Baby Food for Dummies."  I actually picked this up with Landon... it's getting more use this time around :)