Healthy habits are life long.
What if we raised our kids in such a way that they didn’t have to battle cravings?
What if they didn’t have to become adults that needed to make drastic changes to reverse heart disease or diabetes?
What if we could lower our kids risk of getting cancer?
What if they could grow up having a healthy relationship with food and the nourishment that it can give our bodies?
As parents we have the chance to not only stop our own struggles with lifestyle diseases (such as heart disease, stroke, allergies and type 2 diabetes) within our generation but the chance to stop passing them along. We can lead by example and show our kids how to live long healthy lives with the choices we make and encourage them to make.
Food should be enjoyed! Food can be rewarding (after all it is what sustains our life) but food doesn’t need to be full of sugar, salt, cholesterol and preservatives in order to check those boxes. Your kid’s perception of delicious can be guided in the direction of healthy choices such as fruit smoothies (without the milk and yogurt), frozen fruit popsicles instead of the ones made with high fructose corn syrup and artificially coloured dyes or cookies sweetened with chopped dates or maple syrup .
We don’t need to focus on what we should/are taking away from the kids, rather the focus needs to be on what we can add to these kids lives to give them the best possible future and tools to make the best possible decisions as adults.
Plant Based Jenny 