YOU'RE THE BOSS! - HEALTHY EATING & A MESSAGE TO PARENTS

When I look back now, I realize one of the most amazing and important things my Mum gifted me and my siblings is a great relationship with, and championing of healthy foods, so making good healthy food choices is easy and second nature. 

(Also never eat chocolate on an empty stomach! That's stuck with me for life ;)

An old friend once told me if her daughter picked something up in the grocery store she wanted her to buy, she'd look at the ingredients on the box and say "I'm sorry I don't recognize any food in these ingredients, I don't know what Butylated hydroxytoluene or Titanium Dioxide is!" And the list goes on... 

How about 1 ingredient items - bananas, apples, oranges, nuts etc.

I give my kids toasted pumpkin seeds as a snack for school now, they're packed with protein, fiber, healthy fats, magnesium, zinc, and antioxidants etc.

It's so simple, you just buy the raw unsalted seeds, I usually get these or these or check for best deals, and cook them in a frying pan on medium to low heat (no need for oil), until they start turning brown. Don't let them burn. Remove from heat and put them in a bowl to cool down and that's it! (Amazon affiliate links)

There are so many chemicals and added sugar in the food these days it's worth trying to eat as simple and 'clean' as possible. 

An EWG study found that children’s cereal has, on average, over 40 percent more sugar than cereal marketed to adults!!! A single serving of the most sugary products can exceed 60 percent of the maximum daily amount recommended by health authorities. 

For a deeper dive into these chemicals lurking in cereal and snacks read here about the top 12 chemicals to avoid :

More than 10,000 chemicals, some of which are potentially toxic, are allowed in cereal, snacks, meat and many other types of food sold in the U.S.

Almost 99% of food chemicals introduced since 2000 were greenlighted for use by food and chemical companies rather than properly reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration. Many of these widely used chemicals are associated with major health harms, including increased risk of cancer, developmental harm and hormone disruption.

These substances end up in what we eat, thanks to a legal loophole that allows food ingredients to be classified as "generally recognized as safe." The loophole lets manufacturers – instead of the FDA – determine which food chemicals are safe to consume. Chemical and food companies have exploited this loophole for decades.

And 'Cereal Offenders : Potentially Harmful Ingredients In Breakfast Food' here

Another example, Potassium Bromate is a controversial food additive used mainly in baked goods as a flour improver. Many countries, including the European Union, Canada, United Kingdom, Brazil, and China, have banned it due to its potential harms to human health, including carcinogenicity.

For American readers - you may or may not know that some American products have extra health averse ingredients in the exact same items as Europe and Canada where these extra, unnecessary, ingredients are banned. See Vani Hari's shocking comparison of 6 American products that are completely different overseas.

E.G. Quaker Instant Oatmeal Packets :

UK - Quaker Wholegrain Rolled Oats, Sugar, Freeze Dried Raspberry Pieces, Freeze Dried Strawberry Pieces, Natural Flavouring.

US - Whole Grain Rolled Oats, Sugar, Creaming Agent (Maltodextrin, Sunflower And Palm Oils, Whey, Sodium Caseinate), Flavored And Colored Fruit Pieces (Dehydrated Apples [Treated With Sodium Sulfitel, Artificial Strawberry Flavor, Citric Acid, Red 40), Salt, Guar Gum, Artificial Flavor, Citric Acid, Niacinamide, Vitamin A Palmitate, Reduced Iron, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Thiamin
Mononitrate, Folic Acid.

Lastly, on a related topic, the EWG commissioned lab tests of 14 popular oat-based cereals, granola and other everyday products and found concerning amounts of the chemical chlormequat.

"Chlormequat exposure in animal studies has caused a host of reproductive and other health problems, suggesting the potential for harm to human health.

Unless and until federal regulators act to get chlormequat out of our food, buying organic can help reduce your potential exposure to the chemical".

See attached EWG chart for list of cereals and levels of chlormequat.

Chlormequat exposure has been linked to health problems in mammals including:

• Disrupting fetal growth
• Changing how heads and bones develop
• Altering metabolism
• Delaying development during puberty
• Changing sperm's ability to move efficiently
• Decreasing testosterone production
• Harming the nervous system

 

PARENTS - YOU ARE THE BOSS OF YOUR KIDS!

THEY LOOK TO YOU TO MAKE THE BEST DECISIONS FOR THEM.

FOOD IS THEIR FUEL. THE NUTRIENTS FROM THE FOOD WE EAT ARE BROKEN DOWN INTO BUILDING BLOCKS WHICH ARE THEN USED BY THEIR BODIES TO BUILD NEW CELLS AND REPAIR EXISTING ONES. TO GROW HEALTHY NEW CELLS, THE FUEL NEEDS TO BE HEALTHY.

AS CHILDREN DON'T DO THE GROCERY SHOP, YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE THE BEST FOODS FOR THEM. SAY - NO - TO - JUNK.

OVER AND OVER! OBVIOUSLY THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS, KIDS PARTIES ETC. THEY WILL A MILLION % THANK YOU IN THE END. WHERE POSSIBLE, IDEALLY PURCHASE ORGANIC OR NON GMO DAIRY AND MEAT PRODUCTS.

Check out the EWG's Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen lists of the most and least contaminated fruits and vegetables here to see what they recommend to ideally buy organic and what can be non-gmo.

READ LABELS AND INGREDIENTS CAREFULLY (OR WITH GLASSES!) - THE MAJORITY OF NON-ORGANIC CEREAL AND SNACKS THESE DAYS HAVE "MADE WITH BIOENGINEERED INGREDIENTS" IN TINY PRINT ON A SEPARATE LINE UNDER THE INGREDIENTS. 

CHECK THE ADDED SUGAR AMOUNT TOO. FIND SOMETHING LOW, IDEALLY ZERO BUT 4-7g MAX. YOUR KIDS WILL COME AROUND, MAKE IT FUN - BUY THREE DIFFERENT HEALTHY ONES AND DO A TASTE TEST. REMEMBER, YOU'RE THE BOSS!! IT'S NOT NEGOTIABLE. DON'T SLACK OFF. EATING AS CLEAN AS POSSIBLE WILL HAVE DRAMATIC RESULTS ON YOUR CHILDREN'S PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH. 

ALSO, THESE DAYS LONG LISTS OF OILS ARE IN EVERYTHING, CONSIDER CHOOSING SINGLE-SOURCE OILS, NOT BLENDS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. IT WILL SAY ON THE PRODUCT. e.g 100% Italian or 100% Californian etc.

DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH (DYOR), STAY INFORMED.

TIP: USE CHATGBT OR THE AI CHATBOT OF YOUR CHOICE TO SOURCE TAILORED RECIPES AND APPEALING MENU IDEAS MADE WITH SPECIFIC INGREDIENTS YOUR CHILDREN LIKE / LOVE :)