Food with BENEFITS.

by

rsz_screen_shot_2016-10-30_at_72933_am

caught in the F.W.B. act.

I’ve talked before about the fact we DON’T do food sneaks.

We each need to do what works best for our families and here slipping in super-foods would mean the Husband Child isn’t building life-long good habits.

We are tremendous fans of the open sneak—but that’s not what’s on my mind today.

Today we are focusing on the H-WORD.

The healthy.

The word which, thanks to peer’fluence, the Child suddenly associates with less-than-tasty, more-than-a-bit-vitamin’y and completely, utterly and wholly with me.

Cue sad face.

Screen shot 2014-03-11 at 5.08.08 AM

It isn’t she’s refusing healthy foods (yet).

She’s just suddenly become aware my choices intuitively veer toward healthier fare while the other adult biped’s may not.

Right now, I’m still offering choices (where I’m OK with all options proffered) and, for the most part, letting her make/choose her own meals/foods.

Sure, sometimes the school lunch she makes is pretty trashtastic. For the most part, however, Ive seen a shift as her ten year old body begins to learn what it needs to thrive..

Recently, after a crazy Saturday filled with gymnastics and bike riding, the Child was hangry famished.

She eagerly accepted an invitation for burgers & fries with friends yet later, as we lolled in bed chatting about her day, she moaned how her belly didn’t feel so good.

It hurt.

Are hamburgers not healthy? Are french fries bad? Is that why my belly hurts?

In that moment of fly-by-the-seat-of-my-yoga-pants parenting an idea was born.

I’m not a fan of the word healthy. I told her. I prefer F.W.B. Food with benefits.

(Here’s where, being who I am, I also spontaneously broke it all down into singing Who’s Down Wit’ F.W.B.?)

And a game of sorts was born.

As she made her breakfasts/lunches she no longer asked the annoying: Is this healthy? (<—-no fake-always-happy-parenting here. for some reason the constant barrage of that query was exhausting to this intuitive eater.)

The very next morning her question shifted to:

Is this an F.W.B.?

And a game of sorts took hold.

At least for now she pauses as she assembles her meals and examines her choices through the lens of What are this food’s benefits? versus a generalized Is this healthy?

Will this help me poop? Are there vitamins here for my eyes? Are there fats to make my hair shiny?

I hold no illusion this attitude will last forever, but while it endures it’s a welcome change (and infusion of levity) from the frustrated repetition of:

Is this healthy food, Mama?

The more she learns about the foods shes choosing (Who’s down with F.W.B? Yeah you know me!) the more she chooses to include ones which benefit her bod rather than sap her strength.

She owns her choices and, for the most part, makes ones which will fuel her day not leave her lagging.

Now you.

Lay it on me.

On us:

roasted cauliflower

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Comments

  1. I.Love.This!!! I’ve used the word healthy to describe foods and my kids have begun to ask questions about certain foods. I like using it in this phrase much better. I’m sure they’ll especially be excited to know which foods will help them poop better. Because anything about poop is 1000x better. At least for a 6 year old!

  2. Yeah you know me!!!!
    LOL – I love this because kids are so darn smart and I can’t draw a line in the sand of “healthy” vs “unhealthy” for my kids. I’ve taught them how to read labels and we usually refer to burgers and fries as “sometimes” food where chicken and broccoli is “anytime” food.
    Parenting is exhausting 🙂

  4. I’m down with F.W.B! I thinks a great idea for kids to know why some foods are better than others and what they benefit from making the good choices. I also love that your daughter gets to make her own choices…that empowers them!

  5. I could be down with this! I talk to my young patients ad nauseum, all day long about healthy foods. I see them glaze over, like frosting on a donut. They nod their heads in understanding when I speak of veggies, dreaming of french fries.

    Ay.

  6. Oh good lord this is all kinds of awesome! I love the idea of discussing specific benefits of food. It takes the notion of food as fuel so much farther because it really isn’t black and white. I’m starting this now – many years past the time I should have but maybe it’s not too late to sink in. 🙂

  11. Yes, yes, yes! Not every single bite that goes in needs to be an F.W.B., but as long as the majority of them are, life will be much better!

  12. Yes, yes, yes! Not every food you put in your mouth has to be an F.B.W., but if the majority of them are, life will be much better! That’s a fabulous attitude.

  16. I do agree with explaining the ‘why’ beyond just ‘it’s good for you.’ That said, I think you may also be somewhat fortunate with your child. 🙂

    There are 4 siblings in my family; two of them love pretty much all vegetables, the other two (myself included) are a whole lot fussier. It wasn’t that I wasn’t exposed to/encouraged to eat healthy stuff, it is purely a matter of taste buds. It did not matter how many times I heard that I should eat my carrots because vitamin A is good for my eyes, I still hate carrots (specifically cooked carrots, I will eat raw carrots and feel the same way about a lot of other veg – bring on the salad).

    So while I don’t necessarily think of hiding healthy foods (I have no children, so it’s only myself I’d be fooling), I do think about how I can make the healthy foods more palatable so that I can get the health benefits without trying to force down things that taste terrible to me. 🙂

  18. In our preschool we use the terms “sometimes” food (chips, cupcakes, etc.) and “always” foods (the fruits, veggies and whole grains and lean meats). I have a four year old in one class tell me she eats “Paleo”- and indeed she does! Our parents are super about giving growing kids what they need.

  19. I love this! (I also have the song in my head, thank you ;D) I’m waiting for a rap video with you two doing this. 🙂

    I’ve started playing the “name the veggies and fruit I ate today” game. If the list is long, I’m doing well and I get a pat on the back. If it stops pretty short or I realize I’m stretching for food (I had lettuce, tomato and onion, but it was on a burger), I need to go find me some produce!

  20. love this. i am a new mom and we eat pretty healthy, meaning whole foods. i don’t want her to be afraid of food at all, i’m all about quality and sourcing and teaching where food comes from. i don’t want to label foods as good or bad, i hate that. THIS. perfection. it’s how i pretty much view foods already. i don’t restrict, i just decided HOW do i want to FEEL after i eat. i say this all the time. yes! i love all the foods but at the end of the day i know that i like feeling good, that’s my thing. sure i can eat the xyz and feel like a slug after, or eat the abc and feel like a magical unicorn. i like unicorns over slugs any day. sorry slug. i love you but i don’t want to be you.
    this will be great for my little girl when she gets older. right now she’s 4 months old but time sure does fly. i’m super excited.
    THANK YOU

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