5 Day Eating Plan for Kids

A few days ago, I decided to create a 5 day healthy plan for my children (I also pondered a running plan…haven’t got there yet!). Like I said before, we are a healthy bunch but with my youngest going through a bit of a fussy stage, I often feel dinner time is like ground hog day!!

After looking through numerous cooking books, visiting other parenting sites and talking it all through with my kids, we have decided upon the following plan for next week:

Numbers 2, 3 and 5 will be a breeze. Numbers 1 and 4 may be a challenge but they are willing to give it a go! The thing is, my youngest adores tuna, pasta and tomatoes BUT the thought of eating the 3 TOGETHER seems to amount to Treason in my house! Like wise with Mexican. I AM going to add in red kidney beans. Even if they just TRY them, I’ll be ecstatic!

I’m also going to take Tahlia’s tips on board (have you seen her last blog?) and sneak in a few side salads, although to be fair they are quite good with salads already (just don’t mention cucumber…!).

Join me – I’ll post the recipes as soon as I can.

Carly

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GETTING THE CHILDREN TO EAT MORE VEGGIES

WE’VE RECENTLY had half term, and this has resulted in some bad habits creeping in to our routine. Less fruit and veg, more reaching for the bad snacks and unsatisfying empty calories of crisps and quick snack.

Today I was talking to a lovely friend of mine, and we got on to the subject of food (we often do!) and she told me that her daughter has started to eat salad. When she was younger, her mum always had a side salad with her food. She decided to get her veggie intake up by doing the same, encouraging her children to initially have cucumber and tomato with their dinner, and eventually adding lettuce, shredded vegetables and lemon dressings. Today, she added pine nuts!

After a period of time, after watching mummy eating her eating her side salad, the children joined in. And now it’s a daily ritual, and they eat salad every day as part of their dinner.

This made me think about ways to encourage children to eat more veggies in their diet. Here’s what I came up with:

1. Eat more yourself! Follow my lovely friend’s example, and have a side salad every day. Eat more fruit and veg and stay away from the nasties.
2. Be sneaky…try blending vegetables in to sauces. When they polish the lot off, talk to them about the ingredients. Next time, blend them a little less.
3. Don’t offer crisps and unhealthy snacks at snack time. Give them healthy choices like a piece of fruit or a home-made granola bar and they can make a selection from a good choice.
4. Limit snack times to one after school, or two maximum during the holidays. Set clear times e.g. 11am and 4pm to set expectations on when snacking is ok.
5. Try making your own snack bars. There are lots of healthy fruit bar/granola bar recipes online or you could try out our recipe for fruit winders. This can help limit sugar intake too.
6. (yes I know I said 5!! but be consistent. Consistently offer good choices, buy fruit and healthy snacks and make them when you can so you’re sure on what’s inside them.

Good luck!! 🙂 Tahlia X

5 Day Plan…

Results of homemade Cod bites

Whilst trying to clean long forgotten paint brushes this morning, it struck me that I needed a bit of a plan. The first part of the plan, I decided, is that I’m going to search for some inspiration on a 5 day Healthy eating plan for the kids.

We’re already a pretty healthy bunch but one great thing about documenting what you cook, is that I’ve realised week on week it’s all a bit samey!! Time to change that.

The second thing is that Tahlia has inspired me to get my running shoes on again…..eeekkkkk!!! Now, I’m motivated enough to hit the gym and I attend workout sessions on a regular basis (4-5 times per week) but I mainly focus on core strength and body conditioning. Time to up my game! Twice last week I ran 2km on top of my normal gym sessions and my goodness…..it was hard!!! But I did it and was pretty proud of myself.

My aim & mentality with fitness and food is that it’s all about balance.

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I eat because I absolutely love food and I work out because it makes me feel strong and good about myself. I believe in fit, not skinny. I believe eat delicious food and enjoy life, but with a good healthy dose of balance.

Therefore, this evening I’m going to search for food and running inspiration and I’ll come up with my plans.

Meanwhile, this evenings dinner for my little cherubs is already sorted. If you’re looking for inspiration for a quick after school dinner, then I hope you find this useful…

Cod Bites

I’m hoping these will be met with approval by my kids. I quickly sliced up some partially defrosted Cod fillets. I whizzed 3 slices of brown bread in the mixer to make breadcrumbs. Next, I rolled a Cod strip into some plain flour, then into beaten egg and lastly covered it in the breadcrumbs. I did this for all of the Cod, in total it took me less than 10 minutes. I put them onto a baking sheet and they are waiting in the fridge until after school. You’ll note that I’ve left out herbs, which is usually a must for any of my cooking! My youngest is going through a bit of a fussy stage, so I therefore decided to keep it all quite plain. I will however, serve with homemade wedges and some Veg or Salad. Not forgetting a big splodge of Ketchup! Give it a go! I’ll share the cooked results later 🤞🏻

Carly