We all start at different places when we
find Eat to Live and healthy plant based eating and our kids are all so different,
but we are all aiming towards the same goal in the end so some of the same
steps apply to every family. Not all tips will apply to every family, of course. I do not take credit for any of the ideas below but have read and learned from many various places and people who have made this work in their own lives.
Just know
that none of this is particularly easy and all of it requires dedication and
extreme levels of patience on the part of all the parents involved. I recommend keeping a list of the foods they
like and continuing to offer ones they don’t, but without forcing them to eat
them beyond a taste each time and without getting upset when they don’t eat
them. It can take many, many times of
trying a food before they are accepted. Sometimes it never is and that’s okay too
because you can usually always find an alternative.
First, I
always start by recommending Disease Proof Your Child, even if you already have
Eat to Live or other books. There are
specific recommendations for helping kids make the switch that differ greatly
from the adult suggestions. You can
usually find it at your local library or order online from Amazon for around
$10-15 including shipping. Honestly, if you read and study that book, you
don’t need to read further because it covers the spectrum from pregnancy to
adulthood.
The steps and tips I've collected over the years -
Set the boundaries. I read a great book years ago about
healthy eating for kids and my favorite tip in it was one that Dr Fuhrman used
in his book also – basically, that parents are in charge of what foods are
brought into the house, and kids are in charge of what and how much they eat of
what is served. (We do not stick to that literally all of the
time because now that our kids are older, 8 and 18, they are mature enough to
realize that certain foods are required.
However, we do give them a choice as to how they get those foods into
their body: for greens, they can have a
green/fruit smoothie, a salad, hidden in a soup, or even just plain, fresh
greens eaten by themselves. But in some
way, they are required to get greens into their body that day.)
The rule
mentioned above is great for not setting up food battles/control issues early
in the child’s life, and thus you can have more freedom guiding them as they
get older. At least, that has been our
experience.
A note -
It is not my goal to control my son’s food for the rest of his life, or
to have him eat 100% perfectly plant based while in my home and then McDonald’s
for the rest of his adult life because his mother would never let him have a
donut or ice cream. I could easily force him to
adhere to Eat to Live only foods, but I want this conversion to be his own, for
him to want to eat this way, for life. Therefore, we are taking the long view with
our kids rather than forcing them and denying them any foods forever. We don’t bring them into our home, but we do
allow occasional treats outside the home. (See the DPYC
book on the subject of ice cream as a treat occasionally consumed outside the
home, a perfect example of the philosophy we’ve adopted).
Also, know how strict you need to be
based on your child’s health issues, if any. Sometimes,
small children or very lean children need more than vegan foods if they do not
consume foods like beans, soy, nuts in good quantities. Parents know their kids best, so be on the watch
for anything like losing weight in a lean child and so on. At times, you may need to adjust the diet
for them, as it says in DPYC and on the forums, even sometimes adding eggs and
such in some cases.
An Easy First Step - Build on current
good habits. Make a list of the healthy foods they
already like and serve them often. To
start, I offered baby carrots, sliced cucumbers, and grape tomatoes at every
meal my son had since they were his favorites. A vegetable tray of various cut, raw vegs
usually has something to appeal to everyone.
If they like fruit, give them
fruit after or with every meal. What grains do they like, nut butters,
starchy vegetables, beans, and so on? Serve these accepted foods often. Their
diet doesn’t have to be complicated and most kids will find something they like
from each of the five food groups (fruit, veg, grains/starches, nuts/seeds,
beans).
Step 2 - Go slow, super slow snail's pace slow, in the case of
picky eaters. In fact, go slow in changing the diet of
everyone unless there are health issues involved. Slowly, add in new foods, one or two at a time.
Even if it’s just one floret of steamed broccoli on their plate that
they are required to eat, it’s progress.
You can add a dip or a sauce if it makes it more appealing. My son started eating broccoli by dipping his
into a dry, spicy seasoning blend…the other day he ate a bowlful of plain,
steamed broccoli and came back for more.
Get them on board with the need for
change. Educate them.
Even little ones can be helped to realize that veggies, not milk, does a
body good. There are lots of books,
videos, and so on to help make it fun.
Schools don’t do enough in this regard, so parents must fill in the gap
with true information about why some foods are good for our body and why some
are bad. (As in, dairy and meat are not actually food groups that are good for us).
I’m always
quick to point out the food effects as I notice them in my son, such as when he
eats something junky that doesn’t agree with him or when he’s full of energy
after days of healthy eating. Older kids and teens can watch dvds like Forks
Over Knives, etc. and can even be incentivized to read books like Super
Immunity a little at a time. There are books like Mitch Spinach and
worksheets on the internet like the Engine 2 worksheets for kids to help teach
the younger set about healthy eating.
My son and I
watched Dr F on Dr Oz and learned about GBOMBS together, then made a plan to
get a little of each food into his diet each day. We worked on greens, then beans, and then
the onions/mushrooms until we had them all.
It took some time but a few months is NOTHING in the lifetime of a child
compared to how long he will be eating healthfully.
I’ve been
very surprised at how willing my son is to eat healthfully once he knows what
it can do for our body and how it protects us from getting sick. It was something I expected from the 18
year old but not the 7-8 year old. Again, educate as much as you can without being pushy.
Be sneaky if you have to.
We’ve blended up vegetables into our sons food and disguised his least
favorites since he was first eating table foods. He knows we do it and is okay with it. Sometimes, I let him try a food first to
make sure he likes it, then I’ll tell him what’s in it. Like Dr. Fuhrman’s Super Immunity chocolate
cake that he made on Dr Oz that has veggies in it – who cares, you’re still
eating cake that tastes great. He did notice that his pasta sauce was more brown/orange than red after I blended up kale into it, but it still tasted good, so he ate it and approved it.
Hunger can be a helpful tool. Food just tastes better when you’re
hungry. So, holding off on juice or
milk or snacks in between meals is a good way to help along the process of
learning to like new foods. This might
not be useful for the very young toddler, of course, so use it as it applies. With toddlers, though, juice and milk can
sometimes give them all the calories they need, so consider switching slowly to
water only, especially if picky eating is an issue.
We try to
let our kids hunger guide them naturally rather than expecting them to eat
certain amounts at certain times. This
only works with a loose schedule though, not usually with kids in a full school
schedule.
Phase out unhealthy foods.
There are several suggestions I’ve found on how to do this.
·
Find
an appealing substitute food. For their
milk based yogurt, you can try soy based yogurt, and see if they like it. We replaced ice cream with the frozen banana
ice cream and our son loved it (DD, not as much, so she just gave it
up). We remade our favorite banana
bread recipe to use oats instead of flour and raisins and fruit instead of the sugar, and
that went over well also.
·
Or,
eliminate the food altogether. Sometimes
the sub just isn’t good, especially if you go straight from the “real thing” to
a healthy version. So, instead of yogurt
and cereal, for instance, you’d move to hot oatmeal of a healthy oat bar from
one of the recipes on the site.
· Gradually
work your way to the healthy one. Mix
white pasta with wheat pasta, 50% of each, and gradually increase the whole
wheat version until they are comfortable eating only the wheat. Same with rices and other foods. (Our banana bread, mentioned above, was first half whole wheat flour and half oats, then half the sugar plus raisins, before making it to its current form of all oats and fruits, no sugar).
Notes on cooking for
the family…. I
would not recommend cooking two meals if one of the meals is unhealthy or bringing
unhealthy foods into the home any longer.
Usually, I have three meal options for each night, but all three are
healthy choices. My husband likes stews
and chili type soups, I like lentil and somewhat blended soups, and my son
likes neither of these because frankly my soup is a little gross looking with
all the muddy greens and browns in it ;)
Instead, I make him a dish that he enjoys and can eat as an alternative
for several nights, like whole wheat pasta with a tomato pasta sauce that has
veggies blended into it or a bean burrito with the same vegetables and greens
and mushrooms blended into it (just a few of the vegs/mushrooms in it). (I don’t cook three meals every night, I cook
three meals twice a week, and we eat the leftovers for 3 days or so. It honestly doesn’t take much more time to
cook two soups and pasta than it does to cook one soup.)
When I do
make chili or stew and ask him to eat it, I make sure it is full of his
favorite starchy vegetable or grain – like lots of brown rice for his beans or
chili and a half or full cup of frozen corn kernels in his stew.
At times, I’ve
allowed him a touch of old foods to add to the new foods just to bring him
around to eating them. Sometimes, a
pinch of skim shredded cheese on his chili or pasta will induce him to try something he wouldn't otherwise. The
DPYC book has allowances for some of these types of foods in limited amounts.
Cooking
healthy, plant based foods for kids is not the same as cooking ETL foods for
adults in many cases; although I’m sure there are some kids who would eat my
muddy greenish brown lentil, kale, carrot, mushroom soup, most would run away
in horror at the sight of it. Some kids do better with simple, plain foods
rather than overly complicated dishes.
A vegetable tray, a piece or cup of fruit, plain chickpeas, and the like.
Also, normal
weight, active, healthy children need to have more foods like oat bars, banana
bread, whole wheat pita sandwiches, rice, sweet potatoes, and so on in greater
quantity than adults who are usually trying to get or keep their weight down to
a normal range. They should also be
allowed and encouraged to eat nuts and seeds, seed & nut butters, and avocados
for the healthy fats at each meal.
I read a
post from Dr. Fuhrman who said that we should be making treats that are so
healthy that we don’t care if they don’t eat “real food” and just eat the
treat. I feel that way about my Health
Nut Cookie Bars – they have zucchini, carrots, raisins, oats, apples, and so on
with no added sweetener other than the raisins, etc. Even my husband now likes them for breakfast because they are faster than making oatmeal.
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A final note on picky eaters...
From the DPYC
book, the term variety driver is used. Here is a post about what this means -
My take on it so far - So, we all
know that offering a variety of unhealthy foods at one meal leads to
overeating. Think of a thanksgiving
table laden with various casseroles, meats, breads, and every dessert imaginable
and how that leads to pants being unbuckled and naps being taken whether you
want to or not.
You can use
this to your advantage in healthy eating by offering a variety of health foods
at each meal. A tray of cut vegetables,
a bowl of lightly steamed broccoli and carrots, soup brimming with healthy vegs
and beans, fresh cut fruit, and so on all available at once encourage a greater quantity of consumption of plant
foods.
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And one thing I did not address because I don't feel qualified to do so is what to do in homes where one parent is eating healthfully and one is not. To me, this is a spousal issue rather than a parent issue.
There are things to try like making a healthy dish like bean chili and add meat to it for the non-plant-based family. Eating a lot of vegetables and fruit and beans and nuts/seeds and whole grains is the key here, not just eliminating meat, so there is room for compromise. It might also be possible for you to ask the other parent to consume junk foods outside the home rather than inside, but again that is a spouse to spouse issue. I can only imagine that it would be extremely hard to get a child to eat vegetables if mom or dad is eating take out pizza.
