03 May, 2010
Know More Do More Mondays: Junk food and snacking
Posted by andrea tomkins in: - Know More Do More
This past week we said no to junk food. This wasn’t an “official” tip from the Know More Do More tip jar, I chose to do this on my own. And I am so glad we did! Ditching junk food for a week allowed us to take stock of what we’re eating and get an honest perspective on (a) where the junk food comes from and (b) how we end up eating it. :)
As I mentioned at the end of last week’s post, I asked one of the girls to help make a list of the junk foods we were going to banish for the week. Then we stuck it on the fridge.
I thought this would be dead simple, but we did have a few hurdles to overcome.
- I had just made a batch of jello popsicles and they were just waiting for us in the freezer. This isn’t something they get to eat every day, but I did get some complaints. So I made fruit and yogurt smoothies and DIY lemonade for cool substitutes on warm days.
- We had just been to the Candy Store and there were a couple baggies of our favourite candies sitting right on the counter. I had to put everything away because if it’s out in the open it’s top of mind. And likely to be eaten.
- We still have Easter chocolate, can you believe it? The Easter bunny left a little too much sweet stuff and we’ve all gotten in the bad habit of grazing the candy bowl. Ugh. Had to put that away too.
- I didn’t know this at the beginning of the week, but both girls had a junk-food related fundraising events at their schools. Gah! One girl had two opportunities to buy popsicles on two separate days (money from sales going to cancer) and the other had a popcorn fundraiser. Popcorn wasn’t on our list of junk food, but this was caramel corn and thus had to be reclassified. That being said, I was incredibly proud of the girls. The popsicles were refused (although I wish the money had been given in lieu) and the popcorn was carried home to be eaten another day. To summarize: Both girls had to face a class full of kids eating popcorn and popsicles and they said no. (YAY.)
Anyway, we did it. Although I have to admit that Friday night was a stretch. We went out to a restaurant for pizza. Both girls had a glass of chocolate milk. We ate and drank with pleasure BUT when the server brought the bill on a little tray with eight hard candies I swept them into my purse. Cue the chorus.
“OH MOM.”
“What?”
“The candies are so small!”
“I know, but we’re not eating candy this week. Remember our list?”
There was grumbling, sure, but they had to admit, there was a list. There was no arguing with that.
Anyway, we found some good things to substitute as fun snacks this week; fruit, nuts, crackers and cheese (the girls LOVE cheese curds), and buttered hot air popcorn.
At this point I have to ask you a question. Do you ever wonder if you are overfeeding your kids? When the girls were small I found it hard to know how much food to serve our girls. I worried about feeding them too much, or not enough. It’s tough! How should we feed small humans who are growing every day?
I’ve written about my issues with snacks before, but when Emma was five I learned the best lesson about snacks EVER. And I wanted to share it with you.
Emma was attending a local co-op preschool. Each month I had to come in and help in the classroom (all the parents take turns doing this) and provide a mid-morning snack for the group on that day. We were given a list of suggestions of what to bring. No problem.
The teacher, a 25-year a veteran of the preschool scene, told us how much each child was to be served. I tell ya. It wasn’t much: one small glass of apple juice, two crackers (I don’t know what they’re called – the square ones that come in sleeves), one slice of fruit, one slice of (real) cheese. AND THAT WAS IT.
At first I scoffed. How could this be enough food? But you know what, it was fine. Kids could have more fruit if they wanted, maybe an extra cracker, but they usually didn’t. I had been looking at this snack thing all wrong. The midmorning snack isn’t supposed to be a meal, it’s a pit stop on the road to lunch. And if you overfill little tummies you run the risk of the kids not eating their meal. And we want them to eat their meals. The same idea applies for the after school snack. If you give your kid a granola bar at 4:30, don’t be surprised when they won’t eat their dinner an hour later. Our kids are not in danger of starving.
The Pre-school Snack Incident has remained in the back of my head ever since.
If my kids are truly whiny and hungry right before dinner I’ll put a bowl of raw carrots or red peppers on the dining room table for them to munch on while they’re cleaning up and setting the table. (Since the veggies were going to be part of their dinner anyway, no harm there, right?)
Phew. I feel like I have exhausted this topic for today. If you’ve got anything to add on the topic of kids, snack and junk food I would love to hear it. :)
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This post is part of the Know More Do More initiative spearheaded by the Champlain Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Network. KMDM is about empowering parents and inspiring them to take charge of their children’s health by taking easy steps to increase activity levels and improve eating habits. I’m one of two champion families who has been asked to take this challenge. You can join too. Check out the official website for more information. You can also get healthy tips by following @knowmoredomore on Twitter. If you’re blogging about your participation, please let me know so we can cheer each other on!
