My Teens are Clean Eating Too

tricia19444

I have been slowly working into clean eating over the fall, although I didn't try as hard in December since my mom was visiting and we did a whirlwind weekend in New York City.
But all through December I worked to get my teens and husband on board to start January 1st as a family. There was a lot of processed crap in the house. Last Monday, we boxed it all up into plastic tubs and put it away. (I would have tossed it, but thats like tossing money... figured once the kids went 30 days without it, I would be more willing to trash it all). My husband is allowed to eat/drink what he wants at work. (He is a soda addict and I can't control that)
Our family rules are no added sugar, no white flour, and the only processed made foods we can buy must come from the local farm markets around us. (We had a Turkey Pot Pie last night that was made by a local free range bird farm and used whole grain wheat flour).
My 17 year old had heavy sugar withdrawals last Thursday, and my 14 year old seems to be doing okay. But neither one is a fruit and vegetable lover... they have their favorites and tolerate them. They are having a really hard time with school lunches and snacks for after school. They both do activities that have them go back to school some evenings till 9, so they need to be able to have portable and convenience foods to grab quick at home, or take with them.
Any advice from moms/dads doing this?

insights2

I don't have any advice, but I am sure wishing I had grown up learning about nutrition and foods!

simplyeater

It can be hard with kids, especially picky ones (which most of them are, right?). The important thing is to be consistent, their tastes WILL adapt as long as you stick with it. I have a rule of a fruit at every meal, which has really made mine expand their repertoire of fruits so as not to get bored. Sometimes though, kids are happy to eat the same things over and over. As long as they are healthy foods I don't think there is too much harm in that. Try making homemade trail mixes with dried (no sugar added), fruits and nuts. Make your own or find a local granola. If you eat cheeses, keep a variety of sliced or cubed cheese available. I always like to keep a veggie tray in the fridge ready for snacking anytime. Hummus, other bean dips or ones made with greek yogurt are yummy and pack in the protein. And of course always have fresh fruit on the counter and prepped in the fridge for easy grabbing!! Best of luck to you, I think it's great that your whole family is on board with you!

Eriam8

Wow that's awesome for your family! I wish i grew up like that.

I started doing the same, I cleared out all refined food (sugar, flour, pastas) mostly buy "natural'" or organic foods (it's hard in a small town, but i manage to at least eat organic 50% of the time, it's half the battle), I switched my salt to sea salt.
I still use sugar when I need it, but instead I use raw cane sugar (looks the same as refined sugar, but more yellow-ish and a bit more coarse).

My favorit snack is Peanut butter cookies.

I use
1/2 cup raw cane sugar.
1 run free egg from my friend's farm.
1/2 cup All natural peanut butter.

mix it up, cook it 10 minutes and it makes delicious chewy cookies.
Sure the calories aren't the best (it's cookies after all) but there is nothing refined or processed food in it.

And i know it has been said many times, but if your kids help make dinner, they will eat it more. Seeing how older your kids are, why don't you try adding each a night where THEY have to plan dinner that has to include 1 green veggie, 1 protein, 1 fruit, ect...

Good luck

mmtiernan

My 16 year daughter eats clean - her fave snack is always an apple! Their tastebuds will change with time. The best thing that I did was get my daughter involved - this helped her feel that she had some say in what we ate and it helped to teach her how to eat clean (read that : eat properly!) and prepare menus and meals for herself. I subscribed to Clean Eating magazine and each Sunday, we go through the recipes she loves and a few new that she wants to try and make out a menu and a grocery list. She helps shop and most nights, she helps to prepare dinner.

We cook several chicken breasts ahead on Sunday, then through out the week she can cut up 1/2 a chicken breast for her lunch for a good protein or if we are in a rush to make dinner, there's chicken already pre-cooked that we can heat up with some veggies. We also buy bulk veggies to cut up and freeze on weekends such as peppers of different colors, onions, broccoli and cauliflower. That makes it easy to grab and cook up in a quick stir fry or add to a quick omelet for breakfast. I also keep frozen fruit in the freezer for quick clean smoothies - be sure to keep frozen bananas because adding just 1/2 a frozen banana to a smoothie will make it creamy and smooth like a milkshake. I also buy protein powder for adding to smoothies or milk (to make a better for you chocolate milk), but be sure to read the labels because many flavored protein powders have added sugars to help the taste, which you want to avoid.

Look up www.thegraciouspantry.com - she has many excellent clean dishes. You could try out her protein bars as a quick grab for your kids too: http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/clean-eating-cinnamon-chocolate-chip-protein-bars/ (note that it only uses 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips - which translates to: a scant, sprinkling of chips to give it appeal but not make it a junk food!)

Good luck and congrats on getting your family on board!!