Making Food is a Family Collaboration
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Weekly Farmers Market Visits
The farmers market is a family ritual for us, a weekly adventure of discovery. Every Sunday morning at 8am, we take a trip to the Larchmont Village Farmers Market in Los Angeles. My kids talk to familiar farmers; schmooze new vendors; sample fruits, kombucha and dairy-free yogurts; and assist one of the vegetable vendors in shucking corn and de-leafing broccoli.
It is one of the highlights of their week!
Teaching Healthy Choices
People constantly ask me how I have been able to convince my two primary school-aged boys to eat healthy, unprocessed whole foods.
It’s really quite simple.
As a parent, I’ve learned that it’s not enough to espouse a certain lifestyle. You must actively practice what you preach – or your kids call your bluff. When you are conscious about the food that you eat, when you discuss the sources of your food with your kids, when you establish new eating habits together and allow them to actively pick out their food each week – you and your kids grow together in your habits. They will crave what they experience and they will feel confident in their choices if you feel confident in yours.
After avoiding kale chips for several years, my younger son started eating them a year ago because my wife mentioned that kale makes nightmares disappear. Does it work? According to him, it is the only foolproof method!
It’s not perfect. There are occasional slip-ups at school and tense standoffs in our pantry.
Food Substitutes
You also learn to find substitutes for common conventional foods. For instance, my younger son loves starch. So we take him to Trader Joe’s to pick out pastas that are more nutrient-dense than traditional, refined flour pasta: brown rice & quinoa, lentil, black bean. And sometimes to Whole Foods for his current fave: Banza chickpea pasta.
Social Pressure
There is strong social pressure to conform, however. Friends and family constantly get on my case for not allowing my kids to eat processed foods, partake of cake and ice cream at birthday parties or eat pizza, dairy and packaged snacks. They hound me that my kids are somehow missing out on “the fun things in life.” I point out that I have trained my kids with the knowledge to decide what goes into their stomachs. They choose to eat what they like, not what the majority is having.
My older son had a schoolteacher a couple years ago who got angry at him for refusing to eat the matzo that they made in class for Passover. She sternly told him that "if you don't have Celiac disease, then you are missing out on valuable nutrients in your diet”. The teacher was caught off guard when he responded back, deadpan, that refined flour has no nutrition!
Involve Kids In The Process
Whether it’s a farmers market, a trip to the local supermarket, a visit to a farm or even planning an Amazon Fresh order together, involving the kids in the process is very important. It will pay dividends throughout life.
