Category: Helping Kids Love Food Blog

Dirt is a love spell from Mother Nature

May 17, 2016 / mmloftin

It’s May and gardening season is here! Hip hip hooray!

Whether you have a garden in the backyard, you plan a trip to a local farm or you volunteer at a community garden, make sure to get the entire family outside to see how food is made this summer!

Getting your hands dirty is fun and can be educational for everyone. Showing children, teens and even adults that food should come from the ground instead of a bag or box changes everything. They then gain a better understanding of what “real” food is and what their bodies need.

A farm/garden trip:

Farms and gardens are closer than you think: See what is close to you by searching on Google if you don’t know where to find a garden or farm. Reach out to your green thumbed friends (who ALWAYS want to show their hard work off) or start conversations with vendors at the farmers market.
Are you a believer? Before you take the family to the farm make sure you understand the importance in getting food from the ground. You aren’t going to be very convincing if you yourself aren’t a believer…and have a stash of Oreos in your purse. Kids pick up on your passion and beliefs. Do you want your child to be the healthiest he/she can be? Do you want to not have to force vegetables or fruits but instead have your children begging for them? Okay then, believe in the power and perfection of food straight from the ground.
Plan your trip, go somewhere you can get dirty! If you are able to, ask to work in the garden or farm. They will most likely say yes, because who doesn’t want extra free help. Whether it’s just pulling weeds, helping planting or picking ripe fruit, giving kids a first hand look helps build a deep love for food. Getting your hands dirty is like a love spell from Mother Nature.
Key points to cover while on your garden trip:

– Man made vs. nature made: Things that come from bags and boxes often times have chemicals in them that our bodies don’t want or need so we must pay attention to how much processed foods we have. While reminding them that they can still have their favorite cheddar bunnies or cookies but they should be limited because what our body really craves is things from the ground like fruits and vegetables!

– People have been eating things from the ground forever: Long before Cocoa Cola was even a thought in someone’s mind. How do you think Great Grandma and Grandpa (or Great Great Grandma depending your age) got their food? Giving examples that they can refer to helps them grasp what you are saying and really understand.

– How does it happen – the magic trick of seeds to plants: What is required for a seed to grow to a plant that produces fruit? Sun, water and healthy soil. Buy a pack of seeds and have your children see where the plant begins (these are just for show but if you want to go a step further, show them the seeds before you go to the farm/garden and put them in a pot with dirt in there. Only put a few seeds in on loosely packed dirt and cover them lightly with a little dirt. Now watch them grow!) For more information to get you prepped for the trip visit my Gardening 101 post!

– Conventional vs. Organic: Go into this as much as you want depending the ages of your children and your own beliefs. The take away being that they eat fruits/veggies not that they know the difference between these terms. Although, I think it is important for them to have heard of organic and know why some people prefer to eat organic produce (they have not been sprayed with pesticides or chemicals).

– What are GMOS? It’s not just OMG backwards. This would be an intro to this only to get them “in the know.” Play a game to see how many things you can make up with the letters GMO (general mommy offices, gross me out, goofy mummy octopus…hopefully your kids are more cleaver than me) then tell them that GMO actually stands for Genetically Modified Organisms. Lots of big words that means seeds are changed – or another word for that is modified – in a lab by scientists to get a specific trait or characteristic like preventing bugs from liking the fruit/veggie or to grow extra big. I like this website if you are looking for additional information regarding GMOs or are looking for kid friendly wording.
All that hard work…you’ve earned food! After you are tired from working and learning, a picnic makes a perfect relaxing ending to a garden day. Pack a snack with strictly things from the Earth. This will take some creativity and preparation from you. I suggest cut veggies and fruit, plain jane so they can see how they come straight from the ground then mix it up with an avocado/mango salad, roasted sweet potato fries to dip into homemade hummus, frozen grapes, apples and honey, etc.
Reinforce: Throughout the week write a note in their lunches with what local things you were able to put in their lunch or share at dinner what goodies came from the ground. Get it in those little noggins good while it is still fresh!

Remember that you can absolutely do this! It takes time (that most likely you don’t have) but it is completely worth it and you will have fun doing it. Look at it as an opportunity, an exciting adventure…not a chore or another have to.

Smile, get your hands dirty and have fun!

XO,

Cotton fields, Pluto Plantation

From Seed to Plate

January 26, 2016 / mmloftin

A closer look at plants

Allowing kids the opportunity to see how food is grown and literally taste the success of a crop is a wonderful way to help your children kindle a relationship with food.

People have been gardening for a very long time, let your children know that it was even before your grandparents and great grandparents were alive. Once upon a time, there were no food in boxes or bags, there was only food coming right out of the ground! Transparency with kids in regards to food is a good way to build trust so they can let down their food wall and accept the goodness of things coming from the ground.

Having a healthy garden is very similar to having a healthy body. Having a healthy body involves your entire body, from toes to head. Having a healthy garden depends on if you have a healthy soil or not. Nutrient dense soil (one way to get this is from composting), followed by sunlight and the cooperation of the weather are ways to insure your garden is taken care of. Different parts of the plant all work together to make the plant grow and be healthy.

Soil Food Web

The process goes a little something like this:

manufacture food through photosynthesis
Gas/air exchange (CO2 to Oxygen)
Protect vegetative and floral buds
Transport water
Store food during germinations
Collect water for roots
Provide shade for roots and stem
Flat to provide a lot of surface area for photosynthesis, gas exchange and water transportation.

Now that you have an overall idea of what all plants need to grow and what’s going on behind the scenes, let’s break down plant parts so little ears can understand. There are activities and snack ideas to assist you while you teach them about the wonders of plants! Remember to have fun. 🙂

Printable plant parts coloring page!

Introduction to the seed:

“I can hold 250 tomatoes in my hand.”

“How is this possible?”

The seed is made up of three main parts: embryo, endosperm and seed coat. Make the correlation between planting seeds and eating them. How good some seeds are for you loaded with protein and healthy fats.

Germenation is the resumption of active embryo growth. The embryo is basically a miniature plant. The endosperm is the built-in food supply, which is made up of proteins, carbohydrates or fats. The testa (seed coat) is the hard out covering, which protects the seed from disease and insects. It also prevents water from entering the seed, which would initiate the germination process before the proper time.

Vocab:

Seed coat – provides protection for the seeds
Embryonic Root – First part of the seed to grow and will turn into the root
Cotyledon – First set of “leaves” to emerge and provides nutrients for the tiny plant. They look unlike the rest of the leaves that will emerge.
First Leaves – These are the first true leaves and emerge after the cotyledons.

Hands on seed activity: Dissect a bean seed

To dissect the bean carefully remove the seed coat with your fingernails. Then separate the two halves (cotyledons). Inside you should find the tiny first leaves and the embryonic root.
Take this time to go over the parts of a seed – see below.
Now you can germinate the seeds to figure out if they are viable. You need a moist paper towel folded into quarters and 10 seeds of your liking. Place the seeds on the edge of the towel. Roll up the towel and place in a plastic bag. Level with the date and seed variety.
Once a day for the next week, have your child unroll the towel and blow on the seeds to give them one carbon dioxide.
Seeds are viable if 60% germinate within 5-7 days. Below 50% germination, seeds are considered non-viable.

Hands on seed activity 2: Grow an avocado tree

Does your family eat avocados? If not, you should start because they are the very best nutritionally and you can do so much with them. Ever heard of chocolate avocado brownies? Absolutely delicious. Avocados make everything better.

With all the avocado pits I end up with I thought that there must be something fun to do with them. Which brings me to growing your own avocado tree with just a few easy steps, some tooth picks, a glass of water and an avocado seed. Check the steps out here!

Growing an avocado tree is easy!

Snack ideas to focus on seeds:

Black bean hummus – I suggest adding pumpkin seeds to top it off!
Chia pudding – Chia seeds are delicious and nutritious. If your child doesn’t like the texture of chia seeds, simply throw them in the blender!

What are roots:

“What is your favorite root?”

“Carrots?!?”

Roots anchor and provide support for the plant.
Roots absorb the water and nutrients necessary for plant growth.
Roots prevent soil from eroding.
Roots increase organic material and help with moisture retention as they decompose (acting like a blanket).
Roots store sugars and carbohydrates.

Hands on root activity:

Cut off 2″ from the top of each carrot. Remove any old leaves. Place the carrot top cut side down in a plastic cup. Add water until the carrot is halfway covered. Place rocks around the carrot to hold it in place. Put the bowl in a bright place, but not too sunny or too hot. Make sure there is always water in the container.
Have your child predict what will happen to the carrot.

Snack idea to focus on roots:

Coat carrots in coconut oil then roast them in your oven at 350 for 30 minutes, if using the large carrots (do not overcook – mushy carrots are yuck). Once they have cooked, have your child season each one differently! I suggest trying salt, pepper, cinnamon, cumin, red pepper or even just toss one in butter.

Fun Root Fact:

Did you know? Aspen trees that grow near each other often share the same roots. This makes Pando, an Aspen tree grove in Utah, the world’s largest organism. It includes 47,000 stems and covers 107 acres. It is thought to be 80,000 years old!

Charlie pointing to some beautiful Aspen trees!

They will slowly but surely start to like plants. Persistence and education are your friend. Be patient, you are doing the very best you can. Plant those seeds of wisdom in your kids, they will start to grow soon.

You are doing the best you can. No one did anything worthwhile and life changing in one day! 😉 It takes time. You can do this! -ML

Give children the chance to like REAL food!

December 20, 2015 / mmloftin

Try out transparency and honesty with your child, who might I remind you is a human being just like you and I, and should not strictly be classified as a child void of taste buds.

Here is something to think about? If you didn’t know much about something and someone was forcing it on you…would you like that? No, no you probably would not. The same goes for children. Food should be made fun to get kids excited to eat and try it. By forcing something foreign on them, they turn their nose up as would I. Most child have only seen or been offered kid friendly food, such as; chicken fingers, fries, grilled cheese, peanut butter/jelly, etc. So when you offer a green bean or a carrot they aren’t used to seeing those colors, their mouths aren’t used to those textures, it is a strange food and since it is strange then that must mean that they don’t like it. Giving into that and treating your child like a child and assuming they won’t like something although they have never tried it or possibly didn’t like it in a different form once before. Instead give them the opportunity to try again and again while never shutting the door on a food because they don’t like it. Colors, flavors, textures – make food fun!

Kid friendly food is relatively new. Children in the 1920’s were not having frozen pizzas and fries for lunch but instead they ate REAL food. A child although little, they, out of anyone, deserve the very best food to help them grow into healthy adults. Their little brains crave food straight from the ground. Take a step back from the center aisles at the grocery and get lost in the produce department! Learn about fruits and vegetables with your child. The more they learn, see and feel, the more they will be willing to put it in their mouth and you won’t have to “force” them anymore.

Do you remember going back to class from lunch as a child exhausted, not being able to focus? I most certainly do. The cause…the glutenous, sugary, void of all nutrition lunch that the majority of children eat. It is the norm so don’t beat yourself up about it and good on you for reading this. You can change it all right now! Stand up and say I will feed my children things that I would eat because they deserve the best of the best! I understand that making your child a lunch for school everyday is maybe not possible for all but you can educate your child on how to make better decisions at school. Also, you can boycott the school lunch or a little less drastic encourage them to work on a garden to cafeteria program. Did you know that most schools only have heating kitchens because all they need to do is heat frozen foods for lunch? Push your child’s school to move towards having a functioning kitchen and a staff that actually cooks. Parents have to stand up if they want schools to change!

Hands on experience is a sure way to start a fire in their little hearts towards fruits/vegetables. An easy way to get a child hands on experience is to take a trip to a local indoor garden, farmers market or why not load up for a family trip to a farm? By showing children that food comes from the ground and not boxes, it opens their eyes and makes produce more approachable. If you are ready to dive in, grow your own garden in the backyard…it’s a lot easier than you think! By having the children plant, water, watch and harvest their own veggies they are more keen to eat them and be excited about it.

It is not easy to change the diet of your family especially if your kids are older and more used to certain foods but it is possible! I will say it again. It is possible. I promise you! I am proud of you for taking charge of the food your family eats and really investing in learning together about all the different delicious foods grown around the world.

YOU ARE A ROCKSTAR! – ML

Pure amazement by simply touching this magnificent creature. It helps to make things not seem so foreign when we can get our hands on it!

Fun Activities to Get Kids Excited About Food!

December 14, 2015 / mmloftin

Your kids will be more excited about eating healthy if you try to make it a fun learning experience for the entire family! Here are some activities that you can do to encourage eating healthy and growing a love for food in little hearts.

Grocery store trip learning about ingredients, labels and the difference between fresh foods and boxed foods.
Amount of sugar in soda visual lesson with a clip from the documentary Fed Up with how the stomach digests soda.
Make smoothies with their favorite fruits and vegetables. Talk about the different colors!
Play with produce veggie game…so many funny names, colors, shapes
What veggie/fruit are you song
Strawberry stamps with blueberry & coconut oil “ink” – describe what you see when you look at the strawberry close up! Seeds, colors, discuss how it is grown…
Make a berry bracelet: you will need – blackberries, strawberries and raspberries, an ice pick to make a small hole in the berries, thread unflavored dental floss threw the holes in the berries and tie onto wrist.
Make smoothies then put into popsicle molds for cooling summer treats
Banana nice cream – make ice cream by blending frozen bananas, with chocolate, cinnamon and/or a nut butter.
Blind taste testing using some comfort favorite foods as a trick to get them to try foods they have always refused to try before.

Examples of food to try:
m&m’s
banana
green bean
sweet potato
cauliflower
donut
pizza

Fruit in water – fun way to talk about berries and how they make a great natural sweetener and flavor adder
Watermelon slushy – take your watermelon and blend it in a food processor or blender
Make your own trail mix – let the children pick out what they would like to put in theirs

They are watching you and how you respond to food so get excited about food and make it fun for the entire family! Set a day once a week that you try a new foodie activity, even if it is just cooking something new together.

Most importantly food is fun…so NO stressing about it! – ML

Having healthy soil is the first step to gardening!

Don’t Let the Grocery Store be Your Enemy!

December 14, 2015 / mmloftin

For many parents going to the grocery is not a pleasant experience. Especially if there are little ones asking to have everything! But I urge you to get excited about going to the grocery and make it a fun family trip (at least once a month). Remember that if you are excited about food…your kids will be too! We want kids to know where our food comes from and although a trip to a farm or farmers market is the best, the grocery is also a place to help them become familiar with real food!

I suggest making a family scavenger hunt for your family. Make teams if your kids are too young to participate alone. When you write out the shopping list involve your kids, get their suggestions for what they would like to have for dinner and ask them what things they need to get for that dish. Involve them and it alleviates some of the mystery or scariness behind food. Let them know that it is a fun game and at the end they get to pick out one special something from the store – maybe something they have never tried before! If this sounds miserable for you because you fear your child will knock everything off the shelves while running through the aisles screaming then just make a special one time trip and really make it more of a learning lesson than a regular shopping trip!

Foods That Should be on Your Shopping List!

I broke these up into sections as to how you may find them in the grocery. Do NOT be overwhelmed by this list or attempt to buy them all in one trip. Just ease into it, try a new dish here or there. ALWAYS be kind to yourself as you are making this adjustment, trying new things in the kitchen or figuring ways to get your family to like vegetables. It is not easy but remember why you decided to make the change for yourself and your family.

Produce: (be cautious as to not buy more than your family can eat before they go bad so they don’t go to waste – if as you are figuring out what your family likes and doesn’t like and at first have produce going bad faster than you can eat…don’t forget about your freezer! It loves to keep things fresh for you until you are ready to eat them)

Avocados galore – store these in a brown bag with apples on a counter to ripen them quicker or for soft avocados keep them in the fridge to slow the speed they ripen at
Carrots (great with hummus or as an on the go snack)
Greens either in the plastic clam packages or – try swapping them every week so you can try different varieties and find your favorites
Lemons/Limes
Berries and tomatoes during summer months
Winter squash, brussel sprouts and root veggies during winter months
Sweet potatoes – the purple ones are my favorite!
Organic Apples
Various produce – I always suggest following sales when it comes to produce if you are watching your budget, make your meals for the week once you get to the store and see what is on sale

Meats/fish:

Organic chicken breast, thighs, drumsticks
Whole organic roast chickens
Ground bison
Bison hot dogs
Grass-fed sausage with no added sugar
Organic sliced turkey breast
Grass-fed bacon with low sugar
Organic Cage-Free eggs (Boiled, scrambled or fried egg) – the yolk is the best part so don’t forgo it
Wild caught fish – getting them fresh is the best but frozen is a good alternative for fish like Wild Salmon that you can only get 3 months out of the year
Gelatin/collagen – Great to add to smoothies and your family will never know

Dairy: (Other than contrary belief try to limit your dairy intake, with an exception of butter and ghee which in that case…get as much as you can!)

Grass-fed butter
Ghee which is clarified butter – this is sometimes not refrigerated but found on grocery shelves and is generally only at health food stores
Grass-fed milk cheese – try raw milk cheeses, they are often times easier to digest
Aged parmesan cheese
Whole milk that is NOT ultra pasteurized – Kalona Super Natural is my go to if I’m having craving milk
BPA-Free canned Coconut milk – be leery of the alternative milks in the refrigerated section, they are mostly water and most have a lot of additives and sweetness
Whole Yogurt – watch the sugar, I like plain then adding honey and/or fruit

Frozen:

Organic broccoli
Organic green beans
Frozen berries for smoothies
Hilary’s Veggie Patties

Nuts and seeds + similar goodies: (Soaked and dehydrated are the easiest way to digest nuts, this is easy to do with raw nuts purchased at the store. Just soak them in water overnight and dehydrate them if you are fortunate enough to have a dehydrator or you can bake them at the lowest temperature your oven will go for 5-10 hours depending the nut. They should be easy to break in half. Make sure you cook them long enough so you don’t get mold!)

Raw almonds
Raw walnuts
Raw cashews
Raw pecans
Raw pumpkin seeds
Pine nuts – try making your own pesto!
Dehydrated fruit with no added sugar
Trail mix with limited dried fruit and no milk chocolate pieces – watch out for sugar covered nuts

Oils/vinegar: (Fats are your friend!)

Organic coconut oil – cook with this oil, it is the most stable at high heats
Avocado oil
Olive oil – but not to cook with, just to drizzle after something is cooked
Grass-fed lard
Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar
Coconut Secret Liquid Aminos
Coconut Secret Vinegar

Bread/grains/rice/cereal and such

Whole wheat pizza
Whole wheat pita (also great with hummus)
Whole wheat pasta – great tossed in olive oil or ghee after it has cooked and top it with parmesan (fun fact: Italians feed their children parmesan like American child get string cheese, they say it helps develop and strengthen bones)
Sprouted wraps
Low sugar, high fiber cereal
Brown rice
Quinoa
Granola with the least amount of sugar

Beverages

Herbal Teas – hundreds of varieties, there is bound to be one that your family can share together
Kombucha – watch the sugar
Coconut water
Stevia water enhancers

Miscellaneous

Organic fermented vegetables or kraut
Fermented miso
Olives
Hummus
Red sauce – watch the sugar, or making your own is very easy! My go to recipe is carrot, celery, onion and a jar of organic tomatoes and basil, oregano and salt to taste
Granola bar – look for ones with no added sugar that only have fruits to sweeten
Grass-fed Beef Jerky (Epic Bars are very popular)
No sugar added nut butter – try one every month, sticking with peanut butter is boring, try almond or cashew butters or make your own
Fruit leather with no added sugar
Applesauce with no added sugar
Organic salsa – the refrigerated fresh kind is always better than jar
Non-gmo verified corn chips – I like the Sprouted Way Better sunflower or black bean tortilla chips or Jackson’s Honest Coconut Oil blue corn chips
Potato Chips cooked in coconut oil
Organic gluten-free crackers – Mary‘s are yummy and come in many flavors!
Organic black beans in Non-BPA lined cans
Organic kidney beans in Non-BPA lined cans

Shop, shop until you drop and remember that you don’t like everything and most likely your kids won’t either but try, try again. The goal is to find things they do like and with time you will. Don’t feel defeated when they don’t like your kale chips or first attempt at making hummus! They are not going to like everything. Prepare yourself for that. You may spend time, you don’t have, making things that they “claim” to hate and that really stinks. You fall off a bike and you get back on. Although I highly suggest eliminating saying bad things about food and not allowing them to say no or ew. Make a new family rule that you must try a bite of everything and if you don’t like it then simply say no thank you. I realize this is tough and possibly unrealistic for some to imagine. At first it will be the hardest, as they are getting used to how to talk about food with positivity and appreciating all that it does for them. Keep that chin up! You are planting seeds in their little minds and training those little tongues. You rock!

Have love for yourself and your efforts! – ML

P.S. If your children are older and you are making separate meals for each child…stop it right now! Family time is just that. Sharing food together. The same food. Think how it has been done for centuries. You eat what is in front of you or else you go hungry. If they don’t like it, they will learn eventually. This is especially tough. Think of the light at the end of the tunnel. What will you do with all that extra free time? You can do this!

Be cautious while shopping for healthy options. Millions of dollars each year go in to marketing products towards making you want them! “Natural” is a trick health term companies use to make the customer think their product is good for you. Always read what is actually in the product!