Kid's Nutrition

Two of my boy cousins, aged 11 & 16, have been staying with my parents this past week, and I've been helping entertain them as much as I can. They live about 2 hours away and have been on summer break for a couple of weeks. My Aunt & Uncle asked my mom if they could come spend a week here since their summer camp doesn't start until the end of June. 

It's been fun just talking to them and observing how they act & what they eat and it reminds me of my middle school and early high school years. The girlfriend talks and what's "cool". 

My younger cousin has the worst view of food in the world, but I'm pretty sure there's tons of 11 year olds out there just like him, so I shouldn't be so surprised. His main source of "fuel" has been macaroni & cheese and candy and he won't even try anything he isn't familiar with. Sweet potato fries, turkey burgers, quinoa, etc., it's all "ew" to him. I'll be eating something like a handful of almonds and say "Hey Jake, you want a few almonds?" just to see his facial expression. The older one is a little bit more adventurous and will almost try anything. 

My parents and I are kinda "whole foodies' so obviously didn't have much junk food in the house. My cousins were like "what the heck do we eat?!" So my mom & I took them to the grocery store and they filled the cart with Oreos, Doritos, Kraft mac&cheese, and pop-tarts. I think the healthiest thing in the cart was a bag of pistachios (which doesn't even have a dent in it 4 days later). 

It really makes me wonder and think about the value the education of nutrition and what our kids are being taught, if anything! I know I can't rely on society to teach my children good nutrition, with all the McDonalds commercials on tv & radio. I really hope I am instilling a good, healthy, "real,whole foods are best" image in Sophia or any of our other future kid's minds. Right now Sophia is a wonderful eater and eats a  lot of green beans, quinoa, carrots, sweet potatoes, and fruits. Her favorite food I think is avocado. She must take after me and my love for the cado! :)

I know later on she will obviously like some junk food & I'm not going to totally ban it but I want her to look at that stuff as a "treat" and not something you would eat everyday. 

I wish I had taken a picture of the shopping cart that day because I know if I had a picture of one from when I was in middle school, it probably looked pretty similar. Sad, but true. I hate posts without pictures so I leave you with this one.

Source

Love, 

Alex