According to my idol, Dr. Oz from Oprah, Fiber is THE most important thing in our diet.  Children over five should be consuming 5grams of fiber, plus their age.  So my 9 year old would need 14 grams of fiber a day.

So, they wanted pancakes for breakfast.  Sometimes I buy whole wheat pancake mix, sometimes I just buy what’s on sale.  Currently, I only have regular store brand buttermilk pancake mix.  So to up the fiber intake, I added 3 TBLS of Wheat germ, 2 TBL of flax meal, and ¾ C of frozen raspberries to 1 cup of the pancake mix.  Unfortunately, all this work only netted an extra 2 Grams of fiber per serving.  Nevertheless, it was better than none.  So I cooked them, and served them.  

Did they eat it?  I loved them actually, but then again, I love most food.  I would make them again for myself definitely.  The kids reaction; Erica, “EWWWW, what did you put in the pancakes?”

Me, “raspberries, you’ll like it.” 

Erica, “no I won’t, I hate raspberries.” 

Me, “you like raspberries,”

Erica, “not in pancakes I don’t”.

Me, “you have to try it anyway.” 

Erica, “only with syrup I’ll TRY it.” 

She took one bite and said, “I don’t like them” and walked away from the table “full”.

I guess I would have been better off serving a pear.  With the skin on I would have 4 grams of fiber and I know they like them. 

It has always been a challenge for me to include vegetables in a sack lunch.  Of course there is the old standby of cut up carrots with a side of ranch, but I’m sure this gets old quick, and it’s the first thing to be tossed in the garbage.   I think a key here to getting the carrots eaten is to not over pack.  If there is too much food, they won’t need to eat the healthiest thing in their lunch.

I have two in elementary school and one at home.  But today I packed a lunch for all three of them so I wouldn’t have to pull out the supplies a second time today.  I first cut the carrots into VERY thin strips, making it easy to eat with or without a dip.  I squirted a tablespoon of ranch into a small disposable container with a lid.  My daughter will bring this back because she uses a lunch box.  My son may, or may not return it, I’m taking my chances.   They each got a mini bagel with a small round slice of cheese I cut out with a round cookie cutter, and a small round slice of lean ham.  They got a handful of pistachio’s, which happen to be a table favorite.  My kids have told me other kids want their pistachio’s and are willing to trade desserts for them!!  Wow, who knew?  I cut up a pear so it’s easy to eat.  And of course I topped it off with a chocolate Hershey kiss.  Every child needs a small bite of chocolate, and you can’t be the only kid in school without a treat in your lunch bag. I also give them a quarter to buy a carton of milk.  So we have all the food groups represented here with both a fruit, a vegetable.  We’ve got our grains, protein, and some healthy fat from the nuts, some dairy,  and a small treat.  It’s so important this meal is balanced.  This will help them to think better in class and have the sustained energy only whole foods can offer. 

I already know the reaction when they come home.  They will have eaten everything because this is a common lunch I send.  Then my daughter will say, “you know that chocolate you put in my lunch?, where do you keep them, and can I have another?”

Many days, my kids literally survive on snacks.  Some days I don’t have time to fix actual meals, or we don’t have time to sit down for them, so my snacks need to pack a lot of nutrients in them.  However, constant snacking can get pricey.  An average pouch of fruit snacks (which carries no nutrients and does little to fill you up), can run 30 cents per pouch when paying retail price.  This doesn’t sound like a lot until your kids eat three a day, and give them away to the neighbors who always happen to get hungry right when they walk through the door. 

So today I decided to whip up a batch of muffins to have them on the counter when they walk through the door after school.    If in plain sight, my kids will usually check it out.  I got a package of muffin mix (although from scratch will always be healthier).  The mix costs me 1.00 because I love shopping sales with coupons.  Within 4 minutes I added the ¾ C of water, 2 eggs, and instead of the oil I used ¼ cup of applesauce.  Then I added 4 TBLS (a little more than ¼ C) of a soy based protein powder (found at health food stores, or body building outlets) and 4 TBLS of Flaxseed meal.  This small change added 4.5 grams of protein to EACH MUFFIN making each muffin 6.5 grams of protein, almost an extra gram of fiber per muffin, as well as some good healthy fat from the flax.    Flax is amazing!  Not only does it help to lower bad cholesterol, it also raises good cholesterol.  It can be added to any of your baked goods and substituted for shortening, cooking oil, or butter.    Total cost per muffin; around 10 cents.  

Did they eat it?  Well, when the kids walked through the door they exclaimed how good it smelled. 

They each took one and ate it.  I asked how it was, they said they liked it!  Hooray! Success!  I’ll wrap up the rest and pull them out in the morning for breakfast.

My passion and goal is to get the kids to want to eat healthy!  We won’t be with them throughout their lives pushing the healthy stuff on them and rewarding them with a cookie if they take one bite of their green beans.  Once your kids start making their own choices, they should be choosing healthy food, because they know it makes them feel better, have more energy, and because it tastes good.  Sharing ideas on how you accomplish this in real houses in real families will help all of us.  And I’ll start by saying, my kids don’t actually like pita bread dipped in hummus.  Nor do they like chopped prunes mixed with cottage cheese (which was an idea I read in a magazine this morning.)  But I will share ideas with you about things my kids will eat, what they love, and what they ask for seconds of!