The breakdown of the traditional large family has created various complications when it comes to raising children. When many of the families were immigrating here from European countries, they had a large variety of ethnic foods. Eating was a communal activity. It often involved uncles, cousins, grandmothers, and a large variety of people. A lot of time was spent on preparation of the meals to build up a diversity of ingredients that kept things interesting. If you were fickle and did not like what was prepared, you didn’t eat. There was no TV dinner, fast food restaurant, or instant alternative to cry about.
This lifestyle was very beneficial. The wisdom of the elders and the healthy foods they prepared would be handed down through the generations. Children would grow up and associate many healthy foods with loved ones. These would be some of the fondest memories of their lives. Nowadays, working parents and grandparents are all too busy to cook healthy foods. Eating is more of a private occasion of whatever they might be able to pick up after work. Children who are exposed to these junk foods will become fickle eaters who demonize vegetables as inferior.
Fast foods actually work a lot like illicit drugs by stimulating the pleasure centers of the brain. The high levels of saturated fats, sugars, in calorie-packed processed foods can have your kids chasing after pizzas and coca cola like a rat navigating a maze for more crack. Children can become manipulative and throw temper tantrums to get their pleasure center rewards. Perplexed parents will cave in or try to force children to eat natural foods as punishment. These children may then go on to suffer from obesity, attention deficit disorders, hyperactivity, and type-2 diabetes.
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Why is Junk Food So Accessible to Children?
It is difficult for many parents to teach their children healthy eating habits because they look like total hypocrites. The problem with eating healthy for everyone these days is time and money. Fast food is inexpensive by comparison and an easy solution to fill your child’s tummy.
One solution is setting aside time on your days off for making large volumes of your own healthy fast food. It is possible to freeze some ready-to-go healthy meals or snacks that you can quickly heat up later. Instead of ordering pizzas, you can turn anything from a pita to a bagel into a pizza with some shredded cheese, veggies, and pizza sauce. Mothers might even consider building a family diet based on weight loss programs for women to reach health goals simultaneously.
Investing in a large chest freezer and cooking a variety of large meals that you can divide into portions and reheat on busy days is the best idea ever. If you know how to cook and can follow recipes to produce really interesting dishes, this is an awesome idea. The problem with food is that it is more entertainment for our mouth than anything. It is hard to make a meal satisfying because we do not create the diversity of dishes like large communal families did in days past.
How to Transform Fickle Eaters
If your child is already a fickle eater, it is never too late to pull the plug and get them eating healthy foods. No matter how much they cry for junk foods, you have to hold out and explain that junk food is no longer in your budget. If there are particular foods like peas or carrots that they have a psychological aversion to eating, you can blend these vegetables up and incorporate them into quiches, soups, and sauces to trick them into eating the foods. High-carb fruits like bananas, boiled eggs, peanut butter, alkaline water, whole grain pitas filled with unprocessed meats and vegetables, and maybe a small piece of chocolate will give your children a balanced and nutritious lunch every day.
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