MACROBIOTIC OR HEALTHY FOODS FOR KIDS

This article was first published a few months ago in the Serbian magazine SENSA. It is an introduction to my next blog post about healthy snacks and desserts for kids.

I haven't yet met parents who don't consider the health of their children to be of the upmost importance. We all want what's best for our children, but when it comes to nutrition we are often not persistent and find excuses. There is a resistance to new and the unknown. We might curiously read numerous healthy recipes on the Internet but then after a long and tiresome day we prepare beans with sausages for the whole family (Serbian national dish).

I recall my pregnant friends becoming obsessed with healthy food, and professing how they would only give their kids healthy foods and no carbonated drinks or chocolate. I was the same, and I do believe that studying macrobiotics with Simon Brown helped me make healthier choices in the first few months when my baby started to eat solids.

Macrobiotics is often wrongly seen as a system of rigid rules where nothing but brown rice can be eaten. On the contrary, we have moved away from those narrow views. The answer lies in the name itself - you have heard this so many times, macro means big and bios means life. Long life. That's what we want for our kids and ourselves. I will not be defining macrobiotics here, like my teacher Simon Brown says "macrobiotics means different things to different people, but the food and its influence on our physical, mental and emotional health is the epicentre of macrobiotics for all".

Macrobiotic eating includes whole grains, vegetables, plant proteins like legumes and soy products, sea vegetables, pickled vegetables, fermented foods like miso, nuts and seeds, fruits and occasionally fish. I believe that healthy foods need to be tasty and fun, so that our children create positive associations.

WE ARE THE GUARDIANS OF KIDS' HABITS

Children are like sponges; they soak in everything from their environment and instinctively learn through imitating. I have learnt that I can't insist on my child not eating chocolate if I am eating it. It is at the very least two-faced, and kids very quickly notice when there are different rules for us adults! That leads to inevitable comparisons and questions - 'Why are they different from us?' That just additionally undermines the role of parents as their child's first teacher. They are not different from us. We forget how important and responsible we are as role models in their lives.

Simon Brown says "kids have a greater advantage because they don't conceptualise or try to eat according to rules, but they simply get used to certain tastes and form habits". In order to create a link between the foods we eat and the effects they have on us, offer your baby a wide spectrum of healthy whole foods; that is the secret to intuitively knowing what we nutritionally and energetically need. Kids won't crave green leafy vegetables, roasted pumpkin seeds or brown rice later in life if they have never tried it before. Which leads us to...

KEEP ONLY HEALTHY FOODS AT HOME

You know that - if you have chocolate at home, you'll eat it. Imagine how hidden biscuits and chocolates are tickling their fancy, but they can't reach them or they are told they are forbidden. So, fill your home only with healthy foods and snacks that kids can reach whenever they want to. You can't protect them from all the sugary temptations in the world, but you are the master of what is in your kitchen.

Allow kids to choose foods when you go shopping. Do give them a choice - shall we get juicy red apples or sweet cherries, mini green broccoli trees or zucchini magic wands? Make things up, rename foods together. It might be something you'll all remember years later.

This is also one of the ways for kids to create good habits and slowly take responsibility for their own health through the choices they make. "Dismiss the usual belief that kids don't eat vegetables because they don't like it, because that is not true", says macrobiotic counsellor Aine McAteer. "Offer them everything you want and don't have expectations. Pay attention how you talk about healthy food. Avoid situations where you promise your child ice cream if they eat vegetables."

SMILE AT THE TABLE

Food is not an invitation for disciplinary actions. If your child wanders away from the table (something most 2&3year olds often do), don't threaten him, raise your voice or drag him back to the table; that will only create quite a stressful situation for both of you. Keep his plate at the table, you continue with your meal, sometimes gently invite him back and show how much you miss him there. Smile at him. Offer him the food even if the rest of the family has finished. Regardless of how much he eats, it's good. A hungry child will always eat.

Mealtime is a unique opportunity for the whole family to gather and enjoy not only the healthy food, but also spending time together. Tell stories, laugh, share your day, food will be tastier with each mouthful.

LET'S NOURISH OUR KIDS

Kids that haven't started walking yet shouldn't eat any salt; it can be dangerous for their health. Afterwards you can start introducing very small quantities and when they turn 6 they can enjoy the salty food that you eat. Therefore when you cook for the whole family, always put aside a small portion for your kids before you add any salt. Use only unrefined sea salt.

You can prepare grain milk for babies and add some dry roast and ground sesame seed. Use different grains - whole oats, brown rice, and barley, whatever you have at hand.

If your child doesn't like cooked carrots, offer it raw or slightly blanched, cut into strips and serve with dips like hummus or different beans, or you can grate carrots with other vegetables and fruits. Experiment; try all sorts of different methods of cooking and serving. Kids quickly change their minds and nothing is final!

It is important how you present it! Be innovative, use cookie cutters for vegetables or tofu, make blanched or grilled vegetable rolls filled with grains and serve with dips. Let them play with it, food is supposed to be fun.

Include as many wholesome ingredients into your child's diet, that is the best gift you can give them!