As Moms / Parents, we all have our children’s best interests at heart, especially when it comes to fundamental basics that will shape their course through life.
I feel very strongly that a child’s ‘diet’ is a fundamental cornerstone of their being.
As with all things, learning about healthy food and healthy habits should happen early on in life – they say the first 5 years are the most influential in a child’s development.
If you follow my blog, I assume that you also follow an LCHF or Low Carb lifestyle and therefor want the same for your kids.
So – LCHF kids – what’s the low-down?
Read on for my advice on how to raise LCHF Kids – as seen first on Changing Dream Foodie Fridays…
When we set out on a new health / lifestyle path, it’s often because we’ve made the wrong choices previously in our lives.
Not perhaps because we chose to, but we probably didn’t know any better.
In today’s day and age, we not only have the knowledge and resources to educate ourselves, but also our kids!
We have to make sure they make the right food choices.
We also live in a time where kids {and all people} have more choices than ever and even more access to the wrong stuff… Yes, it’s scary, but I truly believe that if we instil a love for food and an understanding of quality, real ingredients in our kids, they might just be okay.
I have two boys and it is difficult to control what they do or don’t eat. For us, low carb living isn’t just a diet that mommy’s on – it’s our lifestyle and we’re all committed to it. LCHF kids, daddy & mommy…
Do we ever ‘cheat’ or ‘fail’?
Yes, we do. But then we just carry on, on the right path. Healthy, low carb, is our normal.
With kids, there will be birthday parties, there will be school lunches or lunch boxes to pack, there will be tuck shop, friends, you-name-it…
I believe that there are parents out there that don’t realise all the hidden sugars and bad stuff in the food their kids eat – most don’t even give it a second thought, and although this really saddens me to my innermost core, it’s not really our place to advise other parents on their kids’ ‘diets’…
My advice for raising LCHF Kids:
- Keep your home a real food, sugar-free, low carb environment. Make the change today!
- Teach your kids about real food.
- Don’t stock any sweets (or other bad stuff) at home – it’ll just be a temptation, but do give them sugar-free, real food, dessert options on occasion.
- When possible, involve your kids in the cooking / prepping process.
- Feed them healthy fats that will keep them full and satisfied.
- Pack healthy, low carb, sugar-free lunch boxes – you will probably find that their school has a strict policy on sugar and sweets – that’s a good thing! Be glad.
- And be prepared – always have appropriate, healthy, filling snacks or nibbles on hand.
- When your kids attend birthday parties or play at a friend’s house – let them have some sweets {it’s really inevitable}, but do feed them a healthy, filling meal before they go. This will stop them from over-indulging. And if they still do, well, chances are they won’t feel great and perhaps next time they won’t indulge quite as much.
- Don’t use food as a reward.
- Don’t fall into the trap of making them finish all their food – if they don’t want to eat, they don’t have to. In our house, the rule is: they don’t have to finish their food, but meal time is meal time. They can’t ask for something else shortly after meal time…
On the other hand, my boys, the eldest in particular {age 5}, are like worms, seriously, they can eat and eat and eat. But they are not overweight, they really just have a healthy appetite and they really like veggies and good, healthy, real food, so Mommy is happy. - Do NOT buy fruit juice or other fizzy cold drinks – offer water, rooibos tea or milk {full cream}.
- Sugar sneaks in everywhere so remember to read labels – but a good rule of thumb is to stick to natural, real food.
Snack Time
Some of my boys’ favourite LCHF kids snacks or in-betweeners (or you can even use these for picnics) include:
- Quiches – crustless, obviously – I make them in a variety of flavours, sometimes as individual little ‘muffins’, sometimes as a ‘pizza tart’, etc. They love these – hot or cold!
- Cauli bites
- Meatballs
- Boiled eggs {my youngest is NOT a fan, but the other one can eat 3 in one go!}
- Carrots – oh my goodness, they’re like bunnies with their carrots, they love the stuff! Just plain raw.
- Cheese – they prefer mozzarella cheese as opposed to cheddar
- Seed crackers
- Cold meat & cheese roll-ups or just plain cold meats
- Small apples
- Bacon, bacon and more bacon
- Plain, double cream Greek-style yoghurt
- Strawberries
- Nuts – pretty much any variety
A Few Ideas
Here are some #KidApproved meal ideas from my blog:
(http://foodiegoesprimal.com/category/kiddies-meals-low-carb-kids-recipes/)
And some more specific snack ideas:
(http://foodiegoesprimal.com/category/low-carb-snacks/)
I suppose I’m lucky, in that my kids eat most of the things we do, but then again, I’d like to think it’s because they’re raised in a house where we appreciate and love real food.
With my youngest, it can sometimes be a bit trickier, as he really loves his bread and carbs… I always make sure I have the healthy things that HE really enjoys too. I also try and disguise the things he doesn’t like to eat, such as eggs – he actually LOVES his quiches… So! The biggest thing really is to be prepared and have appropriate snacks on hand!
Enjoy cooking with your little ones!
