SOAPBOX: Kids and food

Let's just call this my kids and food manifesto.

I've had it. Our kids diets are appalling. They barely eat one fruit or vegetable per day. They gorge themselves on frozen processed foods, super salty ramen noodles, and snack on candy. If it weren't for ketchup, all their meals would be monochromatic.

I'm ready to lay down the law. Our mission is clear--this is our summer to get the family healthy

• Start them all on a kid's dietary supplement that isn't heavy with artificial colorings.

• Get them involved in planting and growing vegetables in our garden.

• I will start keeping food diary--I want to keep track of what they're eating and how quickly afterward someone has a meltdown, asks for a snack, or complains of being tired. Kids can have bad reactions to food colorings and nutritional deficits, which might manifest themselves as mood swings, anger issues, and an inability to express oneself clearly.

• I want them on probiotics. Kids who have had repeated ear infections and courses of antibiotics can have an excess of candida in their systems. Candida causes yeast infections and produces toxins--another factor that might contribute to mood swings. Probiotics would counteract the bad effects of antibiotics.

• Get the kids involved in food production--baking, cooking, mixing stuff in the kitchen

• Place a stronger emphasis on healthy foods in the diet

1. Order some nutrition books geared toward kids--convince them that they will be happier and healthier if they eat more fruits and veggies. Our kids will probably need more convincing than most and a definitive outside source would help tremendously. While discussing nutrition, they frequently seem to be somewhat mystified on how to define "healthy foods." A good book would go a long way to clarify some issues for them. I found a book on Amazon: My Food Pyramid
2. Talk with them at meal times and at the grocery store about healthy choices. Get them into a constant dialogue regarding what foods and activities would keep them strong and healthy.

• Stop serving junk. Throw all the junk away. No more chips. No more nuggets. Nothing fried. No more cereals with marshmallows. No more super sweet yogurt in dayglo colors.

I honestly don't mean to be a Nazi about this, but I feel enough is enough. I won't deny them the many pleasures of good food. This campaign of mine isn't about denial. It's about adding more things to the diet and judiciously expending their "pleasure" calories on foods that are higher in quality than Trix cereal or some damned box of cookies that contains garbage none of us can pronounce. Homemade pleasures are in abundance at our home and the kids can get involved in making those things. I know how to make homemade marshmallows for crying out loud! Mama ain't no slouch in the kitchen. The Chips A-frickin'-Hoy are not entering this household ever again!

--A