Healthy Holiday Foods for Your Children

Image Courtesy of U.S. Department of Agriculture

Between homeschooling, wrapping Christmas presents, making decorations, spending time here on my blog =), and traveling to see family, I am trying to make time for my application process to become a leader for my local Attachment Parenting group. One of the questions that the liaison has asked me pertains to how my husband and I introduced solid foods to our daughter, who at almost 2 is nursing and going strong!

So I got to thinking about how we introduced foods to Annabelle almost a year and a half ago, and I also thought about what kinds of healthy foods to encourage for her now, especially with the holidays’ traditionally sweet and heavy foods. Here is how I responded regarding the way Annabelle began to eat solids:

I introduced solid foods to Annabelle by following her lead; that is, my husband and I noticed her eyes following our hands/utensils from dish to mouth (and that she seemed eager to try it). It dawned us then that we should offer her some of our food. At first, we introduced soft solids like pureed vegetables, oats, and rice. Over time, we introduced these foods in larger bites and eventually just shared whatever it was that we were eating with her. At most meals, I simply placed her on my lap and let her eat from my plate. She’s always insisted on holding her own spoon or fork, so we’d simply give her what she needed and let her take charge of feeding herself.

Perhaps because food and mealtimes were forced in my childhood home, I have responded as a parent by allowing my daughter to eat when she feels hungry (rather than coercing her into eating something she has no interest or appetite for). We generally have food accessible for her at all times. She now walks into the kitchen and opens the pantry or points to the fridge and tells us what she wants. She has a healthy appetite, although on one day she may eat as much as my husband and on another day she’ll eat very little. I suppose my approach to feeding solids has followed my approach to nursing on demand; that is, we feed her when she is hungry and offer her food at meal and snack times too.

As for finding healthy foods and a healthy diet that is appropriate for a growing toddler, I turned to holiday nutrition and snack tips from fellow mommy bloggers as well as from Dr. Sears. Below are a few resources that I like:

Super Healthy Kids

Amy at Super Healthy Kids has a degree in health education and opportunities galore for showing children how to eat healthfully; she is mom to 3 kids and is the president of Super Healthy Kids! Phew! Anyway, what I like about Amy’s blog is that she shares affordable and healthy recipes and snack ideas for kids, as well as ways to repurpose left over foods for other meals. I am looking forward to trying her homemade oats recipe, especially since Annabelle has a penchant for oats and nut butters (this week).

Family Education.com

Linda Piette, who I presume is an online writer, shares several healthy holiday snack ideas in this article. I am psyched to try, for the first time ever, making homemade roasted chestnuts. Linda also suggests cutting up a variety of fruits into different shapes for the fun of it; I like this idea and may add to it since our Montessori group had a similar food activity planned in which the children use the fruit shapes on a kabob spear to make fruit kabobs that follow a pattern (a great activity for older pre-schoolers).

Kaboose

Bonnie Schiedel, who writes about healthy snack ideas at Kaboose, shares a long list of simple snacks that are easy to prepare. Among my favorites are trail mix, fruit, veggies and dip (Annabelle loves this one), and smoothies. A tip that Schiedel shares for encouraging healthy eating among our candy loving kiddos is to have healthy foods accessible all the time. One way that I provide healthy foods all day long is to keep a plate of crackers, sliced berries and bananas, and carrots on Annabelle’s table set so that she may snack when she feels hungry.

Dr. Sears L.E.A.N. Tips

In this article, Dr. Sears discusses how to enjoy holiday foods without overdoing it. Some of his tips for encouraging healthful holiday eating is to offer at least 3 or 4 veggie based dishes at holiday meals. He also suggests healthy alternatives to traditionally heavy indulgences; for example, he suggests substituting gravy and butter with cranberry sauce and using almond butter in place of peanut butter (this tip becomes even more healthful when parents choose organic almond butter since conventionally grown produce may be treated with pesticides). Another idea that I hope to implement for holiday baking is to substitute some sugar in recipes with spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.

What are your favorite healthy foods for your toddler or older children? Have you discovered any tricks for encouraging your children to eat mindfully and healthfully?