PCOS Message Board - View Single Post - How do you eat healthy when the rest of your family isn't?

kirvygerl · 07-03-2009, 09:58 PM

I don't see any reason why your family can't eat nutritious foods right along with you. You'll want to set your kiddos up for life-long good eating habits, so it would be great for them to start now! How old are they? Can they get involved in the process so they're more apt to want to make changes (even simple changes like white bread to wheat, white rice to brown, ect really add up). If they're old enough, I'd give them an age appropriate nutrition lesson and let them know the reasons we need to keep ourselves healthy (immediate impact like energy for school and growth, long term impact like avoiding diabetes, obesity, other diseases later in life). Then, I'd get them involved in the kitchen helping with food prep and using that time to teach them good nutrition. You could also check with the local community college or county office to see if they have a short-term "family nutrition" classes. Those are great fun, short (usually 2-6 weeks), are usually cheap, and offer wonderful information. They can often cover inexpensive, healthy meals for the entire family and also go over healthy substitutions.

In reference to snacks, I buy stuff that I'm okay eating occasionally if I have a "snack attack." My kids are still pretty young, so they don't ask for certain things yet, but I get whole grain crackers, real fruit and whole-wheat fruit bars, popcorn for the air popper we have, and make a healthy granola. We do fruits and cut-up cheese for a snack, celery with p-nut butter and raisins on it, celery with cream cheese, dried fruit and nuts, yogurt, ect. Do you have a Trader Joe's near you? They have great snack items that are a good price and are a good alternative to the unhealthier items (fruit bars that have no hydrogenated oils and no HFCS, taste great and are cheap, an "oreo" alternative that is pretty decent, ect).

Best of luck!