A whole family transitioning to whole foods

Organics has been a big topic of discussion recently at our house. What?!? Not every couple sits around discussing the chemicals used to grow our produce or to process our packaged foods?!? Yeah, okay, so we’re strange like that.

As I shared in a prior post about setting New Year goals, we have been taking deliberate steps to improve our families diet. We had a bountiful beginning in our efforts when we began participating in Bountiful Baskets. As we began researching organic foods, a few weeks ago we decided to order an organic bountiful basket.

Our organic basket did not appear to be that much different from a conventional basket. The price was $10 more, and the amount received appears to be a bit less. As it was organic, that was expected. As always the littles enjoyed the fruit. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with so many limes or the red chard….what’s red chard?!? A little internet searching and cookbook flipping and we enjoyed a dinner of lime chicken, red chard, and quinoa with carrots (followed package cooking directions only substituted homemade broth for water and added approximately 1 cup diced carrots).

If your kids are like mine, they would turn up their noses to at a delicious dinner like this. Although we’ve never been a junk food family, our kids are still picky eaters. Little Bear especially would prefer to forgo food for days waiting for a hopeful serving of chicken nuggets or toast. The transition to a healthier diet has had some challenges. We’ve implemented a three no thank you bite dinner rule. I am a gracious mom and didn’t require three bites of the red chard. Magoo is our most adventurous eater and actually liked the red chard and had seconds!! Each of the littles are finding they like foods they didn’t think they would ever eat. (one and two for the red chard)

From our research of organics we’ve decided to remain with conventional bountiful baskets. There are differing levels of pesticides used when growing foods depending on the crop. Mercola.com offers a free report on ways to know real organic food, that includes a list of high and low pesticide grown crops. We do not know what will be in the next weeks basket from Bountiful Basket, so will make our organic purchases separately.

Although we are enjoying more whole foods in our diet, processed foods have not been completely eliminated from our shopping list. Package reading can feel overwhelming at times. Packaging can be so misleading as I discovered at 100 days of real food.

For our family, public enemy #1 can be found in artificial colors. Dr. Mercola featured a post of the top 10 food additives to avoid which cited : Artificial colorings may contribute to behavioral problems in children and lead to a significant reduction in IQ. Through homeschooling, I have witnessed first hand the effects of artificial colors. We can have it eliminated from the littles’ diets for weeks, but one unexpected snack with friends or at church and we experience immediate challenges with behavior, concentration and focus.

Educating our children, and training them to make healthy food choices is paramount. I was proud of Magoo recently when he passed on a “colorful” snack at Sunday school. Unsure if the snack of processed food was naturally or artificially colored, he made the choice to politely pass on the snack. The littles participate in making healthy snacks. In addition to fresh fruits and vegetables, we keep a box in our cupboard filled with snack sized portions of dried fruit, nuts, and crackers. As the littles get involved it making health snacks, I pray they learn to make healthy choices.