Healthy eating.

Here's just another reason why I'm loving homeschooling.  My kids eat healthier. 

There was a LOT more prepackaged stuff.  A lot more junk type food.  It's easier and faster to throw prepackaged stuff into a lunch box as you are yelling at the kids to hurry up and get their shoes on so you can get out the door on time!  Hurry up and get in the car so we are not late!  I don't want to have to pay the late fee!!!!!!!  (Yes, our school had a late fee.  No exceptions for morning drop offs.  $5 per kid if you were even 10 seconds past the 2nd bell.) 

This was my kids lunch today.

Yes.  Those are Doritos there.  But look at everything else.  A small veggie tray, yogurt, cheese, almonds.  And notice.  Do I have it on 3 separate plates?  No.  I serve a lunch like this family style.  Why?  Because they eat more!  And if they are eating healthy, why not let them eat more?  Notice the absence of juice or milk?  That's because they have access to milk and water all day.  Well, water for sure.  They get a cup of milk in the mornings and they can sip on it until it's gone which is typically lunch-ish time. They sip, they put it back in the fridge.  It works.  We have a water fountain outside so they can drink water whenever they want.  (Remember.  We live in the Los Angeles area.  My kids can play outside 350 days of the year.  The other 14, it's raining or too cold.)  Or they can ask for a cup and have water anytime.  They also have cups they keep in their beds for just water that they sip from all day long and I fill up once or twice.  It works.  :)

This is their lunch when they were done! 

Notice.  All the mini bell peppers are GONE.  That would be more Austin and Cody.  Especially Austin.  He eats them like candy!  If you offer him a red bell pepper his eyes light up as if you were offering him huge candy bar.  I could feed him just red bell peppers, cauliflower and broccoli and white rice and he would be a happy camper.  Being the mom I am though, I offer lots of choices and encourage him to eat the BBQ chicken with the homemade BBQ sauce on it.  Or the breaded baked pork chops.  Or the, well, you get it.  I encourage all my kids to try everything on their plates.  Most days I say, eat X amount of bites of Y because it's good for you.  The number of bites tends to coordinate with their age.  But not always. Back to the lunch.  The yogurts are GONE.  The cheese is GONE.  The almonds are GONE.  They ate some celery and a tiny bit of the other veggies.  But that's okay.  I just put this away and bring it back out tomorrow or the next day.  And trust me, you don't hear my kids asking for more food.  If they are hungry, they will eat it.  Notice the 'junk food' chips are still there.  Between the 3 of them, they maybe ate 1/3 of what I offered.  They chose the healthier stuff first.  

I also find that now that I"m homeschooling, I made better breakfasts.  Gone are the days of cereal or pop tarts every day.  I'm making turkey bacon and pancakes.  I made homemade Amish Chocolate Chip Banana Bread last night.  A whole loaf is already gone.  I do make Eggos many days.  But that's partly just because my kids like them.  Before, it was more along the lines of what can I make that won't get messy on their uniform because I don't have any more clean ones?  Or, What's the fastest thing I can shove into them to get them out the door because I don't want to be late and pay the late fee!!!!!?????

Don't get me wrong.  We eat our fair share of cookies and ice cream.  We go through stages where we have ice cream every night.  Or some sort of dessert.  And then we have many days when we don't.  Many more days of no dessert than we actually have it to be honest.  And sometimes, when my kids really want a treat, but I don't HAVE any cookies or what not in the house, 5 chocolate chips will satisfy them.  Why 5?  Because they can eat that many before they start melting in their hands!  That's why!

Ask anyone in my family and they will tell you my kids are really healthy eaters.  But then there's the baby.  Long story short, he really only likes things with a crunch or crispy texture right now.  Making it very difficult to get healthy things into him.  But I keep offering.  Every meal.  EVERY MEAL!  One day it will click that the peas are good.  Or that mashed potatoes are delicious.  Or that yogurt is yummy!   But for now, I clean most of that up off the ground and he eat the few crackers or chips I happen to have on my plate.  Or the crispy cooked spam.  Or cereal.  Lots and lots of cereal.  Or 1/4 of a container of 3rd stage baby food while I hold his hands down.  Poor guy.  He'll come around.  Eventually.