Good Food Part 2- Eating Healthy

Eating Healthy has been ingrained in me from an early age.  My mom was the original health nut, something I am eternally grateful for.  Healthy eating has always been a part of my life.  I still remember going to a friend’s house for lunch when I was about 6 and having full sugar peanut butter for the first time, what a treat!  Incidentally, I now prefer all-natural peanut butter.  Mom recognized the health benefits of whole grains way before it was trendy.  No white bread or rice in our house!  She was also wary of chemical additives such as aspartame, MSG, artificial coloring and took all precautions to remove them from our diet.  I remember being livid that I wasn't allowed coco pops as a kid for breakfast or potato chips in my lunchbox.  Mom stood fast and as I got older I recognized the reasons behind her healthy madness and started making healthy choices for myself.  I packed my own lunch all through high school.  Yogurt, wholegrain crackers, fresh fruit and a carton of milk, nearly every day.  I continued this through my college years and even after and am now sharing the same healthy eating habits with my daughter.  It comes naturally now, and after a lifetime of healthy eating I find that fatty foods actually make me feel ill, nothing like that to make you think twice about ordering a BigMac and super size fries! 

Another thing that mom taught me was how to cook.  Not how to follow recipes, although she has a great stash all filed away, but how to mix ingredients intuitively.  I know which flavors work together and can throw a great meal together at the drop of a hat.  This skill has allowed me to keep clear of the prepared food section of the supermarket, why buy overpriced, unhealthy and tasteless food if you can make it yourself? 

In my opinion healthy eating is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves and our children.  There are so many fantastic foods out there that are not only healthy for us but taste great too!  From the time I started giving Livylu 'real' food she's been eating the same as my husband and me.  I have no doubt that this is the reason she's such a good eater.  Yes, we have the occasional fuss over an unusually large chunk of onion and she even went through a phase where she refused to eat veggies.  This was never going to fly in my house so I persisted, for what seemed like ages, but it's paid off in the end.  My child who 3 weeks ago would turn her nose up at a pepper actually requested that I buy red peppers at the store!