Healthy Eating Alternatives, 2nd Edition with Bonus Content: Family Meal Planning with a Surprisingly Healthy Twist

By Francine Freise, MBA

For those days when an airplane couldn't get you there on time, healthy meals no longer need to be a competing priority. From healthy substitutions to parenting experiences (good and bad), these ideas and concepts will help you optimize your time without compromising results. In addition, each section contains tips that have been proven to transform stressed-out mom to supermom in no time. Spoiler alert...there are no magic recipes in this book, only real life examples of what has actually worked for health conscious moms and dads.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Francine Freise, MBA
• Release date: Aug 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370070091

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Pop Quiz:

Have you ever given your child a phone or other electronic device while out to dinner?

Do you ever find yourself offering rewards for finishing a meal?

Do you feel embarrassed or frustrated when your child refuses to try half the dishes at a holiday gathering, like everyone is thinking you are an inadequate parent?

If you answered yes to at least one of these questions, you are like me and most other moms and dads that I know. If you cannot relate, I’m super jealous.

You find yourself starting with an excuse. In the toddler phase, you broadcast that he didn’t nap today. As your children get older, you announce that she hasn’t been feeling well the past few days or it has been a long week.

Your mom friends give a nod of approval, code for we get it. Unlike your sympathetic friends, your mother unintentionally villainizes you by offering the least nutritious option imaginable to your unyielding child.

Your father-in-law loudly recalls how in his day you ate your peas…no questions asked. Your husband is annoyed that another meal is turning into a battle of wills. Sound familiar?

Fast forward a few years and now your little angel can voice or worse, strongly argue their points. I don’t like fish, I want pizza, can I have dessert?

It’s one thing when you’re on vacation and likely to concede. It’s another thing when you’ve just spent over an hour cooking after a long day in vain. For those of us who value a balanced meal and have embraced eating clean, finding meals that everyone at the table will enjoy has become as elusive as Santa Claus.

Sure, there might be the occasional night when all the stars align. Turns out that recipe that has gone viral on social media wasn’t overhyped after all. You leap for joy, possibly envisioning a future where you cook one meal for dinner instead of playing the role of a short order cook. Then reality sets in when the very next night, you get mediocre reviews from your kids.

Spoiler alert: There are no magic recipes in this book.

You might never escape the judgmental eyes of your pediatrician when you tell him that your son rather be tarred and feathered instead of eating anything green. Yes doctor, I have tried everything you suggested. #momfail

Rather than feel defeated, accept that you are trying and trying is enough. Although I cannot offer you miracles, what I can offer you is ideas, alternatives, and support through these endless phases.

Just like you, I’m a health-conscious mom who refuses to believe that most children are pre-disposed to liking junk food alone. If you cook it, they will come.

OVERVIEW

Healthy eating was once associated with anything other than fast food or junk food. In today’s world, healthy eating is a debatable subject. There are endless rants on social media regarding which foods can truly be categorized as healthy.

In a recent social media group, an innocent mom received intense criticism for suggesting raisins, packaged apple sauce, and a juice box as a craft for Valentine’s Day. Apparently, each of these snacks contains exorbitant amounts of sugar, which sparked outrage when described as healthy. Whoa!

Yes, we must be acutely aware of the ingredients in our foods. Many experts will say that if you cannot pronounce the ingredient, you probably should not eat the food. Duly noted.

If you subscribe to this school of thought, your cabinets may be scarce, as everything contains sugars or additives. And I mean everything. Even ketchup! So where do we draw the line?

Until I sat down to write this book, I did not realize how polarizing healthy eating could be. There are so many perspectives, none of which I exclusively subscribe to. Like most families, we feel that eating healthy is a lifestyle, not a temporary diet.

The reality is that all children do not enjoy all foods. That does not mean we should not keep trying to teach them good eating habits.

Over the past few years, I’ve pretty much heard it all. Spending endless hours with friends and family and the pickiest little eaters on the planet, there are many consistencies.

From not liking foods that are a certain color to eating only cold foods,