Healthy Choices

If you've ever looked through my "Lifestyles and Interests" blog roll, you've likely noticed that we strive for health in my little family. When friends realize that I don't keep the typical fruit snacks and jellos for my kids they often wonder what it is I feed them for snacks, at home and away. Well, since I've never had much of a will against artificially sweet things myself, I've tried to hold myself to the simple idea of "I will only eat what is available to me." I figure this applies to my children as well. So we keep plenty of sweet things around to please our palate, they just all happen to be natural and exceptionally healthy.

Here's a picture of my son yesterday afternoon. He was hungry, so he grabbed a chair, pushed it to the counter and began perusing. He ultimately ended up with that orange in his hand, but he often goes for any of the other goodies there: clementines, apples, bananas, bread, or almonds. The selection will change with the seasons. This summer he found a love for strawberries and peaches, and currently he loves to grab the carrots from the fridge.

Do my kids like sugar?? Why, yes. But do they notice when it is NOT in the house? Nope. In fact, in the weeks following Halloween my daughter saw that little bowl of suckers hanging out in the pantry and asked for one every. single. day. Until the day I got fed up with the requests (and giving in to them regularly) that I finally threw the rest of them out. She never even noticed. She had only wanted them because she could see them. A good lesson indeed.

*Don't mind the ripped up wall in my kitchen, we are currently undergoing a minor kitchen redo.*