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I am obese and I know I have very bad eating habits. My baby will be 1 soon and I need some help with knowing what to feed her. I am sure there are things that I think are OK that are not, and things that are healthy that I have never ate or would even think of. I do not want her to get my eating habits and have a weight issue. I am hoping to improve what I eat as I learn how to feed her good foods.
I also need to know how to cook the foods in a good way for her. I grew up on sweet potatoes with all of the marshmellow goo and squash rolled in flour and fried in bacon greese and butter. And if I ate an apple it was in an apple pie with ice cream. I never ate a salad until I was married. Chicken was always fried. So even though I ate my fruits,veggies and chicken I never did it the right way.
ok lets start with veggies
you can take peas or corn, and boil or steam them, then saute' in a bit of olive oil--or better yet spray the pan with oil. add a pinch of salt.
you can do this with any veggie and just mix them up and cut them all about the same size...
for chicken (Breast) or beef, flatten the piece out, add maybe some mrs dash--no salt added, and put it in a grill pan of some kind--again just spray the pan with oil.
fruit--just eat it nice and fresh. no fruit roll ups dont count--lol
start peeling apples and pears and bananas for baby and cut them it small pieces --and you eat the rest!
i know how you feel and i many times cook something much more healthy for my son than what i crave.,..
It is so great that you are thinking about this early on, before bad habits are set.
I always try to remember that what I make and feed my kids is training them how to eat. Ex, adding butter you expect that velvety feeling in your mouth, which is why substitutes often don't work.
Like the poster above, I try to not add anything that isn't needed. Like salt, butter, sugar, dressing.
I also try to keep a mental count of what I serve my kids each day. I aim for 6 fruits/veggies, often don't make it to 6, but if I'm aiming for it we will do better.
Make sure there are healthy choices available.
When mine were little, I often diced carrots, celery, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, and par-boiled them. Then I had some in the fridge throughout the day.
Read labels. Look for little or no sugar, and whole grains. Buy less processed foods.
It is so great that you are thinking about this early on, before bad habits are set.
I always try to remember that what I make and feed my kids is training them how to eat. Ex, adding butter you expect that velvety feeling in your mouth, which is why substitutes often don't work.
Like the poster above, I try to not add anything that isn't needed. Like salt, butter, sugar, dressing.
I wouldn't go TOO far with that.. I grew up on skim milk and margarine. Hated butter and whole milk the first few times I tasted them, but eventually settled on butter (in moderation - use olive oil as a cooking sub usually) and 2% milk. I will never drink skim again, and I now know why I wanted to pour my dinner milk down the drain when mom wasn't looking (and I got away with it a lot). It didn't take long at all to acquire the taste for these things. I also don't like to buy what I consider fake food so margarine is out. My parents meant well. The 80's was the "fat-free" decade and margarine was believed to be really healthy. Now we know that all that fat-free focus made us all fatter than ever and we know about trans-fats in margarine being worse for you than too much regular fat.
To the OP, I think you have some good advice here. To change your eating habits I would focus on "whole foods" -- natural food like fruits and vegetables that don't have a bunch of chemical sounding things added.
I am a big label reader too.
Cook from scratch and shop the outside sections of the market.. produce, meat, dairy .. and avoid the inner aisles full of processed cookies, soups, and whatnot.
I'd suggest you get a couple of cookbooks that have a lot of vegetable based cooking. Jack Bishop's Vegetables Every Day is a good one. This is not a vegetarian cookbook, some of the recipes have meat in them.
You also might want to ask your pediatrician for advice and possibly a referral to a registered dietitian. If your area has a Children's Hospital they may also have some free advice. Good luck
As my children grew up we had lots of "savage-salads" which were nothing more then fresh raw veggies cut up with a ranch dip. Often times they didn't even use the dip!! My children rarely ate cooked veggies at all. They also had fresh fruits for their "treats". Cookies, chips, candy were rare. It is often whatever your child grows up with and gets use to that helps them to decide what they enjoy. I applaud you for thinking of your child here and making this effort to teach good eating habits to her. You know the pain you have gone through with a wieght problem and are doing such a great thing to help your daughter avoid that! And look at you too---you are going to turn yourself around too. Good girl.
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To the OP, I think you have some good advice here. To change your eating habits I would focus on "whole foods" -- natural food like fruits and vegetables that don't have a bunch of chemical sounding things added.
I am a big label reader too.
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yes, yes, yes! It really isn't rocket science. Natural, whole foods should be your basics. Avoid anything out of a box or prepackaged because they are all so full of salt it isn't even funny.
Get some good cookbooks, there are plenty out there for healthy easy meals. Lots and lots of veggies!
Go to the spark people diet website. They have a live healthy option. But you can get tons of recipes and healthy versions of not so healthy foods. If you go to the calorie log it will even have food suggestions based on flavors you like. You fill all that info out in the profile..But its so nice when you dont know what to eat or try thats not junky but still is tasty to you.
the most important thing is that you don't harp on your own weight or hers. It'll give her a complex if you do that.
when she's not hungry, she won't eat. period. when she is hungry, she will. Kids know when they want to eat and what.
Offer raw fruits and veggies. baked and broiled meats. whole grain breads and pastas.
I'm overweight but none of my kiddos are.
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