Ballons:
Good Nutrion for Good Health
I'm no nutrition prude. In fact, I'm a rather picky eater. If I could live off bread & butter, pizza, and
chicken fingers, I'd happily do it. I do, however, have some ideas for boosting your family's nutrition even
if you have picky eaters at home.
If you begin offering your babies and toddlers a wide variety of foods and avoid junk and sweets, you can
usually avoid the picky eater pitfall to begin with.
Whole grains
I believe whole grains are the single easiest and best way to improve your diet. White bread products, while
incredibly tasting when slathered with melty butter, are basically devoid of nutrition. They do almost nothing to build good health,
and they are a common cause of bowel and digestive problems.
Here in America, most of our bread products are made from wheat so I'd like to focus on whole grain wheat. Think
for a moment--why do you avoid whole wheat bread? Because it's brown and ugly? Because it's coarse and tough?
Or maybe you have no idea why.
I won't pretend that most whole wheat breads are heavy, coarse, and not very pleasant. I grew up eating smooth white
bread, and changing to one of those pound-a-slice varieties was not going to happen! If you keep searching, though,
you will find a smooth, light 100% whole wheat bread.
Currently, my family is using Kroger brand 100% whole wheat which is quite good (in my opinion). Years ago, we
used Grant's Farm brand, but Sara Lee bought them out and changed the recipe. While the package still says 100% whole
wheat, our stomachs told a different story. The whole wheat bread your family will enjoy may be completely
different from what my family enjoys.
The point is: keep trying different brands until you find one you like. If your family (especially your kids) is
accustomed to white bread and nothing else, the task will be harder but not impossible. For some ideas on
'acclimating' the family to the flavor of whole wheat, visit my
Adding Whole Wheat page.
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