In this lunch he had some cheese, walnuts, whole grain pretzels and peanut butter to dip, and a rainbow of fruit including blueberries, avocado, pineapple, mandarin oranges, and strawberries.
I’m not sure who liked this lunch more… my toddler or me! As a mom of 3 boys lunchtime for me is often eating whatever I’m preparing for them and I do love fresh fruits. Grabbing a few strawberries, slices of avocado, mandarin oranges, and some walnuts and throwing them on top of spinach will be my lunch. When you are feeding your kids whole and natural foods it makes feeding yourself whole and natural foods that much easier. One thing I will never understand is when parents eat fresh foods themselves but feed their kids hotdogs and chicken nuggets. Something about that just doesn’t make sense.
I also FINALLY found some whole grain pretzels that did not contain enriched flours. I’ve been looking for these for a while, so I’m not sure if I was missing them or they are a new product, however UTZ is the brand and all of the ingredients checked out. They do contain a bit of evaporated cane juice but overall they are the best pretzel I have found. Most other brands contain what is labeled as “enriched wheat flour” and when you are eating whole foods there isn’t really a need to enrich grain products because the grains contain natural vitamins and mineral. Our bodies do not process added vitamins and minerals the same way as natural ones so we do stay away from enriched foods.
One other notable thing is that we are choosy when purchasing peanut butter. Most big name brands contain partially hydrogenated oils aka trans fat so that is really something to look out for. Highly processed synthetic fats are just a way for those brands to extend the shelf life of those products and make more money. I can tell you they probably don’t eat their own products though because they know exactly how harmful these synthetic fats are to people. I also choose a peanut butter that is not sweetened and I add raw honey to it myself. This way you know there are no refined and GMO sugars in your peanut butter. Who knew peanut butter was so complicated!?!?
Here is a great book for babies and toddlers with tons of pictures of fresh foods!
