I have a confession to make. I have fallen off the healthy food bandwagon. Sort of. I’m not eating Twinkies or drinking Pepsi yet. But if I’m still hanging on, it’s with one arm and I’m at the very edge of the wagon. It could just be a matter of time before I decide to let go completely and sink into a colorful sea of M&M’s.
We were in a good pattern at home. I was making bread every week, cooking dinner each night mostly from scratch, and we were eating lots of organic produce. But when the morning sickness hit me, I started baking a lot less and giving the kids store-bought bread again.
Sky turned three and instead of creatively thinking of non-candy treats and prizes, I took the easy route and threw her a sugarfest of a party. We had a piñata loaded with candy and a Dora cake I made with a Betty Crocker mix and frosting. I didn’t have the confidence that I could make a cake from scratch with healthier ingredients that would actually taste yummy, and I didn’t have the energy to experiment with different recipes in advance. (And yes, that hydrogenated, sugary cake was yummy.)
A week later we left for vacation and so far the kids have had chicken nuggets and fries twice, even though I believe that just might be the unhealthiest meal I could possibly give my children. What’s happening to me?
I feel like I’m still trying, but things aren’t going well. The day after we got here, we went to my cousin’s house to celebrate her son’s fourth birthday. Here is a conversation my mom and I had near the end of the night:
Me, after watching my mom give Skylar some of her Diet Coke: “Mom! What are you doing?”
Mom: “What? Can’t she have Diet Coke?”
Me, laughing a little: “No! She can’t!”
Mom: “Why not?”
Me: “Well, first of all it’s caffeinated and we’re about to take her home to bed.”
Mom: “Oh. Well can she have some Sprite?”
Me: “No! Mom, she’s never had pop in her life.”
My mom gasps: “Never?”
I am starting to feel other people looking at me. I hesitate. “Why does she need pop? She’s three.”
Mom: “Okay.” She turns to Skylar: “Mommy says no pop.”
Me, feeling like the type of mom who forces her kid to take a brown bag lunch to a birthday party: “I’ll get you some milk, Sky.”
Sky actually didn’t object. She just came inside and had a glass of milk. And one of my cousin’s friends, mother to a four year old and a newborn, leaned over to me later and said, “We don’t drink pop at our house either,” which helped me feel a little less lame.
I guess I’m still trying to figure it all out—am I too controlling if I try to keep my kids away from things like pop and chicken nuggets (which I seem to be failing at anyway)? Am I making too big a deal out of food? I don’t want to be the serious mom who’s always telling my kids no and making people around me feel self-conscious about what they’re eating.
And one last thing. I know that especially during pregnancy it’s important to eat unprocessed, nutritious food and drink lots of water. But I have to confess that the pitcher of Crystal Lite in my mom’s fridge looks really good to me right now.
Help! I need advice from all my granola-from-scratch friends. How do you stay motivated to eat healthy and how do you keep it fun?
Can’t offer support or advice. I, too, have fallen off the wagon and am drinking a Coke as I type
Shame shame! Oh and my lunch was a poptart!
I strongly believe our energy and drive to cook will return and in the meantime, we (including our unborn babies) will be alright
Thanks Brandi! I feel better already.
I try as well, I swore at one point my son wouldn’t have any fast food till he’s old enough to decide himself! Now, after having to live with my in laws he almost lives off canned pasta and KD for dinner. So, I made a rule to make everyone happy, no sweets and treats till after dinner, breakfast and lunch have to be healthy, lots of veggies and fruits so he can have his canned stuff for dinner which he does love. As for me, I should be ashamed, my meals are pretty healthy, but I have a mean craving for diet coke and chocolate
oh help me lol
I’m not a granola-from-scratch person (except for maybe 5 or 6 times in my life), but I am a gramma who managed to raise some pretty amazing kids who were allowed occasional pop and poptarts. Actually, they preferred toaster pastries. They DO have standards, you know! 😉 The thing I want to say is that from years of experience, I would suggest that you just relax a bit. Get rid of your guilt feelings. It won’t be fatal if you slack off for a few months. It is important for you to get your rest and to be as stress-free as possible. Please don’t compose impossible to-do lists! Enjoy your pregnancy. Enjoy your babies. They really will be OK if they eat store-bought bread for a while! And I have to tell you that I smile every time I think of Linnea Nyman Currington pregnant with her THIRD child. God does, indeed, have a wonderful sense of humor!
I think you are setting the bar a little high to start out, and add in vacation, family and pregnancy, well the wagon gets too bumpy!
So soda for a toddler is a perfectly reasonable and easy NO. We are also mostly no juice people..but I found these fruit able juices that are like a whole serving of veggies inside..bonus that Elmo is on the box..so if we are going somewhere where the adults will be having special drinks like soda, nico gets some of those packed in his bag. It’s a big treat for him, ok by my standards, and the grandparents don’t feel he’s being deprived.
The birthday is over..but there are alot of steps between Betty crocker and some sort of organic nutritional fairy cake. Maybe next time just make it from scratch, no special recipes, just Martha Stewart website cake..hers never fail me.
Chicken nuggets are a sometimes food for us..only once at home..usually at a restaurant..and I balance it by giving the apple slices or fruit cup first..he gets a few fries off someones plate after he’s finished most of everything else.
A quick, super quick, lunch here is a a cheese and possible some sort of meat and veggie quesadilla, two flour tortillas, shredded cheese and whatever you want inside, heat in a pan, flip, press, cut with a pizza cutter. Still fast and kid friendly, can be taken along, and better than nuggets.
Most importantly, let yourself off the hook, the last thing you want is to have a dynamic where the food is healthy, but the relationship with it is not.
Oh, and the crystal light is perfectly fine,,,dilute it if it makes you feel better. I used seltzer water so it felt light a real treat and helped with heart burn, nausea, whatever. Ginger ale with a little juice works great too.
i love you linni. we don’t drink pop either. i’ll never forget the time a well meaning friend at a free community meal held my 4 month old anna belle. a first-time overprotective mom, i let her go with her, thinking i needed to relax a little. when she brought her back 10 minutes later from visiting others in the crowd, she said, “my mom gave her some angel food cake.”. I was horrified. i said, “she can’t have that! she’s only ever had breast milk!” (this was a store-bought angel food cake with about 100 ingredients, not a wholesome-y homemade one. Then, I had morning sickness with this same child at 13 months. She had more happy meals than i ever dreamed of traveling to my OB apptments 1 hour away. I now try to view nutrition in general as my hopes and aspirations for my kids, recognizing that i’m not perfect, and convenience food is, well, convenient. So, try as i might, buying junk food is hard for me to do after reading the labels, but i bake as much of my own stuff as i can, and then we eat lots of cut up veggies and hummus, beans and tortillas, cheese and multi-grain crackers, and live with the fact that we all still love hot dogs. i hope they’ll grow up a bit more balanced than me
You’ll be fine; your kids are learning good things from you. Can you believe the amt of diet coke consumed at 43 Ruddle Ave? Gross 
Linnea,
My Mom gave me the best advice when I was expecting my second boy when she told me to seriously lay off feeling guilty because “God has Grace for times like this”. I truly believe He does. I was so sick I couldn’t feed myself much of anything (except a cheese quesadilla), let alone try to cook for my 2 year old. That being said, should I have the opportunity to conceive again there are a few things I really hope to do. One is to choke down as many omega 3s (in the form of farm fresh eggs, wild salmon and cod liver oil) as possible, to drink LOTS of raw milk and cream (at this point I would go to GREAT lengths to get it), also to eat as much fat as I can in the form of butter and coconut oil, and to drink lots of juice with my fancy juicer I hope to someday have :). It will be almost like an experiment to see if it has any great effect that differs from my other kids’ health, but also because I want to give that baby the best start for his or her brain. Everyone else in the house may be eating ramen noodles and taco bell and drinking koolaid, but they will be okay for a few months :). My last pregnancy I would go way too many hours without eating because I could not stand the smell of my house for some reason and I would also cry a lot about it. And then 5 hours later when I actually did eat it was something like a bowl of cereal or a cheese quesadilla. So these are just my silly thoughts on the subject… who knows how it will actually go down ;). Either way, He has Grace.
You’re doing the right thing Linnie, I also fought for as long as I could not to give mine any sweets, but when people around us starts giving them stuff without asking it’s easy to think you are a control freak. Mine still can’t eat candy any day of the week, Saturdays early after breakfast so they run off the “sugar-kick” before bedtime….
I still don’t want them to drink pop unless it’s a birthday or a special occasion. On vacation recently, in Croatia the bottled water didn’t taste that good so they drank coke for two weeks almost. I had to de-coke them when we got home,seriously. It gets harder with kid nr 2 who gets exposed to it all through nr 1…. Hang in there !
I wholeheartedly agree with all these words of encouragement! You are such a good mother, attentive to doing your absolute best to be a good parent. That is all we parents can do and the rest is leaning on the Lord to help us with the rest. It is too easy for we mothers to be hard on ourselves and is a comfort to know there are others in the boat who can relate. Having the specialty food and juice alternative boxes helps alot with the little ones, especially during the “out of the routine” times while on vacation or just spending time with others. As for the processed foods, fast foods, junk foods that we fall into temptation with, that is one good reason to pray over it and ask God to miracuously bless it to the nourishment of our bodies. ;0)
Wow, I should have written this post two weeks ago. You guys are wonderful encouragers!
Thanks for letting me know I’m not the only one to stress out over food and for telling me it’s okay to relax a bit. I think I needed to hear it.
Linni, do what you can within reason. Sometimes with morning sickness your kids are thankful for anything. This is a short period of time. Just remember the foundation you lay now even with some deviations will stick with them. You are raising future adults who will make the right choices. Love you and have fun with your Mom
Connie
There are seasons for everything. Maybe this is a season to party! Love the blog, Linni.
Wow…I will admit this house is just about the opposite of yours! We are an all convenience house. I rationalize by saying we aren’t home much. To my heartache, David is home with the kids at least 2 hours more a day than I am. They are all eating supper (or are done) when I get home; and an hour and a half later the kids are in bed. I am happy they get frozen veggies…and neither of them even like pop! (or pop tarts!) I admire what you are able to do. I think if I even had the ingredients in the house, I would end up in tears because I would have no idea even what to do with them! I agree with what others have said…give yourself a break…it sounds like you need one! Love and miss you, T
Your post made me smile!:) Two things come to mind- life goes in seasons- you are in a unique season with 2 littles and one on the way- tiring, demanding, and very wonderful. Betty Crocker can be your friend if you use her in moderation:)! Second, I live by the ‘most of the time’ rule with eating healthy- I try to eat healthy more of the time than not, but when a birthday rolls around and we have a million other things going I don’t worry about a box mix cake, or a little extra candy during the holidays, or more convenience foods on vacation, etc. It’s just life as a busy mama with little ones! You’re doing great Linni!! Hugs to you~
Jess
Linni, I applaud you for standing your ground and doing what YOU think best for your children. You’re a great mom and from someone who made mistakes, but my children’s health was first, and ‘fresh homemade’ was my thing back then as well, and still is today…for myself.
Each generatiion has done what they were raised with or knew….your generation – all about healthy and it’s a good thing….so don’t beat yourself up over an occasional ‘fast food’ meal. soft drinks…..so bad for the body! Diluted juice….water …still best! You’re on the right track, kiddo…..hang in there!!
Love you, GG
Linnea – I don’t get to read your blog all the time, but I try to read it once in a while. I love following your family and your writing is beautiful. I was so happy to hear about your preganancy! I am keeping you in my prayers and so happy for you and your family!!