My Approach to Kids + Healthy Eating

Six cookies on a wire rack and leaning against a jar of milk.

This post is sponsored by Simple Mills, but the opinions are my own.

I get asked the question a lot (on Instagram especially) what I feed my kids and if they eat a Whole30-based diet as well. I thought a blog post would be an easier way to answer the question!

First of all, how you feed your child is completely up to you. I am definitely not here to tell you how you should be feeding your child – this is purely just how my husband and I have chosen to approach healthy eating with our kids!

First of all, our main focus with our kids is to TEACH them. I want to teach my children the importance of reading their labels, reading their ingredient list and knowing what is in the food they are eating. I want them to question those ingredients and ask if they really want to be putting that into their bodies. So no, they don’t follow a Whole30 diet (other than they probably eat closer to a Whole30 diet than other kids just because when we eat together, they generally eat what we eat). But, I think through eating a Whole30-based diet ourselves, my husband and I have talked to our kids through that process about why we are doing it, what we are learning and we are sharing those lessons with our kids – and they are listening! They are asking questions! And they are, in turn, making those good, real food choices all on their own!

I want them to have a healthy relationship with food. I don’t want them to be afraid to eat anything. I want them to be able to enjoy their food, know when to indulge and know when it is “worth it” to eat that donut – because there are times when it definitely is! The reason I am so excited to be partnering with Simple Mills on this post is because it is a company that has those AMAZING ingredients in their products. They make pancake mix and muffin mix and cookies (they are SO delicious by the way) that are made with real ingredients. Ingredients I do not mind if my child eats – and products they seriously love! (My 4 year old is obsessed with the Simple Mills crackers).

Several cookies on a wire rack next to a box of Simple Mills cookies.

These cookies for example, the ingredients are: nut and seed flour blend, tapioca starch, chocolate chips, organic coconut sugar, organic coconut oil, arrowroot, vanilla extract, cocoa, tigernuts, sea salt, baking soda, rosemary extract, cream of tartar.

I mean. Yes, please. Compare those ingredients to so many of the other cookies on the market.

(these Crunchy Double Chocolate cookies are SO yummy – my girls love them! And my husband loves the Crunchy Toasted Pecan ones!!)

And it’s as simple as sitting down with your child and literally comparing those ingredients. My 7 year old gets it. She knows she would prefer the label that she can actually understand as opposed to one that has a ton of long, scary-sounding preservatives and chemicals.

Several Simple Mills cookies on a wire rack with parchment paper on top.

So, is our house filled with a lot of Whole30 food – totally, yes. But my kids also eat cereal and pancakes and macaroni and cheese — but the brands I choose to use and the recipes I choose to make use REAL ingredients. AND, even more importantly we are constantly talking about food and we are constantly cooking together. I can only hope that through this education we are trying to give them that they will have a better relationship with food than I did as I went through my teens and 20’s.

Educating our kids about what food should look like and what ingredients we should be using will, hopefully, allow them to live in their food freedom so much sooner than we have. I am really hopeful and so encouraged by the decision that my kids make when it comes to food every day!

Twelve Simple Mills cookies on a wire rack.

So that’s it – we don’t follow any strict rules, we just practice talking about food, ingredients and we make cooking together a part of our family life. That is really our approach in a nutshell!

Please let me know if you guys have any questions – I love this topic and feel so passionately about it!! Heres hoping our kiddos can learn the importance of real food sooner than I did!

And here is one of my favorite healthy cookie recipes I make with the girls all the time!!

Don’t forget to check out my Instagram account for some behind-the-scenes action! Or give me a follow on Facebook or see what I am pinning on Pinterest!

Love,