I saw a little girl in the grocery store the other day who was about 2 years old and she was walking around the store with her parents bear hugging her favourite cereal box…

She didn’t want to put the cereal in the cart because she just had to hold it the whole time and it got me thinking…this little gal was attached to her favourite sugary cereal just like she was probably attached to her favourite stuffed animal or toy and I thought to myself…this is when it starts now!

2 year old’s are getting hooked on these hyper-palatable junk foods essentially as soon as they start ingesting anything other than breast milk and it became super clear to me that this article is well overdue!

Now a little disclaimer, I don’t have children, yet, as far as I know, however I do have 2 little nieces who are 3 and 5 and so…

The info that you’re about to read is exactly how I recommend that my sister feed her gals and if/when I do have kiddos, this is precisely the approach that I’m going to take.

I’m also going to cover some helpful time saving tips around getting groceries, meal prep and essentially just saving time because parents have a lot going on, so let’s dig in!

The first food that my kids will eat will of course be breast milk because it is the perfect food for babies, it has the ideal ratios of protein, carbs and fat…it turns out that mother nature has this stuff figured out!

If for whatever reason my partner wasn’t able to breastfeed, I would do my absolute best to track down actual breastmilk instead of opting for formula that some big food corporation throws together in a factory because well, I think it’s obvious…the real thing wins.

If I couldn’t get my hands on any breastmilk…actually, I’ll put it this way, I would…I would make it a top priority, it’s that important in my eyes!!

Also, just as a little aside, if for whatever reason my partner wasn’t able to go through with a traditional birth meaning, she had to get a C-section, I’d be sure that we ‘swabbed’ the baby…

Babies are meant to go through the vaginal canal and the vaginal canal has all sorts of beneficial bacteria for infants and so when babies are born via C-section, they don’t get all of that beneficial bacteria and so what you can do is swab the canal and place that swab in and around the babies face and mouth…that may sound kinda off-putting, but this is the way that it’s meant to be done, nature for the win, this stuff matters, especially in regards to building babies little immune systems!

A C-section is obviously nowhere near as good as a traditional birth, we see far better health outcomes of folks in their lives as a whole via traditional birthing practices. When folks opt for a C-section when they don’t need to…it’s really unfortunate for the baby…the Mother too because it’s no joke of a surgical procedure.

Ideally we’d breastfeed the babes exclusively for the first 6 months and would continue to do so along with solid food for at least the first 2 years…that may sound like a long time nowadays, but our ancestors would often compliment solid food intake with breastfeeding for up to 4 years of a child’s life…so 2 is super reasonable and oftentimes still not ideal.

After 6 months, the babies energy demands begin to outpace the mothers ability to produce breast milk and therefore we’d introduce some solid foods, which would be super nutrient dense single ingredient whole foods with one big caveat…that they’re in forms that my little one could handle, for example…

If you read the 10 healthiest foods article that I recently wrote, I would start with a bunch of those foods, however I would prepare them in a way that you essentially don’t need teeth to break em’ down because 6 month old’s don’t have teeth yet.

Personally, I wouldn’t buy pre-packaged purees and stuff like that, I would just make my own if need be and as far super nutrient dense options like meat, fish, seafood, eggs etc. I would pre-chew them for my babe…it sounds kinda gross, but if you have kids I’m sure that you’re thinking…’no biggie, we’re family.’So essentially, I’d do the chewing for my kiddo so that they can get all of those amazing nutrients that these whole foods contain, but that they’re not quite able to access on their own just yet due to lack of teeth.

Now as babies transition into toddlers and children, this is where things can really fall off track because…

The whole notion of quote unquote ‘kids foods’ or a ‘kids menu’ at a restaurant has been completely fabricated by companies that want to sell food products to parents for children. I say ‘products’ because that’s what they are…they are not real whole food in its original form.

Cereal, chicken fingers, mac and cheese, sugar-filled packaged oats and yogurts…

Children are humans just like adults, we are the same species and so the idea that kids should eat differently is loco…we’re the only animals that do this, lion cubs don’t have a kids menu and little bears eat what big bears eat and so this leads to a super important point…

Parents will often say that their kids are picky eaters and picky eaters are not born, they’re created and so we can’t blame the kiddos in the slightest because…

If I was to feed my kid really well for the first say year or two of its life and then I started to introduce all sorts of hyper-palatable treat-like foods i.e. crackers, chicken fingers, cereals, flavoured yogurts, desserts, all sorts of bullshit…of course my kid isn’t going to want to go back to eating a nice piece of salmon with some sweet potatoes because…

Comparatively speaking, that stuff doesn’t taste nearly as good and it doesn’t light up their little brains in the same way. These treat foods are literally created by food chemists, food chemists establish something called ‘the bliss point’ and they test this…

They alter formulations of all of these hyper-palatable foods with the perfect combinations of sugar, fat, starch, salt and umami in order to make them as tasty and addictive as possible so again…

Picky eaters are not born, they’re created and if for some reason in an alternative universe one of my children was fed a bunch of these hyper-palatable foods and became essentially hooked on them from a sensory, taste buds and physiological standpoint…I would ween them off.

We may have a few meals that get skipped because if my kid threw a tantrum and said that they wanted mac and cheese and not steak, greens and some fruit well…mac and cheese is off the menu now and I know physiologically speaking that they’re not gonna skip very many meals…the steak, greens and fruit is going to be SUPER appealing, it’s only a matter of time and not much time at that!

I can hear some Karen being like, ‘That’s child abuse your kid needs to eat!!’

That’s one perspective…personally I think that feeding growing and developing children hyper-palatable foods that we know for a fact lead to things like diabetes, obesity and every disease that you can name is a lot closer to child abuse than feeding them what they’ve evolved over millions of years to eat but hey, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

The foundational question that I like to ask myself in situations like this is, ‘What’s the most loving thing to do?’

In my eyes that’s to do the hard thing now i.e. let my kid have their tantrum, probably go to bed a tad bit hungry once or twice and set them up for success big picture over the course of their whole lives vs. cater to their food preferences that I created via feeding them funky food and almost certainly have them be nutrient deficient.

It’s only in the last 100 years or less that things like microwave pastas, juice boxes, granola bars and fruit snacks have been around, these things are very new and no wonder why we our kids are struggling so much…children are getting diagnosed with type-2 diabetes before 10 years old…this has never happened before…we are sicker and fatter than ever so again, I circle back to the question…

What’s the most loving thing to do?

Kids food is adult food and adult food is kids food…we’re all humans…portions will differ, but choices should not. You’re definitely not going to see my partner and I making separate dinners for our kiddos…not gonna happen!

Interestingly enough, if anyone should eat a single ingredient whole foods diet it’s children because they’re literally growing and developing the most that they ever will in their entire lives and so it only makes sense to provide the absolute best nutrition for them during this critical period of time.

As soon as my kiddos move out of my house, if they choose to eat a heavily processed food diet that’s fine, that’s their choice at that point, but I’m going to do everything that I can to set them up to live a long and healthy life in the best way that I know how while they’re young and that’s via healthful whole food.

Also, we wire children’s taste buds primarily from ages 0 – 5…a massive amount of ‘food programming’ goes on between these ages and if for whatever reason my children’s nutrition began to slip…

I would have a serious sit down with myself and my wifey and examine why…

Like…are we feeding ourselves properly, are we too tired to cook healthful food, are we favouring convenience too much…?

I’m sure that you as an adult now, if you could snap your fingers and choose between your parents having fed you a super healthful nutrient dense diet or one that had a bunch of processed foods in it, you’d no doubt choose the nutrient dense diet because you’d want all the advantages in life right!?

Life is hard enough as it is and we know that when kiddos don’t get adequate nutrients, they experience things like cognitive impairment, stunted growth, dental issues and developmental delays just to name a few and unfortunately…

Some of these impairments and delays are permanent because this time is so vital…you can’t unwind that tape…what’s done is done in a lot of instances!

Also, one of the coolest things is that kiddos behave far better when they’re well fed. Things like tantrums don’t happen nearly as often, I’ve seen and talked about this with my sister first hand because my oldest niece was recently going through what some folks may label a ‘phase’…but we just made some changes to her diet and voila, literally within 24 hours she was much more balanced and calm!

The equivalent of an adult getting hangry is a child throwing a tantrum…if their blood sugar levels are all over the map because they’re eating shit food, they’re physiologically stressed so…

Not only do they have to go through that stressful experience themselves, they often get punished for behaving poorly or labeled something like a problem child, but we created the issue more times than not by feeding them in a way that led to said behaviour.

Talk about a catch 22 for these little guys…they don’t buy the groceries, they eat what their parents give them and then their little brains and bodies are so physiologically stressed that they act out and then they get punished for it or told that they have ADD or ADHD, I mean…there are massive consequences to this stuff!

I’ve heard so many parents recite that they’d quote unquote do ‘anything for their kids’…and it’s like, how about cook vs. feed them a bunch of convenience food!?

Well I would but, ‘I’m so busy and I’m working like crazy and I’m tired when I come home…’ and it’s like, ok…

Also, selfishly speaking, if I feed my kids a better diet they’re going to behave better and sleep better, which just makes my life easier…now on the other hand, if I’ve created a picky eater, I’m going to need to essentially ‘undo’ that damage that I created via transitioning them back to healthful whole foods and then fortunately once I do, everybody wins!!

A few key nutrients that I’m going to be sure that my kids get…

Fat soluble vitamins like A, D, E and K2, choline, glycine, iodine, EPA, DHA, zinc, iron, copper, calcium…and fortunately if you’re thinking, ‘well shit I don’t know anything about those nutrients or what foods contain them.’

Single ingredient whole foods have em’ and so you don’t really need to know all that much about nutrition specifics because shocker…single ingredient whole foods that Mother Nature created are nutrient rich…she’s made it pretty darn easy for us!

Now let’s get a little bit more specific…

Protein, super important for growing children because our bodies are literally made of protein. I’d favour a variety of animal foods like meat, fish, seafood, eggs.

Dairy would be a conditional add based on if they tolerate it digestion wise.

Carbs like sweet potatoes, potatoes, squash, fruit, vegetables…

Plenty of animal fat, which often comes along with the protein sources and also things like avocados, nuts and seeds (if they tolerate them).

I’d also pay super close attention to my kids digestion because digestion is what dictates whether they’re absorbing all of the nutrients that their little brains and bodies need to thrive.

Would I supplement?

Probably not…I’m not going to give my kids gummy multi-vitamins and shit like that, I’m just going to make sure that they’re eating healthful whole foods that contain all of these vitamins and minerals in their whole food form.

Now you may be wondering…are you ever going to let your kids have dessert or treat-like foods and the answer is yes, I’m going to let them have a few treats here and there, but they’re going to be exactly that…a treat, not a regularity or a staple in their diet.

Also, when they go to friends’ houses or birthday parties, I’m not going to stress a ton about this unless they have specific food allergies and/or sensitivities, that’s something that I’d obviously accommodate and potentially speak with other parents about or figure out, but that’s pretty situation specific stuff…

However, assuming that they don’t have any big red flags food wise, I’d likely just have them eat whatever they want and is available in those circumstances, but…

I’d stay super aware of how they ate at said times and how their behaviour was potentially impacted after. I’d also have a chat with them about how they felt…like did their tummy hurt for example and start to teach them about how certain foods have them feel.

Not that specific foods are good or bad, but rather that specific foods have certain outcomes and consequences attached to them and begin to help them recognize how certain choices impact their little sense of well-being.

I want to provide them with this skill and to stay in touch with their body because if they can learn this stuff early in life, man, they’re going to be miles ahead of where I was because it took me well into my 20’s to really decipher what foods sat well with me and what foods didn’t.

I have adults come to me in their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s that aren’t in touch with their bodies yet and literally have no clue that the diet that they’ve been eating for decades has been causing their skin issues, digestion troubles, joint pain, brain fog and the list goes on…it’s so beneficial to develop this skill earlier in life!

And no…it’s not food obsessive, it’s identical to teaching them things like manners because these are life skills that set them up to navigate the world in a more effective way.

My nutritional mentor was talking about how folks have noticed that his two girls really don’t have meltdowns and they’re super balanced and well-behaved…he feeds them this way and he’s gone through this process of teaching his kiddos about the downstream impacts around specific food choices.

I think we’ve all seen kids in the middle of the grocery store or mall just freaking the fuck out and I think that we’ve normalized this stuff so much that we come to expect it…the terrible two’s for example and isn’t it funny that this is the time when kids are exposed to a lot more food options as they gain a little bit more autonomy and ween off breast milk…

Coincidence…interesting right!?

All of sudden convenience foods like crackers, chips and fruit snacks make it into the rotation and voila…the terrible twos! I’m not saying that kids only act up because of what they eat, that’s absolutely not the case but, nutrition plays a massive role and regularly eating funky foods isn’t doing anyone any favours.

Shit, nutrition is a massive factor in how I feel and behave, in how you feel and behave…think back to the last time that you were hangry…I doubt that you were the best version of yourself…

Now think about a child trying to navigate low blood sugar when they have no clue how and why they’re feeling what they’re feeling...they don’t even have the language for it, this can be super confusing for children!

Let’s get even more practical here, how would I implement this stuff on more of a day to day basis…

The most important factor in my eyes is modelling how and what to eat via my actions and my partners actions. Actions speak louder than words, do as I say and not as I do doesn’t work because it just comes across as hypocritical.

So, we’ll eat as a family and we’ll eat the same meal because a) we ain’t cooking more than one and b) I should be eating the way that my kids should be eating and vice versa.

A few time savers…

Grocery delivery, so things like InstaCart are absolute gamechangers, you literally don’t even have to step foot in a grocery store to eat super healthful food nowadays, it’s incredible!

Batch cooking and having leftovers is massively convenient and also just creating an experience around food can be really beneficial for kids…

Sitting down, talking about everyone’s day, nourishing yourselves…the dinner table is quite literally a sacred place because if you think about what we do all day, when you really boil it down…it’s all about food.

We work so that we can feed ourselves because without calories we die, we can’t procreate, that’s the end of it.

Now, for some folks the dinner table was actually a pretty hostile place and that’s unfortunate because that can often spill over into someone’s relationship with food as they grow up as well as how they interact with it, but…if you’re one of these people, you can totally flip the script for your children!

Something I learned about myself is that I tend to eat really quickly because the dinner table was a fairly critical place…I’m not shitting on parents or anything, they did the best that they could…however, I was in a hurry to eat because less time at the dinner table meant less of an opportunity to be picked apart…there are all sorts of sneaky little things that impact us long term, how we interact with food is a big deal!

As we wrap up here, the guiding question or ‘north star’ for me and my family is going to be…

What’s the most loving thing to do?

And the truth is that the most loving thing to do isn’t going to necessarily be the easy option in the moment…it’s actually probably going to require a little more time and effort, but that makes sense because convenience has a cost and the monetary one is often the least of it.

Feel free to share this article with a friend or family member that you think could benefit from it!