Nutrition For The Family

Episode 11: Listener question: Nutritional Choices for Families

Today Magic Barclay talks about nutrition for the family. This includes how to deal with picky eaters and those who follow diverse diets, such as vegetarians, vegans, carnivores, or omnivores, as well as how to balance meals that appeal to everyone without cooking five or six different meals every single night.

It’s challenging to feed a picky household. It can be very problematic to plan meals for a family without having to prepare five or six separate meals due to diverse dietary requirements, such as allergies, and different cuisines, such as veganism and vegetarianism. So what can we do?

I follow a plant-based diet and have two finicky eaters, one of whom has food allergies so here below are my recommendations.

These are my top recommendations for selecting healthy foods for a picky household

1. Include everyone in the planning of the meals. Try your best to simultaneously cook various dishes on one appliance, like the BBQ in my example. Kids can prepare their own portion of the meal when they are old enough to assist. When everyone contributes, planning in advance aids in purchasing, budgeting, and creating a sense of ownership.
2. Spend less and prepare more. Alternate some of your meals. Use the same ingredients for many meals, prepare sauces in large batches ahead of time, and don’t waste away any ingredients.
3. Start the day off by preparing all of the meals. Prepare everything by chopping the vegetables, dividing the meats into serving sizes, and setting out the recipes. In this manner, all you have to do to make dinner is toss it together, and the kids may assist.

Here are some suggestions I have for selecting healthy foods

1. Consume a rainbow of colours. It is more invigorating to see great visual variety. Foods of various hues offer different nutrients, all of which are significant.
2. Try your hardest to purchase organic meats. Steer clear of meats that may have been exposed to Roundup or glyphosate, as well as antibiotics and growth hormones. To find the tastiest eggs at your supermarket, use the CluckAR app.
3. Milk is a difficult food. Contrary to marketing claims, cow’s milk does not serve as a calcium supplement. Soy is genetically modified, loaded with glyphosate, and contains synthetic oestrogens that the body cannot digest. Research the brands, but nut milks are preferable. Homemade nut milks can be made with relative ease, and the whole family will enjoy the experience.

There are several more factors to take into account while feeding your pets

1. Cats, or felids, must hunt to survive. That’s not to argue that your indoor cat should go hunting outside, but I’ve discovered that making jerky from the leftover meat I prepare and stuffing it inside a cardboard tube makes a tasty reward for my older cat while also giving him activity and mental stimulation.
2. Dogs, also known as canids, are opportunistic feeders and wolves were their ancestors. They will consume eggs that have fallen from nests, carrion, and even certain greens. Give your dog one full egg every week, shell and all; if he needs calcium, he will also eat the shell once he learns how to do so.

A wide range of vitamins and minerals are important when choosing the right foods for your diet. Including your family in the planning and preparation process is a wonderful life skill that will benefit everyone.

Do you know how truly “free range” the eggs from the grocery store are? Use the CluckAR app to find out.

That concludes today’s discussion of family nutrition. I hope you’ve learned more about how to feed your picky family, how to include everyone, how to deal with different dietary preferences, and how to take care of your pet’s nutritional needs. That topic actually came from one of our lovely listeners, so I do suggest you head over to A Magical Life Podcast on Facebook. Send us a note if there’s something you’d like to learn more about, and we’ll discuss it in a podcast.

That was Episode 11 ‘Nutrition For The Family’. In episode 12, I discuss eating disorders and relationships with oneself. Additionally, several specialists on eating disorders will be joining us on future episodes to speak with you. We hope you enjoyed this podcast episode about family nutrition.

Please click here to subscribe for upcoming episodes. Please forward this podcast episode to anybody you think could benefit from it. Did you find this information to be useful? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.