Happy Muslim Mama: Healthy Eating With Kids

Despite my best efforts and aversion to all of the chicken and chips shops that abound locally, I have been finding that every time I walk past one of these establishments the baby screeches “CHEEKAAN CHEEKAAN!!” I admit I have a deep and very hard to shift love for junk food, but I have been able to indulge this at work and keep food at home a little healthier. I often lapse and end up serving sugary cereal for a snack or frying up some fish and chips for dinner. I still could not work out though, where my kids had developed this obsession with the chicken and chips shop. In the end I cornered my husband and he admitted that when in a rush they get lunch from one of these shops. When husband has to book a job during the day and leave the kids with my brother-in-law, he goes off and does the same. I was mortified. I don’t think he knows how bad this stuff really is for kids.In the end I realised it had to be down to me. Although I keep minimal unhealthy snacks in the house (a multi-pack of hula-hoops crisps and some biscuits for guests – the chocolate covered peanuts are hidden in my room), this doesn’t stop people from going out to the chicken shop on the top of our road.So I decided to make a list of what can be considered healthy snacks and keep supplies of it in the house and a list where people can see (and probably still ignore it). So far I have come up with:

Fruit of every variety, prepared in every way including dried and canned fruit – just keep offering it until they get into the fruit habit – my boys now clear a full fruit bowl out in about two days mash’Allah.
Potato cut into bite-sized pieces and then microwaved till cooked through (serve with beans and the beans song which winds my kids up marvellously).
Boiled egg (also recommended to me by an optician in Pakistan for my kids along with lots of salad and veg)
Fruit yoghurt and fromage frais.
Cheese – slices or mini portions, but not processed cheese or cheese-string type (which Little Lady loves and are very expensive)
Sandwiches (I am trying to wean them off of white bread and chocolate spread)
Left over rice with lentils or natural yoghurt
Mini chappaties (unleavened bread used in South Asia), whole wheat if you can stomach it.
Milk – organic is better as it seems to be kinder on my children’s teeth for starters, alternatively the Jersey stuff is amazing and puts a pink glow into their cheeks.
Small boxes of raisins instead of sweets. This backfired when the baby started throwing tantrums because he wanted one packet after another.
Plain pasta without any sauce (they seem to prefer this).
Homemade burgers using leftover mince kebabs.
Pizza on a sub/slice of bread/roll cut in half and topped with tomato puree, cheese and whatever veg you have to hand.

One thing that has really helped me is the fact that my children’s school is very big on healthy eating, children are taught about it and get to try tasters of healthy food and school-dinners are junk-food free (including pack lunches and including chocolate spread sandwiches). This means that from nursery-age they become aware of what is healthy and what is not.If you care particularly about the food you eat, two books I would recommend to learn more are:

We Want Real Food (2006) by Graham Harvey (a must-read and a real eye-opener) and Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (2001) by Eric Schlosser.

Also if you are looking for inspiration (better to look at than to make maybe), I have come across the phenomenon of “Bento” which is the Japanese tradition of packing a container to take away (to work or school) with different types of food. The ingredients and aesthetics of these are really very beautiful and would encourage any child to try something new or healthy.

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