Years ago, I read a book by M.F.K. Fisher in which she advises parents that they should worry less about individually balanced meals for their children and more about the balance of nutrition over the course of a full day, or even a week. I remember thinking when I read this, "Doesn't everyone do this?"
Apparently not.
When it comes to nutrition, I am all about the averages.
What I mean by that is I don't even try to get all the food groups into every meal my children (or I) eat. They very, very rarely have a fruit or vegetable at breakfast, for instance.
(I mean, very few people actually have vegetables with breakfast, but they don't have fruit, either. Mostly because we don't usually have fresh fruit, given its perishability and our distance from stores. But also because I know if they fill up on fruit, they won't eat their eggs.)
Breakfast for them is protein (eggs, milk, yogurt, peanut butter, etc.) and starch (hot cereals or toast).
They sometimes have a fruit or vegetable with their lunches, but generally they only have protein (peanut butter, cream cheese, tuna, cheese, etc.) and starch (bread, crackers, tortillas) at that meal, too.
Dinner is the most traditionally well-balanced of our meals, often including two vegetables along with protein and starch.
In addition to averaging out their food groups over the course of a day, I also consider the variety they have throughout the course of a day.
If they have peanut butter on their toast at breakfast, they don't have peanut butter sandwiches for lunch.
If they are having pizza for dinner, they don't eat bread at the other two meals.
Basically, I'm trying to make their entire day's food well-rounded and varied, not just one meal.
I find that this is less crazy-making than trying to ensure they get everything at every meal.
So that's today's tip: Take a longer view when it comes to nutrition and shoot for a well-balanced day, rather than a well-balanced meal three times a day. It makes life much easier and less stressful.
5 comments:
Good advice!
I'm one of those weird people that eat last nights' dinner leftovers for breakfast the next day. This morning I had leftover vegetable soup, that I made for lunch yesterday.
Linda
We got that advice when we had our first kid. My wife's aunt told us, "Sometimes they'll want mac and cheese three meals in a row, just don't let them eat it three days in a row. Don't worry about a balanced meal, worry about a balanced week."
Great advice! Wasn't that in "how to cook a wolf"?
Those are some type of asters. Apparently there are free apps that you point and click on a plant or flower and it tells you all about it!
V-8 (or any brand of mixed veg juices is great morning, noon, or night, with a meal or as a snack. Heated up, it’s a wintry warm-up snack in a bowl or cup.Few calories, pretty cheap, and a LOT of nutrition. We have some almost everyday here in some form! I do buy the ALDI or generic/store brands and I make sure to get the reduced sodium! It comes in huge jugs or tiny can, and everything in between. It’s like insurance that we have this things that only vegetables can give us?
Claire: I think so. Though as I said, it was years ago, so I can't say for sure.
Anonymous: Thank you! The MiL is my app. She sent me a NM flower identification site with a link to the page identifying this particular flower: It's Dieteria Canescens.
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