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How does the whole house get to eating healthy?


Replated Rice & Beans (spinach, kale and onions included)


Healthy eating equals a healthy family!
We often think that the only person who should be eating healthy is the person who is trying to lose weight. That is a lie!  Anyone and everyone should be attempting to eat healthy.   Healthy eating keeps diseases away and body in optimal shape. This article will help parents think of new ideas for healthy food preparation.

I have a young child that hates vegetables. It was important that I found new ways to incorporate vegetables into his eating habits. I did and I called it replating.  I simply found ways to incorporate fruit and vegetables in every meal and make it look differently while respecting every family member's preferences. 
Do not like the way vegetables & fruits look - Make them to look differently. 

Growing in a Caribbean household meant that you did not have much choice in what you ate. You were given plates of food without consideration of your size or if you liked it. We ate whatever mother cooked. It always smelled good, but I remember not liking a lot of the dishes at the age of seven. Being Haitian meant that you ate was rice every day and meats were usually either fried or emerged in sauce. Eating was like going to war with the plate every single time.  There was no sense of portion control. Sometimes I swallowed without chewing just to finish what was on my plate.  Growing up Haitian opened a door that made me adapt to unhealthy eating habits. Those habits caused me to have issues with my weight for a long time. 

 A very popular Haitian dish is rice, bean soup with dumplings and mashed vegetables which is called legume. If you vegetarian it would just be vegetables. If you ate meat, you would put meat in the mashed vegetable. It is a staple dish within our culture. I remember my plate being filled with at least 3 cups of rice, about 2 cups of bean soup which included dumplings (more carbs) and maybe about 2 cups of mashed vegetables. I was so mad. I hated it. And I was forced to eat all that food because it was considered healthy because it was homecooked food. Mama was completely wrong! 

As a parent I do better because I know better. Had I not learned ways to eat healthy I probably would have been doing the same with my child. I have changed those behaviors and adapted to buying and eating healthy food. It was not much to recreating the wheel. It was quite simple. Of course, it took a little deprograming because everything is habit forming and not removing the habit can cause you to revert to old patterns.  I got serious about my health and started by making little changes that snowballed into major lifestyle changes. My change began with a commitment to good health. In my household, realistic goals are set, portions are measured, and meals are not skipped.  Everyone gets to choose what they would like to eat. My son, who is 9 this year, enjoys eating. He is slim, fit, and plays mid-center fielder for his soccer team. The rice and beans I once hated, is now one of his favorite choices for dinner time, and it includes most of the vegetables I hated while growing up.  

He did not always like it and somethings does not realize he is even eating it.  I found a way to replate it. Replating is not a real word but it is the best way I could think to explain it. ​An example of this is instead of putting the side of mushed vegetables that does not look so appealing, I decided to blend the vegetables along with the bean soup. So instead of having plain bean soup, the vegetables are incorporated into bean soup and he is none the wiser.  You want your children to eat it, make it look like their favorite foods. They like French fries. Cut some vegetables to look like fries, add some salt and tada, vegetable fries.  
The secret to serving size is in the palm of your hands.  Your portions should be calculated using your hands. Since Zach is 9, he is served 9 tablespoons of rice and beans for him to eat. 
That is about 1 cup serving which is close to HIS hand size.   ​If he wants more than he can certainly have seconds, but his first plate always has a portion that he can handle no matter the choice of meal. Because of this practice he does not overeat and stops eating at the beginning signs of feeling full. Nothing is wasted. What a wonderful habit he has, and one that I was able to change for me.  
Replating has become one of my secret addictions.  It feels so good to make what was once poisonous into something that is keeping me healthy. Adapting this method is allowing us to eat better and smarter in my household.  Something for my son to look back on and have fond memories of and hopefully use in his household when he grows up. 

Our eating plan is fun, tastes great, and is good for our body.  It works for us!  Here are some tips to try for getting your family to eat healthy: 

  1. Provide choices to each family members’ favorite food 
  2. Look at ways to replace water, oil, salt, with vegetables or fruits.  
  3. Steam, bake, broil, roast instead of breading and frying 
  4. Find ways to replace meat in your recipes with beans or mushrooms 
  5. Cook with egg whites 
  6. Buy margarine that lists a vegetable oil as its first ingredient. Stay clear of hydrogenated oils. 
  7. Make low-sugar dishes and serve them warm. This makes many foods taste sweeter. 
  8. Add flavor not sugar.  Cook with sweet-tasting spices, like allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, or cloves. 
  9. Include foods enriched with B vitamins into your meals. 

There so much more, but those are some of the most useful tips I can think up as I write this blog. In order to provide customized tips that fit your family’s needs please click to fill out this questionnaire.  In the meantime follow u​s on instagram for some cool recipes!​  





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