How to Start Eating Healthier as a Family
Disclaimer: I am not a professional, just a mom sharing her experiences. Please do your own research and talk to a professional to figure out what is best for you. To see my full disclaimer go to my Disclaimer & Disclosure Page.
“I could never be vegan, I love meat too much.” This used to be me, and now I have heard this statement coming out of my 11 year olds mouth the more I talk about eating healthier as a family. I’ll admit that I haven’t given up meat yet, but I was quite surprised when we decided to stop buying meat for 2 months after Thanksgiving one year, just how easy it was just to even cut down on the amount of meat we were consuming. I did have some meat in the freezer that we used up, but a lot of our meals turned plant-based or close to it.
I do want to go over some myths about plant-based eating before we get started on how to make the switch. Below is a very condensed version of a fantastic list I found on LIVEKINDLY. Please visit their site to view the full list as it has way more detail and explanations than I have here.
You don’t get the calcium, iron, and protein you need on a plant-based diet! Guess where the animals you eat get their nutrients? That’s right, from plants. I have some cheat sheets that I’ve found on Pinterest to help figure out a good balance of plants to keep in our diet. I printed out some sheets and laminated them so I could cross out the allergy items and see how to balance what we eat. Needless to say you can get almost all your nutrients from plants. If you’re not sure what to look for when it comes to nutrients, follow me on Pinterest. I share helpful links I find to make the everyday easier.
So I just mentioned you get almost all your nutrients from plants. The one thing you don’t is B12. This actually comes from dirt. You can, however, get B12 from fortified plant-based products such as nutritional yeast, cereals and vegan milk, or just get a B12 supplement.
It’s expensive! This couldn’t be further from the truth. If you are truly eating whole food plant-based, then you’re primarily eating from the produce section. However, if you’re trying to find vegan replacements for animal based meals you currently eat, it is going to be more expensive. Examples of vegan replacements or luxury vegan foods would be vegan meat and cheese. Also, things that are in the inner isles of grocery stores. First thing that comes to mind is veggie chips. These aren’t really whole foods. If you want a great explanation of vegan vs. plant-based vs. whole food, check out Forks Over Knives.
There are different ways of going about starting this journey or life change. Below are versions of different ways to go about this, so you can pick what’s best for you or create your own. Then I’ll go through some other steps on how to actually implement the change. I know we’ve all seen those TV shows where they go cold turkey into this diet change. Throwing everything out of their cupboard and fridge and starting from scratch. This is quite wasteful if you’re also being mindful of lowering your waste at the same time. Before you make this decision keep in mind there’s more to this change than just food. Making a change like this is considered a lifestyle change, meaning it’s also a change in mindset. The way you look at and even taste food and buy it will change. You’ll have to consider time as well. Meal prep will be different than what you’re used to. So you’ll have to consider how to make it work with the time you have. With all the other stress in our lives, you want to make sure you don’t add any more. That’s why choosing how to make this change is just as important as the change itself. Here are some options on how to do that.
Cold Turkey– In this option you make the change all at once. Out with the old and in with the new. All of your meals switch to being 100% plant-based. I’ll be honest, I don’t recommend this option, especially if you are doing this as a family. More than likely it will be nothing but a fight with kids to get them to try completely new things almost all the time. For us as adults it’s difficult as well. You have to be very disciplined to make any big change cold turkey. Let’s face it, most people just can’t do that all at once. Again, with all the other stress we have in our lives, why add more?
Weekend Cheater– This is based on a diet plan my husband used to lose weight. It’s an in between for going cold turkey and using baby steps. Basically you eat whole food plant-based during the weekdays. Then use the weekends as your time to eat the meats and dairy you enjoy. This would be a good option for either a single person or a couple. Starting kids out on this option or purely on whole food plant-based from infancy would be awesome. However, if you have kids that aren’t used to eating remotely close to plant based, there are more things you need to look at. I go into more detail about this below. If you have an infant and you’re wanting to go whole food plant-based, check out my post about baby food.
One Meal a Day– This was created by the Camerons to encourage people to eat more plant-based meals. The idea is to switch one of your meals to plant-based each day. That simple. This can be breakfast one day and dinner another, or you can pick one consistent meal each day to make plant-based. You can buy their book or if you’d like to just check them out, check out their Facebook page. It has meal ideas and other resources on it.
Baby Steps– One Meal a Day is a way to start doing this. The idea is that you start out by making a little change then as time goes on you add another change, then another, and so on until you are completely (or at least mostly) whole food plant-based or have reached your personal diet goal. The timeline may look different for everyone. Realistically look at your lifestyle and how much time you want to give yourself in between changes. Personally I think one month is a good goal. This gives you time to implement a change and get used to it before adding another. However, if you get to the end of the month and don’t think you’ve really gotten used to the change, add a couple more weeks to a month to really feel comfortable and confident that you’ve successfully made that change to your life. Don’t be discouraged if some changes take longer than others. One thing I started doing during Covid-19 was just to stop buying certain things. I haven’t bought milk (except for making icing for my kids birthday cakes) or cereal since we got the stay at home order mid-March. This forced me to come up with alternatives for breakfast especially. After a few months my kids finally stopped asking me to get cereal when I went shopping. Check out my post 6 Simple, Healthy Breakfasts for Kids for some ideas.
As I’ve stated, probably the best way to move toward a whole food plant-based diet is to do it in steps. Especially when you’re doing it with a whole family. These steps may be different for each family. So here are 7 things to consider to help move to more plant-based meals.
What is your goal? Decide what your end goal is. Just saying you want to eat healthier isn’t enough. Maybe you’re not ready, or you just don’t want to, go 100% whole food plant-based. That’s ok. Maybe you just want to lessen the amount of animal products you eat. So your goal may be to cut down eating animal products to 3 days a week, or even better, the Weekend Cheater. Whatever you decide, make sure you’re realistic with your goal. That’s not saying that it can’t change throughout your journey, but make the initial goal one you feel you can reach.
Already eating plant-based? Start by looking at what your family eats already that is plant-based or almost plant-based. You may not even realize that you are already eating plant-based meals. My boys LOVE their peanut butter sandwiches. That’s basically their lunch every single day. Peanut butter is a great source of protein and obviously plant-based. I have been buying Fresh Thymes’ peanut butter that they grind right in the store for a while now, so the only thing I changed was that I bought healthier bread. Yes, it’s a little more expensive, but I feel better about giving them bread with better ingredients. And I don’t have the time to make my own, so I’m ok spending a little more on bread. The other things they take in their lunch each day is fruit and crackers (which I also switched to some with better ingredients). So I realized their lunches were closer to plant-based than I thought. Not 100% yet, but close. A very small change transformed one meal with little effort or the kids putting up a fight. Although this was not a complete switch to whole food plant-based, it’s a simple step that I could make to feel better about what is going into my kids’ bodies that didn’t take any extra time out of my day.
Next, look at your go-to meals and see if you can substitute and make them plant-based. A great example of this is tacos. In the 2 months that we didn’t buy meat, we decided to dice potatoes for tacos instead of using meat. Surprisingly, most of the kids didn’t mind, even the ones that refuse to eat potatoes. You can add other vegetables as well. Start with ones you know your kids like and then maybe sneak in one you want them to try. I’ve started trying to get a new fruit for the kids to try once a week to not only broaden their pallet, but also expand what they eat so they’re not eating the same things all the time and getting bored with it.
Look at snacks. What are you and your kids grabbing when snacking in between meals? I got a bowl and started keeping fruit in it. I ended up making a rule that the kids don’t have to ask to eat fruit (or vegetables, but who am I kidding, they won’t snack on veggies), unless dinner is cooking. I also have dried fruit and peanuts that they can snack on. So these items are always out for the kids to get themselves. Besides tortilla chips when we decide to make dip, we don’t even keep chips in the house anymore. I’ll admit, though, that I do have a chocolate addiction, but I keep my stash up high out of the kids reach. Speaking of candy, we do let the kids have candy from holidays. It’s kept in a bin in our pantry and we give it to them sparingly. There are only 3 times a year they have a large amount of candy, Christmas, Easter, and Halloween. With 5 kids we do not keep all the Halloween candy we get. It’s way too much. Our dentist takes candy to donate to soldiers. So that’s where at least half, if not more, of our Halloween candy goes. I haven’t bought candy in years (except for myself).
What will persuade your kids to try new things? Our oldest will try anything, even if she isn’t thrilled about it, she’ll still try it. So she’s not the one we worry about. Our one son was the pickiest eater until he was about 8 years old. Before then he went through a phase where he would try anything if he could dip it in something (guacamole, baroque sauce, hummus). Then he went through a stage where if we put it in a taco he’d try it. Currently our 3 and 5 year olds pretty much refuse to eat dinner unless it’s pizza, pasta, or chicken that’s only lightly seasoned. Knowing that, I make sure that I know they’ll eat what’s made every other night. I only make one meal. So if they choose not to eat, that’s their choice. Of course, sometimes they just eat the pieces they know they like and refuse to try the “questionable” parts. As my 5 year old is turning 6, he seems to be more willing to try some new things. I think this is because he has finally realized that if he chooses not to eat, he’ll be super hungry in the morning. The more kids I have the longer the picky stage seems to last. Of course, it doesn’t help when their siblings constantly say “I don’t like this” before they even try it. That is why my 5 year old stopped trying new things. He would try anything from day one, until about the age 3. Then over night he decided he didn’t like anything “different”. Sometimes making it a game will help. My aunt used the Tastey Club on her son and that worked. The idea is that you have to at least try the food to continue to be part of the club. I grew up with the clean plate club. This seems like a good idea, however it really depends on the child whether it will work or not. Just getting them to try new food is really the main battle. If you can get kids to do that, they’ll start making their own decisions based on taste instead of looks.
Vegan Substitutes. This is where your wallet can take a punch. Substitutes can be gimmicky for companies to make more money off people trying to be healthy. These foods can also be very processed which doesn’t fall into the whole-food part of plant-based diet. I’m talking about things like veggie chips, vegan cheese, basically anything that is made to be “like” the animal food we’re trying not to miss. Just be careful with substitutes. They’re not all bad, but they can bring your spending up very quickly. Not to mention you’re missing out on trying new foods and exploring different flavors.
Think Simplicity. What’s the simplest way to start this change? When I got looking up plant-based recipes, I realized that breakfast is actually super easy to make plant-based. For us, oatmeal, bulgar, and smoothies are easy and versatile, not to mention quick to make. You can take the basic prep of each of these and add different fruits or spices to make it different each day. My kids have oatmeal most mornings and I add chia seeds and flax to up the calcium and fiber, and add different seasonings and fruit to change up the flavor. This was a super easy way for us to turn one meal a day plant-based. And it was a plus that the older ones could make oatmeal and bulgar themselves. Smoothies are an easy way to sneak veggies into your kids diet. Read more in my post about 6 Simple Healthy Breakfasts for Kids.
It is totally possible to change not only your eating habits, but those of the rest of your family as well. It’s just going to be a little different for each family, and it may take some time. Find what works for you and share below!
