Kiddos and food question....

I totally agree.  I am raising my son to be the exact opposite eater of me.   My son is 2 1/2 years old.   I never give him juice.  He only has water for snacks and milk with meals.  He loves water! Snacks include graham crackers, lots of fruit and raw veggies or organic granola bars.    He will have a cookie or a sweet treat when he's at grandmas.   My son is the best eater.   He loves chicken , fish, veggies, fruits, sweet potatoes.   I have always given him a variety of different foods at meal times and I believe it's made him a better eater.    He has gotten to try lots of good and healthy foods and he loves them.   I'm trying to raise him to look at fruits and veggies as a dessert.    I hope my plan conts to work!  
Good luck to you.

Thank you for sharing that, so it can be done. Peoples first reaction to this is to say, "Oh theyre kids all they want is junk" and it just makes me cringe. I enjoy reading a sucess story. Good for you!!! P&PT's.

Hubby and I have talked about this - of course we don't have a child yet so it is all speculation but  we eat a fairly diverse diet, BOTH of our menus have been severly altered by my WLS. We don't keep chips, doritos, sugary or high fat things in the house. PERIOD. I do make sugar free treats but most of them geting given away or tossed. If I want something I eat 2 or 3 servings of it over a week and then done. My problem pre-op was quantity. I always loved my fruits and veggies but I loved "other" food more. MY hubby is a big guy too (WLS isn't for him yet - he isn't ready) We both want our child(ren) to eat a diverse diet and there is nothing wrong with fruit and yogurt, jello(can be made more natural with 100% juice or nectar and unflavored gelatin so there is no artifical sweetener) or homemade pudding for dessert.

I think that it was Jo that mentioned her kids have the "treat" type things out so it isn't deprivation but they are just as happy with pop corn and granola bars!

I hope that your family comes around and backs you on this - it is your child after all

I think that as a young child there is no need for them to have processed or refined sugars. The occasional sweet treat or snack will not hurt and the idea is to never use food as a reward because they can begin to associate that. My son as another poster also mentioned snacks on things like fruit snacks, teddy grahams, cheeses, fruit cups, applesauce, pudding, yogurt, etc and is fine. I think acheiving a healthy balance is essential and the best way to encourage that is start young. Even foods I do not like or have allergies to, etc, I let my son try because he has his own palate and may be opposite of me.

I totally agree with this!  One of my biggest fears is that Charlotte will become overweight, or even worse, obese.  My husband knows my concerns and agrees with me, but he is also concerned that I will take it too far the other way and give her food issues on the opposite spectrum.  I am trying to be aware of this, as it is not too far out of the realm of possibility for my personality (unfortunately).

But like others have said, I try to give healthy snacks.  She has low-sugar juice (max. 6-8 oz. per day), but... that too is mixed with mostly water (i.e. 4 oz. water + 2 juice).  For snacks, she eats things like low-sugared dry cereal, Goldfish crackers (cheese and graham kind), fruit, appleasauce (no sugar added), and Gerber toddler snacks, etc.  She goes to Grandma's house (my mom) 2 days/week, and I occasionally have to struggle with that... not so much that she doesn't give her the things I send with or healthy things, but that everytime she begs for food (which could be immediately after she's eaten a big lunch), they (my mom and dad) give in to her.  My husband does this on occasion, too.  I am like... "what is this teaching her?".

She has tasted a few things that I prefer she not eat on a regular basis, such as ice cream and french fries, but only tastes... not as a meal or anything.  I agree with you as far as candy goes... if she's never had it, she can't know what she's missing.  I will totally blame myself if she becomes an overweight child and is teased incessantly by other kids; it's no fun, and I don't ever want her to deal with that.  Kids are teased enough these days; she dosn't need one more reason!

I probably sound hard core, too, but it is only because I am concerned for her health and her future.  I, personally, would of course love her no matter what size she became, but I can't say the same for others out in the world, as I have witnessed the ostracism firsthand.  I know we probably all have.

Thanks for posting this!
Tanja