Transcript
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You're ready to adopt a healthy plant based lifestyle.
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But whether you're going all in are you doing it piece by piece step by step. What you're really concerned about is, what are your children going to do? How are they going to respond? How can you help your children simply adopt a whole food plant based lifestyle? That's what we're talking about today.
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You're listening to the smarter Healthy Living podcast where we firmly believe that getting healthy should never feel like torture, where your host Jarrod and Anita Roussel were college sweethearts, and health professionals who help you redefine what getting healthy looks like using a whole food plant based lifestyle. It's time to hear from the experts and learn the best tips and tricks that helped others get me on overwhelm, to create a vibrant life they love. If you're sick and tired of being sick, and tired, you're in the right place. So pull up a virtual chair, grab your matcha latte.
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And let's get started.
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In this episode, we want to give you some practical advice on how to help your children adopt a whole food plant based lifestyle. Now we are parents, we have four children. And we know that sometimes there can be differences of opinion. So if you're used to eating a certain way, and you're now wanting to make these changes, you might get some resistance he
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had just a little.
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So it's even under the best of circumstances.
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And it's going to depend on what age they are the kind of resistance you'll get probably as well because of course, it's going to be a lot easier. In general if you have younger children. But what let's start with what if you're just expecting and you don't have a baby yet? Or you're planning a family soon? What are some things you can start thinking about? And it's kind of going to be the same if you have little ones you haven't started eating food solid food yet, and you're just getting ready to start them on solid fade, so they haven't been eating them long. So with the youngest kids, what can they do?
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Well, I know for us, and this is what we did. So we have great kids. But thankfully, we started with a lot of this when they were very young, where they ate what we ate. Now when they were young, we weren't playing bass, then we weren't whole food plant based. But we did understand the value of a veggie, and so a lot of vegetables, and we made their food with our Vitamix blender.
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Now, you if you want to learn a little more about that, you can go back to our episode where we're talking about our number one tool, and I know I've given it away now, but I'm saying but go back to our number one kitchen tool that that we love.
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But we use that heavily. And we made their food for them. So they were eating the very things that we were eating is just at that point, they weren't able to chew, but they still got those same foods.
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Look at let me just say this. If you have never tried baby fat baby food that's pre made in the package, crack open a jar or one of those little plastic containers, whatever yours is in, open it up and give it a try. Is it good? Does it taste like real food? No, it doesn't. It's horrible.
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It's absolutely disgusting. It's where I'd be just Yeah, it's great. It's possibly nutritious, but it just lacks flavor.
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Yeah, the fruit tastes sweet. And that's about it.
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That's why most of the babies want the fruit because it tastes sweet. But it still doesn't usually taste like the fruit.
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And I'll tell you one of the first things that we did is we had made some sweet potatoes and I believe we were trying this out, we put it into a food processor. And it still just tasted kind of bland. We put in our Vitamix where it really blended it smooth
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made it smooth. Yeah, it
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was just so just so strong.
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Yeah, it's like you think about the best whip that
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sounds like a court of law. So I had like, almost like a creme brulee.
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Yeah, kind of like a creme brulee or sweet potato casserole that's just real fluffy and light. And the more you get it, the more it becomes like a sweet potato pudding. But in the in the you were talking about using the least like the food processor. If you did that you get sometimes it'll be a little stringy so it's best to use a blender that'll really pulverize it, but the flavors are there. I mean, even in the vegetables if you blend those up until they're really creamy and your blender. It's amazing.
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We did carrots, green beans, right. A lot of those different types of foods, but we were typically taking things that were already making. So there they were getting used to it, their tongues their their palates. Were getting used to those flavors, and that's very beginning,
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right, and it's what they wanted, because it's what they knew, right? And so start them off as early as possible. And listen again, we talked on the episode Jarrod said about our number one favorite appliance.
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We talked about how to prep baby food and how he did some of that and then just think about controlling their environment.
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Now a lot of people say my children won't eat this or they won't eat that and they're like one year old. Two years old. You bring the food into the house, they don't buy the food. It's kind of like the same thing with the phones. You know you don't want your children spend so much time on the phone but where they get the phone right we give them the fence. We give them the appliances. We give The whatever the the foods that they eat, so we determine their environment and the majority of the time right when they're in our home, definitely. And so we want to make sure that we set them up for success in all areas. As parents, we want our best for our kids, we want their best.
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And so you want to make sure that what you're bringing into the home and buying and putting there is going to fuel them while giving them the best chance at being able to think clearly feel great, not fall asleep, while they're doing their schoolwork and all those kinds of things. And food is greatly going to affect that as
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well. And I think keeping the things that you don't want them to have out of the house, it's usually important because it can't be a fight, or at least not nearly as much of a fight. If it's not there. It's like, No, I don't want this. I want the goldfish crackers. Well, there they have them. Yeah, but they're right there on the shelf, and I want that right there, then it can become a huge battle. But if it's not there in the house, you say, I'm sorry, honey, we don't have any we're out. Yeah, they stopped making a, you know, you know, ally to
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know. But if they're not there, they're not as likely as former they know, if you say they're not there, after a while, if you don't tolerate throw down tantrums in the store or at the house, then that becomes a lot easier as well.
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Because if you reinforce that by giving in when they do that when they're young, then they're what that tells them is they can have whatever they want. All they need to do is do the throw down at the right time. And as
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long as they do it loud enough and long enough.
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Yeah. So what you want to do is decide early also, and this is one thing we decided I like to Jarrod one day and I said you know what we're looking at having several children, we already have a couple by this point, and I'm not gonna there's no way I'm gonna be able to run a made to order restaurant. This isn't Mama's takeout surface. So we're all going to eat the meal that I make. And you know,
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we have seen families like that, where they would make a meal. But then one particular child wouldn't want it. And they would make a separate meal for that one individual,
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right. And sometimes when they've learned just to eat and try those different foods and the flavors, that they start getting used to them, and that becomes their norm, right.
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And if they don't like it the first time, don't give up. Many times it can take trying it a few times before they start to come around and say okay, maybe this isn't so bad.
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But we'll talk about some ways to help them start enjoying it. If you didn't start early on, and they haven't developed the flavor for that. Don't worry, it's not too late. So one thing you can do with young children is have fun with it fun. Yeah, think about making muscles. Look, you're eating your broccoli, this is strong food, you know, and make the muscle there and and show me your muscles and Ooh, wow, you know you're eating your broccoli and things like that. And then let them do some crafts around fate as they get older. And you know, make it age specific. Like if they're young for second play with a little broccoli trees and cauliflower trees and carrots and give them a variety of really healthy foods with a great dip like a hummus that's all free, very simple to make at home or just grab in the store nowadays. And you just grab that, give them a couple of dips to try and make sure just to to give them something that will expand the horizons, let them try something new. So they've got all these different vegetables to try. Maybe they've even helped cut them up with their little kids knives.
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There's some great ones out there, we'll actually post them down below in the link for you.
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That's a great thing to use. I wish we'd known about it before our youngest is eight. We just found out about these knives that are sharper, but they won't get their little fingers and
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they're made of plastic.
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And they work great. They won't cut fingers. But amazingly they work well on food. I don't know how that's like an engineering marvel. I don't know how you do that.
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But they work that word.
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But it things like that getting them involved in the prep, take them shopping point out, this is a blah, blah, blah, this is a whatever it is name it this is a carrot This is a parsnip, this is a rutabaga This is all let's try this or let them help cheese get to
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that point I've even heard of, I don't know if they were studies but stories where kids could not name common vegetables. They might know french fries, but they might have difficulty picking out a whole potato or they may know ketchup, but not recognize a whole tomato. So even just some of the simple things that we take for granted. get them involved say this is this and this what we can use or what we can make with it.
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And as children get a little bit older, right? You can start saying Okay, now I need your help. Let's Let's menu plan together and what would you like to have? And then let's start doing things that they would enjoy being a part of. Like even young children really little kids can learn how to hold a bowl and stir while you add ingredients or you add something to a cup and let them dump it and they love it and if they can be a part of making it. Guess what they're going to be A lot more excited about trying that thing and actually thinking that they like it. And every time they're actually going to grow to really enjoy those things.
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When kids
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participate in making something, they're invested in it, they want to try this new creation.
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Yeah, it just makes sense. And even just with the older children, let them start again, by going shopping with you, she first choose the recipe, then go shopping, let them pick the ingredients, playing the menus, and cook with you bake serve, I mean, when they get involved in the service and give them praise, once they've done that price, and this for a job well done. I noticed how everybody loved the meal that you prepared, you did such a great job doing that. And think about how you're helping the family to get healthy eating these foods. And then our children. They're eight and 1214 and 16. Now and all of them love to cook and create menus and dishes Now, of course, they all have their favorites. And some have things their specialties.
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Yeah. And they say, you know, they'll say with some meal, well, it's not my favorite, but it's okay. And they'll still eat it. And they have a good attitude about it. And but most of the things they just really like now, because their palates have expanded because they're used to eating those foods now.
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But they all love cooking. They love to create menus and dishes.
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And several have branched out and even created their own family restaurants at certain times and was as they were younger, and meaning a family restaurant right here in our own home. And they that even included their own menu that they wrote out by hand and showed. Yeah, there's a funny story there.
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Well, yes, our younger one. Well, I believe Madeline did this. Yeah, Malin did this a long time ago. But more recently, our eight year old, she has become a bit entrepreneurial. And she not only created a menu, but she stuck a price next to each other. So I thought what a fantastic business model, we paid for the ingredients, we pay for all the supplies, but she's charging us for what we've already paid. But your credit, the price on most of these things are two cents, five cents. And since we aren't paying her for her work of creating it, so it makes it fun.
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And we go along with it.
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It's so much fun. And I'll tell you that other thing is when they start learning how to cook and prepare, and they develop a love for that they want to cook. I mean, our kids come to us now and say, Can I cook lunch? Can I kick this man?
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I'll make that. And I'll say is it going to be for everybody, because that'd be really great.
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And if when they do that, it literally frees you up, you start thinking about not only are you going to make incredible memories together in the kitchen and doing these things, but once they learn it, sometimes they'll just go in there and want to cook on their own. Maybe they'll turn on some good music or get another sibling involved. But when they start doing those things, they're not only learning and making themselves healthier and stronger, but they're freeing you up to be able to do some of the other
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things. What would it be like if just three meals out of the week that maybe you didn't have to prepare? If one specific individual in the house, usually the mom is creating all the meals, what would three meals a week do to help free you up to the other side of it, though, as you were saying that they were gaining these skills is that these are life skills that they will have forever. I think too many kids grow up and then they go out into the world and they don't really know how to do these things. Whereas if from a very young age, they're been they've been doing all this, well, then that transition, that will it really isn't a transition. I mean, they know how to take care of themselves.
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They know how to cook and eventually take care of a family
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when they can have fun to training their children how to do the same thing as they grow older. And one of the big things with this is making memories together. You know, we're so busy today and going here and there. And we think we have to have every child involved in some activity, and then they're going to school and then you're going to an activity for child number one and two, and three and four. And how much do you see each other and get to make memories. Get in the kitchen, make memories together, turn up great music, dance, why and sing together? While you're making things, whatever your family would enjoy doing. Just find new ways to make it fun, make healthy food fun and let them learn with you. And this will also help you to remember what you're learning to swim as you learn, teach it to your children. Because when you teach what you learn right away, you're going to hang on to it and it'll become a new habit for you. And then you'll love it all the more.
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I think another helpful tip too is that when they ask questions, think of it in terms of the answer is for educating them not necessarily arguing.
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And and I'm not getting I'm not implying that they always will.
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But sometimes, like we were saying before, there could be some resistance with
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teens, especially teens
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because they they are setting these specific habits that they've had for years now.
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And so if you think of it in terms of I'm going to use this moment to educate instead of arguing, then that helps to keep one the stress level down but helps to keep it more fun but it helps to keep that bond
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yeah keeps the bond keeps things more cohesive, I guess.
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And then the other thing is that with teens, think about or even older kids think about things they already like, if they already like tacos tried to in the bean version of that, or if they already love chili, put beans in instead of meat. Think about the things they've loved that are really simple to change. If they love spirit and love pasta, find a simple like a bowl and a sauce that might be more of a meaty type sauce, that you can add a lot of different vegetables chopped up small, and maybe some Beluga lentils, which are black lentils that have a firm consistency, or you can add some net mate that's very simple to make at home as well. And we show people how to do things that like that all the time in our membership, those are things that you can do that are really simple. That'll save you time, but that'll help people embrace, especially your children and start enjoying this course your spouse to write.
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And then when you add the herbs and spices specifically for the bowl and a sauce, we can't tell the difference. And as far as the flavor, it's amazing,
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it is so good. And then another thing you can do is connect with other plant based families. You know, when you connect with other people that are on this journey, it's gonna make things not only easier, but you'll get great ideas that you can share. I mean, I remember when we first started doing this, and we had we connected with some other friends that were eating this way, and they'd be texting me stuff and I'd be texting look, we made this Oh, you're gonna have to try this recipe I made this change and that change. And we do that. And we encourage people to do that inside of our Facebook group, we have a free Facebook group smarter, healthy living, we'd love to have you come join us.
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And what we encourage people to do in the air is just snap a picture. It doesn't have to be professional if what you're eating, share with people. And as everybody's doing that you're learning from each other. But you're also cementing what you're learning as you go. And kind of creating a little more of what you've tried so that you can come back to those things and not forget what you liked and how you tweaked it as well.
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It's great to get in a community of other plant based families because it's just going to increase your momentum and make you love it all the more.
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Another thing you can do have family movie night, right? With Forks Over Knives are What the hell are one of the other movies that are really great too, when you're first wanting to go whole food plant base. The one thing that we put we wanted to provide and that we started when we started doing this is when we watched those movies and saw the things that were out there, a lot of these things are great for motivating you to get started. And we highly recommend that you watch them. But people don't know I mean, maybe it's watch it and then say Well, what do I do? How do I do it, you feel overwhelmed because you don't know where to start.
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Because it's just so different what you've been from what you've been doing before, and you need somebody to show you a simple step by step, Okay, first you do this, then you do this, then you do this. And this is what makes it easy. That's what we love to do to help people walk that path. But just think about if if your kids aren't motivated yet one of the first steps that's a great way to be motivated is get in there, make a good healthy snack and what sit down and watch Forks Over Knives that with him and talk about it afterwards. Or, again, what the hell, it's a great movie to watch with your kids.
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And we found this pretty instrumental in the very beginning because it lays out just the some of the science and the reasoning of why this is
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there's a ton more ways and things that you can adopt and do to help your children to live a simple and enjoyable whole food plant based lifestyle. These are only a few choose one, start doing it today and see how quickly things will change for you and your family.
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If you've loved this info, but you just want to know more. Or maybe you want a simple system, and someone to lead you through it all step by step to avoid the overwhelm. We have got you covered because that's exactly what Jared and I do inside our membership called power on plants society. We open it up a few times a year. So come on over right now and see if the doors are open. And if they're currently closed, you can still get on the waitlist and you'll be the first to know when we open them. You'll even get notified about special bonuses to the links in the show notes.
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So be sure to get onto the list today. So you don't miss out. It was such a joy hanging out with you today. And until next time, keep taking those simple steps to get more whole plant foods so you can build your best life and we'll see you again very soon.
