I’m sure that you care about the health of your family. I sure do and I can’t imagine any parent NOT taking this seriously.

So when I saw this article written by Mike Geary, I knew I had to write a quick blog post about it suggesting you read it.

Here’s why this article is so important to read:

It helps you understand the 5 most dangerous condiments that you probably have in your fridge right now. It explains why they are unhealthy (and we shouldn’t feed them to our kids).

But it ALSO shows you 5 alternative HEALTHY condiments that you should use instead.
You might be surprised to see how often soybean oil is used in foods. You know why? It’s because soybeans are the commodity crop used to give cattle protein, along with corn (for carbohydrates). The byproduct of this industrial farming is a lot of excess soybean oil. So food manufacturers feed it to us. Not because it’s healthy, but because it is cheap.

As I read the article this morning I nodded along at every point that the author made. He and I definitely see eye-to-eye on this.

Please take the 2 minutes necessary to read this. You’ll be surprised by what you learn.

Enjoy your children (and your health!)

Chris Thompson

P.S. Make sure you noticed what I mention about soybean oil in the middle of this post. There is a reason it’s in almost every garbage condiment these days, and it has nothing to do with better health.

When I was a child, I absolutely loved pancakes and I thought my mom made the best pancakes in the world. Turns out it was Aunt Jemima, and so was the syrup we used. In my adolescent years I’d make them myself because I still loved them and it’s all I really knew how to make. Now as an adult, while I still love an awesome pancake breakfast, I realize that making the best pancakes in the world from scratch is really easy, and can be done in a much healthier way than buying a mix.

I’m no longer satisfied with plain-old flapjacks. So the following recipe is my preference and my kids absolutely go NUTS for these pancakes. Feel free to modify the recipe to your liking.

Here is My Banana Blueberry Flax and Coconut Healthy Pancake Recipe

Ingredients:

1 ripe banana
3/4 cup blueberries
2 tbsp flax seed (ground)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 egg (preferably free range organic)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 heaping tsp ground cinnamon
4 tbsp shredded coconut
1 cup whole flour
1 cup whole milk

Here’s how I make them:

Start by mashing up the banana in your mixing bowl. A fork works great to accomplish this task. Then add in all other ingredients and whisk until smooth. This should only take one minute at most. Heat up a frying pan on medium heat. Use a tablespoon of coconut oil in the pan to prevent sticking. Cook your pancakes evenly on both sides and serve warm.

Some points about why I’m using this recipe

There are lots of natural healthy ingredients in these pancakes, yet they still taste unbelievably good.

Banana and Blueberry are fantastic healthy fruits to eat and most kids love them. When seasonally available I’ll use fresh blueberries, but when they are not I just use frozen berries. Defrost them first otherwise they’ll prevent the batter from cooking close to the berry. Frozen blueberries also turn the whole batter purple, which my kids love. They call them “purple pancakes”.

Flax seed contains a good balance of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids. I always use whole flax seeds and simply grind them up in a coffee grinder. This way I know my flax is fresh ground. This is important because flax oils will oxidize easily. This is also why we want to use medium heat rather than high heat for cooking.

Cinnamon is an amazing spice that has been connected to healthier insulin balance in the body. Considering that pancakes are carb-heavy, it’s good to have the cinnamon to help counteract the unhealthy insulin spike.

Coconut is an incredibly healthy source of saturated fats, and we love the taste. This is why we put a good amount of coconut in these pancakes.

Whole flower should be used. And this doesn’t mean you have to use wheat flour. You can try spelt, kamut, or a mixture of wheat with these alternative flours. I prefer to avoid the over-processed and genetically engineered wheat flours.

Notice that there is NO ADDED SUGAR in these pancakes? When I first started making this recipe I used honey rather than table sugar. And sometimes I still do (one tablespoon). But it’s not necessary when you have an entire banana in there. There is already natural sugar in the banana.

Always use Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) instead of Canola or plainly labeled “Vegetable Oil”. Canola and Soy oils are simply not healthy for you at all, whereas EVOO straight from the olive is much more natural and healthy. If you want to dive deeper to understand why Canola oil is unhealthy read this article.

You may also be wondering why I advise using coconut oil in the pan, but olive oil in the batter. Good question – and there is a good answer. First, coconut oil will remain solid in the batter, so you can’t use it. Second, EVOO will oxidize at a lower temperature so I avoid using it in a frying pan. I’ll add it to batter (which doesn’t get nearly as hot compared to the oil in the pan). When cooking I will almost always use coconut oil in the pan.

Send Me Your Feedback

I’m in the process of putting together a “healthy ideas” recipe book for parents. The goal is to share healthy and easy-to-make recipes for snacks, meals, desserts, etc. The intention is to reduce the use of processed foods, save money, and use more natural ingredients.

If you have ideas, please share them in the comments section below. If you have a problem you’d like to see me address in my recipe book, please comment also.

Enjoy the pancakes!

Would you feed your kids or yourself food that you knew was genetically modified, untested for safety, and quite possibly harmful to your kids’ health?

Most parents would say “No” … but based on my conversations with people who are new to this topic, I’ve also found that most parents do not realize they are already feeding their family genetically modified food. Time to do some learning here.

I’ve been curious about the growing movement towards organic food and the potential damage from genetically modified foods.

You may not realize it yet, but a TON of the food you’re eating (and feeding your kids) is genetically modified (also called “GM foods”).

The 4 most significant crops affected by this trend are Corn, Soy, Cotton and Canola. These crops are found in most of what you eat.

Parents need to understand this. I’m scientifically inclined since I’m kind of a geek, but I’m not a doctor or a biologist. I can’t say for sure that GM foods are dangerous but I’m VERY BOTHERED by the fact that:

1) There DOES NOT seem to be any safety testing done on GM food
2) There DOES appear to be legitimate concerns about GM foods based on independent tests and anecdotal evidence from farmers.

If you want to turn a blind eye to this stuff, I wish you well but think you’re making a mistake. If you want to learn a bit more about this so you can protect your own family, I highly encourage you to watch this video.

All Parents Should Watch This Video

I HIGHLY recommend that you at last watch the video at 18:30 through to about 22:00 if you’re short on time. This hits RIGHT at the heart of parenting and food

We’ve all been there, haven’t we? That is, dealing with kids who are picky eaters, or refuse to eat what we prepared for them. Doesn’t it annoy you when you spend time carefully and lovingly preparing a sandwich, or bowl of macaroni & cheese only to be told, “I DON’T WANNNNT THAAAT”

This article about kids who are picky eaters was written just for you!

Enjoy your children,
Chris Thompson

Lately I’ve been collecting as many successful healthy snack, meal and dessert recipes as I can. I’m testing them, making notes, and preparing to launch a free recipe book for parents.

Today I made two awesome dishes. The first was Coconut Chocolate Macaroons. The only ingredients I used were milk, butter, honey, cocoa powder, coconut flakes and oatmeal. The original recipe I followed called for WAY more sugar than was necessary, so I substituted less natural (unpasteurized) honey. They taste much better this way. They literally took 15 minutes to make including cleanup.

The second dish was Chocolate Beet Brownies. These took me more time to make because the organic beets had to be peeled, sliced, and then simmered for 20 minutes before creating beet paste. From that point, the whole recipe took me about additional 20 minutes and tastes wonderful. In addition to beets, the recipe uses eggs, extra virgin olive oil, whole wheat flower, honey, stevia (natural sweetener) and a few other basics in your kitchen. Super healthy compared to most other junk food desserts.

I look forward to sharing more about what I’m putting together, but I hope this short post reminds you that there ARE ways to eat healthy without taking a lot of time, and without sacrificing flavor.

To your health, and the health of your family!
Chris Thompson

Parents should care about what they feed their kids. But they also want something that is easy to prepare. Breakfast is an important part of the day. Most parents feed their children too much junk food including processed flour and sugar. Here is a way to avoid that.

The name of the meal is “Muesli” and it’s made from yogurt and oats, mostly. It’s so simple to make, but tastes incredible. Feel free to change this recipe any number of ways to suit your family.

To get the best possible result, I suggest making it the night before. That way everything soaks together in the fridge. The recipe I’m giving you is for one portion, so just scale it up to make more portions. You’ll probably want to eat this too!

Start by adding 1/3 cup of oats into a bowl. Rolled oats don’t cost very much, but they are really healthy for you. Unlike many flours, they are not processed.

Now add about 1/3 cup of natural yogurt. Use plain (unsweetened) yogurt because flavored yogurt always has sugar in it. We want to avoid sugar. I prefer organic yogurt. It doesn’t cost that much more.

Now add in one tablespoon of natural honey. You can always use maple syrup if you prefer. Both of these sweeteners are totally natural and are much better than table sugar or brown sugar. Stay away from those alternatives.

Then pile in the fruit. I always like to choose fresh blueberries and finely chopped apple. If you are able to use organic fruit, all the better. Otherwise make sure to wash it well because most fruit is treated with pesticides. I like to use about 2/3 of a cup of fruit in total.

The next ingredient is Cinnamon. You decide on the quantity, but one teaspoon is a good starting point. I like to use a lot of it for the flavor. Cinnamon is known to help your body control blood sugar levels. This is important in a society of obesity and, increasingly, diabetes. Cinnamon is helpful and tasty.

Finally, before you put the whole thing in your fridge for the night, add some milk. About 1/3 of a cup is probably the right amount, but you decide based on the consistency you want to achieve. If you can use organic milk, I recommend you do.

Think of all the ways you can modify this recipe! What about adding pumpkin seeds, or unsweetened coconut slices? Maybe some finely ground flax seed? You can buy flax seeds in bulk and grind them up in a cheap coffee grinder.

Feeding your kids a healthy diet is important. Recipes like this can help you set a good example for them.

I don’t normally publish recipes on my blog. If you’re new here you might also be interested in checking out my Talking to Toddlers audio course. This course helps parents overcome the stress of dealing with difficult toddlers.

One of the things I’ve noticed about parenting toddlers is that kids can be very demanding. Not only will they make demands of you, but their demands can get increasingly specific. It almost seems like they are doing it on purpose just to see how far they can push things.

My youngest daughters was a great example of this behavior. I remember when she was about 3 years old. She would wake up early and I’d take her downstairs to have breakfast together. She’d tell me she wanted cereal for breakfast, so I’d get out the Cheerios. Then she’d tell me, “No I want Raisin Bran”. After I switched cereals, I grabbed her a bowl. In a very whinny toddler voice she’d say, “No I want the yellow bowl, not the orange one” How can you ever win?

In the beginning I wasn’t worried about this. It was no big deal, and it wasn’t worth a fight. But soon afterward I realized I was going to have to show her how to make her own decisions and how to be responsible for her own choices. After I came to that realization, I started making her do things for herself if she changed her mind.

As a simple example, say she told me that she really didn’t want the orange bowl. I’d just say to her, “That’s fine sweetie – just go to the drawer and get whatever bowl you want, and put this one back”. If she really wanted to make a change it was now up to her. Sure, she fussed about this at first, because she wanted me to do it for her. I just pushed the responsibility back to her politely.

Children want parents to do things for them. They test the boundaries and they want to see how much influence they can have over Mom and Dad. Instead of getting angry at these tests, just realize that they are a normal part of growing up. It’s so much easier to just show them how to take action to solve their own problems.

Always keep in mind that children will get upset if you say “No” right to their face. It can really be easier to say “I see – you want a different color bowl? No problem, here’s where you can go to get it by yourself” When you do this you’re presenting a solution

Sometimes parents won’t offer solutions. They just seem to put up roadblocks. They say “No, I won’t get you another bowl”. I suggest that when you have a conflict with your young kids, you offer them solutions rather than roadblocks. This forces them to take responsibility for adopting the solution.

Toddlers and young kids will push the boundaries as a part of their learning experience. If you understand that this is a normal process, you’ll find it much easier to redirect the conflict towards teaching them how to solve their own problems.

Chris Thompson is the creator of the Talking to Toddlers audio course for parents. He shows parents how to use language to reduce parenting stress. Listen instantly to his free lesson on raising toddlers.

I think that a lot of parents realize that too much juice is a bad thing. So if you catch yourself saying wondering how to reduce the amount of juice your toddler drinks, I’ve got an idea that works really well in my household, and I’m happy to share it with you.

Why Should I be Worried That My Toddler Drinks Too Much Juice?

If you’re not already convinced that drinking too much juice is a bad thing, you need to stop and simply think about how much fruit is required in order to make a glass of juice. It actually takes about 4 oranges to get this amount of juice. Fruit is great, but cramming such a hefty amount of it into your stomach all at once is not such a good idea.

Not only is your child consuming far too much fruit at one time, but when you drink juice (rather than eat fruit), the sugar passes to the intestines and is absorbed into the bloodstream much faster than if you just sat down and ate some fruit.

The sugar in fruit juice is called fructose, and just because it comes from a fruit doesn’t make it “healthy”. Sugar causes the body to release a massive surge of insulin, and the insulin works to remove sugar from the bloodstream. The sugar goes away, the insulin lingers, and you’re left with a not-so good feeling in your body. Ever wonder if this contributes to toddler behavior problems?

Simply put, I sincerely believe that fruit juice consumption should be limited to a half glass per day in kids. If they want more, give them actual fruit. Cut up apples, pears, or other fruit and have them snack on that along with fresh vegetables such as celery, carrots, etc.

A Great Fruit Juice Replacement

It’s called … WATER. Yes I’m serious, but I think there’s a great way to “spruce it up” so that it is more interesting for your child. You can show them this “treat” and make it exciting for them so they ask for it.

Here’s what you do. Take about a teaspoonful of lemon juice from concentrate. That’s about a cap full if you buy it by the bottle. Mix the lemon juice with a splash of fruit juice such as OJ or Apple Juice. I mean just a splash for flavor. Then, add a couple of ice cubes and top up the cup with fresh cold water.

Regular water is great – and you should encourage your kids to drink plenty of it. But for something special, this easy recipe adds some natural flavor to the water while severely limiting the amount of sugar in the drink.

I want to tell you a story about one recent Sunday morning and how I used language to influence my kids. I hope this story shows you how easy it can be to leverage communication skills.

As usual on Sundays, I woke up to the sound of my kids playing at the foot of my bed. This is a pretty common experience for me. They either hop into bed and ask me to turn on the TV, or they just play quietly in the bedroom. My wife heads out early to go swimming on Sundays, so it’s just me and the kids.

Soon after we wake up, it’s breakfast time. My youngest daughter has grown quite fond of Cottage Cheese. On this Sunday morning she asked for Cottage Cheese for breakfast (along with some fruit), and so it was. I gave it to her. Hey, it’s better than Count Chocula, or whatever other crap cereals I always asked for when I was a kid!

My older daughter was digging through the cupboards after finishing her oatmeal. She found these nasty candies that one of our relatives bought for them the week before. They were purple wristbands made from that gummy-worm material. They come neatly wrapped up in individual packaging. There were two left. She grabbed them and said, “Daddy, can we eat these?”.

My youngest stopped eating her Cottage Cheese and agreed with her sister “Yeah, Daddy can we have those right now?”.

My goal was to avoid a fight, while having to explain to my daughter that she needs to finish her breakfast first. My secondary goal was to distract them from the fact that there were two candies … and have them share one. These things were gross, and I really didn’t wanna feed them the sugar.

Here’s what I said to my younger daughter. Notice the way the language is worded? It’s not a proper sentence. This is known as “punctuational ambiguity”. This is done on purpose.

“You can eat that after how many bites of Cottage Cheese are left?”

The second portion of what I said … the question part, is what I emphasized with my tone. The kids heard the first part, so there was no fight. But they *really* heard the second part, which was a direct question.

I got my youngest to guess how many bites she had left. Then I got my oldest to count as she took the remaining bites, turning it into a game that involved both kids. The result? No fight … and she ate her breakfast completely.

Now onto the nasty candy. The first thing I did was present the idea of sharing ONE of the candies rather than opening both. I did this by reframing the meaning of sharing. Normally kids would think, “Well, I only get half the candy”. To avoid this I simply suggested that we put one candy away for later, and that we “cut this one into two pieces … that way you get to eat a piece now and you’ll still have the other candy to eat later”. It worked, but primarily because I was really congruent with my delivery. If I had not been “sold” on it with my body language, they would have seen right through me.

The next thing I did was to use a series of “binds” … or what I refer to as the illusion of choice.

“Do you want me to cut it with scissors, or a knife”

“Do you want a purple half, or a purple half” … this was just a joke to get them to laugh.

“Do you want *this* purple half, or *this* purple half” (getting each daughter to choose her piece).

Having them make these selections creates consistency, and essentially eliminates their ability to change their mind. It’s a simple psychological tactic.

The outcome was exactly what I hoped for. It doesn’t always work as easily as this, but most times it does. I had to be quick on my toes, understand what language patterns to use, and be congruent about them when I delivered them.

Parents: My audio program contains nearly 3 hours of lessons that you can start using right away to reduce your parenting stress. Click here to check out the Talking to Toddlers audio course.

My kids love pizza. My kids love pizza so much, they have been asking me to make it at least once a week for dinner. They have even been asking to eat pizza for lunch.

I’m sure most parents can relate that once kids eat something they enjoy, they tend to want to eat it at every meal. Well – my kids at least. Needless to say, I am tired of pizza.

The other day my kids were complaining about their lunch. They didn’t want to eat it because it was boring. It got me thinking about – pizza.

The next day, I decided it was time to get creative and give in to my kids demand for pizza. I said, “kids ,today for lunch, we are having pizza”. Their faces lit up. Then I said “peanut butter pizza that is”. They stared at me in amazement. I had sparked some curiosity on their end.

I asked my eldest to get out some pita bread, peanut butter and jam from the fridge. We spread a thin layer of peanut butter over the individual portion sized pita bread. I asked them what toppings they wanted on each of their pizzas. The kids put banana slices, dabs of jam and blueberries.

Not only were my kids happy they got to pick out their own toppings, they discovered they could make funny faces on the pizza and get really creative in the process. This was a win-win situation. They picked out their lunch, ate it, and I got to try something new.

You can make almost any meal like pizza. The next time you want to have fun with food, try using cream cheese, cut up cucumbers and tomatoes. No rules, and all fun.

I like to eat healthy. It is very important that my kids eat a balanced diet. It is also important that my kids agree or by into our family eating habits. My kids like to feel apart of the decision making process, especially where food is concerned. Get creative, let the kids lend a hand in the kitchen. Sometimes it is the simple things in life that give the greatest pleasure.

If you’ve got a new spin on an old meal, I’d love to have you throw your comments below.