About my children’s diet

...and the rules behind it

Today we’re going to go from “what should my children’s school lunch contain” and “how do we harmonize what we put in there” to a balanced diet (what they eat at home) and how to convince them to eat real, actual food.

Pour yourself a big jug of coffee because we have 10 pages coming up. In order for the solution to make sense, context is needed.

I have divided this article into 2 smaller parts. The first one (“Sandwiches as school lunch. Yay or nay”) is here: CLICK.

If you have already read that one, you can continue below.

✅ THE “PRIVATE SCHOOL” SCENARIO

So your child goes to a private school, where the lunch menu is what it is. There is nothing you can change there. All that you can do is to make sure that he gets some “building bricks” in the morning: omelets, cheese, ham, eggs.

At school, the child’s diet will be rich in carbohydrates and low in protein. Some schools even have “Meatless Fridays”.

🏆 PRO Tip: when there really is no time for breakfast in the morning, I suggest having some sugar-free protein bars with minimum 50% protein hidden in the kitchen somewhere.

Article coming up on how to choose a protein bar.

Make sure that the protein bar constitutes an exception. Or you can do something else:

“You can have a protein bar on the way to school AFTER you eat your omelet”.

Not “if”, but “after”. Make sure you make that distinction.

All you can do when the children come back home in the evening is to feed them soup and a main course with meat and fish. They already had enough cereal, bread, potatoes and sweets at home or at kindergarten.

In the evenings, in the morning as well as on the weekends there should be no more other carbs in the children’s diet other than what they get from vegetables, legumes and fruits. So no more bread, rice or potatoes.

I believe that you shouldn’t have any bread in the house. I would think you want to prioritize building blocks for growth (minerals, protein, vitamins, Omega-3).

You know very well that most children, just like adults, will prefer eating carbohydrates.

It’s your role as a parent to make sure they eat their “bricks”. It’s a war that will go on for many years. A war of attrition.

✅ THE “PUBLIC SCHOOL” SCENARIO

I honestly believe there is no better more practical and more adequate solution for the packed school lunch than the classic SANDWICH.

The bread from 2 sandwiches is no problem for a child. The real problem: pretzels, snacks, sweets, sodas.

The child’s body will use the energy from the bread in real time in order to fuel the muscle, organs and bones development processes. Those are very demanding from an energy consumption standpoint.

I see that bread as the “perfect transfer medium” for building blocks we are interested in (butter, cheese, ham, omelet).

I would never give up on the bread from the 2 sandwiches. I would actually make it my personal mission that the child’s sandwiches become the best in the universe, so the other kids in the class are jealous.

The children should be proud of those sandwiches, they should eat them with pleasure, not throw them away (like some kids do) or trade them in (like we used to do).

Alongside the 2 sandwiches I would add 1-2 apples or pears or some other fruit the child likes. I would also add some Borsec sparkling mineral water (for the Calcium and Magnesium). I would maybe add some yoghurt, if the child likes it.

✅ SLEEP IS THE KEY

I would anything in my power to put the children to bed as early as possible (between 8 and 9 PM) so they can get enough sleep and they can wake up refreshed.

If they wake up early, the probability of you having breakfast in the morning goes up. Definitely eggs, cheese, ham, bacon, yoghurt.

You can up the stakes with an “After you eat your breakfast, you’ll also get a protein bar on the way to school”. Maybe.

Now, not everyone has the money for protein bars. They’re not mandatory or necessary or anything like that. But I do believe that if you can find the money for pretzels, sweets, cigarettes or alcohol, you can find the money for a 1-Euro protein bar from Lidl.

✅ THE RULE ABOUT BREAD

I think it’s very important to establish a new house rule: bread is exclusively for school sandwiches. For lunch, you’ll serve soup and a main course with no bread. Same for dinner.

Of course that sometimes some rice, some potatoes or pasta can sneak into the children’s diet.

The energy from these foods will be taken over by the body and used to fuel their growth. The problem: sweets, sugary sodas, pretzels.

We never cook rice, potatoes or pasta at home. The children will eat those at school. At home, we only cook omelets, soups and main courses with meat.

✅ THE WEEKEND

However, we do go out to eat on the weekends. We have a specific process for this:

“After you eat your schnitzel / soup / meat / fish, you can have as much mashed potatoes as you want”.

In translation: after you eat your building bricks, you can have as much (clean) energy as you want.

🏆 PRO Tip: we never order fries, we always go for mashed potatoes.

✅ THE RULE ABOUT DESSERT

We never order dessert in restaurants. Never. We go to the restaurant so we can eat, not to have fun with food.

When we want dessert, we will go somewhere else for some ice cream or split an éclair 3 ways.

When we want dessert, we’ll go somewhere to eat something nice, refined and exquisite. We never order pastries that have been cooked in the same oil as the fries. Yuck!

✅ THE DISTINCTION

My kids know how to make the distinction between food and dessert. A soup and a main course = food.

Pizza and pasta = dessert. Sweets = refinement.

For example, we sometimes go to a pizza place after our meal in the restaurant. We’ll split a pizza 3 ways. It’s like dessert.

Another example: we’ll go to NOR restaurant (note: fancy rooftop restaurant in the center of Bucharest) twice a year. On my birthday and their birthday.

One month beforehand, the kids would tell me they want to go there for some pasta. They know that pasta is dessert.

In order for the children to make this distinction between food and dessert, it’s important that you make this distinction first. Then you can teach them as well.

✅ NEGOCIATE

Always negotiate with them:

“AFTER you eat your soup / main course / omelet, we’ll go together and have some pasta / pizza / popcorn (or whatever they like)”.

With Eric it’s very simple:

“AFTER you eat your meatballs, you can have as much frozen mango you want”.

I repeated this line so much, that he’ll say it himself now: “After eating X food, can we go get some mango, please?”.

This strategy works so well, that my kids even started using it on me:

“AFTER you finish your work on your laptop, will you read / play with me?”.

I can only accept. I know that “after” is a process, it’s like a promise.

✅ PROBLEMS

The problem is that for lunch the children will eat bread with their soup, with rice, etc.

The problem is that children will receive sweets at kindergarten / school and grandparents will give them additional sweets.

The problem, in its essence, is not food being served with bread, rice or potatoes. The problem was always with the sweets, sodas, juices, snacks.

Yes, sweets, especially the “healthy” homemade ones are a problem.

✅ HEALTHY HOMEMADE SWEETS

I am enraged about tray loads of “healthy homemade sweets”. I don’t believe there’s anything healthy about these homemade sweets.

A homemade cake is 90% sugar, flour and oil / butter.

The major problem is that an entire TRAY of cake will be made. And it will sit on the table or in the fridge.

A TRAY full of cake that must be eaten. Because “we don’t throw food away”.

Of course, when compared to cheap, supermarket cake, one that is homemade is cleaner, therefore “healthier”. But it has just as many calories.

✅ THE GOLDEN RULE

The problem with homemade cake: high frequency and large amounts.

The advantage of having cake when you go out is the low frequency of the occurrence (once a week), as well as the low amount of product (cakes weigh usually no more than 100-200g).

A confectionery with high standards will only use natural ingredients. And there are already plenty of such places with exquisite products.

They are better, tastier and more refined than whatever we could make at home.

We simply never bake anything sweet at home. We go out and we have some. We’ll make a gastronomical experience from a cake.

This is what dietary education looks like when going out with the little ones. I may be wrong. I’m ready for you to tell me how extreme I am.

Oh but wait, comments are available only to those who support my publication. Would you like to tell me I am too extreme? I dare you. Activate your paid subscription. It’s 7 Euro per month.