Welcome Guest Blogger Amy Slater from Moms 4 Health! Thank you for sharing your research with the Choose Joyful Health community. Here’s Amy’s post…
I am a mom who strives on every level to choose real food. Food is primary for me when it comes to encouraging healthy development of my kids. Traditional kids’ processed food is calorie rich and nutrient poor. It is expensive, promotes poor eating habits, and alters gut health.
Although the bulk of my kids’ diet is real, whole fresh food, I do have a few go-to supplements and packaged foods that I happily offer to myself and my kids. I would love to share them with you here:
Pasta
Our family avoids gluten and we choose to minimize our grain consumption. It works best for our health plan.
Tolerant Foods Pasta
All Tolerant pastas are made with organic and non GMO ingredients. Most have 10+grams of fiber and over 12 grams of protein per serving! This is very important to kids growth and development, not to mention satiety!
Trader Joe’s: red lentil and black bean pastas are also great choices.
Explore Cuisine:
Organic green lentil lasagna is a great pasta alternative to boost the nutrition in your pasta dish.
Gelatin
I add hydrolyzed gelatin to my coffee and all of our ground beef dishes, smoothies and banana ice cream. The hydrolyzed gelatin dissolves quickly and you cannot taste it in the finished product. I use the non-hydrolyzed gelatin to make jello from kombucha or gummies. Gelatin contains glycine which is a fundamental building block to all of our tissues from brain and blood to bone and fascia.
Great Lakes Collagen Hydrolysate
Primal Kitchen Grass-Fed Collagen Peptides
Meat Bars and Sticks
Epic Bars:
I choose the lower protein bars for the kids so they don’t get a big hit of protein all at once. They LOVE the Bison Cranberry bars. I pair these bars with steamed broccoli, olives and raw carrots for the girls’ car seat snack bowl while running errands.
Mission Meats Grass-Fed Graze Sticks:
These are also great car seat snacks and they are great for an afternoon snack along with some fruit for the boys.
Chips, Crackers and Rice Cakes
Sea Snax:
Roasted nori sheets in olive oil are a fabulous snack and a great way to get some sea vegetables in your kids’ diet. They come in big packs or small individual packs perfect for lunch boxes. This is also an excellent snack to give your kids in the afternoon when they get home from school so they will not spoil their dinner. I choose these seaweed snacks because they are roasted in coconut oil only.
Siete Grain Free Tortilla Chips:
I reserve these for taco night. The kids get about 5-8 chips each which stretches the bag. I choose these chips because they are grain free and fried in avocado oil only.
Lundberg Thin Stackers Organic Brown Rice Cakes:
I use these as treats. I top them with butter, raw cheese, avocado, tomato, turkey or ham. They are just enough of a crunch to satisfy the kids.
Thrive Market Plantain Chips with Sea Salt:
When I don’t have time to make my own plantain chips, I use Thrive Market’s plantain chips. They are a great alternative to traditional chips.
Bars
Most of the time I make my own because of the cost savings. But, these are some good alternatives. If I do use a stor- bought bar, it is typically when we our running errands or in a lunchbox. The cost is too high for using these as a stand alone snack. I always stretch them with fruit and/or veggies.
Kind Bars:
I look for the 5 grams of sugar or less bars. Costco sells a bulk mix box of two different kinds of 5 grams of sugar or less bars. I use them as “Birthday Bars,” which means I give them to the boys’ teachers to hand out as an alternate to the classroom birthday treats.
RX Bars:
These little gems have helped me nix my husband’s snack cravings after dinner. They are sold in bulk in Costco. They only have four ingredients and offer 12 grams of protein per bar.
Health Warrior Chia Bars:
I always pick these up when Whole Foods or Thrive has them on sale. They are really filling for the kids and easy to stretch when paired with fruit.
The bottom line…
Ingredients matter and so does food quality!
At the same time, if budget is a concern, take advantage of wholesale sites like Thrive Market and shop around for great prices. Stretch your high quality food products with fresh food and you can easily eat well while not breaking the bank!!
Use any of the links in this blog post and receive an additional 20% off your first three orders from Thrive Market.
Thrive Market sells your favorite organic and non-gmo brands for up to 50% off retail.
Feel free to reach out to me via moms4healthusa@gmail.com
And follow the blog at Moms4health.com for more great tips, recipes, and strategies for making a healthy lifestyle for the family.