Synnamin

Hi everyone! I'm new here and looking forward to getting to know you. I have a 5-year old girl and 2-year old boy, and I'm trying to move away from the easy processed foods I'm increasingly finding myself chucking into the microwave for them. However, looking into the near future and beyond, I'm wondering how some of you manage the demands and needs of cooking healthy for a family while you yourself are drinking stuff out of a box. In particular, I'm trying to figure out how to manage the mixed messages about health that I might be sending to my daughter - on the one hand, I want her to eat whole foods and minimally-processed foods. On the other, I won't be setting the example for a time. She's getting to the age where she's being called "fat" (she's a strong build and not a thin, lithe thing. I emphasize strength and soul over beauty and thinness), and I'm trying to make sure that she knows that what I'm doing it to help me be stronger. I hope my question makes sense. I'm honestly still rolling it around in my head as I move forward toward surgery. So, for those of you with small children, how do you try to reinforce good eating behaviors when you're not really doing it yourself? How do you make sure that they know that the different thing you're doing is "ok for mommy or daddy" but they should do what you tell them?

Thank you everyone! It helps to remind me to think more objectively long-term. I think I was focusing too hard on all the other things I have to deal with and forgetting the big picture.