choufleur wrote:Yes, it's definitely challenging finding that balance! If you don't mind me asking, how does your husband feel about your kids eating this way? Does he support it? I think if my partner fully supported this way of eating, it would make things a lot easier. For now, he is letting me do what I want, but I don't think he actually agrees with me. He is an "everything in moderation" believer, and also does not think meat and dairy are bad. Have you been able to explain to your kids why no meat and dairy, and/or why other people eat those things?
Yes, I also agree with you about the simplicity! Oftentimes, we eat very simply which makes meal prep a breeze. Some of my daughter's favorites are whole wheat pasta (plain or with tomato sauce), soba noodles with edamame, and mashed beans (like refried beans but without oil). For the most part, we eat the same breakfasts and dinners, but now that I am doing MWL, I am not eating pasta and am instead having potatoes/brown rice. I do occasionally add extras to her meal like avocado with the beans or nuts in her oatmeal.
I'm sorry that this response got a little long winded and is hijacking your journal.
My husband is mostly on-board with me taking the lead on food. The strict rule is no-meat-whatsoever. We both aren't into dairy, so that just leaves oil and eggs, and I do most of the cooking. Sometimes he'll question what I'm doing, but he also realizes that I spend more hours per day reading about food than he has in his entire life.
As far as explaining dairy to the kids, there are multiple angles, so I chose what I thought they could most relate to, which is that mommies make milk for their babies, and if we eat/drink cows milk, there is no milk for baby cows. Also, they are not baby cows, then I'll look them over and try to find their hooves, tails, horns, etc. It's kind of a game, but they learn about species appropriateness. I also point out that they are not babies, so they don't need milk anymore anyways.
For meat, we talked about how we know we are not suppose to eat meat because when we look at little bunnies and squirrels we don't think, "Oh yum!" we think, "That's so cute!" whereas a predator would think "Dinner!" A good example of a carnivore is a cat, and we talk about the differences between us and cats (or any other predator, we just have pet cats), like claws, sharp teeth. We also talk about how some grown ups chose to eat meat (in our house it's dad), and that's his choice as a grown up, but they are growing strong bodies and they need the nutrients from plants to grow big and strong.
You sounds like a very attentive and thoughtful mom! Keep up your awesomeness!!
