You are here: Home Resources REAL Food Organic, Local, Traditional Colorful Carbs Are the Colors on the Plate Talking Health or Illness to Your Children?

Are the Colors on the Plate Talking Health or Illness to Your Children?

Yes, you read that right; it does say ‘talking’. You have probably heard or read about how important it is to eat a variety of REAL food and to make sure to have foods of different colors. Well, as it turns out, that’s even more important than you may realize. Sure, when you eat lots of different colored foods, naturally colored that is, you are getting a variety of vitamins and minerals. Most recently, however, scientists have discovered that equally as important to those vitamins and minerals, and maybe even more important, are the phytonutrients in REAL food. 

All of those natural colors in fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains are key to great health. And, the crazy thing is that those phytonutrients actually talk to our cells. That’s right, they pass along information. Information that leads our bodies toward health rather than illness.

"If on a daily basis you incorporate at least seven different colors, you are much more likely to get a wide variety of these nutrients that are healing, that prevent degenerative disease, and that will go to work on every tissue, cell and organ of the body."
~ Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, nutritionist and coauthor of The Fat Flush Plan

Just before you are about to feed your child a meal or a snack, stop and imagine you are at a fork in the road. One arrow points to a path marked ‘Health and Happiness’ and the other points to the opposite path, marked ‘Disease’. Making the choice in our head is obvious, isn’t it? In reality, it’s not always as easy. We have busy lives and convenience is important, but is too often sending our down the 'Disease' path.

As moms, we need to realize that each time we feed our children (and ourselves) we have an opportunity to move toward health. When we feed our kids real fruits, vegetables and other whole foods, their cells are happy. The opposite is true when we feed our children processed, artificial junk foods. The cells are not happy. It’s like the wires get crossed. The body’s cells get the wrong information. Confusion in the cells is not a good thing. The body’s cells are constantly saying "wrong number, please try again". They are getting the wrong information from the foods they are being fed from adults who love them. This confusion at the cellular level leads to dis-ease: allergies, ADD, eczema, obesity, asthma, moodiness, poor behavior, diabetes, cancer and more.

So, what can you do? Just like Amy Roach, a REAL mom, you can make a choice to move in the direction of health. Maybe you will start with breakfasts or with snacks or maybe you are the mom who will take on the whole thing at once. Either way, each time you prepare something for your child to eat, stop and imagine that fork in the road. Picturing health for your child will help you realize that the extra few minutes it takes to pack snacks for the car or sporting event, or to make a healthy breakfast, or to pack homemade lunches is, as Amy says, "worth it".

If your children are used to processed foods, you will have to both educate them about how their bodies need REAL food and you will have to be consistent. Give them choices, but make the choices all REAL. You may have some tantrums at first, but being consistent about things that affect our kids’ health and safety are a huge part of parenting; not the most fun part usually, but probably one of the most important parts. Our kids deserve that kind of conscientious parenting. We know that moms can and will make the right choices for their children and we are here to support you along the way.


A List of Super Foods to Lead You and Your Family Down the Path Toward Health:
Tomato, broccoli, garlic, flax seeds, citrus fruits, melons, pink grapefruit, blueberries, sweet potatoes, beans, red grapes, papaya, carrots, kale, nuts and seeds, eggplant, artichoke, cabbage, brussel sprouts, onions, apples, cauliflower, dried apricots, pumpkin, squash, spinach, mangos, shiitake mushrooms, green tea and organic dark chocolate.

  

Angelle Batten, MEd. is a Holistic Health & Parenting Coach and co-founder of get REAL for kids™. She teaches parents how to feed their children REAL food and parent in a more connected way every day - so despite a crazy busy life they can raise healthier, happier children who make the world a better place.