How do I cope with cooking for kids and their treats around the house when I am trying to avoid a lot of what they eat??

My kids love pizza, southern fried chicken, home baking, nutella, chocolate........ So do I? Anyone any ideas how to cope with this situation? If I make a low cal meal they won't eat it. I have a small kitchen so I don't have loads of room to have lots of things on the go at the same time. Yesterday I cooked them lovely spicy crispy batter chicken chunks in the oven....of course I had to have some. I baked some fresh choc chip cookies with big chunks of choc. Nothing more delicious while they are still warm!! How do I resist without putting the whole family on a diet?

[fattybumbum05]

Look for healthier options. You can make healthy pizza's with them. I'm sure we made pizza on pitta bread last year, use some tomato puree, grated cheese then add the toppings, they can make smiley faces with them. Google healthy recipes, NHS have some, BBC have the good food. Slimming World have some recipes on line, I think they had one where you coated chicken in rice crispies, can't remember it though. There are usually healthier options to everything. Maybe baking a smaller batch of cookies less often or adding fruit to them instead. If you eat healthier the kids might want to copy you too, they will get the benefits from your healthy eating. We've made homemade soup and blended it, call it superhero soup and they love it. Good luck

[fushiapink]

perhaps teaching them that treats are only for special occasions, not every day, perhaps cookies only at weekends, also to educate them about healthy food at an early age too. changing their snacks from unhealthy to healthy will benefit them in their future also. ask google for healthy kids recipes. good luck

[Hidden]

Thanks for the replies. I suppose I could make more of an effort. When my kids were small they ate healthily but once they went to birthday parties and got a taste for chicken nuggets etc their tastebuds went wild! If I let them thy would live on takeaways fizzy drinks and sweets. It is a constant battle. I suppose what I am trying to get away from is having 2 types of dinners....junk and healthy. I will try to make a happy medium. Wish me luck.

[TenaciousD]

Hi,

The rest of my family still have treats quite often but I have trained my mind to know that their not for me! Now im 22 pounds lighter thats motivation enough not to revert back to my old ways. We all eat the same dinners, which is the same food that ive always cooked..mostly its healthy, I just have a smaller portion than before. If they are having chips though, ill have salad or vegetables instead...quick enough to prepare so its not like your having to cook 2 separate dinners.

[TEMMEAlexa]

First and foremost you will have to control your taste buds but it would also be better if you choose healthy options for those treats.You could load their pizzas with a lot of veges and maybe restrict the cheese topping to make it a more healthy option.These kind of small changes to the recipes would not only make you eat healthy but your children will also get into the habit of eating healthy.

[PJS58]

Control is difficult when you are in need of a sugar fix and you are searching for something to eat. For me I decided that if it is not in the house, then neither I nor my children can have it. I used to say they didn't have ???, then I just told then that I wasn't going to buy ?? anymore. For me, I cannot eat ?? if it is not in the house. That makes life easier. I buy lots of fruit, veg, nuts and seeds, but this has taken quite a while to simply not buy processed food and drink. Processed foods should not be looked on as a treat, but as the poor quality nutritional food that it is. The best quality food is that which is highly nutritious for our bodies and doesn't do us harm, and unfortunately that does not apply to highly refined flour and sugar products and processed food in general. We have become addicted to processed food over the years and is hard to get away from, but researching via google, reading about nutrition etc will inform us and help us to make those difficult decisions more easily. It has for me. Temptation is getting easier to resist, now that I am more informed. However, there is always room for improvement.

[TenaciousD]

Have a look at nhs change for life 'smart swaps' for small changes you can make to yours and the kids diet that can really make a difference

[Hidden]

I've found that if you don't buy it, then they can't see it in anywhere in the kitchen. After a while they forget all about it and enjoy the new healthy food that is there. Taste buds change quickly so give it a week or so and the whole household will be as one

[GoogleMe]

I feel your pain! I absolutely hate the business of separate meals. However, I have a husband who has a lot of food dislikes and one son with a pervasive developmental disorder which means you do not get into a fight about food or let him go hungry so have to compromise.

Exercise helps of course. And portion control. I find having a dog really helps with both. The other day I was saved from "tidying up" macaroni cheese leftovers by giving them to her for her evening meal.

[Bobbylikescheese]

just dont buy, give your children healthier food options such as apples