Half and Half Method

I told you back here and here that I have been working on my family’s nutrition.

I ain’t going to lie.  It has been frustrating.

My grocery bill has gone up and so has the complaining around the table.  I spend way more time in the kitchen and at the grocery store. I got up early every Monday for a month to make whole-wheat non-processed  muffins.  I tried 3 new recipes and altered an existing one.  And lets just say that  no less than 3 dozen muffins have been ended up in the trash.  I spent almost $5 a pound on cage free, no hormones, vegetarian fed, blah, blah, blah… chicken.  And we were all still hungry at the end of the meal.

But I am not giving up.

I read an article that confirmed what I already believed.  That cancer, autism, allergies, ADD/ADHD, and diabetes are on the rise in children and many think it is linked to what we eat now a days.  There are more  pesticides, chemicals, dyes, GMOs (genetically modified organisms), and junk in our food then ever before.  And I didn’t even mention obesity?

So you see, no matter how frustrated I am, I can’t give up.  The health of my children depends on it.

It has not been an easy transition.  My kids and even my husband have fought my efforts along the way.

But they don’t know who they are messing with. I have figured out a way to trick them and move them closer towards health despite their protests.

I call it the half and half method.

I take a food that they like and are familiar with and I mix it half and half with the better, healthier version.

For example,  yogurt.   My kids love the Danon Light and Fit Vanilla Yogurt. (I actually thought I was making a good choice here, but it has all kinds of crap in it.)  So I take the Vanilla yogurt and mix it with plain yogurt.  I serve it from the Vanilla container so they don’t know the difference.  Works like a charm.

Another transition I am working on is Peanut Butter.  Skippy has hydrogenated oils and sugar in it so I would love it if we would eat just straight peanuts, but we all know that creamy stuff is kind of delicious.  I put the healthly peanut butter in smoothies, but on my whole wheat waffles, they can detect it.  So we have been compromising.  I add a little of both kinds of peanut butter and they are okay with it.  We are getting closer and closer to the healthier choice.  And my kids know that we are working towards bagging Skippy all together.

And then there is syrup.  The kind my kiddos like has high fructose corn syrup plus sugar in it, so I wanted to transition them to 100% pure maple syrup.   I mixed the two syrups first at 50/50 for awhile and then moved more towards 60/40, 70/30 etc. ratios.

Now I am happy to report that my kids eat straight 100% maple syrup on their french toast.  It took a month or two but we got there.

The half and half method is a good place to start if you and your family are looking to improve your meals and you are met with some resistance.  My theory is at least they are getting only half of the junk, right?  And eventually, with a little manipulation and some patience, they will get to the full healthy versions of food.