What "junk food" does your toddler eat? - Page 3

[mbm]

No soda! Juice and fast-food type meals, so rarely that I don't stress about it when it happens. Cookies and chips, sometimes -- if we are eating something junky, and she shows interest, I let her have a little.

As of now, DD happily eats the healthy foods that we serve her, so I feel like any junk she consumes is a drop in the bucket. But that could change.

[_ktg_]

We are very much a everything in moderation mentality. DH who used to love his McDs and would have the boys in tow has even started to see the light (and less gastro problems b/c of it) and is reducing how often they go, what they order and etc.

I give myself a pat on the back, when I see my DC choosing (without my direction/glare/look or bribe) healthy choices for snacks and drinks. And if its an unhealthy or less than healthy choice - its limited and we pile on the extra veggies/fruits instead for other snacks through out the day.

[Kelly1101]

American cheese. If I make a grilled cheese or cheese toast with American, I'll split it with her sometimes. Or if we're out to eat and all they offer is American on white (we all eat whole wheat at home).

She's had some other non-whole-grain breads sometimes, if I bake some or if her dad finds some at the store that he likes, he'll feed her some. And white rice.

Stuff I put on her toast isn't exactly health food-- think Country Crock and Welch's Jam-- and has sugar and stuff in it. But I don't know if that qualifies as "junk food."

Basically there are some healthier or more natural alternatives for some food she eats, but so far she hasn't had straight-up junk like cookies / potato chips / etc.

I'm a bit of a junk food person at times myself, but I've been good about her so far.

[dogretro]

I am always amazed to see that things that are considered to be junk food on MDC are things we eat w/ regularity. My kid totally knew that fries came from McDonald's long before she turned two. My mom even gave her a McD's gift card at Christmas b/c we were stopping there after our frequent playdates. FTR, we barely ever go there anymore, but still. Yup, we drink Kool-Aid and juice all day long; we are not big fans of plain water, but will drink it. DH and I drink sodas, but the kids are not allowed yet. Ritz crackers, Goldfish, Ramen noodles, hot dogs, etc.. We do eat mainly natural, organic, local, fresh, raw, etc. & I am working on baking more of our stuff like cookies & crackers. I buy the organic American cheese slices b/c it is the only cheese dd1 will eat & she loves it. The ingredients, however, are real cheese ingredients, not like the gunk in Kraft. We are in between "typical" and "MDC" haha!

[fyrwmn]

it's basically everything in moderation around here. there are always healthy snack options...fruit, cheese, veggies, yogurt, etc available, and that is usually what dd (4.5 yrs) will usually opt for. she actually refused cake at ds's bday party last weekend because she doesn't overly care for sweets. she's alot like me. we don't buy alot of "junk food", but that's mainly because i don't think to rather than it not being allowed. we make homemade icecream during the summer, cookies, pies. we let the kids just eat normally. if they ask for a piece of chocolate, we let them have it. the one food "rule" that we have is that healthy food comes first...as in you can't solely eat candy or cookies.

[laughymama]

*Sigh* This is the one we're judged on a lot.

My family considers us pretty strict with foods too but honestly, we eat things that I've seen many people on MDC call "junk".

DS loves french fries and frankly, I don't blame him. They are delicious. So yeah, he gets french fries when we eat out once every two weeks. Sometimes we'll drive through somewhere as a treat and order fries for all of us.

I do try hard to give him fresh foods regularly. I'll be honest though, I'm a terrible cook so there is rarely any "cooking from scratch" going on in our home. Sometimes our vegetables come from a can and macaroni and cheese is often a side dish here.

The one thing that really pops into my mind though are frozen corndogs. The child LOVES this particular brand of frozen corndogs. So we buy them from time and time and when we do, they're typically a daily snack for him and DH.

We do eat processed foods. I typically chop some fresh veggies or fruits up and sneak them in other wise both DS and DH would live off of corndogs and frozen hot pockets.

The few times I've attempted to teach myself how to cook new things no one eats it.

[YayJennie]

I seem to be in agreement with most everyone here. Thanks for the feedback!

We definitely eat really healthy...eggs and kefir smoothies, homemade casseroles and lots of fruit and veggies. But I definitely do not have a "perfect" diet, and feel bad when I'm eating chips and I won't let my son even have a bite! We don't do fast food, or too much boxed/processed food, and I wouldn't give my son straight candy, but I'm thinking a bit of ice cream or cookie here and there should be allowed into his diet now.

[calebsmommy25]

I was very strict with DS the first year +. Breast milk, and when he experimented with solids it was only whole, organic foods. He did have some puffs, but I bought the best I could find with the most wholesome ingredients.

DS is now a bit over 2, and I am more relaxed. Nurses on demand, has a juice box when running errands, but likes mostly water. Treats are allowed, but he knows what is a treat. He has a piece of good quality dark chocolate here and there when I do. I figure if he is going to have a treat, make it a good one. Ice cream on occasion, at the ice cream parlor or here at home. He loves goldfish. Is in love with french fries (who could blame him?). To resolve his (and my) french fry craving, we make them at home or once in a blue moon will get a small one from a drive thru...last time we did, DP was in the car with us and said, "Honey, I feel like such an awful parent right now." I reassured him that allowing him some french fries 2 or 3 times a year from the drive thru will not kill him. It is funny, because I have ALWAYS been the strict one...I must be rubbing off on him!

As a general rule (at home), we eat whole, mostly organic, from scratch food. Very few processed/boxed foods (tortilla chips, goldfish, organic honey sticks, pasta, kashi crackers, etc), no HFCS, MSG, artificial colors/flavors, etc. At family gatherings/parties, I normally don't restrict too much, but even then my DS will choose all of the fruits and veggies over the junky options.

I think teaching our children moderation is important. Teaching them that real whole foods will nourish our bodies when eaten the majority of the time. Treats are just that...treats to have on special occasions.

[somanyjoys]

Originally Posted by Funny Face

It's interesting to see the difference in first time parents/only children and what happens when you have toddlers in the house with older children.

My first didn't have anything remotely junky until she was much older.

This is our experience exactly! I had to laugh out loud yesterday when I looked over at my 17 month old covered in a fruit popsicle. I think my older dd had her first one last year at four! This baby eats what we eat, and that has meant birthday cake and homemade cookies and ice cream, even!

[Irishmommy]

Originally Posted by YayJennie

But I definitely do not have a "perfect" diet, and feel bad when I'm eating chips and I won't let my son even have a bite!

So don't eat chips when he's around. IMO, that's not fair.

[ShadowMoon]

I'm pretty strict on diet, but we try to follow an "everything in moderation approach." I don't seek out junkfood. We eat a mostly organic, whole foods, vegan diet so most of DS's snacks are fruit or unprocessed energy bars. He also has the occasional cookie, ice cream treat, jelly bean, french fry or chip. We don't keep much junk in the house and don't come across it much when we're out. That's probably why it's been easy to stay pretty strict.

[YayJennie]

Originally Posted by Irishmommy

So don't eat chips when he's around. IMO, that's not fair.

I agree that it's not fair. That's why I was saying I would let him have some.

[Dynomite&Destiny]

According to my sister, DD is terribly deprived, and the plain homemade yogurt she loves for breakfast "tastes like butt."

DD's diet was incredibly restricted because of food intolerances until she was 1, but since then, we've branched out considerably. With the exception of soda, she can have anything we have. We don't buy a lot of packaged foods, or juice (unless she's sick and won't eat anything), but I've stopped worrying so much about what she gets when she's with others. If Auntie B gives her the occasional Dorito, or Grandma buys her fries, I know it's not going to ruin her, because I've seen her choose broccoli over PB&J. We eat mostly homemade, unprocessed foods at home, and she enjoys a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and grains. Some I hadn't even heard of until I was an adult.

I feel like we've laid a very solid base with our eating habits at home, and as long as we continue like we are, the occasional piece of cake or chicken nugget (although I don't believe she's ever actually had one) won't hurt.

[AFWife]

I worried about this for a long time...DH is the one that said, "It's all about moderation."

So, when we're "treating" ourselves and eating "junky" food we let him have a bite. We usually eat pretty well around here and DS loves fruits and veggies (and starches...and meat...he just loves food). I let him have a french fry or 6 when we're eating fast food (although, my mom told me some places put WHEY on their fries so that may have to stop for me too). If we're having a chips craving he gets to eat a couple.

And he just got done eating a chicken nugget. You know, the kind that you heat in the microwave? But, not an hour earlier, he ate a bunch of watermelon...

[crunchy_mommy]

I guess my criteria for 'junk food' is a little different... I consider 'junk' to be things like TJ's veggie dumplings, veggie burgers, whole wheat pretzels/crackers, tortilla chips, and of course small amounts of soy ice cream & a little dark chocolate or occasionally homemade whole-wheat low-sugar cookies. I guess anything processed or containing moderate amounts of sugar is 'junk' in my book. (i.e. I would never dream of giving DS juice or potato chips or french fries or fast food or whatever, but those are things we just don't eat in our house anyway because I don't like them). So we're pretty strict in that sense but on the other hand, anything I eat DS can eat... I do feel that he eats a little too much fruit but it's his favorite thing...

[Violet2]

We would do better if Dd would cooperate but she is not having most veggies these days and I've sort of given up at the moment. She's worn me out--oh no, she won!

We don't buy cereal or chips or processed anything. I make most of our food from scratch and make reduced sugar muffins or cookies with added protein. We water down juice. All that jazz.

However, we do get the occasional fast food cheeseburger (but never fries). And I've been giving her a small serving of ice cream each night this week (like 1/2 a cup or less).

Sugar happens.

Junk happens.

I am not going to win that fight. Our mass produced food culture is bigger than me.

Of course, if I lived near a Whole Foods type grocery store it would be easier, but I don't. So we have to cherry pick from what's at the regular grocery store and make the best of it.

The only thing I do watch is the really bad stuff, like kool-aid or twinkies. That kind of stuff is a huge no-no. I don't care if it's a party and DD is the odd one out, that stuff is not fit for human consumption and she'll eat it over my dead body. I let her have kool-aid once and she went bonkers for the next 24 hours I assume from the red food dye.

V

[veronica98]

Well, my baby can eat everything he loves like candies but he also loves banana and other fruits. I think they are pretty much healthy because even if they love junk food I also make sure they eat right foods and drink plenty of water. I guess it is just in the way we balance everything but as long as they are not yet obese or sickly I won't be too strict with them.

[blizzard_babe]

Originally Posted by Jayray

There are a lot of things I don't consider "junk food" unless eaten in ridiculous amounts. Cheese pizza, while not the most healthy form of food, is made with wheat, tomatoes and cheese--all of which I consider good food (white flour in moderation is okay with me). I don't think chocolate is a junk food unless you're gorging yourself on it.

Pizza gets a bad rap. It can be very healthy.

Originally Posted by _ktg_

I give myself a pat on the back, when I see my DC choosing (without my direction/glare/look or bribe) healthy choices for snacks and drinks. And if its an unhealthy or less than healthy choice - its limited and we pile on the extra veggies/fruits instead for other snacks through out the day.

This. Yesterday, DS was eating cheese and cucumber slices as a snack. FIL (we're staying with them for a visit) decided he had had too many cucumbers and started offering Goldfish Crackers (why? I'm still honestly not sure). DS yelled, "NO! NO GOLDFISHIES! ONLY CUCUMBERS!"

I was kinda proud, though I guess he shouldn't be yelling at his grandpa .

Originally Posted by laughymama

*Sigh* This is the one we're judged on a lot.

My family considers us pretty strict with foods too but honestly, we eat things that I've seen many people on MDC call "junk".

This is where I'm at. I feel like the middle ground, in this case, is a really hard place to dwell. No, you may not give my kid cups and cups and cups of Kool-Aid, just wait a sec and I've got some kid-friendly juice that he gets as a treat with me. But... no, I don't restrict his diet to only organic, rainbow-fed food, either. I do my best, but life interferes.

Originally Posted by calebsmommy25

I figure if he is going to have a treat, make it a good one.

AND

At family gatherings/parties, I normally don't restrict too much, but even then my DS will choose all of the fruits and veggies over the junky options.

AND

I think teaching our children moderation is important. Teaching them that real whole foods will nourish our bodies when eaten the majority of the time. Treats are just that...treats to have on special occasions.

If we're at a picnic/party/social gathering, DS eats what's offered. Some things I try to steer him away from, some things I offer a replacement for (I keep the little single-serving bottles of V-8 Fusion and bring them with if it's gonna be a Kool-Aid for the kids kind of event and we split one), and some things I just shrug my shoulders and say, "Enjoy the party food, kid."

[ellegoat]

My belief is that food is meant to be enjoyed, and rather than foster a strict good food/bad food dichotomy, I'd like my kids to learn that food comes in a wide and amazing range and it's fun to explore all of it, even the stuff that I'm not going to offer them on a daily basis.

I also feel strongly about teaching kids to be appreciative of food that others have prepared or given them, even if it's food I wouldn't necessarily offer them in my own home. I want to focus on the fact that it was nice of someone to give them Kool-Aid or candy because they thought they might like it, and leave it at that.

I also know quite a lot of people who grew up with very strict limitations on sugar, and when they grew up, they kind of became sugar junkies. Forbidden foods sometimes become the most tempting.

[Auraji]

I try to eat healthy, but I don't eat as healthy as I'd like. I grew up in a traditional diet and my mom could've fed me more fruits and veggies and give me more water. These are things that I made myself like as an adult and sometimes I struggle with, I say I have a bipolar diet lol

It's important to me to teach my DD to love healthy food. Our tastebuds can be trained to like and love certain things and yes food is meant to be enjoyed! But you can enjoy any sort of thing, after awhile of eating rather healthy, if I serve myself a glass of grape juice, I have to dump half of it because it feels too sugary or I can't finish a plate of food when DP cooks, because it's too salty or greasy for my taste (I try not to let him cook). I do believe it's ok to have certain things sometimes.

DD is 13 months, so far she had cake on her bday. My MIL has given her a popsicle and whipped cream (I didn't like this, but it was a one time thing). She has had french fries, maybe a total of 10 different times, all from local restaurants or oven fries. She has had a few spoonfuls of ice cream maybe a total of 3 times.

She has had the happy baby organic puffs. I use those for when we go out on a long trip or when I have to leave her with DP, because he usually never knows what to feed her, but she has always eaten the same as we do. She's also had the earth's best graham sticks a couple times. She eats whole grain crackers regularly, usually with some cheddar cheese. I don't consider grilled cheese to be junk food, I make it with whole grain bread, cheddar and tomato slices. We eat pizza once a week, I do think it's kinda junky, but DP is obsessed with it. She doesn't drink juice or any other drink other than water and breastmilk, well the other day we were visitting a friend and she got a juicy juice box from i ont know where, it mostly ended all over her.

On Father's day we were at a big party. There was chocolate cake and she paid no attention to it, she just ate plate, after plate of fruits and also some cheese. She didn't care about the pretzels either. She eats multigrain cheerios regularly, but I feel she already makes healthy food choices. She prefers to snack on pinto, kidney beans, garbanzos or edamame than crackers. She loves spinach and hummus. I should add that our family until very recently was vegetarian and we started eating fish a couple months ago, we still only eat it once or twice a month.

Most of the things we eat are whole grain, sometimes I get white pasta, because DP is not a fan of thw whole grain kind. Sometimes we eat veggie burgers, or veggie dogs, but we're all of a healthy weight and try to eat with balance