Speaker 1: 0:01

Hey there, sunshine. Welcome to this exciting episode of the Power On Plants podcast. We know that getting children to try new foods, especially healthy ones, can sometimes feel next to impossible. First, you need to help them develop positive language around healthy food, so if you're not sure how to do that, you'll definitely want to check out our previous episode, number 236. And in this episode we're sharing 7 fun ways you can help the children in your life actually enjoy eating more healthy foods, so they can have a future that's not filled with health struggles but unlimited possibilities instead. Are you ready? Let's do this. Hey sister, welcome to the Power On Plants podcast. Are you tired of staring into the fridge wondering what to eat so you can just feel better? Do you want to avoid spending hours in the kitchen making complicated meals in the name of health? Would you love to leave fatigue behind and finally have the energy to do all the things you want to do? Hi, we're shared in an eatery cell Christ followers, healthcare professionals, parents of four and big fans of great tasting food. We, too, tried exercising more, eating natural and clean foods, but we still found ourselves struggling with what we thought were changes that come with age or bad genes, and we weren't finding answers to traditional routes. So we dug into the research and created our secret nutritional weapon sustainable plant-based living. The truth is, you can eat more whole plant foods and it's not hard. You just need the way that's realistic and delicious so you never feel deprived. If you're ready to enjoy your meals, no longer be held back by your health struggles and actively live your life, then you're in the right place. So grab your favorite plant-based cup of happy pop in those earbuds and let's get started. Well, hey there, sister. I hope you've had an amazing week. It has been a busy but a fun one around here, as we've had three big birthdays to celebrate. Our oldest son turned 17,. Not sure how that happened, and on the same day, which is October 19th, is Jared's birthday. He turned 25.

Speaker 2: 2:11

Yes, 25, that's right.

Speaker 1: 2:14

He's reverse aging, literally reverse in the number, and I'm doing the same thing. I also turned 25 this week. You know that's not true if you've been around here very long Now, Jared and I it's amazing how plant-based works. It really is. It can even swap the numbers for you. Honestly, closest thing ever to finding the fountain of youth. You start eating whole food, plant-based, and you start seeing these amazing things happen and you think I'm getting my energy back, I'm getting my life back and you do feel like you're reverse aging. It's absolutely incredible. So we've all three had our birthdays this week and, you know, with that comes some great tasting food, some plant-based goodness. Jared, what were your favorites this week that you have? You know the kids always try to make us stuff. We have four children, in case you haven't been around here for long, so they are always trying to do something really special for our birthdays that come close to food.

Speaker 2: 3:06

And all of them. Actually, they cook or make recipes, oh yeah. Because some recipes don't always involve cooking. But yes, they all four are active in the kitchen, so they. I don't know if it's really a competition, but it's really if it worth. It's a competition. I can get behind who has the best dessert, who has the best entree, who has the best main meal.

Speaker 1: 3:27

So what meals or what foods were you the most excited about this birthday season?

Speaker 2: 3:33

Well, the one that I was surprised about was the tortilla casserole that you make, because I don't think we've had that for a while. The enchilada casserole yes, enchilada.

Speaker 1: 3:42

I made him an enchilada casserole. It was ridiculous. I'm in the process of writing the recipe for that for our Power and Plants members. It is just so, so good. So he sprung a new one on you. He shared one of the new ones that I'm trying out and everybody loved it.

Speaker 2: 3:57

It was a hit. You asked me what I liked this week. It was a hit. Now it's one of them.

Speaker 1: 4:01

No. Picture a lasagna built with oil-free corn tortillas that get really soft and moist and soak up your enchilada sauce and they soak up all the flavors and it gets just melty. I mean, I don't know how else to explain it. Noodles and lasagna they don't really melt into a lasagna, but these corn tortillas melt into that casserole and it is just incredible. This is why we never feel deprived. This is why we love this way of living. You've got to find your new favorites right, sister. Apparently, enchilada casserole is one of Jared's new favorites. What else did you have that you really enjoyed?

Speaker 2: 4:36

Well, the next things that come to mind were some of the desserts, like the brownies with the ice cream? I don't know if that was for my birthday or for one of the others.

Speaker 1: 4:45

It was, it was. I made a five minute blender ice cream, which was incredible.

Speaker 2: 4:49

The brownies, or maybe it was for Matthew's birthday, I don't know. I just got the heartache.

Speaker 1: 4:53

Well, I think, when we become adults and we have children, especially born on our same birthday, it kind of becomes just their birthday.

Speaker 2: 5:00

It was sad we did when I was younger. It's sad, I mean he got toys that I could play with. Nobody buys me toys anymore.

Speaker 1: 5:07

Okay, that's a great point. I absolutely love that. You got to still have fun. Some things I like cloud cakes those are in the cookbook Absolutely amazing. We love to top those with fresh fruit. They're really delicious Breakfast cookies, also in the Power Plants Cookbook.

Speaker 2: 5:21

I did enjoy those.

Speaker 1: 5:22

Jared, he loves those and we vary those up with different types of fruits and it's just delicious and it's like eating a bowl of oatmeal but you feel like you're eating a cookie and it's just so amazing to get that dessert-y kind of feel for breakfast, with no guilt whatsoever.

Speaker 2: 5:38

Well, I was just thinking that We've had them so many times, I still find it hard to believe that these cookies are guilt-free, because they're just that good.

Speaker 1: 5:46

And then there's the chocolate pie. Oh my word, it's creamy, it's like cheesecake. It is wonderful, absolutely delicious, quick to throw together, you can pop it in the freezer, have it ready and it's really like a no-bake cheesecake that would blow your mind. But that and the enchilada casserole. I'm currently writing that for our members. So if you join in this membership opening, you'll have access to those very soon, because I'm working on those recipes as we speak. Listen, eating this way is a complete life changer, because it doesn't just make you feel amazing, the food actually tastes incredible, so that you look forward to eating this way every single day of your life. You don't feel deprived, so you don't have any need for cheat days, and I know you want the children in your life to grow up understanding this too. So today, jared and I are sharing the seven helpful strategies to make trying and regularly eating more whole plant foods fun for them. This is the big key making it fun for them. And so step number one to making it fun to eating more whole plant foods, more fruits and veggies, more of the five power feeds. What are those? Fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes and always my bonus category, I'm gonna have a bonus Herbs and spices you gotta have it. Okay, so these are the seven helpful strategies for making it fun for children to eat more whole plant foods. Number one associate trying the food or eating more bites of it was something they love doing. Okay, we just recently went camping with some friends of ours. We talked about it on a recent episode, so if you heard the episode about camping feed and travel feed, you gotta hear that episode. By the way, we shared so many tips on that one. But our friend's little girl came into our camper and I had a honeydew melon. I said, hey, do you want to try some of this honeydew melon? And she said some what? And I said this honeydew melon. See, it's green and do you see it's really good. She said, well, I haven't tried green melon before. I don't like green melon. And I said, well, how do you know if you like it If you haven't even tried it? This goes back to our last episode where we talked about the words that we frame around foods, saying I don't like that, and sometimes you say that and you haven't even tried it before. So when she said I don't like that, I did ask her how do you know you don't like it. If you haven't tried it, give it a try and see what you think. Here's a little bite. And she took it and she tried it and she said she made this little face like I'm not so sure about this, but she ate it. She didn't spit it out, she tried it and she made this face. And I said, okay, now I'm gonna cut you two little bites, because I knew that she loved one of our dogs so much. She loves Tessa. So I and Tessa was right there, right beside her, and she said and I'm gonna cut one for you and a little Bite for Tessa to try, so you can let Tessa try it too, so she can be healthy and strong. She pops her bite in her mouth and then she turns immediately and says and she gives Tessa this bite and she's so proud of herself and so excited and she's staying there, pet and Tessa, good girl, good girl. And next thing, you know where is she? What do you think she's doing? She's right there by my side saying miss Anita, can I have another bite? And I'd like to also share another bite with Tessa. Now, do you think it was because she absolutely loved honey do at that point. No, she wanted to feed Tessa another bite, but she's getting exposure after exposure, after exposure of this food, and what we know is, after trying a food over and over and over again, even if it's something you don't like or you've told yourself you don't like, your taste buds can change. We've seen it happen time and time again with ourselves and with people that we know. And not only are taste buds gonna change. At this Same time she is getting these nutrients that she could have been missing by never trying it and maybe, maybe, honey to melon ends up being one of her favorite foods down the road. But she would have never known because in her mind she said I don't like that. And so because she said herself time and again I don't like that, she wasn't willing to try it. So we made it fun by introducing the puppy. There's so many other ways that you could do just this one step, but this is just an idea to spark your imagination and get you thinking how you could get the children in your life Active and excited about trying a new food by associating it with something else they love doing.

Speaker 2: 10:15

But you may not have a puppy to do that with, but I'm pretty sure that Tessa would volunteer her services to help you to get your little ones to eat their fruits and vegetables and berries.

Speaker 1: 10:26

Tessa is all about it. Now, this is a funny story. Today we have this plant called Fault Shamrock. Now the plant has a story in and of itself where our daughter, our youngest daughter, found it up in the woods, where somebody dumped it out of a container because they wanted to use the container to grow tomatoes in it. And so she happened upon it. It was kind of scrawny and small, but she liked it. She thought it was pretty, so she planted it. So today the Fault Shamrock is thriving, and the funny thing is it is edible. We didn't know at the time that it's edible, but it actually, as it tastes very citrusy, it's wonderful. It's beautiful. The petals, the flowers are gorgeous on salads, okay. So now the plant's thriving, she took it, she nurtured it, it's growing, and she brings me this beautiful bouquet of flowers from the Fault Shamrock to eat today. And so I'm taking a picture to tell a story and share with our members today, and I look down and Tessa's in the picture and she's sitting there looking up just waiting for me to drop it. She is all about food, and I'm telling you how I dropped one of those. She would have been all over it. So, yeah, more than happy to volunteer. Tessa is always at your service when it comes to helping you try food. So think of different ways. How might you combine an activity that your child loves doing with trying a new, healthy, plant-based food? Number two if it's your son or daughter, always have someone who's close to them. Introduce the food in a fun way too. For example, it might be their grandmother, your mother or your spouse's mother. It could be an aunt, for example. Jared's sister had come to visit us at one point and I was cooking some different things and using some different foods than what her children were used to at the time and their teenagers. So this doesn't just apply to young children. Teens are a lot of times open to trying different things if they see that it can be fun, or if it's somebody else who's eating it and they're just curious and wondering what in the world is that? And she all of a sudden starts trying different things. She's sitting there eating handfuls of fresh cherries and different things that they just didn't usually eat or try, because maybe for some reason she had thought she didn't like it and had developed that idea around that, or whatever the reason was, for her, these just were foods she didn't eat so just because she was in a new environment with someone she cared about there was a different than her own parent. It opened her up to exploring a new food and a new way of eating, something that's healthy, that she might not have tried before.

Speaker 2: 12:54

Plus, it's probably something that they don't really keep in their kitchen. So just having that variety in a different kitchen a friend of family members. They'll get exposed to something new, but they know us, they love us, they know we love them and they're not gonna give them something nasty or harmful. It lowered that barrier, that hurdle for them to try that and they actually enjoyed it.

Speaker 1: 13:18

You know, and some people may say oh well, teenagers, you know it's too late, they're already stuck in their ways, they're never gonna try it. They've eaten this way since they were kids and they're never gonna change. That is not true. Both of our teens now are 100% whole food plant based. They eat this way, they're thriving in it and they love it. They make their own meals, they prep their own food. It's so quick and easy, and they're bringing their friends home, bringing them into the kitchen, showing them how to make plant based spring rolls and all kinds of things. She texts us pictures just the fun that they're having exploring this eating this way. They are not deprived. They thoroughly enjoy it and love the way they eat.

Speaker 2: 13:55

And they're developing their own recipes too. So then I'm just making this, they're coming up with their own new favorites.

Speaker 1: 14:01

Which I absolutely love. You know that lights me up. I absolutely love that they're doing that. Step number three for making it fun let the children help plan the meal. So when you're looking at cookbooks and you're looking at whole food, plant based recipes and different things that you can make, let them help plan it. They love being a part of the process and choosing the next meal.

Speaker 2: 14:22

And then number four Well– I would say one bit of advice there is. You may not want to give them access to an entire cookbook with 400 recipes.

Speaker 1: 14:31

Right, absolutely. You may want to limit it two or three, especially the younger ones.

Speaker 2: 14:36

Yeah, exactly the younger ones is kind of like you don't just open up an entire closet and say what do you want to wear today?

Speaker 1: 14:41

Oh no.

Speaker 2: 14:42

You say do you want the red shirt or the blue shirt? Right, that way they have a choice, but you're guiding that, right?

Speaker 1: 14:47

So that they don't feel overwhelmed.

Speaker 2: 14:49

So that may be something to consider with involving them with deciding the meals. Maybe they can help with certain ingredients in the recipe, but get them involved because then they feel like they've had a choice or had a part in that decision and now they want to try it Right, because it was partly their idea.

Speaker 1: 15:07

And step number four for making it fun is take them shopping with you for the meal ingredients. Jared just kind of mentioned ingredients there. Well, this is one way you can do that. Take them shopping for the ingredients, right. And then step number five while you're shopping, especially if they're a young one, use stickers for the little ones to make it fun. Maybe your daughter absolutely loves Hello Kitty. Well, guess what On this shopping trip, because mama's got purse stickers in her purse we say I always say, purse it, like when it's something good and you got to carry it in your purse because it's like a purse weapon that helps you do plant based in the way. That's fun for you and then it'll actually work. Purse the sauces We've talked about that before. We'll purse the stickers. Mama, you know, if you've got a little one that's going to love Hello Kitty broccoli, then by all means, when you pick up that broccoli, slap on the Hello Kitty sticker nonchalantly so she doesn't see you. And look, they have Hello Kitty broccoli. Yeah, and there you go.

Speaker 2: 16:03

Yeah, I was just over here thinking that maybe that might work for husbands.

Speaker 1: 16:08

Ooh, you need a Hot.

Speaker 2: 16:09

Wheels, broccoli. Well, no, no, I was thinking Wait a minute, let me figure out.

Speaker 1: 16:12

What could it be? What would I make it for you? I?

Speaker 2: 16:14

know A favorite professional sports team.

Speaker 1: 16:19

Oh, look over here.

Speaker 2: 16:20

Here's the Jacksonville Jaguar cantaloupe.

Speaker 1: 16:25

That is awesome. The only thing is it wouldn't work with you because you're not into sports, did y'all-. No, not for me, but there are plenty of husbands out there. That are I totally-. Maybe that might work.

Speaker 2: 16:35

Tennessee Titans broccoli Just insert your favorite professional team, whether it's baseball, football, whatever.

Speaker 1: 16:42

Yeah, maybe it might help, right? So if you're a Bama fan, put those Bama stickers in your purse. Purse those. Okay, you're gonna have to put them in there so you can start sticking the stickers, right.

Speaker 2: 16:53

On there, really, jacksonville Jaguars have cantaloupe. I didn't know, that Like, yeah, it's a new thing. All right, I'll try it.

Speaker 1: 16:58

Right, carrie's husband's a motorcycle fan, she could put motorcycle stickers on this Harley. Indian motorcycle Right Think about what your husband likes and create a broccoli for him that he's gonna love.

Speaker 2: 17:09

These apples are endorsed by Harley Davidson. See Stickers right on it, right on the bag. That is hilarious.

Speaker 1: 17:15

Seriously, is there an age limit for loving stickers? I'm not real sure about that. I don't think there is. I still like stickers, okay, so get the stickers on there. If it's a little boy, don't do Hello Kitty, do Hot Wheels, leco, whatever he likes. Purse those stickers, get them on there. Make the shopping fun, okay. That's step number five. Get the stickers on there. Step number six let them help you with meal prep. Listen For those ones. I don't care how little they are, they can chop things for you. We have a set of knives you're gonna love. We'll put the link in the show notes. We've used those with our youngest daughter since she was really little, and if we had known about them when she was younger, we would have used them then too.

Speaker 2: 17:58

She's 11 now and I think we've had them ever since she was about six years old, so they cut food, but not fingers.

Speaker 1: 18:03

We have some members that use them for their little granddaughters as well. So these work wonders. They can chop up bell peppers and all kinds of things for you. And step number seven is intentionally choosing weights to make meal prep time with them special. Listen, tell them a story about when you were growing up and cooking by your own mother's side or your grandmother's side. This will build relationship with them and that is the most important thing. Right, you're planting seeds into the next generation, not just seeds of how to eat healthy, although that's super important but you can plant spiritual seeds as well, being worship songs together. Tell them stories about when you first learned to cook. There are so many things you can do to make it fun to build relationship here. So think about what would be most meaningful to your family and what seeds do you want to plant to be harvested in the next generation. So the main key to helping children try and enjoy more whole plant foods is to make it fun, and today we shared seven simple ways to do just that. First, you want to associate trying the food, or eating more bites of it, with something they love. Step two is, if it's your son or daughter, also have someone else who's close to them, introduce the food in a fun way, like a grandma or an aunt. Step number three let them help you plan the actual meal, what you're going to eat the upcoming week. And step number four take them shopping with you for the meal ingredients, and with that goes step number five use stickers for the little ones and, jared says, for the dads too, to make it fun and exciting. And step number six is let them help you with meal prep, even shopping. And step number seven is intentionally choosing ways to make meal prep time with them special. Sister, we have seriously only scratched the surface here, but if you'll take these seven steps and start putting them into practice today, you'll find the children in your life are more excited than ever to try new, healthy food options, and the best part is this could completely change their future. We want to set the next generation up for great help and the unlimited opportunities that come with it and having fun with them, showing them how delicious and enjoyable whole plant foods can be will set them on an amazing path. Sister, have you heard the big news? We are getting ready to open the doors to power on plant society, november 1st through the 9th only so. Go right now to poweronplantscom forward slash society to learn more, and we look forward to getting to know you there. I hope you have a fantastic week and we'll see you soon.