I don’t know about you, but a slow weekend is the bane of my
health goals. I am really good about meal prepping, lunch packing, and having a
plethora of healthy snacks at the ready as I go about my work week. Like I am a
goal crusher. And some weekend’s when we’re jam packed with activities, I can
keep up that momentum and say no to fast food. I’ve found it’s the slow
weekends that get me. The weekends of no plans where there is a surprising
amount of free time. And in those moments, I find myself, and my family
aimlessly taking multiple trips to the fridge and pantry.
Now
don’t get me wrong. Snacks aren’t inherently bad, and they are a great mini
meal to bridge those gaps between meals and keep hunger and energy levels from
dipping to low. However, maybe it’s just our household, but I feel snacks
literally disappear into thin air. Because all that unsupervised snacking turns
into a grazing mentality. And habitual grazing and snacking is not the kind of
food habits we want or need to model for our children.
Reality Check: What
is Grazing?
Grazing
is what occurs when snacks are readily available upon demand. Grazing is a
habit of constant snacking, and it can be more trouble than we realize. Because
grazing doesn’t rely on us being intuitive to what our body needs. We don’t
rely on the internal cues like hunger, fatigue, or irritability. Instead, our
food intake becomes based on external cues like: habitual actions (think siting
down to watch TV or game), it being readily available, it coming into our sight
line, someone else snacking, walking through the kitchen, etc. It leads to eating
on autopilot and without thought. And mindless actions are not often a positive
thing.
Ways to Improve
1.
Identify your triggers: At what
times of day do you find you or the members of your family unconsciously
reaching for a treat? Do you reward yourself for doing a minor inconvenience?
Do you habitually make a stop on the way home from school? Do certain times or
activities of your day always involve food? Can you watch TV or scroll through
TikTok without a snack? Identifying the times that you mindlessly begin
snacking helps you set a better example and then enables you to tackle your families’
habits on a broader scale.
2.
Create a predictable schedule: If
you think about it we all tend to get hungry or need a snack at very specific
times. These moments are typically the mid or lull points of our day. Use that
predictability to your advantage and become more rigid about the timing of your
meals and snacks. This predictability will create a habitual rhythm of eating
that will help even on the less structured weekend days where we don’t have
standard things breaking up our day. Make your meals and snacks that constant
standard thing.
3.
Give a heads up when things are outside
the norm: You know when dinner will be late or if you have evening
plans. Get the whole family on board accordingly and work together. If you
normally have dinner at 6pm but won’t until 7pm today let everyone know and
remind them they might want a bigger after school snack to tide them over.
Managed expectations help keep the majority of the grumbles at bay no matter
your age (don’t believe us? Try it with your partner).
4.
The Open/Closed Kitchen Mindset:
One of the things that makes grazing so easy is the food readily being
available and without any structure or consequence. So consider treating your
kitchen like a restaurant that only operates within certain hours. Using a
phrase like “the kitchen is closed” is an easy phrase and mindset that helps
your whole family make healthier choices about eating and snacking. Start by
thinking about your most common habitual snack and mealtimes. These are good
and natural times for the kitchen to be open. Be present during this time. Work
through making good choices together. Then after a certain amount of time
“close the kitchen.” This let’s your family know the kitchen is a off limit’s
space right now. At first you might think this a bit harsh but in reality, it
is merely a boundary and if presented by ensuring your family the next timing
of a meal or snack they will be reassured that this isn’t an end of the world
ordeal. That doesn’t mean your family will love the idea but the accountability
and habits it helps build are much more productive towards a healthy and
wholesome lifestyle and relationship with food.
5.
Allow reasonable choice: This
requires a special sort of balance. Giving your child a voice in food
preference and amounts gets them involved and interested in trying new things,
but too much choice leads to a spoiled and picky eater. A good rule of thumb to
help your is to offer two or three choices within the same category. For
example: giving your child the choice of starch (like beans, sweet potato, or
corn) for a side with dinner or offering a fruit smoothie or apple with peanut
butter for a snack is a far better game plan than the open-ended black hole
battleground of “what would you like to eat?” After all, when we are given the
same choice our first instinct isn’t necessarily a healthy one.
Now it’s time to plan and invoke some more intentional
parenting! We hope these food boundaries help you and your family be healthier
now and help your child grow up with a health relationship with food. You’ve
got this Warrior parents!
#RaiseAWarrior