Episode 11: Keeping your kids healthy over the festive season!

Episode 11: Keeping your kids healthy over the festive season!

Firstly, huge congratulations to you for another year of successfully feeding your little ones. Whether they're preschoolers or navigating the school lunchbox routine, you've conquered it, and that deserves a virtual high-five! 🙌

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Links
https://nourishwithkarina.com/feedingbabies
https://nourishwithkarina.com/3-week-feeding-kids-reset

Highlights:

Introduction (00:00.078)
Parenting Tips for Kids During Holidays (02:22.222)
Improving Nutrition in Children and Adults (04:43.406)
Promoting Healthy Breakfasts for Kids (07:06.574)
Reducing the Sugar Rush in Children (09:31.246)
Increasing Nutrients in Children's Diet (11:57.582)
Supporting Children's Immune Health During Festive Period (14:15.15)
Baking with Children: A Healthy and Fun Activity (16:37.646)
Homemade Healthy Foods for Children (18:53.646)
Providing Healthy Snacks for Kids During Holidays (21:05.262)

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes

In today's episode, I'm sharing valuable tips on maintaining a balance between festive treats and keeping your kids nourished. Here are five key points we'll be discussing:

The Importance of Regular Meal Times: Discover how sticking to structured meal and snack times, especially for younger ones, can bring consistency and better nutrition to their day.

The Importance of a Good Breakfast: Why breakfast can truly set the tone for a healthier day.

Reducing the Sugar Rush: Learn three key nutrients—fat, protein, and fibre—that can help slow down the sugar rush, making a significant impact on mood, behavior, and overall health.

Supporting Children's Gut and Immune Health: Explore the connection between fresh plant foods, fiber, and probiotics in supporting your child's immune system during the festive period.

The Benefits of Baking with Children: Embrace the joy of baking with your little ones as we discuss how it not only introduces them to new foods but also incorporates essential life skills.

And a bonus tip!

Being Organized with Snacks When Heading Out: Practical advice on planning ahead with healthy snacks to keep those little hunger pangs at bay while you're on the go.

This episode is your “go-to guide” for a healthier and more enjoyable holiday season feeding kids. Tune in no for the full episode! 🎄✨

Learn more about my membership program, head over to: https://nourishwithkarina.com/membership

Introduction (00:00.078)
You're listening to the Easy Feed Podcast, episode number 11, keeping kids healthy over the festive season. Hi there, I'm Karina Savage and with over 20 years experience feeding children, including my own, I've learned all the secrets that busy mums need to get their children eating better and actually enjoying healthy foods. So a huge welcome to the Easy Feed Podcast.
Well, hello, hello. I hope you're all really well. I hope that you are getting to the end of the year, still in one piece. My voice is a little croaky. I apologize. I just wanted to run this podcast anyway. I've already delayed it because I lost my voice pretty much. Well, it's been the whole week. I picked up a bug on the way back from the US last week and then it just basically just...
went to my chest and I lost my voice. I had to cancel TV gigs and all sorts because of this voice. But I still wanted to get it out to you anyway, because today's topic is very timely. It is how we can keep our children healthy over the festive Christmas holiday season. School holidays is often a time when as parents, I think we all want to, need to, must...
take our foot off the pedal a little, but we still have to feed our kids, right? But anyway, before we dive into that more, first of all, can I please congratulate, acknowledge another year around the sun of feeding children. So well done. Whether your children are little, not at school yet, well done. Whether they're at home with you all day, well done. Whether they're at school and you have prepared another ...
However many days, it's not 365, but it probably feels like about 765 days of school lunchboxes. Well done. Congratulations. Because I tell you what, you feel like you're crawling to the finish line sometimes with these lunchboxes. And, you know, I actually overheard another mum this morning saying that her son's lunchbox was consistently coming back pretty much full of the sandwiches and wraps because he was just over them. He was just sick of them.
Parenting Tips for Kids During Holidays (02:22.222)
So not only are we sick of making the lunches, I think they're sick of the same lunches as well. So I think everyone gets tired and it's probably a good time to have a break from lunch boxes, but congratulations and well done for pushing through, getting to the end of the year, another year of lunch boxes for those school parents. So well done. We really can't underestimate that daily grind. You can't escape it. You've still got to feed your kids dinner every night. So it's not like you can just press pause for a week or two.
So well done, good work. And I hope you do get a little time out, maybe have a bit of a play, see if, you know, maybe Hubby does prepare dinner more often and amazing kudos to you Hubby. So yeah, look, I think it's about just trying to take the pressure off a little, same time, we've still got to feed them healthy foods. So I'm here today to share some tips on feeding kids over that holiday festive season and trying to.
have some consistency with some healthy foods just to support their immune system, to keep them healthy, to keep their behaviour on track. Because if they're loading themselves up with just junk food, that's really going to significantly affect their behaviour, their mood, their sleep patterns. And that's going to make for a very different holiday period. So let's dive into some top tips from me. Number one, try where possible.
to stick to regular times for meals and snacks. Now look, 100%, this is not gonna be possible all the time, especially if you've got older children. And as our children move into the teenage years, they're going to be sleeping in more, they're not going to want to have breakfast at 7 .30 in the morning like they would before school. So this structured meal and snack times will work really well for the younger children.
And it will work semi well for the older children, but it really depends on what the wake up time is. And you might actually skip morning tea. It might be breakfast at 10 .30. So trying to stick to some regular meal and snack times though, also helps keep some consistency around the types of foods. Cause you can try to mimic what you would typically offer during the school day or during, you know, the normal work week. And then that will tend to bring in more coloured foods because.
Improving Nutrition in Children and Adults (04:43.406)
You know, when they get to school, they would have crunch and sips. So you would try and put some fruit on a platter or in their morning tea. You know, if you're trying to mimic what they would do during the school day, then the chances are that they're going to probably get a bit more nutrition than if the child's just going to the pantry and grabbing a pack of tiny deadies. So now look, I'm not saying that that's your house, but trying to stick to some structured meal and snack times is going to help bring in some more nutrition to their day in general.
And sometimes it is going to be skipping meals for those older kids, but that's okay. There's still the opportunity to eat good quality foods. They just have skipped the meal because they were sleeping. So that's totally fine. Another reason why having those regular meal and snacks is important is because if we can keep their blood sugar levels more stable, they are going to be more likely to choose healthier options than if they're really ravenous.
If any of us are really ravenous, we tend to crave the higher sugar, high fat, high salt foods. And then that's when they'll definitely be fighting for the packet of chips or Oreos rather than maybe something healthier that you've prepared or a platter that's been put out or maybe even saying why don't you just have some peanut butter and toast. So regular meals and snacks will help them feel fuller for longer.
regulate their blood sugar levels, help regulate their appetite and will actually improve their food choices because they're not going to be as hangry. And that goes for us adults as well. And look, some adults prefer to snack more. Some adults prefer to have three square meals. So it really depends on what you prefer in terms of your eating style as a parent, as an adult, but sometimes that can also help adults too, because if we go too long without eating, then our...
Choices can be poorer if we're in that really hangry state, especially if there's plenty of that festive holiday food lying around. So regular meals and snacks can be beneficial from that perspective as well. Number two, have a good breakfast. Start the day with good quality food, which will set them up. Again, it will set up their system to feel fuller for longer. And it's going to help reduce those cravings for those really sugary, junky foods, especially before lunchtime.
Promoting Healthy Breakfasts for Kids (07:06.574)
So giving kids a wholesome breakfast that has fiber rich foods, whether it's a cereal or a grainy bread, or if you haven't won the grainy bread bite, then maybe wholemeal bread, but trying to get some fiber into them in a breakfast cereal or a toast would be good. And then also topping it with healthy toppings, whether it's a scrambled egg or scrambled eggs, or it might be fried egg or, you know, in the cereal world, it might be Weebeaks or some Sultana brand.
or it could be some porridge. If they want to make a smoothie, if they're into smoothies, that can be a great option. But really we want to try to have a quality breakfast that's got some fibre in it, plenty of plant -rich foods, because again, that's going to set them up for a healthier day in general. And whether that's at 7 .30, at 10 .30, if they're a teenager,
It doesn't matter, always try and get your child to have a solid breakfast to start with, because that's really going to help set them up. It might be baked beans on toast. It might be soft boiled eggs with soldiers. And maybe you've got to be more time if you, or it depends if you're working or not in the school holidays or, you know, the juggle is so real. So it could be that the kids start to prepare more for themselves. Maybe not if they're two and a half, but you've got potentially a little more flexibility, you know, in that holiday period.
And just trying to come up with some healthy options for them for breakfast is going to set them up for the day. And again, if they're going out for the day, they've got something that's in their tummy, that's going to keep them feeling fuller for longer. And they're again, less likely to buy that junk food by, you know, 10, 30 in the morning. So trying to have a solid breakfast is a really good tip to help reduce those sugar cravings, which leads me on to number three.
how we can reduce that sugar rush. So when our children are shoving, you know, Christmas cookies and chocolate into their mouth, how do we actually help reduce the effect on their blood sugar levels, help reduce the tantrums if you're leaving a party or if they're overtired, because all of these factors will, you know, come together to create the perfect storm and a monster child sometimes. And sugar is also going to play a role in that. So...
Reducing the Sugar Rush in Children (09:31.246)
How do we actually reduce the sugar rush? Well, there's three ways we can do that. Fat, protein and fibre. All of these three nutrients will help to reduce the effect of sugar, the negative effect. It will help to reduce the rate at which sugar goes into the bloodstream. It will help to reduce that, I guess, effect of mood and behaviour of those real fast sugars. So...
protein, fat and fibre will help to slow the passage of food through the gastrointestinal tract. It helps reduce the rate at which the sugar is picked up into the blood and therefore it really helps how the sugar is, I guess, well, it really reduces that negative impact of that sugar rush. So it reduces the sugar rush into our children's bloodstream, which is a good thing. And I guess in technical terms, that's
called reducing the glycemic index or that rush of sugar into your bloodstream. So ways that you can incorporate these into your child's day will start with fats. First of all, we can use nuts and nut butters in our meals and snacks. So whether it's using peanut butter on toast or other nut butters or sprinkling nuts on the top of cereal, or it could be that you add nut butter into a smoothie or you've got almond meal, you can also use
Nuts can also be incorporated into snacks, especially at home because you don't have to be a nut free environment at home. So look, I've got great recipes for very finely chocolate coated nuts. If your children won't eat plain nuts or you can sprinkle peanuts into say a pad thai noodle recipe. So there's many ways that you can add nuts into your child's day. Another really good source of fat is avocado.
So avocado can be added onto toast. It can be mashed up and put onto little mini French toast crispbreads. That's quite a yummy snack for kids. And you can literally serve it old school like my nonna used to, where she used to literally cut an avocado in half and sprinkle it with a bit of raw sugar. And then literally with the spoon, just eat it like that. Great nutritious snack. I don't care about a little bit of sugar on top of the half an avocado. It's a super nutritious snack for kids.
Increasing Nutrients in Children's Diet (11:57.582)
And again, that half an avocado eaten with a chocolate, even if it's got a tiny bit of sugar on the top, is actually going to help reduce that sugar rush on the child's system. Olives are another really good source of fat. And again, that will help slow down the passage of everything through the system. So if your child likes olives and giving them some olives as a part of a platter, using good amounts of olive oil in foods is also going to increase the good fats of that dish.
Then you've got tuna and salmon, other really healthy fats. So again, can be incorporated probably more so into a lunch or dinner, but really a good source of nutritious fats for our children. Let's move on to protein. So how can we increase protein in our child's day? Well, we have foods such as eggs. Eggs are high in protein. I always encourage the yolk especially because that's where most of the nutrition is. The white does contain protein. It's high in protein.
but the yolk is where you've got the vitamin D, the coli and the amigas, a lot more nutrition in the yolk. So try to ensure that your child has the yolk as well. And whether it's serving eggs at breakfast, scrambled, boiled, fried, doesn't matter. Whether it's a cold boiled egg that they have sliced up as a snack, whether they like.
mashed egg with mayonnaise sort of as a filling. You can do a bit of curry powder in there. I mean, I like that. I'm not sure if your child will like that, but that's an option. Or you can use egg in pie clits or to make like a zucchini slice, for example, or omelets. So plenty of ways that eggs can be incorporated into your child's day. Other foods that are rich in protein, things like soy, edamame, so you can get frozen edamame that you can literally pop in boiling water, salt them, and then the kids can...
pop them and eat them themselves. You've got tofu, you've got meat, you've got chicken, and then you've got dairy products as well. So they're all protein rich foods, which will help again, slow down the sugar rush of all those candy canes that our children are eating or that they would like to eat, I should say. Now fibre is the other nutrient that will certainly help slow down the passage of food through the gastrointestinal tract and will help slow down that release of sugar into your
Supporting Children's Immune Health During Festive Period (14:15.15)
child's bloodstream. I touched on fibre before when I was talking about the whole grain breads and cereals and fibre rich fruits and vegetables and tins of baked beans and nuts as well have fibre. Oats, using oats in baking cookies, black bean brownie, my recipe there is really rich in fibre. So including fibre rich foods, simply chopping up fruits and vegetables is a great way to increase your child's daily fibre intake and that's going to help reduce the effect of those
other more treat sugary foods on your child's system. So number four is about supporting our children's gut and immune health over that festive period so that they've got less chance of getting sick and their system is still working as good as it can be. And the way that we can support their immune health is to give them plenty of fresh plant foods, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, because really it's these plant foods that contain fiber, which is
the breakfast, lunch and dinner for our gut bugs. So fibre, the sexy name for it is prebiotic. So prebiotics basically is the food for the probiotics, which are the gut bugs in our gut. And we want to feed the good bugs and we want to keep the good bugs happy and thriving. And so fibre, these prebiotics, fibre rich foods feeds the good bugs.
And that in turn keeps our immune systems healthy because three quarters of our immune system is actually in our gut, in our gastrointestinal tract. And if we're feeding our gut with good food, then it's going to keep the gut bugs happy and healthy. And it's going to keep our immune system happy and healthy. And that means that you are not taking your child to the doctor on a Sunday when you're getting charged double because your child's actually going to be healthier. So that's what you want. And that's how I think we can support your child's immune system.
Yes, probiotics can be beneficial. So if your child has the history of a bit of a funny tummy, then probiotics can definitely be good. And I would always go for a probiotic that had the strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG or LGG. And there's a number of brands in the chemist that has those that strain the LGG in it. So pop into your chemist and ask the pharmacist or the assistant for that probiotic, because that's going to help support.
Baking with Children: A Healthy and Fun Activity (16:37.646)
your child's immune system as well. It doesn't work for everybody and it's not necessary for everybody, but certainly can add an extra layer of support for those tricky tummies or those children that have had a bit of a rough trot with their gut health or their immune health over time. Okay, number five, we have bake more if you can make the time because baking with your children not only increases their familiarity with new foods and ingredients,
It can teach them basic maths when they're looking at teaspoons and half cups, three quarters of a cups or weighing butter or whatever it might be. So baking with your children, I know it can be messy, but it can also be really useful on many fronts. Not only to try to get them to eat healthier foods, just to build their confidence in a new skill and also teach them some maths whilst making it fun.
So I've got plenty of great recipes. I've got some on my website and then I've got plenty more in my membership, which you can use to feed your children really nutritious, healthy meals and snacks, but they also taste good because I have tried and tested these with my kids, with my Bussy Eaters, and I know that they work. So if you have the time to carve out an hour or two on a Sunday or when you're at home,
It would be really beneficial to make a couple of recipes that you can just keep in a container for the week, which means that again, instead of grabbing a packet of barbecue shapes, they can grab a homemade cookie that you've added chia or flax seed or hemp seed and you've used wholemeal flour. So it's going to be more nutritious, going to have much richer source of fiber, prebiotics, iron and zinc than a shop bought packet of something.
So, and again, it's going to have a much better effect on their blood sugar levels and their behaviour as well, and their immune health. So a big ripple effect if you can start to bake a few snacks that then they can just grab, grab and go, especially if they like them. And that's why I think it's really important that these snacks are tasty. And I'm all for having a little bit of sugar in snacks because it means the kids are going to eat them. Otherwise, then they're just going to grab, you know, the shop bought muffins, which...
Homemade Healthy Foods for Children (18:53.646)
are going to be much lower in nutrition than your muffins. So why not just put a little bit of sugar in your muffins? Look, if your children are under five, I think you can definitely get away with a lot less sugar and maybe no sugar, but it really depends on what your child's experience has been or exposure has been to the world of shop -bought muffins and cookies and packet brownies and whatnot, because...
If your child's already developed a very refined taste for those processed, those highly processed sugary salty foods, it becomes harder for them to accept all the home baked healthy goods that have no sugar in them. So that's where I think you've got to have that compromise. And I would always go for a home baked product that add a little bit of sugar in it, then.
than a shop bought one. So I think there's got to be that fine line that compromise there. Okay, the last tip I have, number six, is to, where possible, be organised with snacks when heading out. Now I know we don't always want to be planning and thinking about it because we just want to clock off, don't you? You're like, I'm done with lunch boxes. I just want to wing it. And that's totally fair enough. I get that. But at the same time, if you can,
be a little planned with just throwing a few healthy snacks in a bag. You've got that at least then if the kids are, you know, really hangry and you're in the middle of somewhere and you haven't got to the shop yet. And you know, when you do get to the shop, it's just going to be like a finger bun or a packet of lollies. If you've got something healthy that you've made, perhaps that you've baked some chocolate cookies or something that you've made, or you've even just thrown in a couple of packets of popcorn and a couple of might be like a bit of fruit or.
It could be even a couple of muesli bars. They're probably going to be healthier options than what your child may choose at the shop. Now, look, if you're going to get sushi or something, totally fine. That's going to be a much healthier option than perhaps like a muesli bar, but it really depends. So what I'm trying to say is that if you're going out and about and the children are likely to be hungry in between main meals, if you've got a couple of healthy snacks that are in your bag, you can just give them on the route, whether it's like...
Providing Healthy Snacks for Kids During Holidays (21:05.262)
on the bus or in the car or on the ferry or wherever you're going from A to B, it's going to satisfy them. And again, it's going to give them a bit of extra nutrition. So trying to be planned. And I think this is really important for the sort of seven and under kids, or especially the five and under kids, the younger kids really need those snacks. As they get older, they can probably go longer without them, especially if they've had a good breakfast or a good lunch. But yeah, trying to plan and bring some snacks with you.
is going to set you up for a probably a healthier day for the kids, probably better behaviour from them as well, because it's going to keep their blood sugar levels more stable. And they can of course still have their treat foods. They can have their ice cream or they can have their, you know, their treat food, but at the same time, you know, they're also getting some of those healthy snacks that's going into them as well. So what are some good examples of snacks that you might take out? Well, it might be some homemade muffins or cookies.
It might be my black bean brownie. It might be some chopped fruit or some chopped veggies. Might be some cheese and crackers. It might be some multigrain rice cakes with nut butter or Vegemite. It might be some nuts. It might be some dried bava beans or chickpeas. Really, you can take your pick and go with what your child likes. It might be literally packets of popcorn, but all of those are going to be
pretty good options for you to take out to compliment whatever else they eat during the day. So at the end, we just want to have a balance. We of course want our children to enjoy the holiday period. You want to enjoy the holiday period, of course, get your ice creams or, you know, go and have your treat foods. But if you can balance it out with some of the other more wholesome foods and you have a little more structure, it will help make for a healthier holiday period in general. So I'll wrap it up there.
My voice has made it to the end, just. I wanted to thank you for listening. Thank you so much for being here. It means a lot. And I hope this is super helpful information for you. I wish you a beautiful holiday festive Christmas season to you and your families. And I cannot wait to continue this conversation around feeding kids healthy foods, talking about different topics to do with feeding kids and no important nutrition concerns for children because I'm here to help you nourish your kids better and ensure that our next generation grow up to be fit, healthy, strong, amazing children. So I look forward to continuing this conversation in 2024. I wish you a beautiful holiday season and bye for now.