Family Owned 
Cassandra Michelin is a mum on the quest to raise super healthy kids on her urban farm yard on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Passionate about inspiring others, Cass is the creator of the #sugarfreeseptember challenge and this year launched an eBook full of delicious real food recipes. Her goal is to empower people to take control of their health and to encourage parents through simple and delicious whole foods, and toxic free living!
We are beyond excited to have Cassandra as our monthly guest blogger to share with you all her 10 Tips for raising Super Healthy Kids!
10 Tips for Raising Super Healthy Kids
It’s totally empowering once you decide as a parent to raise your children on real food. You know that everything you put into their developing, growing little bodies is full of nutrition. While children are growing, they look to you for direction and often do as you do, it’s so important to lead by example.
As a parent you create the environment and the beliefs for your child. In the first 6 years your children are like sponges, they take in everything from you. What they learn in the first 6 years will shape a lot of their reactions for the future. Setting a great home environment with real and whole foods is a fantastic start.
It can be easier at home as your kids are eating everything you make and prepare for them although it can get tricky in the outside world as children are enticed with so many bright colours of packaged food and are going to be playing with other children that might come from families with different nutritional beliefs. Just remember, you are the one making the decisions for your baby, your children and your family and your choices matter!
Here are 10 tips to raising super healthy kids
1. Stay strong in your beliefs.
2. Keep only healthy food in the house. Self-control is very hard when you are only beginning your journey to healthy whole foods. If the temptation is there you will most likely eat it and then your children will see that and want some too.
3. Get the whole family involved! It can be hard when one parent wants to hit the health road and the other is not that interested. It can be disheartening to be so excited and feeling great from eating good food and then your partner comes home with a pizza and beer. Get them to think of a yummy meal they love and create a healthy version without compromising the taste so they can experience how great real food can be.
4. Make food taste good. I was a little slow of this one, hah. I would experiment with the weirdest, out there ingredients, along with food that lacked flavour. Many times I would serve dinner tasting terrible, my husband was pretty turned off by the whole real food revolution at this time in our lives but I kept trying and experimenting and we got there and its amazing! There are so many amazing recipes full of flavor out there. Use them!
5. Eat what your children are eating. Don’t have adults food and kids food! This is the most wrong thing I see going on in some families; a lot of packaged foods are marketed at kids, it makes me angry because as a parent you want to make your child happy and you also can believe that the way food is marketed should be safe. But the truth is its not, food from a packet that contains ingredients that we may not be able to understand shouldn’t be served up to anyone! The key is to eat simple, real food. Your children will always look up to you and ask what your eating, so eat healthy yourself and they will follow.
6. Don’t worry about offending anyone. If you don’t want your child to have a piece of cake at a party, don’t make a scene. Just make sure you pack an alternative so your child doesn’t feel like they’re missing out.
7. Pack snacks. Any time you are heading out, visiting a friend, or meeting for a play date pack LOTS of snacks. Be ready for when your child is hungry and goes to snatch something you are not comfortable with them eating out of another child’s hand. Bananas and Powerball’s work great in our house.
8. Always take a plate. If you’re invited to someone’s house or to a party take something along. Bring something you have made that you know everyone will enjoy! You may even convert a few people to be their own families real food revolutionist when they taste your homemade deliciousness.
9. Make people aware of what you allow your child to eat and what’s not on the menu. If your children are young, you may prefer if people ask you before they give your child any food. People don’t know exactly what dietary guidelines you have made for your family so just make them aware nicely.
10. Enjoy being a super healthy parent and be so proud for doing what you feel is best for your growing children! Its important to be confident and feel good… You deserve it!
