In today's episode, we're talking about How to get your vegan kids to eat less processed vegan food. I'll share tips on how to get your kids to transition away from eating too much vegan junk food. 
Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi there, it's Gen from With Extra Veg, and welcome to this week's podcast episode. So this week we're going to be talking about how to get your kids to eat less processed foods. Now, before I get started on today's episode, I want to talk to you about my recipe book. So my new recipe book, super Boosted Snacks, is now available for purchase. It was launched, I think, a month ago. I've had a bit of a break from the podcast with doing the launch, so, yeah, it's out and I will put the link down below in the show notes so you can grab it.

Speaker 1: 0:39

I've had so much positive feedback from it. People are loving it. They're loving the recipes. I had a really exciting launch as well, which was great. We had a cooking demo. It was lots of fun. I think you can go and watch the replay of that if you'd like to, in the Facebook group in the community. So, yeah, it's really good. So it's called Super Boosted Snacks and it's got. So it's full of snack recipes for your kids and for adults as well, which are all completely vegan but have been specifically developed to be packed full of iron and zinc and calcium. There are also recipes that have got lots of extra hidden beans and things in them which are really great for getting your kids to eat more beans Lots of veggie ones as well. So, yeah, make sure that you check it out. You can get it at the moment on Amazon, so I will put the link for it down in the show notes, so yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:47

So back to talking about getting your kids to eat less processed foods. So you've probably noticed, in the supermarket we do tend to be getting a lot more vegan versions of a lot of processed foods. I know I saw the other day that I think it's the Woolworths brand. That's one of the supermarkets if you're not here in Australia, if you're not Australian have brought out a new vegan jelly lollies as well. So we're definitely getting a lot more vegan versions of a lot of the processed foods that we, um, that you could have when you weren't vegan, which, um, is sort of good and bad. I mean, it's good in the case that, uh, our kids have got a lot more options available to them, because it's really important that our kids aren't feeling like they're missing out because of their vegan diet. So it is really good that they have that.

Speaker 1: 2:53

But, at the same time, it kind of was good back when we didn't have the vegan versions of some of these foods, because then they sort of weren't available at all, and so it was kind of easier to eat a healthier vegan diet back then, I think, than it can be today. So today I just want to give you some steps on how to sort of have your kids eating a bit less processed foods and then more sort of fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains and things like that, because those foods really are what make a vegan diet so good for us, and we do really want to be setting our kids up for a lifetime of healthy eating by maximizing the amount of those foods that they're actually eating. Because one of the things is that our healthy, our diet sort of way that we eat is often set up in childhood, and so if we can set our kids up to eating more of those foods and being used to those sort of foods and those foods being familiar, then it is a lot easier for them to eat those foods when they're adults as well. Now, one final thing before we get started too, is that I'm certainly not advocating for a diet completely devoid of all processed foods. I will talk about that a bit more as well, and I think that things like lollies, ice cream, chips, stuff like that we really shouldn't be having an absolute sort of zero tolerance to them, because that sort of eating and having really strict rules like that can develop, um eating disorders.

Speaker 1: 4:50

So this, this one, is really about reducing it so that your kids are eating more, um, fruit, fruits and vegetables, um whole grains, leg legumes, things like that, rather than trying to cancel out all processed foods in their diet. So, yeah, so a few things about processed foods to start with. So one thing to really think about is why do kids like processed foods? So the number one thing to remember is that there is a lot of research and marketing and money that goes into making processed foods as palatable and appealing to kids and adults as possible. So when I studied nutrition at uni, one of the courses I did was an introduction to food science, which was really looking at the way that manipulating fats and sugars and salts can make foods a lot more appealing. So they work really hard at making them really crunchy Like think about potato chips and stuff, how they're really crunchy and then they've got the right amount of fat and they've got the right amount of salt as well, to be really addictive. So you do need to remember that your kids are up against a lot of money and marketing that is trying to make them want to eat that food. As an aside, I mean even for us, because obviously it's not just kids who find processed foods really appealing, it's also us as adults as well, and so it's really important to remember that these foods are designed to be addictive. So simply sitting there and saying, you know, expecting kids or us to eat less of them, is a little bit unfair on us, on ourselves, because there is so much marketing and so much money going into them.

Speaker 1: 7:04

Now, another thing, also kind of related, is the amount of marketing that goes into these foods. Um, if you look at the foods, um, in the aisles and things, healthy food tends to have a lot less marketing around it, whereas your processed foods and your less healthy foods tend to have really bright colors. They often have special kids characters that make kids want to do them. They are in, you know they've got cool pictures and stuff on them as well. So the marketing around them is also designed to make kids want to have them, even before you think about the actual taste of the food as well, or the texture and the sensations of the food. You also have the fact that these foods are often eaten by your kids' friends, so you get sort of a bit of peer pressure and peer marketing I guess I'm not sure what the right word for it is. I guess I'm not sure what the right word for it is where kids, they really want to fit in with their friends and eating similar foods to what their friends are having is one way of doing this. And then you've got that also coupled with the fact that their friends have these really cool marketing things on their products. So of course, your kids are going to want to eat those foods as well.

Speaker 1: 8:34

So that is something that you really do need to keep in mind. Is that it's we need to be strategic and we need to work to get kind of beyond all of this marketing and everything. And so it means that simply telling your kids not to eat that and trying to compete with you know, coco Pops with their bright yellow packaging and everything with a thing of oatmeal, it's not really going to work and our kids are not going to really go for the oatmeal. We need to be a bit more strategic about it are not going to really go for the oatmeal. We need to be a bit more strategic about it Now.

Speaker 1: 9:21

Something else to consider also is, especially if you have any kids with sensory issues or neurodiverse kids who often have sensory issues. One thing with processed foods is that they are designed to be the same every time. I remember I was watching a cooking video a little while ago where they were trying to manufacture sorry, the cooking teams, the cooking people were having to remake various sort of junk food type things, and I remember in particular there was one episode where they were talking about Pringles and talking about how Pringles have to have its sort of dehydrated potato together, and they were talking about how hard it would be to get it so that every single Pringle was exactly the same. And so when you've got kids who are a bit funny about different sensory things, the thing is, when they open a packet of biscuits like Pringles or, you know, even Cheerios, the cereal things like that, they know that every time they eat one of those things it's going to be the same sensation for them, whereas if you think about a punnet of blueberries, when you have a punnet of blueberries, some of the blueberries will be nice and plump and juicy and really good. Some will be a bit soft and squishy, some will be ripe and sweet, some will be not quite ripe and so they'll be a bit tart, and some will be just overripe and be squishy and gross. So it's really comparing the two. It is a really difficult for a child with sensory issues to eat something like a punnet of blueberries where, as opposed to a packet of chips, where the chips are all basically the same.

Speaker 1: 11:28

And one final thing to consider when it comes to processed foods is they're a lot more convenient for we as parents. I mean, we are all really busy, we're all time poor and food can really take a lot of effort. And food really takes a lot of effort when your kids aren't that keen on eating the food, which can be really demoralizing. And so it's really common for parents to fall back onto processed foods because you know that at least your kids are going to eat that food or it's not going to take as much time and things like that. So they're just a couple of things to really consider why we have processed foods. I think that a lot of the time there's a lot of shame around processed foods and saying, oh, you should just make everything from scratch, but we kind of live in the real world and so we need to take into consideration all of those things in order to actually start to change our diets and have a bit less processed foods.

Speaker 1: 12:39

Now, one more thing is that, although you will often see, I think on social media you'll have a lot of things which demonize processed foods not all processed foods are bad, and in fact, there was a study that I saw very recently that was actually finding that they compared two diets where they compared one which was quite high in processed foods and then one that had no processed foods, and they found that the two were actually comparable and so the processed foods diet was actually as healthy or as nutritious is a better way to say it as the one without the processed foods, but the one with the processed foods. It lasted longer, it was easier to cook and so, yeah, they were really saying that it's not really processed foods versus unprocessed foods that we should be looking at, but actually the quality of the foods that we're giving. So sort of an example would be if you think about soy milk. Soy milk is classified as a very highly processed food, but soy milk will give your child, you know, a third of their daily calcium needs. It will give them some iron, some protein, fiber. It often has some other things, some B vitamins, magnesium, vitamin D added in, so it's quite a nutritious product, whereas if you compare it to another very processed food like soft drink, well, soft drink doesn't really contain anything other than sugar and carbonated water. So those two are both classed as processed foods, but one of them is far more nutritious for us than the other one. So another thing is that when we're talking about processed foods, often you'll end up with people demonizing things like pasta, tinned tomatoes, tinned tomatoes. So there is a lot of. This whole term of processed foods really applies to a lot of foods that are actually very nutritious for us and, as I said, the study has found that you should be focusing on the actual quality of the foods that you're getting, rather than the level. So, having said that, I think that when we're sitting here talking about reducing processed foods, I am really talking about reducing chips and chocolates and soft drinks and lollies more so, rather than tinned beans and veggies, frozen vegetables, pasta, rice, things like that. So I'm certainly not sitting here advocating for a completely processed food free diet, rather just to sort of shift away from some of the low nutritious foods that you get. So the best way in order, the best way to um phase out these foods is to crowd them out rather than take them away.

Speaker 1: 16:09

So one really good example that I found for myself, um for this was at night. I used to. When I was younger, I used to eat a lot of chocolate, so I would even have a full block of chocolate each night for dessert, and so I really had a sweet tooth. I was always wanting dessert in the evenings. So what I did was I actually. So what I did was I actually? I said I had to have some fruit first and then I could have the chocolate whatever I wanted. So I started I would have generally some oranges or mandarins I normally found like quite sweet fruits in the evenings and so I would have that and then I could have as much chocolate as I wanted after that.

Speaker 1: 17:01

So what happened is that, as I was having the fruit, I found that I just first off it filled me up and I was just having less of the chocolate and I, over time, these days I actually don't crave chocolate at all anymore in the evenings, um, and I only have. I mean, sometimes I might have a square, but I'm actually satisfied with that, which I tell you. If you had told me back when I used to have an entire block, that I was going to be satisfied with a square of chocolate, I would have laughed at you. There's no way I would have. Yeah, that I was going to be satisfied with a square of chocolate, I would have laughed at you. There's no way I would have. Yeah, but these days, honestly, I can have like a square and I will have some chocolate in my bedside drawer which will last me like two weeks, and that's only like a little block, a bar of like seven pieces. So, yeah, that really crowding it out with the fruit really helped me to no longer need the chocolate, and I wasn't restricting myself. I wasn't sitting there saying, oh, I can only have this much chocolate. I just naturally didn't really feel like it anymore.

Speaker 1: 18:12

So that's something that I really recommend doing with your kids as well, is, don't tell them they can't have the processed foods. Just give them things like fruit or any of the recipes in my recipe book and just have healthier options as well, so they can have those, and then they can have the processed food as well, and you'll find that they just yeah, they just get full and stuff and they'll just eat less of the processed foods. Another thing that is really good is if you replace the processed food that you're trying to get them to eat less of with other foods that they love that are healthier. So my recipe book is a great place to find options for this. So things like I've got brownies in there, I've got muffins, I've got donuts, I've got cookies, all things like that. But the recipes that I have in my recipe book are really high in iron, really high in zinc, really high in protein, really high in all the nutrients that they need, so you can give them. So if you're sitting there and they want cookies, we'll make them some high iron cookies rather than just getting some from the supermarket. So that's a really good one, because then they're still getting foods that they really like. It's just that they're more nutritious for them. So, as I said, make sure you check out my recipe book, because I have 70 recipes in there that they will really enjoy and then they don't feel like they're missing out either.

Speaker 1: 19:52

Another thing that you can do is make the healthier options really easy to access. So when we're hungry, we tend to kind of go for the first thing we find. So what you can do is put foods that your kids like like. Have the snacks that are in the recipe book. It has a really comprehensive storage and freezing guide so you can have them available right at the front. Have prepped fruit there. One thing that I always do is if we get watermelon or something, I will chop it all up into pieces and have it in containers in the front of the fridge so that the kids can just grab it easily. I keep chopped veggies that they like, so carrots my other son likes cucumber as well. So have it all available, and this goes for yourself as well.

Speaker 1: 20:46

All of these tips I keep talking about them being for kids, but they're for adults too and have, yeah, the snacks right in the front of the fridge. Have the muesli bars whatever the ones that you're wanting them to eat in the front of the pantry so that they can just easily get them. Something else sort of another thing to add to that is make the things that you're trying to have them not eat hard to get, so if you can, don't even have them in the house. You know, when you go shopping, don't buy chips, don't buy chocolate, don't buy those things. Just get snacks that are healthy, that your kids like, and then you can just get the things for special occasions or something.

Speaker 1: 21:40

We are far more likely to eat the food that is really easy to get, rather than having foods that will take us more effort and stuff as well, and your kids are the same. So something else that we often tend to do as parents is I know that I do it as well is kind of this all or nothing approach where we're like fine, we're going to make everything from scratch, and so then we end up buying all of the ingredients and stuff and we have it all in the thing, and then life happens and we get tired and we get busy and we have all the ingredients there, but we don't actually have any actual snacks or easy food to eat. So it's really important that you do make the healthy foods easy and that you're not setting yourself up for trying to make everything from scratch, because, honestly, it's not going to happen really. Let's be realistic. Um, so things that I will do is I will get, um, so the snacks in my recipe book. Most of them take about 10 minutes to make, so I will normally get the ingredients to make sort of two for the week, um, and I will have them for the full week. But I also do things like I grab some muesli bars from the supermarket, my kids love chocolate, chickpeas and I have lots of fruit there as well and things like that. And I'll generally do a balance when I'm looking at dinners and stuff and sort of make sure I've got quick and easy stuff for the nights when I'm busy, and then I'll have something that takes a bit more effort for the nights that I've got a bit more time. So, yeah, really don't just go all out, because it's kind of not going to happen.

Speaker 1: 23:24

And the other thing is that it's really okay for this to be a gradual process. It is totally okay to reduce down the amount of processed foods that your kids are eating by one thing in the first week, because then the next week you can reduce down another thing and another thing and by the end of a month they'll be eating very different food than what they were at the start. So yeah, really take gradual steps and make sure that you are kind to yourself and make it easy and make sure that you are kind to yourself and make it easy. So again, I just want to, as a final point I just want to talk about you really do need to remember that these processed foods are designed to be addictive, and so you will need to take things gradually in order to break these addictions for your kids, in order to break these addictions for your kids, and so it may be that you just need to switch from supermarket versions of foods sort of processed versions of foods to just some homemade ones to start with. And your homemade ones might still be quite high in sugar, they might be quite high in fat and things like that, but they will be better than the processed ones because they won't be quite so addictive because obviously at home you don't have the machines to make them in the same way that they can in those for processed foods. So that might just be your first step. And then, once your kids are used to that and used to having homemade foods and less addictive foods, then you can start to reduce the sugar and things like that in those foods and introduce more things like fruit and stuff as well, just to improve their diet overall.

Speaker 1: 25:17

So, as I said, in order to reduce the amount of processed foods that your kids are having, really focus on the sort of the low nutritious processed foods rather than just a blanket ban on processed foods. Make sure that your kids make sure that you're crowding out foods rather than taking them away, so just adding in more healthier foods rather than restricting the other foods that they can have. Um, make sure you're replacing the foods with foods that your kids really like. Um, because they're going to be far more likely to eat foods that they really like than they are to have really boring foods and stuff. Make sure that the healthier options are easy to access and easy to get to, and make sure that they're easy for you as well, rather than trying to make everything from scratch.

Speaker 1: 26:14

And remember that these processed foods are designed to be addictive, so they you really do. You're going to need to make to take this slow and gradual Um, and it will be hard to just replace them all at once, sort of, with super healthy foods. Our taste buds aren't designed for that. Um, remember, one of your secret weapons for replacing processed foods is really going to be my recipe book, so make sure you grab that. Down below. I've put the link and when you purchase it, I would love it if you could leave me a review, because that's what helps people find it on Amazon is through reviews. So yeah, so that's everything for this week and I will talk to you again next week.