DELICIOUS & NUTRITIOUS...A HEALTHY START

{zucchini, bananas, butternut squash, sweet potato, brown rice cereal}

Nutrition, health & fitness are huge aspects of my life. A long time ago I realized the extreme importance of nutrition on general health & well being (especially when it comes to staying fit). After all staying fit is 70-80% based on nutrition while exercise is only 30-20% part of the equation. I adopted those principles, have stuck by them & they will forever be the way my family eats. Anybody who has been to my house knows my fridge is chuck full of all sorts of fruits & vegetables, my pantry is nearly bare aside from lbs of raw nuts, a few boxes of quinoa, almond flour & some baking essentials & oatmeal & my freezer is packed to the max with fish/chicken & frozen fruits/veggies. Naturally those will be the things Addison eats.

It's extremely important to me to pass healthy eating habits down to Addison especially during her early years.  Most children develop their eating habits before the age 5 & will likely carry them throughout adulthood.  Case in point: Philip's 40 year old co-worker that ONLY eats fried chicken fingers & french fries for dinner. Literally. It doesn't matter what restaurant they go to...every single night, fried chicken fingers & french fries, even on the nights he eats at home.  Research has shown children are less likely to become picky eaters when they are exposed to a variety of foods while they are younger.  I eat high quality, nutrient dense, unprocessed foods, aim for organic foods free of pesticides & try to avoid additives & preservatives.  I certainty wouldn't feed Addison things I myself wouldn't eat so we have decided to make her food.

The average shelf life of jarred baby food is 2 years where homemade baby food is 3 days in the fridge.  2 YEARS....that's because jarred baby food is chuck full of preservatives & sterilized to maintain the shelf life. Sterilization is done through a high heating process which kills vitamins, nutrients, taste, color, and aroma in the process. By making Addison's food at home I can ensure that it retains most of it's nutritional value, taste, color, texture & aroma...the things that make even adults excited about eating.

I am not knocking parents who give their children jarred baby foods...this is a personal decision. I want to expose Addison to a rich variety of nutritious foods at a young age...I want her to have a healthy start.

It's definitely economical too. Today my friend Donna & I made both of our little ones 20+ containers of baby food each with 1 medium sized organic sweet potato, 1 medium sized organic zucchini, 1/4 medium sized organic butternut squash, 1 organic avocado, 3 organic medium sized bananas, 1/2 cup organic brown rice. If you do it monthly or biweekly you can freeze what you don't intend to use right away. It's so EASY!

The pediatrician has given us the green light to start with rice cereal but we have decided not to quite yet.  She is totally satisfied right now & until she shows an interest or seems unsatisfied with just breast milk we aren't going to introduce her. For now we will just tuck it away in the freezer & if it comes close to expiration we can use it for ourselves since it's just cooked veggies.

It was definitely a FUN deviation away from our typical play date & I know we both got a lot of satisfaction knowing we are giving the best possible things to our kids.