For those with kids....

Do you make them eat as healthy as you? I know the diet is completely different but do you not let them induldge in say iceream or cake for dessert? *Do you suggest they train? Do you feel your choices affect their lifestyles?






*Obviously this is question is not intended for those with pre-teenagers.

AND...

Would you want or care if your kid experimented with steriods if they are at the appropriate time in there life?

Our kids pretty much eat what we do. We have three of them, 10, 9 and 4. Up to about the age of 5, we let them eat pretty much what they wanted to eat - at the preschool age, they need to have adequate levels of fat in their diet for proper growth, plus they need a balanced diet. We weren't too crazy about limiting certain items, except that they are never allowed soda or anything with aspartame (they do get the occasional soda at Grandmom's!).

As they get older, we really cut down on the sweets and "junk" that they can eat. We also require a protein source at every meal. They all eat protein bars (either Tri-O-Plex or Luna bars) as snacks and sometimes as breakfast. It's better than a pop-tart! We do allow desserts on a regular basis, but just a taste. I'm of the school of thought that moderate consumption is better than overdoing it because they've been denied.

None of the kids is overweight, and all of them have some knowledge of proper eating and bodybuilding. They see both Mom and Dad down in the gym, and they think that people that DON'T do that are weird!

I'll leave the second part of your question to CC to answer . . .

As long as my step kids eat their balanced three meals we let them snack on junk, but not without limits. I've noticed that if you expose them to good food they really don't develope the urge to eat junk. They prefer orange juice over soda, mash potatoes over french fries, roast chicken over pizza. They're great. Btw, they're 8, 6.5, and 5, all girls. Too much estrogen in this house dammit, lol.

I do have a daughter, but she's only one. She eats about 3 main meals a day, eggs , cereal, or oatmeal usually in the morning. Lunches are things like grilled cheese, pasta, or pb&J. For dinner she'll have a little chicken, or turkey burger, mashed potatoes and a veggie.

We don't worry too much about what she eats, we're usually happy when she eats!! She's our little peanut, as others call her.

Not much junk food, she snacks on crackers mostly.

my kid eats a good breakfast and dinner with my wife and i, as for lunch its cafeteria food for him.

First, I'm wondering why you are wondering about this subject.

As any other parent, we worry about our kids & try to get them to eat a balanced diet (or at least somewhat).
Having a father as a bodybuilder does not seem to make a difference to them. We still argue over whether or not they are eating, what they are eating and what they don't. The youngest is a "garbage gut" who we need to take the bag of Doritos or popcorn away from! lol He takes after his dad.
At least he makes great pancakes on the weekend. Wakes us old folks up to an already made breakfast! (Which is great when we don't get to bed till 5 am.)

I don't have any children nor do I have any plans to have any in the near future, I'm 21.

For some reason I was on the board and I know a good portion are parents. I know how parents live vicariously through their kids sometimes. I wasn't exactly looking for that, I was just wondering.

Truthfully I wish I grew up in a house with a bodybuilder father, or at least one that worked out (and a mom that likes to hit the gym too and make us eat right).

Had a mom that was off the Atkins and that did not help her one bit. Glad I'm out of the house now, I can eat what I want. But sometimes it's not a good thing. It's about self control.

Remo said:

As long as my step kids eat their balanced three meals we let them snack on junk, but not without limits. I've noticed that if you expose them to good food they really don't develope the urge to eat junk. They prefer orange juice over soda, mash potatoes over french fries, roast chicken over pizza.

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I have found this with my kids, also. We have McDonald's Day once a week and they would ask everyday if it was McDonald's Day. When it finally would roll around, they would eat half of their meal. Now, we go to KFC (not great but better) and they eat a little more. When my wife wants them to eat like they have flies on their eyes, she will take them to IHOP. You would think they were only fed once a week! lol

The better the meal, nutritionally, the more my kids eat so I can't really complain. I do make an effort to treat them relatively normally. Even when I am prepping we have popsicles and some ice cream in the freezer for them to hit every now and then.

Skip

my son will be two in march, and so far we don't force him to eat certain items. He is in this picky stage right now. He use to eat everything including broccoli. Now it's olives, chicken, cheese, and carrots.

when he is a little older, I'll try to change his diet around a little without being to overbearing.

My daughters have always eaten what we eat. It's always been very healthy food- absolutely nothing pre-prepared or processed. Nothing you get from a box, bag, etc. Fresh veggies, salads, meats prepared from scratch and so on. Both of my girls look like slightly muscular supermodels. At thier last physical they both tested out at 12% bodyfat and the doctor freaked out and asked them what kind of diet and excercise regimen they had been on. (they didn't know what to say except that they had been doing what they always did- practice for thier sport of choice and a basic weight routine that I have designed for them. I think it finally hit them just how unusual it is for girls thier age to have muscular definition and visible abs and not be anorexic at the same time.

My 13 year old son kind of likes what we eat...chicken, turkey, egg whites for the most part. 1 cheat day a week is all we do and he follows suit. He even takes a protien drink to school with him!

Sounds like we have some pretty healthy children. I don't doubt for a second that there's a coorelation between the health and fitness levels of parents and their children. Seems the better we take care of ourselves the better off the children are. A no brainer, really.

Great posts people. Pretty much what I expected and wanted to hear. All of you seem to be very good parents in that aspect (at least).

more parents should pay attention to their kids diet/eating habbits. Atleast in the US. I think I saw that we were the fattest country, and the number of obese children has risen significantly over the last 10 years or so.

GetnBigr said:

more parents should pay attention to their kids diet/eating habbits. Atleast in the US. I think I saw that we were the fattest country, and the number of obese children has risen significantly over the last 10 years or so.

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Not only the fattest but the country with the most people on diets and we also have the world whipped by how much we spend on diet and weight loss supplements every year.

That should say something, huh? You only hear what you want to hear.

Skip

You're right on the ,money Skip. Sad, but true everyone wants to be thin in 30 days...IMPOSSIBLE. People will spend needless amounts of money trying what does not and will not work...
This country is at a 65% obesity. Talk about the next epidemic!
Nothing worse than seeing a fat kid with a fat parent eating shit food for lunch or dinner...sorry, didn't mean to rant. Being in the nutrition business, I hate to see this!