Establishing a Real Food Foundation
Well, it's that time again, back to school! Another summer that seems to fly by. We hope you all enjoyed yours and the last few weeks of it. Now is the time to start thinking about the back-to-school season and your children's education for the upcoming school year.
Homegrown is proud to offer two different levels of curriculum educating all about real food and nutrition. We believe there is no better time to start giving your child the fundamental knowledge that they'll be able to carry throughout adulthood. Together let's "shape the way the next generation views food, health, and cooking!"
Teach your kids how to make the best food choices and gain a strong knowledge of nutrition, health, and cooking for continuous longevity and well-being. We intentionally do not use the USDA MyPlate Food Guidelines as a basis for recommended nutrition. Instead, we have gathered the information in this curriculum from non-industry and non-government sources, which are backed by unbiased science. This curriculum is meant to serve as a descriptive tool on the many varieties of real food and our complex food system.
What to Expect in our Early Elementary Activity Workbook
Designed to teach your Pre-K through second-grade
Over 90 pages of activities of learning traditional, nourishing foods, food groups, and nutrition principles
Engaging activities covering handwriting, counting, patterns, social studies, critical thinking, and affirmations
Understand where real food comes from
Help them grow comfortable eating
Lifetime access to the downloadable PDF
And more!
What to Expect in our Children's Nutrition Workbook: Level One
Perfect for upper elementary and middle school students (Grades 3-6)
27 engaging lessons- including easy-to-follow recipes and activities
Real food nutrition includes information on raw milk, soaked grains, animal products, vitamins & minerals, macronutrients, healthy oils & more!
Establish a strong knowledge of cooking, baking, and proper food preparation
Instill real food principles at a young age, giving a greater baseline for health
Lifetime access to the downloadable PDF
And more!
All workbooks are easy to print and can be shared within your household. We hope to provide an alternative to current educational tools and inspire/encourage food freedom within your children and perhaps even yourself by gaining this knowledge.
Along with our curriculum, Homegrown is passionate about using other tools in educating children about REAL food. Here are five other ways to inspire and teach your kids!
1. Get cooking: It's important to allow your children to help, taste-test, and/or watch you in the kitchen starting at a young age. This allows for the basic foundations to be formed while also establishing curiosity around food. This is also the perfect time to talk about what you are making, why you chose it, and the benefits/nourishments each food has. For older kids, get them to participate alongside you in practicing basic knife skills, washing vegetables, mixing eggs or salad, etc. Helping prepare their food will provide a greater sense of appreciation for the meal on their plate. Creating this foundation and education will hopefully carry with them as they get older and continue to build.
2. Get close to your food source: we are huge advocates for shopping at local farms. If you are an avid listener to The Homegrown Podcast, you know the importance and benefits of supporting local, small farmers. If you haven't tuned in yet, there's plenty of content waiting for you!
Here are a few key reasons why we encourage you to start shopping at your local farm, farmers' market, or joining a CSA (community-supported agriculture) progra. For starters, just seeing the animals (chickens, cows, goats) and understanding the connection between their eggs and the chickens or their milk and the cow is fantastic. Connecting with your local farmer or butcher not only ensures you are getting the highest quality of food but connects you more to your community and builds upon the appreciation for the farmers who put in the hard work, allowing all of us to reap the benefits of consuming real food. Shopping at your local grocery store has created this major disconnect in forgetting where our food comes from. And more importantly, they do not uphold the same standards many small regenerative farmers do to provide the highest quality of foods. Poor regulation, hidden ingredients, misinformation on labels, GMOs, lies within the "organic" market, prioritizing saving/making money, and much more cause for thinking twice before your weekly overhauls. In our opinion, it is better to leave the grocery store for quick trips, essentials, or weekly hauls only for the items you can't get anywhere else. We also understand the importance of keeping within budget. We encourage you to do the best you can. Splitting up where you get your food and kitchen supplies is a great compromise.
Here are some resources you can use to find local farms, CSAs programs, or even have items shipped:
https://www.localharvest.org/store/
Also, be sure to check out Homegrown's FREE Raw Dairy Guide
3. Make it simple: Whole foods don't come with complicated food labels or confusing serving sizes. Introducing real food should be as simple as the food itself. We define real food as such: food that is naturally occurring, not denatured, nutrient-dense, and unrefined. That means a plate of freshly scrambled eggs (from pasture-raised hens) can be a great source of real food that is often quicker to whip up than a box of mac n' cheese. Raw cheese and fresh fruit is also another simple and quick snack that easily trumps any "healthy" bar (Kind, Nature Valley, Clif & NutriGrain) or bag of chips. Homegrown also has you covered with helping make meal planning easier and having nutritious recipes ready to go: shop What's For Breakfast? and What's For Dinner?
4. Make dining out count: When looking for a restaurant, try to find establishments that have intentionally soured their food. There are plenty of farm-to-table eateries around the country that support local farmers. You get to treat yourself and maybe splurge on food you typically don't eat, but not compromise your health too much but eating at a place that utilizes better quality ingredients.
5. Encourage food freedom: True food freedom comes when we realize our food is not inherently good or bad. It is either high-quality and nutrient-dense, or low-quality and nutrient-lacking. It's important to teach our children this message at a young age. Picky eating, food restriction (as they age), malnourishment, and sickness mostly stem from a lack of education, confidence in the kitchen and grocery shopping, and government or industry influences. Since real food comes in all forms (protein, fat, carbohydrates, etc.) there's no need to demonize food groups. When you focus on the quality of your ingredients, you can be satisfied eating foods that society has deemed "unhealthy" knowing you've compiled a dish with well-rounded nutrition in mind. Teaching your kids about the complexities of our food system including the quality of foods (organic, genetic modification, pasture-raised animals, etc.), various types of farming, food labeling, and sourcing will allow for food freedom, higher nourishment, and overall a healthier, well-being version that we all want our kids to be.
Give your children the tools and information they can carry through life that will impact them in many different areas and avenues. We believe in the power of using food to heal, grow, connect, and thrive. Help us continue our mission of shaping the way the upcoming generation views food, cooking, and proper stewardship of health.