New Diet for 4 Year Old and Going to Sprouts. Any Suggestions?

Annie's for crackers and cookiesand mac and cheez. Earth's best for cereal bars. Also, look at dr. Praeger fishies and earth best chicken nuggets...

Well...yogurt, fruit snacks, and cereal all still have sugar. Sometimes, very deceptive amounts. Make sure you really look at the nutritional content! For my son, he still really likes Yo Baby yogurt. It's for babies, but he has never taken to the yogurt for children or adults. It is whole milk yogurt, though. The same make Stonyfield also has yogurt for kids and adults. It is organic.

Since you actually asked about other foods :)
My favorites for mac and cheese, goldfish, and fruit snacks is Annies. They are organic and make all three. The mac and cheese has whole wheat noodles which is a plus. (though to be truthful, I find it easy to make homemade mac and cheese.) My son likes Earth's Best cereal bars as well as Clif bars. The thing you really want to look for, is products that use whole wheat. Grains in general, are sugar. White flour and corn especially. Whole wheat has complex carbs which are more healthy and needed.

I commend you for trying diet changes. I hope that you are able to see some changes. I have a good friend who just eliminated dyes from her sons diet and she saw a HUGE difference in his behavior.

It may be difficult, but instead of switching from regular processed food to organic/natural processed food I would try to find whole food options. I prefer to buy plain yogurt and flavor it myself with either fresh fruit or a bit of honey (I think flavored yogurt is WAY too sweet). And you can always slowly decrease the honey/fruit until your daughter adapts.

Macaroni and cheese is so easy to make yourself. Its just about the same amount of steps as the boxed variety. This recipe is wonderful: http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/high-five-recipe-creamy-mac...

As for snacks my little ones enjoy veggies, fruit, hummus, roasted seaweed, roasted chickpeas, nuts, homemade muffins.

Instead of fruit snacks, why not actual fruit? Fruit snacks, even organic or natural, aren't much of a step above candy. We treat them just as candy, not a regular part of our diet. All yogurts made specifically for kids, even organic, has a lot of sugar in them. Less grains, add more protein.
You can change brands to ones that say organic or natural but it doesn't get to the root of the problem. Whenever my son ODs on carbs and grains we always know it from his behavior. When he gets enough water in the day and a better variety of proteins, fruits and veggies he does a lot better.

Hi B.,

My child loves Annie's Fruit Snacks. They're organic, without anything artificial. They are $1.00 cheaper a box if you can dind them at Wal Mart. He loves Pirares Booty white cheddar cheese puffs. The YoKids organic yogurt in the tubes is a staple - we keep it in the freezer and by the time he eats lunch at school, it's ready to eat and still very cold. Organic Cliff Kids fruit twists have a full serving of fruit in each twist. Horizon has organic cheese slices (like Kraft). They are quite pricey, but if your daughter doesn't eat many cheese sandwiches, you might want to try them. Also, Sprouts has organic lollipops at the checkout counters. Our favorite is very cherry. They also have yogurt pretzels in their bulk food section, as well as roasted almonds. You can feed her a healthier diet while still being able to give her treats.

Also, I purchase Veggie Wash to clean all our produce, organic or not, before eating.

Have fun with it. You will be amazed at how much you learn about nutrition when you start eating more organic.

I REALLY recommend you read "Disease-Proof Your Child" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. There are some recipies in the book, some on his website. It's not easy with a kid, but it can make a huge difference. They are building their bodies - every cell in their body - from what we feed them.

As to what to buy at Sprouts: strawberries, blueberries, bananas, carrots, walnuts, almonds, spinach, fruit, fruit, veggies. Try to look up green smoothies online, and see whether your daughter likes it. I find that banana added to spinach and orange, with a bit of flax seeds is delicious. Banana added to any green leaf veggie masks the vegetable taste really well.

Try to stay away from all processed foods. Just because it's "natural" and "organic" doesn't mean it's not processed (and that it doesn't contain a ton of sugar and/or salt). Annie's organic whatever is still processed food. Yes, probably better than non-organic, generic brand, but still. What you should be aiming for is mostly fruits, veggies and nuts.

One thing that honestly DOES help, is allowing your child to get hungry. No snacks between meals and start your meals with the healthiest food.

Almond milk is LOADED with added sugars unless you buy the unsweetened kind. Real milk has naturally occurring lactose which is handled differently (better) by the body than added sucrose and fructose. Fruit snacks (organic or not) are candy. Why not feed her real fruit instead? - much healthier. The organic flavored (including vanilla) and fruit yogurts are also LOADED with added sugar. Buy plain instead (organic if you choose) and add fresh chopped fruit to it. Macaroni and cheese (organic, natural or the regular prepackaged stuff) should be a rare treat. At least try for the home made stuff and use whole grain pasta and real cheese. Even so - no one should eat this regularly (and I LOVE it).

The word 'natural' is meaningless in the context of food labels but is being used more and more by food manufacturers. The term 'organic' has meaning in the regulatory sense - products must be raised without most pesticides and must not contain high fructose corn syrup (there are more specifics).

If you want to change your and her diet - I would look at a more vegetable based diet based upon whole foods (vegetable, fruit, whole grains and (if you're not vegetarian) a limited contribution of fish, low fat dairy +/- other meats. Replacing 'regular' cereal bars with 'natural' or organic ones is just marketing. If you stop buying prepackaged and processed foods - that will make a difference in your and her health.

Finally - there is ZERO scientific evidence that a decreased sugar, preservative or dye free diet will have ANY impact on behavior. But an overall healthier diet WILL teach her good eating habits for life.

I agree with whole, unprocessed foods, rather than trying sugar-free dye-free replacements for processed foods. Kids are really resilient to these changes, more resilient than you might think.

Check out Maria Mind Body Health on Facebook. She explains the chemistry behind the foods we eat and how/why they interact the way they do. She has a book that explains this and her site is posted with all types of great recipes. My son drinks soy-I don't really care for that. I recently switched to Almond Milk and absolutely love it.
In any case I am going to use this month to read Maria's book and while I am off over the summer I plan to switch our family over to a better way of eating using her plan/recipes.

Make sure she continues to get a balanced diet.
My DIL is raising my granddaughter on a Vegan diet. Check her blog for some recipes... vegobsession.com. My grandaughter will be 4 in May. She is smart, healthy as a horse, doesnt have one of those bloated milk bellies that lots of toddlers sport, and loves her food. She is especially fond of quinoa and peas.

Good for you on working with your daughter's diet.

One thing about Sprouts... If you buy fresh fruits and veggies, you have to eat them within a day or so because they spoil fast. They have some good fruits and veggies, I just have to keep that in mind when I buy them..

I shop Market Street 99% of the time and get my things there instead.

Good luck to you.