Gabrielle Reilly: Absolutely, I raise my kids with a very similar philosophy. On Sundays we can get Krispy Kreme donuts and then the rest of the week we are "fueling our machine with healthy, yummy food for full throttle." When we eat something I regularly remind them of what they will gain by eating each food like "wow, this will make our skin beautiful," or "this will help you run super fast," or "the protein won't assimilate into your body without fruit and veggies so it's really important if you want great muscles to eat your veggies with your protein." Information gives them power and motivation.
Yes, I avoid the soda (soft drink) too. In fact, most sodas just taste nasty at first and then you acquire a taste for them. People often drink it for the dream they are sold by Coke-a-Cola style advertising. So I decided to create the dream with my own real lifestyle ad to encourage my kids to love drinking water. When my kids were still in a stroller I would walk them around a lake and we would sporadically stop at a beautiful spot. The three of us had a water bottle each and at the same time we would say "ahhh, refreshing H2O," take a sip, and all giggle together like a scene from a Coke ad. They never even wanted soda until they were about 11 and we only reserve it for special occasions or holidays.
Gabrielle Reece: Well I think that is such a great point about the creativity of how you teach them. Soda tastes like crap if you haven't been exposed to it. Your palette is not geared to drink something that sweet. I think you're right, if you keep it at bay and set their taste palette so when they go to a birthday party and get it, they don't really enjoy it.
Gabrielle Reilly: Exactly, you help form their tastes. I never had to tell them "don't drink soda," they just didn't want to. A parent creates a lifetime of eating habits for their children. People always refer back to childhood comfort foods so we better make sure the comfort foods we are giving them are not only yummy, but healthy too. I don't want to be responsible for them having to struggle with weight and health issues for the rest of their lives because of poor eating as a child. I really encourage parents to give their children a solid healthy foundation so they can focus on excelling and being happy in life. This is critically important!
Gabrielle Reece: That's it. My Mum was pretty healthy, I've always been pretty healthy but I've always had a thing for chocolate, I won't give up my chocolate.
I did go through a phase for whatever reason in my mid 20's, when I drunk Pepsi but when I hit my early 30's I really thought about it "really, am I going to drink this stuff?" So I think we all go through phases but if we have a good foundation, it is like your morals; you will always go back to the right thing. It is like when teenagers spin out for a second, you have to have that confidence that you gave them a solid foundation so once there hormones drop, they will get sane again. It's not so dissimilar.
When people say to me I inherited these genetics from my parents it's like, no I inherited the life style. Yes, you do inherit the genetics and I'm not down playing that, but ultimately it is the lifestyle. It is passing that lifestyle down to your kids. For example, in my house we don't use a microwave. So I'm guessing my kids won't unless they are in college and taking care of themselves for the first time. They don't think they will use one because it is not part of their language.
Gabrielle Reilly: This is such a wise and important information for people to help raise healthy kids. Thanks so much Gabby.
Stay tuned for our next interview with Gabrielle Reece.
