My Toddler Is Making A Vegan Out Of Me

This week at least.

Inspired by SLY's post over at Sociology of Sheena, I was inspired to strike through my meal plans for this week, which included lots of egg whites, chicken, fish, oats, brown rice and veggies (working out my Serena Williams thigh envy in the spirit of summer), in exchange for a meal plan towards a greater end: Getting my toddler to eat like a toddler.

He turned two in February. Partly because of an insanely long list of food allergies, but mostly because of a food texture aversion, my toddler is currently a vegan. He will be starting school (Montessori, of course) in June and I am on a mission to get him chewing and swallowing food before then. I swear, if I have to send my son to school with Gerber oats and pureed fruit for lunch...

I know I can't rush him, but in an effort to help him along, this week I am going to only eat what he can also (potentially) eat for breakfast, snacks and lunch. I'll leave dinner open to indulge in my beloved cooked animal flesh, but only if my flesh is weak. If I am strong enough to forgo the flesh, I shall. So I will be gluten/wheat/egg/meat/dairy/nut-free for the next 7 days. The only exception will be on my weight lifting days, on which I drink a dairy-based protein shake after my workout. 

I am halfway through the first day. I had oats and a banana for breakfast and brown rice macaroni and peas for lunch. We will snack on raisins and pickles and dinner will likely be a repeat of lunch. If I can keep this up longer than a week, awesome.

The best part about eating what my kid eats is that we get to sit and have our meals...the same meals...together, which we haven't done on a regular basis. He really gets a kick out of seeing me chew and do the happy dance for the food party in my tummy. My goal is to get him eating like a big kid. Discovering a new way to be the source of his louder-than-any-toddler-should-be, crazy-catchy laughter is just icing on the cake...er...hummus on the carrot? *shrugs shoulders*

Comments

[SLY]

I have a smoothie for breakfast. It contained mangoes, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, banana chunks, ice, and pomegranate juice. Yum yum. I added the raspberries and blackberries in place of vanilla yogurt. I suppose I could have used soy yogurt but I haven't found a brand I like.

Lunch was a salad with about 10 ingredients...minus cheese and instead of having cheese, I added avocado.

I have no clue yet what I'll eat for dinner but am excited.

Oh. Then to snack on...instead of snickers...almonds and walnuts and some sort of weird seed that was also in the mix.

[Mocha]

Good for YOU! Seriously, that is a noble goal. Have you read Weelicious? She does Bentoh boxes for her kids. Also, my friend Belinda at Ninja Poodles (isn't that a great name? So fun to say) is all over that stuff. Check them out!

p.s. really, really great to meet you. I'm loving all over your blog.

[Quel]

@Mocha-- So geeked to see you all up in my spot. I will be checking out your recommendations. Thank you.