Moms turn to ‘real food’

It’s challenging to keep meal times at home appetizing and healthy at the same time. Perhaps this is the reason why some mothers resort to buying food prepared outside of the home, cooking instant food or taking the family out to dinner.

This practice is costly in two ways — financially and nutritionally. Most moms, however, still prefer to prepare real food for their family without compromising the budget and their health.

Real foods are those that are prepared or cooked using real ingredients. Vegetables, fresh meats, eggs and fruits are some of the real ingredients that have good nutritional value.

Adding taste enhancers such as Lady’s Choice Real Mayonnaise can help provide more value to the food that kids eat. Preparation time may be required, but every mom can rest assured that the effort is all worth it.

Planning always works, according to Mrs. Clarissa Juanico of Los Baños, Laguna. A mother of three, a dietician and a teacher, she reveals that she makes sure that she takes time out of her busy schedule to cook for her children before she leaves in the morning and after work.

“It’s not an excuse for a working mother like me to have little time for things like cooking for my own kids. I teach my students the value of nutrition in meals, so I should practice at home what I preach in school,” Clarissa says.

Cooking and preparing food yourself has many advantages, Clarissa adds. “When you do the cooking yourself, you know exactly what ingredients should go into the food. You can get assurance that the food is hygienically prepared, and therefore safe to eat,” she says.

Nutritious food is usually associated with inferior taste. This makes feeding children difficult. Some mothers like Mrs. Jo Gonzales are fortunate to have kids who are not picky eaters.

A research specialist at the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, Jo says that kids only need to know the nutritional value of real food that she cooks at home.

“If you explain to them what good food does to their body in simple terms, you won’t find it difficult to feed them,” she explains.

She admits that her two sons used to particularly dislike vegetables, but her methods worked as they grew older.

“The important thing is to observe and ask them what they like to eat. You can apply creativity from there,” she says. Their fondness for mayonnaise, for example, helped Jo use this healthy food enhancer in making sandwiches and salads more palatable according to her children’s taste.

It doesn’t take a nutritionist to know why moms would rather prepare real food themselves. Raquel Mercado, a BS Math graduate, chooses to stay home for her kids while her husband works in Italy.

She confesses that her two daughters are real mayonnaise lovers, and that’s one of the staples that she uses to feed her two young athletes. Her daughters are figure skating multi-medalists in various international games.

“Being physically active kids, I have to make sure that they eat a significant amount of health food every day. That’s why their diet includes pasta most of the time,” Raquel says. “I am particularly proud of my personal pasta recipe that includes mayonnaise, which I added because of their fondness for it.”

Real food with mayonnaise like Lady’s Choice Real Mayonnaise contains nutrients that are good for promoting energy, as well as healthy growth and development especially for active kids.

It also contains real ingredients that are good sources of essential fatty acids like Omega 3. This helps strengthen the heart by protecting it from bad cholesterol buildup, making it ideal for adults as well.

All three moms agree that real food cannot be replaced in terms of the nutritional value it provides. It may take time and a little effort to prepare, but the peace of mind it gives can never be measured.