Healthy Eating or Crazy Momma?

I may be going (or have already gone) off the deep end, but I'm getting great enjoyment out of lacing our favorite foods with healthy "stuff". This week I made apple, flaxseed, wheat bran muffins. I added beans to pasta and made a meatloaf with spinach, carrots, oats, and wheat bran. And this morning we had pancakes made with flaxseed, oats, wheat bran, and bananas. I figure that anything covered in syrup tastes good and Madeline and Ryan seemed to enjoy them (I have a feeling that Matt will miss his white flour pancakes when he finishes his workout and comes up to the kitchen, but my honey will eat anything to keep food from going to waste. . .I hope I'm not exploiting him :)). The meatloaf was not the greatest success, but I discovered that left over meatloaf can be placed between buns with a slab of cheese and ketchup to be disguised as a cheeseburger--Madeline and Ryan loved their cheeseburgers (and so did Matt and I :)).

I'm all for enjoying food--everyone who knows me knows my sweet tooth. . .especially when it comes to ice cream. But I feel like it is so easy to constantly eat food that is empty of nutritional value. Most children live on goldfish, chicken nuggets, mac n cheese and pizza. And then we wonder why American adults are overweight and eat poorly. A love (or even an appreciation) for healthy food is not innate, just like manners do not come naturally to children and exercise is a daily discipline. It is something we must teach ourselves and our children if we hope for them to grow up and live healthy lifestyles. I know I'm on my soapbox, but I feel so passionately about living and teaching a healthy life style, and I'm frustrated that wherever I turn, my children are inundated by food choices with no health value, but that taste yummy. So, I will continue to sneak in my powerhouse nutrients and offer them fruit and yogurt for snacks and insist that they try everything on their plates at each meal. My hope is that they will learn to appreciate good, healthy food and then enjoy a blizzard or two at DQ each week or a Big Mac and fries at McDonalds.