The mommy-daughter duo has a creative way to eating fruits and vegetables together
If adults find the COVID-19 days stressful, it's more so for the same for the kids. Due to limited movement, their activities and daily routines are also interrupted. And this is definitely real for celebrity mom Judy Ann Santos and with her youngest daughter Luna.
At the recently held Nestogrow 4 event last May 14, 2021, where Juday and Luna were introduced at its ambassadors, the 43-year-old mom gets real, especially when it comes to the tough challenge of feeding her child with nutritious and balance meal.
During the said event, physician Dr. Jennifer Olay reminds parents the importance of introducing their children to Pinggang Pinoy or the healthy food plate for Filipino kids, especially these days. “Let’s start with nutrition. It’s very important to give adequate and balance diet,” she says. “We should give them right and proper nutrition through the food we’re giving them, following the Pinggang Pinoy. If you see its diagram, this is complete with Go, Glow, and Grow food. Mind you, half of that plate is composed of fruits and vegetables.”
Juday openly admits that she’s guilty of not being able to feed Luna the right food based on this food plate. “Hindi po ako magsisinungaling, hindi po. Sinusubukan namin (I won’t lie, we don’t follow this. But we are trying),” she says when the doctor asked if they are following this concept. “Ang hirap kasi lalo na sa panahon ngayon na ipilit sa isang bata yung amount ng dapat talaga nilang kainin (It’s hard especially these days to force kids to eat).”
A creative way
According to the celebrity mom, with all the restrictions kids are experiencing due to the pandemic, she doesn’t want to impose more things to her kids, but she finds a creative way to encourage Luna to eat fruits and vegetables.
“Sa amin ni Luna mas nagwo-work sa kanya na kinukuwento ko sa kanya and then kapag naiintindihan na nya, we try it together (For Luna and I, it works better when I tell her a story about the food. Once she understands the importance of eating it, we try it together) ,” she shares. “Para sabay kaming nage-experience ng mga bagay bagay. Kasi kapag pinilit ko pa tong anak ko baka naman sabihin nila napaka-Hitler ko na (We experienced it together. If I imposed things to my children, they might think that I am Hitler).”
This is something Dr. Olay agrees to. The good doctor says that parents shouldn’t force their kids to eat healthy food, instead, they introduce it to them slowly.
Juday then says that despite of the challenge of encouraging Luna to eat more fruits and vegetables, she makes sure that her nutritional needs are still attended by giving her the right milk. “Parang ako yung na-guilty doon. Ginagawa ko naman, ang hirap lang talaga (I feel guilty. But I’m trying. It’s just hard),” she says. “That’s why we have Nestogrow. It helps mommies to to give nutrition even though there were times that our kids will ask for ice cream and junkfood in which we give in, but with Nestogrow beside us, I think we’re fine, we’re good.”