All of these eating habits are adopted as a child and learned from parents and others who are involved in well being of the child.

I remember as a little girl before I started going to school and engaging with other children my age, I used to play with these shiny silver triangular shaped objects kept in a glass bowl in my grandmothers’ living room. I would spend an hour or so entertaining myself by trying to stack these objects or build structures with them.

Then one day in kindergarten during lunch hour one of my classmates brought out three shiny silver triangular objects out of her lunch box. I recognized them and watched her curiously to see her methods of how to play with them. Then I noticed she started to unwrap it and saw there was a brown object inside.

I continued to watch her to see what she would do with it and then she put it in her mouth, and ate it. It was at that moment I discovered for the first time ever, those shiny silver things were not a type of oddly shaped building blocks, in fact they were not only edible, but also delicious chocolate.

My point is I had no idea what chocolate or candy was until I was exposed to it and learned about it from another peer. I thank my parents and family members and deeply appreciate the fact that they did not buy anything that had excess sugar or that was processed. Both my mom and dad knew and understood the value of fresh clean foods.

Now I know how fortunate I am for all the healthy home cooked meals fed to me throughout the years.  Clean eating does not mean you should deprive your body of foods you enjoy, it just means you have to find a way to modify the recipe by incorporating lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, spices, herbs, whole grains and beans that you like eating into your daily meals.

A great tip to staying on track with shopping for fresh clean foods at the market is to stay away from the inner isles and stick to the outer perimeter of the grocery stores.  The inner isles are packed with frozen, pre-packaged foods that filled with additives and preservatives along with ingredients that most of us cant even pronounce let alone know what it truly is.

If it lasts more than a week it usually means it is not fresh and probably is not healthy either.  Also try to stick to foods that have no more than four ingredients, the least ingredients the closer it is to its natural state. It is important for children to stay away from fruit juices and other sugary drinks, it is best for them to drink water, milk or freshly juiced fruits and veggies.

As stated in an article written by the Nutrition Source, sugary drinks are a major contributor to the obesity epidemic in the U.S. Our country spends 190 billion dollars a year on medical bills treating obesity related diseases.