“Please do not put extra cheese,” she tells our waitstaff.

The customer speaking is 7-year-old Erika who is waiting for her order of Pesto Pasta. “And do not add sugar,” she also said to her order of fresh watermelon shake.

It’s the first time I encountered her in the ECHOcafe but she seemed very “at home” and was wandering about with her mother just following her around. I got curious and started to ask her some questions so her mother tells me of her food preferences like “no creams, fats and sugars.”

Erika is not alone. Many children these days prefer to eat healthy, fresh food rather than hotdogs or burgers.

Another mother tells me of her journey in making her own “tocino” because she did not want to put any preservatives in her breakfast meats, except for brown sugar. She searched and researched on the Internet, did a lot of trials and finally came up with a recipe her children liked. Her kids are 7-, 4- and 1-year-old. That’s really starting them young on a healthy choice.

Her husband’s family who has been in the dried fish business is able to get premium dried fish for the family. And the children love to eat the dried fish with rice and eggs for breakfast. When they gave me samples of the dried dilis, danggit and boneless dilis, I was immediately a convert. If it’s good enough for her children, it’s good enough for me!

However, it saddens me that some institutions like Tesda still hire instructors that teach entrepreneurs how to use chemicals and preservatives in food. The innocent student of business is exposed to unhealthy ingredients just so they can make money after they take the meat preparation and sausage-making course. My staff was aghast at being offered P2,000 worth of chemicals to put into her meats. How will we feed our children well if our very teachers do not teach good healthy habits?

My little nephew Max is now a regular fan of Soya chips and carrot chips. He does not take regular sugar and is being trained, when needing sweeteners, to use coconut sugar or natural sugar like muscovado. His mother has thrown out the artificial sweeteners and instead has converted her family into choosing healthier selections.

A mother I met puts some carrot chips in the lunchbox of her kids, because they will look for some chips anyway. This way she is assured they eat well, even during snacktime.

The children are hapless creatures waiting to be fed. So it is really up to us to train their palates while still giving them choices , albeit healthier choices. There are soya chips in different flavors, malunggay and carrot chips, camote and taro chips—because we believe that children should not be deprived of snacking, but should be given better choices.

A feeding program of Millie Kilayco of Negros called Mingo stars even combines mongo, rice and malunggay to make little snacks and also a cereal-like instant porridge that is rich in vitamins and other healthy nutrients—all in a pack worth P4. These are the mixes our children should learn to love even if they can well afford a more expensive meal.

Clearly, it is the exposure and good examples we show our children. If we eat a lot of meat, so will they. If we eat a lot of vegetables, so will they. When we travel to other lands with our children, they learn how to eat salads and fruits if that is the custom of the country they are exposed to. Even if we do not travel far, we need to expose our children to healthier choices if we ourselves are already convinced of its merits.

Teach your children well. Start at home and influence their school teachers to follow suit. You will help make a future of healthier people, just like when our grandmothers fed us good, nutritious and home-cooked food.

Chit Juan is a founder and owner of ECHOStore sustainable lifestyle, ECHOmarket sustainable farms and ECHOcafe in Serendra and Podium malls. She also heads the Women’s Business Council of the Philippines and the Philippine Coffee Board Inc., two non-profits close to her heart. She often speaks to corporates, youth and NGOs on social entrepreneurship, women empowerment, and coffee. You can follow her on twitter.com/chitjuan or find her on facebook:Pacita “Chit” Juan. Email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .