By Lia Spencer
Like most siblings, Kate Lester and Ally Nebel grew up having to share a lot of things. But it was with their shared passion eating clean, staying active and positive thinking that the sisters created Healthy Kids’ Creation to encourage families to live a better life.
Kate and Ally’s business journey began when they launched an Instagram page in 2015 that was primarily focused on encouraging women to make their health – physical and emotional, a priority.
They shared their own recipes which generated a great response from their followers. Kate and Ally then began cooking recipes for their children, and changing up traditional recipes to suit a cleaner approach to eating.
They both completed Nutritional Therapy with The Health Sciences Academy in 2016 and created Healthy Kids’ Creations shortly after that.
“Much of the heavily processed and packaged foods on the market are full of additives, preservatives and refined sugars. These are proven to have adverse effects physically and mentally on consumers. We wanted to share our knowledge while bringing some fun back into the kitchen by encouraging people in our community to prepare and eat yummy food ‘from scratch’ that is wholesome, has minimal ‘nasties’ and is healthy for you, physically and mentally,” Ally said.
“These days we find families are time poor with work, school, after school activities and sports. We get that quick, cheap meals and snacks can sometimes be easier than some healthier, wholesome alternatives. What we want to show is that healthy eating does not have to be boring, time consuming or impact the family too much financially.”
Most importantly, the recipes are so easy and delicious, the little ones are excited to not only help create the healthy food, but to also get it in their bellies.
“Our children are our taste testers for every new recipe – we need the kiddies tick of approval before we can even think about cooking them with other children!” Ally said.
While the duo agreed that both refined sugars and preservatives have been linked to several health problems, they said cutting them out of a diet completely was a difficult task.
“Refined sugars are highly addictive and related to various health issues such as obesity, diabetes and fatty liver disease. Preservatives have been linked to health issues like breathing difficulties and behavioural changes such as hyperactivity and anxiety,” Kate said.
“But as two mums with children attending birthday parties and other gatherings, we can’t always avoid these things, and we also realise that balance is important. If we can do as much as we can in our homes by providing healthy, nutritious and enjoyable food. After all, it’s all about balance.”
The sisters are focused on getting the message across at an influential age, particularly to kids in kinder to primary school. They want to help children become familiar with basic cooking skills such as measuring ingredients, reading recipes and following instructions. They hope to conduct practical classes as incursions, conveniently during school hours, as to not impede on families after school commitments.
“We are keen to help these children create and/or continue healthy habits, establish confidence in the kitchen and really put the focus on the importance of cooking from scratch and not relying on pre-packaged foods to fuel their bodies!”
For more information, visit www.healthykidscreations.com.au, or facebook.com/healthykidscreations or Instagram @healthykidscreations and @sweethealthsisters.
