Developing healthy eating habits for kids isn’t as complex and confusing as most parents think. The most important point is to help them limit the highly processed foods and ensure they feed more on fruits and vegetables.
That is a quick fact though, but going further to help your child maintain a healthy growth and normal weight, another fast way to go is by making them cultivate these habits from you.
Children are great copycats! They imitate both good and bad from the things they watch their parents do on daily basis. As they grow older, you want to ensure you cut down on heavy foods and maintain more vegetable intakes as much as possible with them.
To be on a safer side, you are advised to visit your health care provider regularly for better evaluation of your child’s growth and overall health status. Depending on the results from the experts, you can be able to decide whether to help your child lose or gain more weight.
Below are the most valid questions needed to be asked in relation to enhancing your child’s healthy eating habit;
- How much calories should my kids eat each day?
- If weight-related issues exist in my family, is my family at risk?
- In term of physical activities for my kids, what do you recommend?
The important areas of healthy eating for children include, but not limited to cutting down on the amount of sugar and fat your child consumes on a daily basis.
You are also enjoined to consult a registered dietitian for counselling as regards nutrition as a whole, in case you are unsure of how to prepare or select food variety for the family.
For advance medical purposes, you are not supposed to place your overweight child on a restrictive diet. No matter the situation, except otherwise stated or prescribed by a doctor, children should never be placed on a restrictive diet in order to lose weight.
Healthy Eating Tips For Kids: The Simple Strategies To Getting Results Right Now
Get instant result while using the strategies below towards improving a healthy eating habit for your child
Serve meals with water. Allow the juice, soda and milk to have their peace in the grocery store, and ensure all meals are served with water. Encourage your child to always have water by their side during every meal. Every other liquid is to remain as refreshments in this context at a later time.
Slow and steady eating should be encouraged. Always encourage your child to eat slowly during every meal. This will help the brain to calm and register correct fullness. Fullness refers to a state of being filled to satisfaction. This is a plus when trying to develop a healthy eating habit for your child.
Keep a food journal. It is also important to track what your child eats. Keep a record of how much; in term of quantity, when; as regards when they feel the need to eat, and why.
Involve your child in the kitchen. Another way of building a healthy eating habit for your child is to involve them in the meal preparation, right from the shopping mall to the kitchen. Children are more likely to eat meals they help prepare. They feel excited being a contributor.
This involvement will help create three important opportunities for you;
- Give you a clue on your child’s food preference
- Create a better atmosphere to teach your child about nutrition
- Help them understand the combination that makes up their meal
Eat together as a family. Form the habit of eating together as a family, if possible, every time. Make your meal-time pleasant as much as you can for the kids, to help them eat without stress. Most kids will leave the table if the meal-time is fond of causing a fresh argument between their parents, so you want to avoid that.
Make provisions for varieties. It is rather important to provide a wide variety of foods available in the house, instead of making rules on the particular meal for dinner. Enabling your children to make a selection will further help them learn how to make healthy food choice in the long run.
Disallow mixing meal and watching the TV. Watching the Television while eating may cause overeating for your child. Be sure to create a separate atmosphere within your home for eating, so as to encourage concentration. Allowing your kids to eat in front of the TV could make it difficult to pay attention to the feeling of fullness.
Do not punish or reward your child with food. You will be sending a very bad signal about rice if you promise your child that he will get pizza if he is able to finish the whole rice in his lunch box. Reward your children with praise, not food. Allow them to ask for more if they are still hungry.
Also, withholding food as a punishment may cause your child to worry he won’t get enough food at the end of the day. When one food is offered as a reward, children may feel or conclude these foods have more value than others.
