10 Easy Ways To Get Your Kids To Eat Healthy
It is really not too difficult to turn your home into a healthy home.
Putting together a nutritionally sound home is the first step to assuring the health of your children. Begin by making the right food choices. This will allow your children to begin an affirmative association with healthy food. Your children will learn what they should and should not be eating by following your lead.
Here are the top 10 tips for getting children to eat healthy food:
1. Do not restrict food. Restricting food increases the risk your child may develop eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia later in life. It can also have a negative effect on growth and development. Also by restricting food you will actually increase the risk of overeating later in the day which will cause weight gain.
2. Stock you home with healthy choices. Kids tend to eat what is easy for them to access. Take advantage of this fact by keeping fruit in a bowl on the kitchen table, rather than in the refrigerator. Limit the high calorie, high sugar, high fat foods that you keep around. Keeping healthy food choices will educate your children on making the healthy choices when it comes to food.
3. Don’t label foods as “good” or “bad.” Instead, tie foods to the things your child cares about, such as sports, academics and hobbies. Let your child know that lean protein such as turkey and calcium in dairy products give strength to their sports and academic performance, the antioxidants in fruits and vegetables add luster to skin and hair and the carbs in whole grains will give them energy to play.
4. Praise healthy choices. Give your children a proud smile and tell them how smart they are when they choose healthy foods. Kids thrive on positive reinforcement!
5. Try not to get down on your children for unhealthy choices. If it is not a frequent occurrence, let it slide. Conversely, if your children are always choosing to eat unhealthy foods, then you need to steer their choices in the right direction. Replace candy with dried fruit. Instead of fries, try roasting potato sticks with a little bit of olive oil in the oven. Eventually, your children’s eating habits will change for the good.
6. Absolutely avoid rewarding children with food. Doing so often leads to weight problems later on in life. Rather, you should reward your children with a healthy activity, such as going swimming, or a trip to the park.
7. Eat dinner as a family at the dinner table. You should make this a tradition in your home, if it is not already. It has been proven that children who eat dinner at the table with their parents are not only better nourished, but have less of a likelihood to get into trouble later in life.
8. Prepare plates in the kitchen. There you can put healthy portions of each item on everyone’s dinner plate. Your children will learn to recognize correct portion sizes. Too often people go for seconds and even thirds just because the food is right there. You might notice that you need less food to feel full!
9. Give the kids some control. Ask your children to take three bites of all the foods on their plate and give it a grade, such as A, B, C, D, or F. When healthy foods - especially certain vegetables — get high grades, serve them more often. Offer the items your children don’t like less frequently. This lets your children participate in decision making. After all, dining is a family affair!
10. You should always confer with a pediatrician prior to putting your child on any diet. Whether you child needs to gain or lose weight, seek a professional opinion prior to making significant changes in your child’s diet. If your child does need a change, then find a book which will guide you on the subject.
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