Do not think it is a daunting task to make your home healthy
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.
The following are ten great tips to get your children to eat healthy food:
1. Never restrict food from your children. Doing so actually increases your children’s risk of developing eating disorders later in life, such as bulimia and anorexia. Also, food restriction tends to hinder growth and development, as well as leading to bing eating later in the day. Bing eating leads to 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. Avoid labeling foods as healthy and unhealthy. Rather, associate foods to areas of interest to your children, such as sports, school, and favorite hobbies. Make your children aware of the fact that certain super foods, such as turkey and yogurt, provide the physical and mental energy to strengthen their sports and academic achievement.
4. Let your children know how proud you are of their healthy food choices with a smile and telling them how smart they are. Your positive assurance will encourage your children to keep making the right food choices.
5. Don’t nag about unhealthy choices. If your child chooses unhealthy foods infrequently, ignore it. However, if your child always wants fatty, fried food, redirect the choice. You might try roasting potato sticks in the oven (tossed in just a bit of oil) instead of buying french fries. Or, if your child wants candy, you might make fresh strawberries dipped in a little chocolate sauce. Too busy? Then keep naturally sweet dried fruit at home for quick snacks. With consistent effort taste buds change and soon your child will be craving healthy foods.
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. Sit down to family dinners at night. If this isn’t a tradition in your home, it should be. Research shows that children who eat dinners at the table with their parents have better nutrition and are less likely to get in serious trouble as teenagers. Start with one night a week, and then work up to three or four, to gradually build the habit.
8. Dish the food out in the kitchen. In the kitchen, you the parent can place healthy food portions on your children’s dinner plates. Over the course of time, your children will be able to see what a healthy portion of food looks like.
9. It is okay to give your child a choice in what they like to eat, and what they do not like to eat. However, when they like something healthy, take full advantage. Serve healthy foods which your children enjoy more frequently, and offer them the foods which they dislike less frequently. This gives your children a voice in deciding what they eat.
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.
Learn more about weight loss for kids. Stop by Megan Hillard’s site where you can find out all about weight loss for children and what it can do for your child.
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