Developing healthy eating habits in kids is essential for the right growth and development. Encouraging kids to eat healthy is possible if parents make them enjoy what they eat. Read on to find tips for developing healthy eating habits in kids. It is not easy to get kids to eat healthy and wholesome food day after day. Children are nowadays introduced to fast foods with high levels of salt, sugar and saturated fats from a very early stage itself. This kind of food is unhealthy and does not meet even the basic nutritional requirements of children. Since fast food is very tasty children take to it easily and start demanding more and more of it. How do you make children eat healthy food? How do you ensure that your children do not miss out on vital nutrients required for their normal growth and development? Here are a few things parents and caregivers can do to ensure that children develop healthy eating habits. In this articleMake Meal Times Family TimesFun FoodFresh Fruits and VegetablesBreakfastSet an Example YourselfVariety Make Meal Times Family Times Forget watching television while serving dinner. Make meal time family time where your entire family can sit together and eat together. You can make this time a family event where each of you can discuss the day’s happenings. This will inculcate a sense of discipline and children are bound to develop better eating habits and stick to a routine of having meals at a particular place and time. Fun Food Children love color even in food. Hence if you have small kids at home it may be worthwhile to experiment varieties of foods in different colors. Children are bound to get tempted and taste food which visually appeals to them. A simple example would be to offer them a “rainbow” sandwich layered with vegetables of different colors instead of the plain sandwich. Fresh Fruits and Vegetables It is recommended that at least five servings of fruits and vegetables are included in the diet of a normal child every day. Hence plan your meals in such a manner that at least one if not two servings of fruit or vegetable is included in each of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast This is the most important meal of the day even for small children. It is required to ensure that children have a steady supply of energy to handle all their morning activities and stay away from snacking. Research has indicated that adults who have breakfast regularly are less obese as compared to those who skip it. There are a number of fortified children breakfast cereals available in the market today which you can consider using. Set an Example Yourself If children observe their parents and adults around them eating healthy foods they are bound to follow suit. Hence parents can set a good example for children by having 3-4 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables each day. Drinking plenty of water throughout the day is also very useful to keep the body hydrated and flush away harmful toxins.VarietyOften many of us take food easily if it is offered to us in a different form or texture. For example, instead of offering vegetables in raw or cooked form to children it can be blended into a soup or a sauce. By serving same food in different forms you will be able to provide variety to the child and at the same time identify which form of the food your child likes the best. Good food habits and healthy eating are very important to ensure proper growth and development of children. In the long run good eating habits will keep them away from a whole lot of health issues. Children if trained to eat healthy from a young age itself will make it a lifetime habit.
Developing healthy eating habits in kids is essential for the right growth and development. Encouraging kids to eat healthy is possible if parents make them enjoy what they eat. Read on to find tips for developing healthy eating habits in kids. It is not easy to get kids to eat healthy and wholesome food day after day. Children are nowadays introduced to fast foods with high levels of salt, sugar and saturated fats from a very early stage itself. This kind of food is unhealthy and does not meet even the basic nutritional requirements of children. Since fast food is very tasty children take to it easily and start demanding more and more of it.
How do you make children eat healthy food? How do you ensure that your children do not miss out on vital nutrients required for their normal growth and development? Here are a few things parents and caregivers can do to ensure that children develop healthy eating habits.
Make Meal Times Family Times
Forget watching television while serving dinner. Make meal time family time where your entire family can sit together and eat together. You can make this time a family event where each of you can discuss the day’s happenings. This will inculcate a sense of discipline and children are bound to develop better eating habits and stick to a routine of having meals at a particular place and time.
Fun Food
Children love color even in food. Hence if you have small kids at home it may be worthwhile to experiment varieties of foods in different colors. Children are bound to get tempted and taste food which visually appeals to them. A simple example would be to offer them a “rainbow” sandwich layered with vegetables of different colors instead of the plain sandwich.
Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
It is recommended that at least five servings of fruits and vegetables are included in the diet of a normal child every day. Hence plan your meals in such a manner that at least one if not two servings of fruit or vegetable is included in each of breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Breakfast
This is the most important meal of the day even for small children. It is required to ensure that children have a steady supply of energy to handle all their morning activities and stay away from snacking. Research has indicated that adults who have breakfast regularly are less obese as compared to those who skip it. There are a number of fortified children breakfast cereals available in the market today which you can consider using.
Set an Example Yourself
If children observe their parents and adults around them eating healthy foods they are bound to follow suit. Hence parents can set a good example for children by having 3-4 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables each day. Drinking plenty of water throughout the day is also very useful to keep the body hydrated and flush away harmful toxins.
Variety
Often many of us take food easily if it is offered to us in a different form or texture. For example, instead of offering vegetables in raw or cooked form to children it can be blended into a soup or a sauce. By serving same food in different forms you will be able to provide variety to the child and at the same time identify which form of the food your child likes the best.
Good food habits and healthy eating are very important to ensure proper growth and development of children. In the long run good eating habits will keep them away from a whole lot of health issues. Children if trained to eat healthy from a young age itself will make it a lifetime habit.
