Posted on January 10, 2016 by Jenny Cromack
As you know the journey you take with motive8 is not about quick fixes, we are proud to offer a service that allows each individual to make their training and eating regime fit into their everyday lifestyle. It can be hard though can’t it when your partner doesn’t want to come on board, or your children have opinions about what they want to eat and if they are all not on board with healthy eating it might mean you are making two dishes for each meal time…not ideal! Alternatively, if you’re being honest with yourself, you might know your children’s diets are not that healthy, and, along with yours, would like to improve them.
An good example of this would be one of my clients who made the decision to start eating healthier….not only for herself but for her children. She was aware that her lifestyle of eating takeaways and ready meals was not going to help her become healthy or be good for her three children. Although they wanted their Mummy to be healthier, they found it hard to swap junk food and sweet treats for healthier options.
Many of you reading this will probably be thinking, you’re the parent, make them eat what you give them but it isn’t that simple and changing a habit for a child can be much harder than an adult so it is important to educate them on how it is healthy, why it is important to make healthy choices and reward them for trying new things.
This blog looks at top tips to encourage children to eat healthier. Did you know that statistics show that in many cases it’s often because children don’t like the idea of a food rather than a taste so opinions can be easily changed!
So, let’s have a look at these top tips to encourage children to eat healthier, and make those meal times less of a chore
1. Make it fun – Make cooking fun! If you get your child engaged in something it really can make a difference as they feel involved.
2. Make a schedule – children need to eat every three to four hours so three meals, two snacks, and lots of fluids. If you plan for these. Your child’s diet will be much more balanced and they will be less cranky or ‘hangry’ because they won’t be famished and won’t want sugary snacks to satisfy their hunger cravings. When you are out and about keep healthy snacks with you such as carrots, celery and fruit.
3. Plan your meals – If thinking about a weekly menu is too daunting, start with two or three days at a time. A good dinner doesn’t have to be fancy, but it should be balanced. Getting children to eat smaller portions of what you eat is great. If your meal choice is spicy make a separate pan for them with less spice so they feel included and like they are trying new things. Children often mimic their parents’ behavior so if you eat healthy they will.
4.Bite your tongue – Although you will want to try not to comment on what or how much your kids are eating. Be as neutral as possible. Remember, you’ve done your job as a parent by serving balanced meals; your kids are responsible for eating them. If you play food enforcer saying things like “Eat your vegetables” your child will only resist, so instead of forcing encourage them to make their own choice to eat it.
5. Introduce new foods slowly – Children are new food phobic by nature. Your children’s taste buds take some time to adapt, let them know that that their taste buds might have to get used to a flavor before they’ll like the taste. A little hero worship will always work, when I was a nanny I once told the little boy who refused to even try broccoli that it was Batman’s favourite vegetable.. now broccoli is a must for him … if only this worked with all my clients he he!!
6. Dip it. If your kids won’t eat vegetables, experiment with dips. Get the child to help make a homemade houmous, guacamole or salsa and then let them experiment dipping peppers, carrot and celery in. This is also fun for them and will probably encourage them to eat it!!
7. Make mornings count – Get your kids excited about breakfast with dippy eggs (using asparagus or runner beans) or add some funny fruit faces to their porridge.
8. Get kids cooking – If your children become involved in choosing or preparing meals, they’ll be more interested in eating what they’ve created. It can all start from writing a shopping list and then take them to the supermarket allowing them to choose the best looking mushrooms and the biggest onions. If they’re old enough, allow them to cut up vegetables and mix them into a salad. My mum taught me to cook from a young age and I would cook something new for my family every weekend. I strongly believe this has lead me to be creative with food and enjoy preparing and eating it. If you can growing your own vegetables this is a priceless experience and education for children
9. Reduce the junk – Remember, you not your kids are in charge of the foods that enter the house. By having fewer junk foods around, you’ll force your children eat healthier choices. We never had a ‘treat cupboard’ growing up so we could only have unhealthy snacks out of the house which my parents also had control over.
10. Allow the odd treats – Although we never had junk food in the house we were allowed to have it on occasions and certainly when we did child related activities or went to the cinema this made us respect it was an occasional treat but didn’t lead us to binge on it when we had the chance.
11. Be a role model – If you’re constantly on a diet or have erratic eating habits, your children will grow up thinking that this behavior is normal. Be honest with yourself about the kinds of food messages you’re sending. Trust your body to tell you when you’re hungry and when you’re full, and your kids will learn to do the same.
12. Adjust your attitude – Realise that what your kids eat over time is what matters. Having popcorn at the movies or eating an ice-cream sundae are some of life’s real pleasures. As long as you balance these times with smart food choices and physical activity, your children will be fine.