Pretty much all parents know the rigmarole of trying to ensure their child has a balanced and healthy diet. Children tend to love unhealthy foods even more than we do. They aren't riddled with the guilt that a lot of adults have when they gorge on fatty and sugary foods either, which can cause a lot of problems in the household. Trying to impress on children to eat their green and stay away from the bad things can feel like an uphill battle. But it is a fight worth having. If you can teach your children the benefits of a healthy diet while making it a lot more fun, then you are on to a winning formula. To help you out, we have compiled a list of things you can do to encourage your children to eat more healthily. Take a look at the list below:
Be the Right Role Model
You cannot preach a 'do what I say, not what I do' mentality. Children learn through mimicking and observation. If you are always eating crisps, sweets, cakes, and drinking fizzy sodas, then you are giving off the wrong image. You have to lead by example. This may well be the most important thing you can do. So you need to drink a lot of water and snack on fruit. The more positive food choices you can make with your children watching, the better. Remember, this is just as important for your health as it is for theirs. So take advantage of the situation can make the right healthy choices. In fact, up the ante too. Start exercising and take out for weekend hikes or some other healthy activity. Be the person you want your child to be, and it wil be easier to impress the right things on them.
Supermarket Adventures
Going to the supermarket can be a bit of a chore with children. However, you can make it a little more exciting for them with healthy eating at the heart of it. It may be an idea to start going to a supermarket that has a large array of fruits and vegetables on show so your children can physically see them. Ask your children to choose any vegetable they like so you can all cook it together. Encourage them to choose something as wild, exotic, and strange looking as possible. This will require them to investigate what's on show, read the labels, and learn a little about the vegetables. They may even use their phones to investigate the vegetable too. So you are educating them a bit too. Also, ask them to choose some fruits. While visiting the rest of the supermarket, get them to read labels and discover foods that are low in sugar and salt to try. Maybe you can make a game out of it.`
Educate Your Children
It is important that you educate your children on the dangers of eating too many bad foods. However, you need to be careful to strike the right kind of balance. The last thing you want is for your children to be terrified every time they come across a sweet or a cake. You need to make them aware of healthy foods and how this will benefit them in the long run. Sugary foods are bad for their teeth, for example, and they may end up needing lots of trips to the dentist for fillings. Or too much fatty food will mean they get fat. Ensure you impress upon them that you need balance and moderation, not complete abstinence. You could even go to the trouble of telling them about foods that have a medicinal quality, i.e. an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and things to that effect,
Cook Together
If you really want to show your children all the good things about food, then you should start making home-cooked meals together. Making things in the kitchen is the best and healthiest easy to eat. Teach your children how to follow a recipe. Show them how to make things like easy homemade granola or even pizza - it doesn't always have to be the healthiest option. The idea is to get them used to chopping vegetables, using the kitchen, and experimenting with flavor, spices, and textures. Why don't you take it in turns to choose a recipe from a recipe book, and everyone cooks it together? Then you can enjoy it together around the dinner table. Open up discussions about food and make things as fun as you can
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