It is often difficult to find a diet that your children enjoy eating, but is also healthy and nutritious. There is so much pressure to encourage your children to eat healthily, how do you get a reasonable balance between providing them with a nutritiously healthy diet and a diet with food they are willing to eat? Here are some hints and tips that will possibly help you with working out a healthy diet for kids.
1) Do not use food as an incentive. If children consider food to be a reward for proper behavior, this can manifest into a bad habit for their entire life. You need to make sure that they see food as fuel for their bodies and not a treat. Try not to let them feel that they only get sweets as a reward for eating their dinner or other similar things. This can turn against you when they only want to eat sweet treats, or binge on food as a reward for proper behavior.
2) Minimize the amount of sugar in your child’s diet. Sugar not only rots teeth but can also cause children to put on weight if they have too much. It can be difficult, but it is often better to give children more of their main course, than to give them dessert after their food. If they are still hungry then let them have a piece of fruit, as this will give them a sweet treat without the fat and sugar that usually accompanies desserts.
3) Keep snacks at a minimum. Some children need snacks between meals to give them a burst of energy but you should really only give these if they are needed and not as a habit. Good snacks include nuts, seeds and unsweetened yoghurt. If you are active, they could snack on fruit bars or fresh fruit.
4) Do not give in to the allure of advertising. Many children will want to eat foods that they see on TV or that their friends have. Even though it can be very difficult, to not take the easy road, and give in to their demands for the latest items. You must consider their long-term health and how it can affect their behavior if you give in to what they want all the time. It is acceptable to buy them the things they want on occasion, but make sure that they are not eating unhealthy foods all the time.
5) You must lead by example. Do not be one of those, “Do as I say, Not as I Do.” people. If you are expecting your children to eat all their vegetables, you will need to make sure that you eat them too. Children copy the behavior of the people around them, so they will need to see you eating well too.
6) Eat a good variety of foods. Unhealthy food is fine occasionally as long as there are good healthy foods eaten in between. So make sure that the diet has plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, salads mixed with proteins, such as beans and lentils, and complex carbohydrates like whole meal pasta and whole grain bread.