One of the ubiquitous questions for parents is “How do I get my children to eat healthier?” After raising two sons and reading many articles on the subject, I have some helpful tips that you can incorporate into the new year and a lot of them starts with you:
Be sure that you understand the importance of vegetables and fruit in your children’s diet and what is the recommended amount of daily servings. We always say that our children should eat healthier but do you know why? Vegetables and fruit are loaded with minerals and vitamins that our bodies need. They also have a lot of fiber to help us eliminate waste. The links below will help with you find what are the recommended daily servings.
Set a good example for them. As they see you eat healthier, they will too.
Plan to buy healthy options for snacks and have them easily available. Creating a list is important so that when you are grocery shopping, you are not distracted.
Instead of potato or other types of chips (which are filled with salt and unnecessary fat) have carrot or celery sticks or sliced apples for example. Often, they will choose chips because they are looking for something that is crunchy. You can also have available a healthy dip such as hummus. Remember that you do the grocery shopping so you can select what is to be brought into your home for your children to eat.
Also, when planning your family’s meals, include healthy items based on the recommended daily servings.
Experiment with different kinds of vegetables and fruits. Read up about various kinds. Try different recipes. Have your children join you when you go to the farmer’s market or grocery store and also in selecting recipes. When I was growing up, I would say “YUCK” to beets, but when I tasted them in a new recipe, they became one of my favorite vegetables.
These are just a few tips but they will certainly get you on your way to making dramatic improvements in healthy eating for the entire family in the new year.
For more helpful information, please visit:
https://raisingchildren.net.au/toddlers/nutrition-fitness/healthy-eating-habits/vegetables
https://www.verywellfamily.com/child-nutrition-and-vegetables-2633937