Kids are certainly fussy when it comes to food. It is the parent’s hardest challenge to get their children to eat healthy foods considering that many of them want to indulge more on unhealthy snacks with empty calories and little to no nutritive value such as junk foods and sodas. If you are one of the parents who are deeply concern with your child’s eating behavior, here are 20 great tips to get your child to eat healthy.
How To Get Your Child To Eat Healthy?
These ways are simple, convenient and proven effective once you implement in your daily routines. As parents, we understand that you want the best for your child especially when it comes to right kinds of foods.
1. A Little Unhealthy Won’t Do Harm
To teach your child healthy eating habits, learn this tip. Though healthy eating should be your top priority, it is also important to give some cheat days to your kids.
Eating a sundae ice cream once in a while or having popcorns on movies will help your child not to crave for the bad stuff. Just make sure that you balance different types of foods with smart food choices and exercise.
2. Plan When & What To Give Meals
Providing a schedule will allow your child to follow a certain routine when it comes to eating. At their age, children need to eat every 3 to 4 hours. A complete day schedule should be composed of three meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner), two snacks (morning and afternoon), and more fluids particularly water.
3. Become A Mentor
Be a role model to your child when it comes to eating healthy. If you have bad eating habits, your child will simply think that what you are doing is normal and he or she will follow you. You cannot scold your child as he will just point out that what he is doing is simply following you. So it is rightfully best to start living healthy and showing it to your child as an example.
4. Keep Fruits & Veggies In Sight
To inculcate healthy eating habits in child, it is important to keep fresh and veggies in sight. According to Katie Cavuto MS, RD, a dietitian at the Philadelphia Phillies and Flyers:
Children often grab fruits and vegetables over unhealthy snacks if they are available and can be eaten at the soonest possible time.
So you’d better keep washed foods accessible to your kids. Say, for example, keep apples, bananas, and carrots etc in front of your fridge. This will eventually make them understand why eating healthy is so important for the body.
5. Be Fun And More Creative
You can design pancakes and use cookie cutters to turn fruits and vegetable slices into different shapes such as stars and hearts. The more creative and fun your meal is, higher the chances that your child is likely to eat. You may also give food nicknames to each and every food to make it more appealing to your child.
6. Get More Healthy Food Choices And Cut Back On Junk
You are the ones who bring food inside your house because you always do the grocery shopping and not your child. So instead of grabbing a bag of chips, get whole grains, fruits, and veggies. Your child will eat these foods when they could not find any junk foods in sight.
7. Do Not Keep Big Serving Bowls On The Table
When you place a big bowl of food on the table, you are allowing your child to over-eat as he can simply get foods easily within rich.
This has been proven by a study published in the journal Obesity where people consume 35% more food when they eat foods that are served in family-style settings. You can leave the food on the stove or the counter and let your children get to it. The time they spend leaving the table is used up to control and consider their hunger levels carefully.
8. Keep Them Involved
To get your child to eat healthy, it is vital to keep them more involved during meal preparation. They have the tendency to eat better since they will taste what they have prepared. Kids who are old enough may be tasked to do the cutting of veggies and fruits, or you can ask the help of small kids to mix different meal preparations. This will not only keep them involved, but this will also help strengthen your bond together.
9. Sprinkle Some Sugar
Though sugar can be bad when eaten in excess, children would love the taste of sweetness. You can sprinkle a little sugar just to ensure that they eat fruits and vegetables. After all, the nutrients & minerals they get from fruits and veggies will surpass the negative effects of sugar you have added.
10. Add Some Soy
Soy milk is known as a great source of healthy phytochemicals. While many kids do not like soymilk a lot, they won’t be able to notice it if it is already hidden in some of your meal recipes. Just ensure that you use low-fat and calcium fortified soy when you prepare recipes that require the use of milk such as mashed potatoes and oatmeals.