It can be a challenge to encourage children to eat vegetables and fruits every day.
Parents who get their children to adopt healthy eating habits from a young age can have a positive influence on their kids’ dietary habits later in life. Over the years, researchers have found evidence that eating behaviors and meal habits in early childhood
have an impact on children’s food preferences and eating patterns in adulthood. This does not mean that children who are overweight need to go on to become overweight adults but several researchers suggest that weight patterns
of children are an indicator of health issues in adulthood. Additionally, research studies imply that the likelihood of children to suffer from obesity doubles when their parents are overweight.
Most parents know about the importance of their kids’ nutritional needs yet it is easy to feel overwhelmed when accessing information from various sources. Early childhood is an important time to establish healthy eating
patterns. A balanced diet is a key to healthy eating habits because it provides children with the nutrients they need to grow. Such a diet should contain three daily meals and two healthy snacks with foods of the following
food groups: protein, carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables, dairy foods, some fat, and sugar.
But, for others luckily, there are several ways for parents to shape their children’s eating behavior positively.
Eating well doesn't mean that you need to cut back on calories or fat. It means choosing whole grains, lean proteins, low-fat dairy products, and plenty of fresh produce.
Getting your kids to eat more fruits and vegetables starts by teaching them to love real food and the natural tastes and textures fruits and vegetables provide. You can do this by serving a variety of fruits and veggies in a variety of ways. If you serve fruits or vegetables in different forms, textures, and temperatures, that will help children develop a maturepalate, which is more accepting to a wider variety of new foods. Training kids tastes and appetites will help them develop a love for real food. Don't hesitate to offer fruits and veggies fresh, frozen, dried, canned, juiced, pureed, blended, etc.
Reducing the availability of high-fat and high-sugar or salty snacks can help your children develop healthy eating habits. Only allow your children to eat these foods rarely so that they truly will be treats! Here are examples of easy-to-prepare, low-fat, and low-sugar snacks that are 100 calories or less:
In addition to being fun for children, regular physical activity has many health benefits, including:
Children ages 3 through 5 years should be active throughout the day. Children and adolescents ages 6 through 17 years should be physically active for at least 60 minutes each day. Include aerobic activity, which is anything that makes their hearts beat faster. Also, include bone-strengthening activities such as running or jumping and muscle-strengthening activities such as climbing or push-ups.
Remember that children imitate adults. Start adding physical activity to your own routine and encourage your child to join you.
Eat less sugar, Make half of your meal fruits and vegetables Eat a variety of proteins, Choose whole grains, Stick to 4 meals per day, Avoid sodium Avoid processed food, Drink lots and lots of water, Sleep well and play hard. Making sure about the eating habits of the kids from the beginning is very important. If kids are not taught to eat all the fruits and vegetables from the beginning itself, they might face problems in eating different types of food when they grow up. Probability of becoming very choosy in food is very high if right eating habits are not taught from the beginning.
Mr. Gautam is a civil engineer. By passion he is a dietitian and had started practising it in the year 2016. He is the founder of fitnesswithgomzi firm established in 2018. He has achieved many certificate from ACSM, ISSA and VLCC.