Looking for some tips on how to get your kids to eat better? Here are some great ideas:
1. Eating with your Children. Children learn by example, sitting on the sofa and eating a takeaway will teach them to do the same! Sitting down with them to a nutritious home cooked meal at the table with them will teach them the importance of home cooking, social interaction and establishing a routine.
2. Make food fun! Experimenting with new foods and making meals more colorful will give children a chance to learn about different foods and perhaps different food cultures.
3. Include two portions of vegetables in your evening meal and provide fruit for desserts. This will ensure that you can at least satisfy three out of the requisite five-a-day.
4. Hide fruit and vegetables if you have a particularly fussy eater. Blended veg in soups and puree fruit with ice-cream – a great way to disguise some healthy nutrients.
5. Encourage your children to drink water and sugar free squash between meals to help stop snacking.
6. Don’t give up – it may be hard to encourage your children to eat healthier but tastes do change over time so do try that portion of broccoli again and again…
7. Make sure that lean meat or a portion of protein is included within every other meal. Protein fills you up for longer and discourages snacking in between meals.
8. Serve oily fish twice a week – Great source of omega oils and keeps heart and mind healthy, if fish is not on your diet then add plant seeds to their cereals to give the plant version of these oils.
9. Pack a healthy lunch box – Whether it’s a lunch box for school or a picnic box make sure that you include a variety of salad items in sandwiches and fruits ready to eat – they don’t want food that’s fussy when on the go!
10. Make sure your children eat breakfast – Ensuring your children have fortified breakfast cereals with iron and vitamin B will give them a great start to the day and establish a good routine that spills over to adulthood. Research suggests that adults that who eat a healthy breakfast are ‘less’ likely to be overweight than those who skip it.
