FinallyitFits

Children & Healthy eating

As a parent of a child we help to teach them how to read, write, look after themselves and just about every aspect of growing up, why then do so many children become over weight or obese? Simply because we don’t teach our children proper eating habits when young and they develop bad habits when it comes to food.

One of the most important things we should teach our children is to cut down on the amount of fat we have in our diet and the simplest way to do this is to include lean meat, poultry without skin and eat foods low in fat or fat free.

If your child is over weight it is important not to put your child on a very restrictive diet in order for them to lose weight unless otherwise specified by your Doctor.

How can parents help?

There are lots of ways that parents can help children without the need for a restrictive diet, it is more important to develop healthy eating habits and ensure your child keeps these habits for example you can:

• Help your family to make healthy choices rather than dictating to them, ensure that there is a wide variety of healthy foods available at all times.

• Encourage children to take time when eating and not to rush food, a child will be able to tell when he is full easier if time is taken.

• Eat as a family at the dining table whenever possible and try to keep a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, talk about the days events, if mealtimes are stressful then children are more likely to rush eating in order to get away from the table quicker.

• Let your children go shopping with you; let them play an active part in choosing meals and also in preparing them.

• Point out what the food labels mean on the products when shopping for food, if the children are young make shopping a game by asking them to find certain criteria on the food labels.

• Continuous snacking can lead to over eating and being over weight so try to keep healthy food for snacks such as apples or carrot sticks.

• Discourage your children from eating in front of the TV as this leads to distraction and often over eating.

• Encourage your child to drink plenty of water and orange juice instead of sweetened sodas.

• Never use food as a punishment for both good or bad behaviour, withholding food can cause children to go sneaking for snacks when your not looking, offering sweets as a reward places value on sweet things which is the wrong message for your child.

• Make sure if your child has dinners at school that they are having a well balanced meal, ask the school if you can see a menu.

• Give your child a packed lunch with a variety of nutritional food, don’t overdo it with crisps and biscuits, and put some fruit in there.

• If your child has a sweet tooth, then try to get cakes which are low in fat and sugar content.