5 Tips to Get Your Kids to Eat Healthy Just In Time For School
Ask any parent about the top challenges of raising kids, and getting them to eat healthier would probably be high on the list. Countless parents have kids who just want to eat chicken nuggets, or pasta, or macaroni and cheese, or all of the above, and definitely without any vegetables.
It’s a problem throughout the year, but at back-to-school time, it gets maybe a tad more stressful, as parents are looking to start over or at least give their kids lunches that pack a healthy punch and won’t get traded away for Oreos or some other sugary snack.
So what’s a parent to do? First, don’t stress; Here are 5 great tips that are sure to make healthy eating in your household a little less complicated, beginning with what not to do:
1. Do’s and Don’t’s
Don’t let your kids get hooked on sugar so early. Sugar is in just about all packaged food these days, in one form or another. Soda and other sugary drinks above all are loaded with sugars and other chemicals. Read the labels more carefully and don’t buy anything with added sugar.
You might not be able to control everything your child eats, especially when your kids are not at home, but you can give them a good healthy foundation. Try not bring junk food into the house. If it’s not there and they can’t see it, they won’t eat it. Don’t plead or threaten or bribe your child to eat healthy food because those tactics are not effective. And don’t judge your child’s tastes by your own. You may not like broccoli, but your child is not you. He/she may love foods that you don’t care for.
2. Get Kids Involved
Several parents talked about how bringing their children with them to the farmers market or the grocery store and having them help with the cooking can get them more excited and invested in what they are eating. Kids can be inspired to eat healthy when they are part of the meal and snack planning process. A trip to the local farmer’s markets or produce aisle can be an adventure and connect them with the source of food.
3. Give Kids Choices
Parents should let their kids choose foods, fruits, vegetables and snacks they like, within reason. Give kids more room to choose as they get older. Never get into a power struggle with your kids about eating, food or even healthy food. Make sure you are not over controlling, over educating or over-lecturing them, or they will rebel in the food arena.
4. Model Healthy Eating
Kids watch everything we do, so it should be no surprise that they can be influenced to make better choices if they watch us doing the same. Children will always ask for bites as time goes on, as they like to copy what we do, not what we say.
5. Experiment
There are always tweaks to make to ensure healthy eating is being reached. If you realize that your kids are consuming a lot of bread at each meal, and pasta was on the weekly lunch and dinner rotation, so try new things.
Instead of pasta noodles for spaghetti, switch it to spaghetti squash. Instead of baked goods like muffins, use alternative flours like coconut and almond. Instead of oil, use unsweetened applesauce. As with everything else in life, moderation is key.
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