As a parent, it’s your responsibility to help your kids develop healthy habits they can carry into adulthood. Adopting healthy eating habits helps them strengthen their minds and bodies and it teaches them how to take care of themselves later on. These healthy habits start at home.
Always Provide a Fruit and Vegetable
From a young age, you need to provide fruits and/or vegetables with every meal you give your kids. This teaches them that fruits and vegetables are essential and they will become more accustomed to eating them. As you do this, you should also provide a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Kids need to learn that all types of fruits and vegetables are good for them and taste good. When you give them more things to try, it can get them excited about it and interested in trying new things on their own. If your children do complain about eating fruits and vegetables, there are many strategies you can use to encourage them to eat them.
Feed Them Whole Grains
Eating whole grains provides you with many important nutrients such as fiber, iron, antioxidants, and more. Additionally, processed foods and grains remove essential nutrients and actually increase certain health risks. White bread can increase the likelihood of cavities in children. Whenever you provide your children with bread, pasta, or other grains, make sure you give them whole grains. Whole grains are much better for them and if you consistently provide them, this is what your kids will grow accustomed to. There are also many less common grains that you can introduce to your kids. Examples include quinoa, millet, or couscous. Eating these types of grains can be interesting or exciting to kids.
Set an Example
Children are always watching adults to see what they do and how they act. If you want your kids to have healthy eating habits then you need to demonstrate those habits and be a good example. Show enthusiasm for eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. Serve yourself healthy portion sizes. Indulge in sweets and fatty foods in moderation. Often, you don’t even need to point out what you’re doing. If your kids see you eating healthy, they will want to emulate what you’re doing.
It might be a challenge to instill good habits in your kids, but it’s not impossible. As long as you employ consistent efforts, you can help your kids from the good habits they need. You should also keep an open conversation with your child about healthy habits and diet.
Check out this article on how to be more conscious of what your teen is going through!
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