If you are a mother, you can relate to the uphill battle you face every day. It is about getting your child to eat healthy foods. Children may act picky sometimes and refuse to eat the fruits and vegetables you wish for them to eat. Given the choice, any child shall pick taste over health.
This is of course different from an adults approach to health, as most of us like to eat healthily and use supplements to help when necessary. For adults, a wide range of supplements are available, such as terpenes that are useful for adding flavor to your meals. However, for children, it is important that only supplements that are age-appropriate are used unless otherwise advised by your doctor. This makes it harder to get them to consume the correct nutrients.
Although it may sound difficult, you can follow some tactics to ensure that your child eats healthy while admiring the taste.
Here are a few ways listed below, for mother who are opting health as well as taste, to ensure your child eats better:
Cook Tasty
Since there are a lot of healthy foods available that taste good, you can imbibe them on your shopping list. These include peanut butter, yogurt, whole-wheat pasta, whole grain bread and many more. Apart from this, you can also serve your child with veggies along with yummy dips ranging from hummus to avocado herb dip. Not only will these provide your kid with an extra incentive to eat healthy foods, but shall also fulfill your goal of ensuring a proper diet for them.
Buy Less Junk
We all know that children have a habit of picking the nearest and easily available food items when they are hungry. If you bring junk items to home, your child shall automatically reach out for that food item, owing to its taste and fast availability. Hence, you can start by buying a minimum of junk food and keeping fruits and healthy nuts as snacks at home. Next time your child comes home after that football session, you can be assured that your child will indulge in these healthy yet sumptuous food items.
A Balanced Diet
Every nutrient is equally important for the overall nourishment and development of your child. For those who are wondering if the same goes for carbohydrates and fats, the answer is a definite yes. These nutrients ensure the protection of our internal organs and provide us ample energy to go by the day. Therefore, along with the proteins, vitamins, and minerals that you are already inculcating in your kid’s diet, bring in the carbohydrates and fats as well.
Best sources of good carbohydrates include whole grains and legumes, whereas for good fats, present your child with nuts, seeds like peppermint herb, dark chocolate, eggs, and fishes.
Power of Knowledge
If we remember our younger days, we were exactly like our children are. Ditching all the veggies and fruits for fast foods. Later, as we learned about their effects on us, we started to make a conscious effort to change our diets. We now understand the importance of healthy eating and avoiding those fast food items. Similarly, if we start teaching our children the merits and demerits of what they eat at an early age creatively enough, it shall motivate them to work towards remaining healthy throughout their lives. A time will come when there will no longer be any need for you to force your child to eat healthily.
Utilise the Day
It shall benefit your kid the most if you ensure that their breakfasts are heavy and dinners are as light as possible. The power to digest food is the highest in the daytime and lowest after the sun sets. Eating light at night will prevent the bloating of the stomach and shall prove to be valuable in the long run. Therefore, make sure your kid is not overeating even the healthy food items in the night time.
Swapping of Unhealthy Food
You will be surprised to know that you can easily swap the commonly used unhealthy food items with their healthy counterparts. This shall not only make certain that there is no compromise on the taste but will also allow your child to savor the healthy food. Below mentioned is a list of healthy alternatives to the daily food items
- Whole Grain bread rather than white bread.
- Maple Syrups instead of white sugar
- Dark chocolates and not milk chocolates
- Whole Fruits or fresh juice rather than drinking packaged juice.
These healthy food swaps will provide your child with the opportunity to admire the food as well as ensure their utmost welfare.
Children have a bigger appetite than us. Hence, you can allow your child to indulge in those delicious delicacies once in a while as well. This shall make certain that they abide by healthy eating at times other than these. The above ideas will provide you with an ample opportunity to bring about a substantial change in your child’s diet for the best.
References
https://www.parents.com/kids/nutrition/healthy-eating/get-your-kids-to-eat-better/
https://www.growingupherbal.com/nutrition-for-kids-3-ways-to-improve-your-childs-diet/
About the Author:
Jessica, a registered dietitian, a wellness guru that loves to read, research and write. A fitness freak who believes in healthy living and doesn’t like to miss her yoga. When not reading she can be found relishing her favorite foods.
