do you find it a challenge GETTING your CHILDREN TO EAT FRUITS & vegetables? |
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"If you are a parent like me, then you are no doubt anxious
to make sure your children eat well."
Raising children on a healthy diet in this world today is a challenge
to say the least!
Any parent who has ever taken their children shopping with them to their
local supermarket (a big mistake!) will know that it's a battle ground. What
I mean by that is, on a battleground someone is seeking to do you harm right?
Well haven't you noticed that some of these giant food corporations prey on
young children (and their parents) by marketing their highly processed foods in
colorful attractive boxes and packaging and often with a free toy inside.
Then their are those adverts on TV promoting Junk food and I am sure you have noticed they
show those adverts always around the time the kids program's are on?
How can you protect your children from these multi-million pound companies seeking
to sell their products? How can you ensure that your children eat healthily?
How can you as a parent make healthy food appealing?
Between this website and my Youtube channels my aim is to provide you with recipes, tips, tricks and tools
to help you get the 'good stuff' into your children.
Here are a few tips to start with:
APPEALING!
Marketing gurus know how to make their products appeal to children.
They make sure it's sweet & colorful. They achieve this by loading their
'food-like' products with refined sugar and artificial colourings and flavours,
then wrapping them up in colorful packaging. However we look at that it's really
an act of deception! In a child's mind something that is attractive to look at
and tastes good- must be good. If you take away, the colourings, refined sugars
artificial sweeteners and glittering packaging and what are you left with-
junk! Would a child eat it, definitely not.
As parents we need to beat the Marketing Gurus at their own game. How? We
need to make sure that we provide our children with food that is appealing and
tasty.
FRUIT!
Can you think of a natural food that is colorful and sweet and good for you?
That's right fruit! Fruit is natures candy and the most nutritious food gram for
gram on the planet. Now granted, if our children have become accustomed to sugary
refined fake foods fruit might not seem appealing at first, this is where we might need
to get a bit creative. I will share with you on my Youtube channels tips and ideas that
helped me to get my kids to eat healthier.
One thing I found was this; by just by making sure there is always plenty of fresh fruit in the house,
they will then eat it. I know this might not sound much of a tip but honestly I found this worked
better than all the nagging (two of my children are now teenagers) and lectures. If you have plenty
of fresh ripe fruit around the house it's a magical thing but the kids will eat it. Fruit naturally
entices us to eat is with it vibrant colours and sweet aroma when ripe- we can't resist!
Now you might be concerned about the cost of all this fruit, well if you are looking at replacing the fake
foods with real foods obviously there is a saving there but if you become a canny shopper you get eat
healthily without breaking the bank; for example most large supermarket have an area where they put
the produce that is coming up to it best before date and sell it off cheap- often I get bags of bananas from
this section for pennies! Also when fruit is at it's ripest that's the best time to eat it because that's when it's
most nutritious. Also, most fruit freezes well and can be used to make great smoothies (kids love smoothies!)
and don't forget banana ice cream.
So, if you can get your kids eating fruit and meals with fruit in (preferably raw) you have already made a huge
improvement to their diet!
Novelty foods
Kids love novelty foods! What I mean by novelty foods is foods that they don't get to eat all that often.
here are a few that I loved as a kid and my kids love today;
Corn on the cob- I loved corn on the cob as a kid and used to wish we had it more often. Usually it's served
boiled to death and laced with butter but have you ever tried eating one raw they taste great! Give you kids
corn on the cob and they will love it!
Pea pods. I used to love opening these as a kid and eating the peas inside in fact once I ate so many of them I made my
self sick but that's another story. Give these to your kids show them how to open the pods and they will love it!
Dates- these are the caramel sweets of the fruit world, particularly the medool dates. Make them a banana ice cream topped
with dates or a date sauce and they will love it! Here is my recipe [video]
Nuts & Seeds. kids love shelling nuts and seeds and then eating them. Take pistachio nuts for example- they'll eat them till they come out of their ears! Just be careful not to give them to many or they will eat the lot and they are quite high in fat.
Who's in charge?
Remember you are in charge! You control which foods come into the house and even though your kids may nag you for the
more unhealthy options make sure you stay in control. If you make sure as I have already stated that there are plenty of healthy
delicious foods in like fruits & nuts then they will eat them. If you and your children are making a transition from perhaps
less healthy foods you may need to make this change gradually so as to avoid a revolt!
Don't make too much of an issue!
To be honest this is the mistake I made when I changed my diet about 3 years ago. Having two teenage children well set in their
eating habits I sought to share my new found knowledge with them and impress upon them how just how unhealthy their then current foods choices were. As you can no doubt imagine this did not go down too well! I have since learned that making an issue out of food tends to do more harm than good particularly with older children. You are best just setting a good example and praising them when they make the right food choices. Also keep the lines of communication open so that you can share helpful information
with them about food as and when they ask- and they will, if they see you sticking to a healthy eating plan and doing well on it. Don't
forget, teenagers already know everything!
Sit down to eat as a family
Sadly few families eat together these days due to the faster pace of life we all seem to be living these days.
Research shows that children who eat meals at the table with their parents have better nutrition and are less likely to get in serious trouble as teenagers. Start with one night a week, and then work up to three or four, to gradually build the habit. If the whole family eats the same food (in other words healthy food) then it will be easier for the children to follow. Unfortunately many parents provide their children with 'kiddie food' while they eat something different. Teach your children to eat what you eat don't be tempted to cook
something 'special' for them as often there is nothing special about it! Also try to avoid rewarding your children with food- this can lead to problems with your children's view and relationship with food in the future.
