Parents seem to have a never ending battle on their
hands trying to get their children to eat healthy while
still giving them foods they can enjoy. These two ideas
might seem mutually exclusive but they don’t have
to be. There are ways you can get your child to eat
healthy and even included the dread V word (vegetables)
into their diet.
Children are undoubtedly impressionable creatures and
with all the media pressure to buy the next coolest
cereal with the best prize, with our reliance on fast
food because of our busy schedules and even our own
cultural influences coming into play is it any surprise
that child obesity rates are the highest they’ve
ever been? Add to that the increased popularity of video
games and lack of physical activity, you may feel as
if you’re fighting a losing battle trying to get
your child to consume the nutrients that is so vital
to his growth.
Most parents will tell you that the key to getting
your children to eat healthy is to start early. We start
our babies off with the purees and keep them away from
any fried foods and too much sugar. Then somehow, as
they get older, we lose our vigilance in making sure
our children only have the best sources of nutrients.
So does the key to our children’s food habits
lie in our food habits? Is it simply case of out of
sight out of mind? Even if we do ban unhealthy foods
out of the house, how can we keep them from eating junk
food at school or at a friend’s house?
While it’s important to do our best to keep our
children eating healthy the best way to instil the values
of good eating is not go over board with monitoring
every single thing they put in their mouths. You want
to keep eating a fun exercise. Healthy doesn’t
have to mean boring. Sweets are not the enemy. You’ve
heard about the allure of forbidden fruit? Well, that
just means the more you ban something, the bigger its
temptation. So let your kids eat sweet treats every
once in a while, but balance it with good healthy foods
as well like fruits and vegetables.
Margie, a 48 year old writer from Minneapolis, MN believes
in the idea of making food fun for her children by letting
them be creative with their food. “My kids have
frequently come up with unique combinations of food
or requested sauces or made combinations of sauces.
At first, I tried to dissuade them from what I thought
were disgusting combinations but ultimately decided
if they ate what was on their plate, what do I care?
Within reason of course. I monitor how much salt goes
on an apple or how much mayo on a burger, etc., but
children have different tastes than adults. Different
textures and flavors don't appeal to all of us so I
found it was easier to let them explore and develop
an adventurous palate rather than turn them into picky
eaters and have dinnertime battles.”
Poor diet in children has been linked to not only health
problems but is thought to be a contributing factor
to Attention Deficit Disorder and maybe even criminal
behaviour. Food helps in the creation of healthy blood
that fuels the creation brain cells. It would stand
to reason then that a lifetime of poor diet would create
imbalances in brain chemistry that could result in mental
illness potentially expanding into dangerous behaviours.
One of the best ways of getting kids in the habit of
eating well is to introduce a variety of foods to them
and when they find ones they like, pair those with something
new on their plate.
Cheryl, who works as technical support for a product
engineering company in Rockville, Maryland has a son
who loves rice. My nephew seems to love it as well.
Maybe it’s because of its small size. Kids can
just pick up one at a time and its fun for them…even
if most of it ends up on the carpet, their clothes and
even in their hair. The key here is to make food fun
and enjoyable.
So using rice as an example, you know that your child
will be eating at least one thing on his plate. This
gives you the opportunity to introduce something new
along side the rice. A kid will never say no to French
fries so how about, as way of introducing vegetables
into their diet you cut up some zucchini into fry-like
strips and cover them in bread crumbs? You can then
bake them in the oven and let you child dip them in
tomato sauce as a substitute for ketchup. Sometimes
a little creativity (aka: deception) is necessary to
get kids on the path to good eating. Just because something
looks like junk food a kid will be more open to trying
it.
Denise, a 26 year old home maker from Etobicoke, Ontario
subscribes to this idea for her two kids. “Pasta
is a favorite, but broccoli and carrots are never a
problem if you just melt a bit of butter over them.
Sometimes they ask for salt and I will pretend to put
some. They think there getting salt added on but they're
just getting the idea of it because I don’t put the
salt.”
So while it seems that every day the media is coming
out with new commercials designed to tempt our children
into diabetic comas and heart attacks by the time they’re
twenty, it’s reassuring to know that we can fight
back but getting our kids on the right path to good
eating early. While the stuff advertised on TV can be
fun on occasion, they grow up knowing that healthy eating
can be delicious and fun too.
|
