Creating healthy eating habits among children

The discussion around healthy eating and related lifestyle diseases is mostly seen to concern adults? But what about our children and their battle to address the bulge?
According to the International Obesity Taskforce, one out of every 10 children is overweight. This means that there are 155 million overweight children worldwide, with 30-45 million of these classified as obese. In South Africa, almost two out of every 10 children are either overweight or obese.

Here are some tips that parents can focus on to create healthy eating habits in children.

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Structured meal times

Structured meal and snack times help to develop a healthy intake pattern and the parent is responsible for what, when and where the child eats. However, allow your child to decide how much they eat.

Gone are the days of emptying your plate

Don’t force children to “empty their plates”.  This may encourage overeating. Parents should dish appropriate serving sizes – different to those of adults.

Food shouldn’t be a reward

Avoid using fast food as a reward for good behaviour. Food should be used to fuel energy and provide nutrition, not as currency to behave.

Involve your children

If you’re struggling with developing healthy eating habits among your children, you may find that involving them to select the vegetables, fruits and healthy carbohydrates for the meal of the day will encourage them to eat.

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Stock the fridge up

Stocking the fridge up with healthy options will discourage your children from munching on snacks when they feel hungry. To avoid this you must keep your refrigerator stocked with healthy snacks such as nuts, fruits and vegetables. You can always teach them to make a salad by using already chopped vegetables. Always remember to be a good role model as children develop habits they observe.
Parents should remember that eating patterns are established early in life as a response to caregiver-child interactions, mealtime routines, foods offered and modelling from family members. Exposing children to fruits and vegetables early in life establishes a pattern of fruit and vegetable preference and consumption early on in your child’s life.

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