Junk Food All Around Us…
It is obvious that with a quick stroll on the middle aisle of any grocery store, there are plenty of food marketing targeted towards children. It is no secret that diabetes and obesity among children is skyrocketing in the UK. Most parents know the importance of green veges and healthy meals for their kids , but how do you feed them when all they ask for is the junk food.
Children will not be excited to move from happy meals to healthy meals in a day. However, they will adapt faster than you think and they will grow to loving it if you know the right ways to present it to them. So how does a health conscious mom get her children to be more healthy? That is the question we will answer below.
1.Small Portions
To begin with get small portions of each food cooked into a child’s plate. (Small piece of chicken, small spoon of peas, one leaf of spinach) Tell your kids that they can have more once they eat all the food on their plate. This will motivate the child to try new food and the portion is not daunting to them that they will refuse it altogether. Even the pickiest of child will take a bite of the food they hate when the portion is small. Gradually add more of each in a meal and after a few months your kids will be eating a full meal of healthy food. BEWARE: kids are good at emotionally blackmailing you and will decide to go on a hunger strike for the next few days. This will be the toughest 3 days but stay calm and explain to them that this is all they will get.
2.Let children decide when they are hungry
If a child is not hungry or at least using this as an excuse to not eat a healthy meal then don’t force them. Many parents get into the guilt trip of having to feed their child 24/7 and resort to junk food just to get them to eat. Kids are smarter than you think. They have the ability to recognise when they are hungry and they will stop eating when they are no longer hungry. Realise that children do not always get hungry during meal time and skipping a few meals during this transition period will not hurt them. If children get hungry between meal time then feed them healthy snacks like nuts and fruits.
3.Reward them
Research has shown that rewarding a child with things like sticker will make it easier to try to get them to eat healthy food. It is important to reward good behaviour, this creates a feeling that certain food is associated with being good. Rewards can be a family day out, a new book, ride in the park, play time with other children etc. This will help children rate the food more positively in the future.
4. Let your child make the decision
Moving to healthy eating can be difficult for any child. Let your kid make their own choices on healthy food. They will instantly feel better as it is them who made the decision and it will break the perception that you have taken their ability to eat what they want. This is particularly useful during snack time when no meal is prepared and they can choose between walnuts or carrot sticks. After a few weeks of eating health, you can allow them to have something unhealthy like a cake at a friend’s place.
6. Learn from Samantha Lee
Samantha Lee is a mom who struggled with getting her children to eat lunch box prepared by her. so instead of doing it the traditional way she started creating food art back in December 2008 to help her eldest daughter eat independently and adventurously. Not only has her techniques helped other moms but she is now an Instagram star being featured on many different TV shows. Time to take out our creative hat and start making food preparation fun with the kids.
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