Is your child falling ill often? Is he less active than other kids? Food choices made in early life impact health in adulthood. It is not easy to make children eat what they need to, however, certain hacks can be employed to achieve the child’s nutrition goals. Read on to learn more.
Why Should Our Kids Eat Right?
Frequent illnesses among children can be due to lowered immunity. Deficiencies of vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C and zinc are associated with lowered immune defenses.
Research has shown that risk factors for heart disease and diabetes in adulthood begin with food choices made in early life.
Increased consumption of dietary fat, carbohydrates, and sugar are contributors to raised cholesterol level levels and obesity among children and adults worldwide.
A diet rich in healthy fats, whole grains, proteins, fruits, and vegetable is essential for healthy growth, development, and immunity.
How Can We Make Our Kids to Eat Healthy?
Here are a few ways that you can try to get your kids to make healthy food choices.
A Healthy Twist
Use healthy alternatives such as whole grains instead of refined products
Try adding vegetables and fruits to regular home-cooked food. For example, we can add grated carrots, beetroot, or greens in rotis (flatbreads), idlis (rice cakes), and other traditional dishes.
Does your child like noodles or pasta?
Try whole grain alternatives of these items made of whole wheat or oats and add a good portion of veggies such as carrots and beans while cooking it.
Teach the Child About Nutrition
“If a child is taught how he should be, he will follow it his whole life.”
Children are highly impressionable and susceptible to what they learn from family, friends, school and the media.
It is important to explain the benefits of healthy eating to the child at an early age.
Grandmother’s Rule
Also called ‘Premack’s principle’, this age-old tactic involves completing a less desired task to receive the privilege to engage in a more desired task.
Here’s an example. The child wants to go out to play. By applying this rule, the child should be asked to do something specific, like eating his vegetables, to be allowed to play.
Negotiate a Limitation
It is much easier to keep a child from trying something than to pull them out of a habit or routine.
Delay introducing fast food and packaged food to the child’s diet till he is older.
Limit their intake of such food to a minimum.
However, such limitations should be done in moderation. Research has shown that pressuring children to eat and restricting access to specific foods can often lead to overeating, dislikes, and paradoxical interest in forbidden items.
#ProTip: Involve children in the decision-making process when it comes to altering their eating habits. For example, if the child needs to reduce his intake of cookies, ask him to pick one day of the week when he can have his cookie. The child is more likely to comply with the rule.
More Exposure
The more exposure we have to a stimulus, the more we will tend to like it.
Food that has been eaten more often tends to be liked more. Several studies have suggested that this approach holds promise for improving the quality of kids’ diets.
Fixed Food Schedule
It’s much easier when the kids know what to expect on their plate at mealtime or for a snack.
For instance, a snack in the evening could be the child’s “fruit time”, which he should know and expect every day at the same time.
Here’s an example. The child wants to go out to play. By applying this rule, the child should be asked to do something specific, like eating his vegetables, to be allowed to play.
Try to include nutritious food such as fresh fruits, milk, salads, nuts, and eggs as snacking options instead of processed food, packaged food, and drinks.
Let Kids Cook
Research has found that children tend to eat more of what they prepare themselves, especially in social contexts.
Parents as Role-Models
Based on their own food choices, the parents can either be positive or negative role-models. For example, in one study, fruit and vegetable consumption was found to be higher in children and adolescents who eat at the same time as their parents.
Influencing children to “do as I do” rather than to “do as I say” can go a long way in improving the quality of our kids’ diets and well-being.
Bottomline
- Cardiovascular health promotion begins early in life
- Healthy food choices need to be made in childhood
- Involve children in their diets
- Parents and caregivers can provide appropriate role-modeling through their own food choices
Source
- Scaglioni, S., Salvioni, M., & Galimberti, C. (2008). Influence of parental attitudes in the development of children eating behavior. British Journal of Nutrition, 99(S1), S22-S25. doi:10.1017/S0007114508892471
- DeJesus JM, Gelman SA, Herold I, Lumeng JC. Children eat more food when they prepare it themselves. Appetite. 2019 Feb 1;133:305-12.
- Williams CL, Strobino BA. Childhood diet, overweight, and CVD risk factors: the Healthy Start project. Preventive cardiology. 2008 Dec;11(1):11-20.
- Maggini S, Wenzlaff S, Hornig D. Essential role of vitamin C and zinc in child immunity and health. Journal of International Medical Research. 2010 Apr;38(2):386-414.
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