Trying to keep the whole family happy and healthy can be challenging, especially when it comes to your eating habits. For example, as adults, we better understand the importance of eating healthy, which can make it a little easier to remain disciplined. Not only that, but children often claim that healthy eating is boring, when this is far from true.
With that in mind, here are some simple (yet effective) ways in which you can make healthy eating fun for children.
- Try foods from around the world. From cooking Italian food to sampling Thai cuisine, cooking food from around the world is a great way to get your children excited about eating healthy food. This is because it means that you are not eating the same things over and over again, and it can really help to challenge the stereotype that healthy food is boring!
- Find nutritious snacks for them to enjoy. Finding delicious snacks that do not taste all that different from their usual go-tos can also help to ensure that your kids are following a healthy, balanced diet. For example, you could replace sugar-filled popsicles with electrolyte popsicles. This means that they are not going without a snack or sweet treat, while also feeling the benefits of these substitutions.
- Let them have their say in what you eat. Letting kids choose what you cook for dinner or prepare for breakfast a few times a week is another great way to make eating healthy fun. This is because it gives them a sense of agency as they are not simply being told what to eat by ‘grown-ups’. Of course, this does not mean you should give them free rein entirely; instead, suggest a few different options and let them take the lead.
On a similar note, you may also want to bring them along with you when you are going food shopping. This way, they can pick out some food or snacks that they think they will enjoy.
- Encourage them to get involved in the kitchen. Healthy eating can be made a lot more fun by actually getting involved in the process of making the food. Not only that, but it gives your kids the chance to learn useful skills, so that they will be more equipped to make their own food or meals in the future. You can take this one step further (and allow them to have as much fun as possible) by allowing them to be a little ‘messy’ during this time, so long as they get involved in the clean-up after!
- Don’t forgo treats entirely. While it is important to follow a healthy diet, you do not want your children to develop an unhealthy relationship with food. As such, this means that you should not avoid treats or ‘unhealthy’ food in its entirety. Instead, practice moderation and allow yourself a few treats each week. This will prevent your child from starting to separate food into ‘good’ and ‘bad’, while also showing them that everything can be enjoyed in moderation.
- Cut food and vegetables into fun shapes. For younger children, you can make eating 5 a day of fruit and vegetables a little easier by cutting fruit and vegetables into fun shapes. If you’re not the most skilled sculptor, use a cookie-cutter to carry out this task, which makes the entire process a little easier.
- Sneak vegetables onto their plate. If your children are reluctant to eat vegetables, then you may want to find ways in which you can ‘trick’ them into eating them. For example, you could add blended cauliflower to mac and cheese, which means they’re actually eating plenty of vegetables without even realising they are doing so. If you’re making sweet treats such as muffins, you could add pureed fruit to the mixture ahead of time, which often means that you can use less sugar as a result of this, too.
Final thoughts. While you will always want what is best for your child, getting them to stick to a healthy diet is difficult. This is because they may not yet understand the importance of healthy eating in the same way we do as adults. However, you can combat this by teaching them that, despite what they may currently think, healthy eating is fun.
Fortunately, there are many ways in which you can go about this goal, from finding ways to sneak fruit and vegetables into their food to finding healthier alternatives to their favorite snacks.
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