1. Be a good role model: Inevitably your children will eat what you eat, so educate yourself and keep it healthy. Ensure that you also participate in some sort of exercise and get your children involved at the earliest age. A friend has four children and is a keen runner. Whenever she enters a triathlon or running event, she takes them along with her and enters them for an age appropriate event. There is no pressure to perform, just to enjoy an active family day out.
2. Don’t keep junk in the house: When adults fail in their weight loss endeavours, the biggest excuse I hear is that the junk food in the kitchen is too much of a temptation. If I suggest they clear it out of the house, they say they can’t because it’s for the kids! Your children don’t need biscuits, sweets, crisps and sodas: these are the unhealthiest of snacks.
3. Avoid placing restrictions on food: If you don’t have junk in the house, then it’s much easier to control what you are all eating and you don’t have to restrict “forbidden” foods. This can have the opposite of the desired effect.
4. Plan meals and snacks: It is essential to plan meals so that they are balanced and healthy and you don’t resort to a less than healthy takeaway. Kids need three meals a day, plus a couple of snacks between so keep mixed nuts, fruit, yoghurts, dips and vegetables handy. Keep a cool bag in the car so they can have a healthy snack right after school or on a journey.
5. Enjoy a less than healthy meal at the weekend: No food is forbidden and desserts, chocolate, cakes and ice creams are part of life’s pleasures, but plan to have these things in moderation at the weekend.
6. Don’t be overly strict: I remember a parent being really annoyed that his son had been allowed to drink cola at our house. This was a rare occasion to have soda in the home and it was a fun day. Keep the balance.
7. Introduce new foods slowly: I mentioned in an earlier article that children can take up to 15 tries of a new food before accepting it. Don’t force it. Just introduce new tastes gradually and reintroduce what has been rejected a week or two later, perhaps in a different way.
8. Praise healthy choices: One of the best things about not having junk and simple carbs in the house is that choices will be healthy, but praise the children if they come up with healthy meal suggestions, too.
9. Juicing and soups: Juiced cabbage is almost undetectable if mixed with apple juice; pumpkin and lentil soup is unrecognisable when blended; avocado can’t easily be identified in a smoothie with bananas and mango. There are lots of ways of disguising foods to ensure that your children get the correct nutritional balance.
10. Serve meals in the kitchen: Children will learn portion control if it is presented to them often enough. Stick to the NHS Eatwell Plate for correct balance of nutrients and this, too, will become a habit. They will get used to seeing a plate that is heavy on the vegetables.
NHS Eatwell Plate: http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/goodfood/documents/eatwellplate.pdf
