How to encourage your children to eat healthily?
By: Aadil Shaikh
Tags: Healthcare, Children, Healthy Lifestyle, Health, Childhood

Children often have a temperamental appetite, and unfortunately with this character, it is impossible to get them to eat healthy foods. The parent’s struggle to ensure that their child has a healthy diet must not, however, become a war. Setting a good example, learning good habits, and respecting your child’s opinions are all equally important in ensuring your children eat healthily, but also in identifying the right recipes. Discover without further ado, in this article little tips to encourage your children to eat healthily. How to eat healthily?

Find ways to break down nutritional concepts so that children know that eating healthy is important. You will be surprised by how quickly children remember certain concepts, especially if you can spark their interest.

Proteins are found in chicken, fish, beans. They strengthen our muscles and organs and are essential to growing well.

Carbohydrates are found in whole-grain bread, pasta, and rice, and they provide the energy you need to get around and be active. Additionally, whole grains provide more energy than white bread and processed (industrial) sugars.

Fruits and vegetables contain vitamins and minerals that keep the nervous system functioning, both of our eyes and ears, helping to fight certain diseases.

Children’s dietary needs (the amount of food to eat) vary according to their ages. The following recommendations are for young children in the 9 to 13 age group. These recommendations were provided by Mayo Clinic. The lower value represents that of girls while boys are generally at the higher end of the estimates.

Calories: 1,400–2,600

Protein: 110–170 grams

Fruits: 1.5–2 cups

Vegetables: 1.5–3.5 cups

Grains: 5–9 grams

Dairy products: 2.5–3 cups

These are estimates meant to help you measure “relative amounts” of food. While you don’t have to measure every gram of what you eat, your diet should be over 50% seeds to provide you with protein, for example.

A good, healthy meal for your child doesn’t have to be complex. You should instead aim for a balanced meal. For example, two or three simple dishes are perfect for a good dinner. A balanced meal should include:

A whole-grain source of carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, or rice

A source of protein such as beans, chicken, or fish

, and fruit or vegetables.

Start the day with a good breakfast, and feed your child healthy snacks every 1 or 2 hours. A hungry child is very often cranky and is more likely to be noisy over a new dish or raw food. Feed your kids properly throughout the day and they’ll be more likely to try a new dish when you introduce it to them.

Make sure children “always” eat breakfast to boost their metabolism and to have the energy they need to face their day at school.

It is a good place to identify healthy meals for your child as well as to add new and healthy meals to their diet. For example, you might notice that your child likes tomatoes. To get him to eat healthier foods, you could start with tomato salads, including a few cucumbers or carrots. This will allow him to gradually eat better quality foods.

Write down the foods that your child can’t stand and keep them off the table to start. Seeing food that they hate can make them reject the rest of the meal.

The parent is ultimately responsible for food supplied for the household, and if there is no junk food to eat, your children will not be able to eat it. Replace treats and sweets with healthy snacks like fruit, pretzels, and hummus. Although you shouldn’t completely eliminate processed foods from their diets, limiting the temptation will make children less demanding of these types of foods.

Talking to them about the usefulness of eating apples can put them off. But giving them the opportunity to choose between grapes, apples, bananas, or orange will spark their interest and they will feel like they are responsible for their diet. The more you give your child the opportunity to make choices, the more they will want to eat what you present to them.

Preferably, match the new dish with 1 or 2 old foods that they love. This turns them on and easily causes them to try new foods. If they don’t like the new dish, they can always fall back on macaroni au gratin with cheese.