CEBU, Philippines - Now we continue our feature on how parents can help their children achieve a healthy lifestyle. Here are more tips for healthy eating:
Within sight and within reach: Make sure healthy snacks are available and accessible to children and don't keep unhealthy snacks in the house (even if they are for you!). Children are driven by hunger not by wanting to be healthy. So if they are hungry and it's easier to reach a cookie or pack of chips, they'll do it.
No Pressure: Many parents go by the rule: You HAVE to try everything at least once. While this may be reasonable, if you force the food on the child, it can sometimes backfire. Forcing a child to eat the food may make him/her eat it that instance, but over the long run, it can result in the child disliking the food. A Tufts University nutritionist, Susan Roberts, suggests the "rule of 15"?making the food available to the child at least 15 times. Studies find that kids need to be exposed to, and ideally taste, a new food as many as 10 to 15 times before they'll accept it. Another strategy is to use "food bridges"?pairing new food with similarly colored or flavored familiar foods to expand the variety of food the child will eat.
Keep it simple: You don't need to do too much to make healthy, tasty food. Grill, roast, broil, or bake fish, chicken and lean cuts of beef and pork. Serve vegetables well washed and raw (crunchy!) or lightly sautéed with a sprinkling of salt (nobody likes mushy, slippery vegetables.). There are many cookbooks and internet sites out there with quick and easy recipes for healthy food.
Keep it fun!: If your children see you worried and obsessing about food, they may develop an unhealthy relationship with food. If they see you enjoying good food and understand the benefits of eating well, they are more likely to grow up with a healthy outlook about food and nutrition and become healthy eaters for life!
Share the rainbow: Good nutrition early in life is linked to development that leads to future success in school and life. One thing we can do to ensure that we have a healthy, competent population and workforce in the future is to ensure that expectant mothers and young children are eating well. Educate the people you work with about the importance of nutrition. Contact your local day care worker and ask if you can provide fruit or vegetables once a week. Teach people how to prepare healthy, affordable food. Make a difference one bite at a time!
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/health/healthspecial2/15eat.html?pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1329109687-GkYHOwX/vv0rrG/WJX44wg
http://www.todayiatearainbow.com/
http://www.choosemyplate.gov
Daily Nutrition Guide for Filipino Children
http://www.fnri.dost.gov.ph/index.php?option=content &task=view&id=1666