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Healthy Eating is a Family Affair

 Beth Ann
Posted by on May 15 2008
iLunchbox Blog >> Beth Ann

Teaching your kids about healthy eating is a family affair. It is about setting an example and setting expectations that can be obtained by not only your children, but you as the primary caregiver.

You don’t want to set your nutrition standards so high each day that you never obtain them. Kids need to know that even a sugary treat or a high fat food item is okay in moderation. We don’t want them to feel deprived, which can lead to trouble with eating disorders later in life.

The USDA recommends that no more than 10% of your total caloric intake each day should be from high sugar, high fat foods. So if your child is on an average 1800 calorie a day eating plan, then he or she should not have more than 180 calories per day of sugary, high fat foods.

180 calories is not a lot, so choose foods with some nutritional value and you could maybe up the calories a bit. For instance…a can of soda has no nutritional value and could easily be 180 calories or more, however a frozen yogurt with fruit or nuts in it could also be more than 180 calories but you have calcium and vitamins as well.

Here are some tips and suggestions to keep you and your family on track to a healthy eating plan:
  • Family meals times should be a priority. I know it is hard with after-school activities, but try to schedule at least one meal a day that is unhurried and focuses on the family as a whole. For some families this may be breakfast, not dinner.
  • Meals on the run, eating in the car and dinner via drive-thru should be a last resort, not the daily pattern. If possible, pack a picnic dinner. If weather permits, eat dinner with some of your children, while another is playing a sport. The sport-playing child can join the picnic after practice. If it is cold and rainy, use the car as your alternate picnic site, but everyone should try to face each other a bit, not eat in rows.
  • Don’t plan your day around the food you eat. Plan the food you eat around your day. Children should learn early on that we eat to live, not live to eat. I think food should be enjoyed, taste delicious and satisfy the senses. We should not just be eating for the sake of eating.
  • Try to get your kids to eat a rainbow everyday. I know it sounds corny, but kids relate to it.
  • Just like color of food is appealing, so is the texture and taste of food. Select things that are crunchy, squishy, soft, and silky. Introduce a new spice or seasoning to add variety. Reduce the amount of condiments you use and let the natural flavors of foods shine through.
  • Try cuisines from another country; traveling around the world with food encourages children to expand their pallets.
  • With children it is important to remember that nutrition is cumulative. While it is important to offer foods from all the food groups at each meal, don’t worry if your child doesn’t eat them all at each meal. Look at the nutritional intake over the whole week.
  • An apple, an apple juice box and a slice of apple pie are not created equal from a nutritional standpoint. Help your child understand the difference. The less processed the food the better for you it is.
  • My three-year-old puts it the best…”my tummy says it can’t fit anymore food.” Encourage eating enough to satisfy hunger and give our bodies fuel, but not eating until we are uncomfortable; again, not eating for the sake of eating.
  • Try to make available to children the foods they are allowed to snack on all the time and you can call them “anytime foods.” The foods you would prefer your children to consider “sometimes foods,” make less available in the kitchen/dining area.
  • Never skip meals…children should have all three meals and two snacks a day.
  • Water. Offer it. Encourage the consumption of it. Children need water. Really! Really!

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