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Healthy eating is the key to raising healthy kids. Teach your kids to eat healthy foods and they'll likely enjoy a healthy and happy life. Here are 7 tips to help you teach your children to eat healthy meals:
- Learn to enjoy eating healthy foods yourself! Teaching by example is by far the most effective method. Training yourself to enjoy healthy eating will also arm you with the confidence that you'll need to be able to guide your children down the same path.
- Curb your kids' taste for processed sugars. Sugar puts your children on an emotional roller coaster. It causes lots of
disagreeable behavior and continual cravings for even more sugar. Never offer sugary sweets as a bribe or reward.
- Teach your children to drink pure water. They need liquids, but they don't need high calorie, sugar laden juices or soft drinks. Plain water leaves room for healthy food.
- Serve whole grains instead of processed ones. Whole grain bread, whole wheat pastas, and brown rice should be your grains of choice for healthy eating. You can begin with half and half, but keep adding more of the whole grain ingredients until you ultimately reach 100% whole grains.
- Eliminate unhealthy snacking. If your kids aren't hungry when they sit down for meals, they won't want the healthy foods you serve. Make sure they're hungry enough to eat the healthy meals you put in front of them.
- "Train" them to like nutritious fruits and vegetables.
Carrots and apples taste sweet to kids who don't eat lots of sugar. Serve healthy vegetables when your children are hungry and offer fresh fruit as dessert.
- Offer only healthy choices to your kids at mealtime. Don't even offer them anything except nutritious foods. If the only choice available is between a tuna sandwich or natural peanut butter and unsweetened apple butter on whole grain bread, they'll choose one of your healthy offerings if they're hungry. They'll even learn to like it.
Healthy eating is learned, as is unhealthy eating. Which one your family learns is up to you. Start your little ones out with healthy eating habits and they'll eat healthy for life!
Moss Greene is the Nutrition Host at Bellaonline. Visit her
at www.bellaonline.com/site/nutrition.
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