Healthy Food Habits For Our Kids: Where Do We Begin?
Food can be a great source of joy and energy, but it is not something that we should always turn to when we’re happy or sad. This is something you should also teach your kids, as well as make sure they build healthy relationships with food. This can be a hard task to do, but with the right approach, you’ll succeed with ease. Down below, you can find more tips on how to help your kids gain healthy food habits.
Top 6 tips on teaching your kids healthy food habits
These 6 tips are not the only recommendations you can use to teach your kids how to be healthy. However, this is a good place to start. Remember to continue doing your research in order to provide your kids with all the means they need to learn more about healthy food habits.
- Start with the right baby formula
Since the early days of life, your baby should receive as many nutrients as they need to grow into a healthy human being. This is why choosing the best formula and creating a correct formula feeding chart is the first step you should take on this long and difficult path. Discuss your baby’s needs with your doctor to make sure you do everything you can to find the right formula for your little one. Consider all possible allergies and nuances that could potentially harm your baby.
As your baby grows older, you’ll start weaning and feeding him solid foods. Weaning is the process of gradually stopping breastfeeding. This process starts by introducing complementary foods. Ideally, you can replace one breast milk feeding daily with a bottle of organic baby formula.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusively breastfeeding babies for six months after birth. Babies need higher levels of iron, zinc, vitamin B, vitamin D, and other nutrients that they can’t obtain from breast milk after six months. You can combine breastfeeding with solid food until your baby is one year of age. Moreover, you can breastfeed your baby as long as you can and as long as he wants.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that babies aged six months old should consume solid foods. Upon reaching seven or eight months old, babies can consume a variety of foods like infant cereals, fruits, grains, vegetables, meat, and others.
Reliable online sources like Serenity Kids said that many baby food products in the market have heavy metals, and excessive buildup of lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, and chromium can cause health problems in children. For this reason, researching the ingredients and reputation of the baby food is crucial to ensure your baby’s safety. As a golden rule: choose a baby food product certified by the Clean Label Project. This nonprofit organization provides consumers with expert recommendations about clean and safe products.
- Be a role model.
Your child won’t learn how to eat healthy food unless you show them how it’s done. Cut out fast food from your diet and opt for healthier meals instead. You need to become a role model that your child will follow. If you want to set a good example, you need to think of habits you want your kid to have and acquire these habits in your daily life as well.
- Don’t force your kid to eat something they don’t want
Yes, broccoli is an amazing source of vitamins and nutrients, but let’s agree that even some adults avoid eating it at any cost. If you want your kid to have a healthy relationship with food, don’t make them eat something they don’t like. Moreover, you shouldn’t force them to have a meal if they are not hungry. This is a mistake that many parents made in the past, which resulted in complicated relationships with food for whole generations. Let your child have a choice.
- Drink more water
Some might say that it’s best to only drink water and avoid soda at all costs, but the truth is that kids will always be interested in trying new things, and that includes drinking soda. Instead of making soda a taboo, focus on making sure that your children drink enough water every day and always have fresh access to it. And if occasionally your child wants to have soft drinks instead of water – why not? It’s not a good idea to forbid anything since it will only make the prohibited food even more appealing.
- Reward your kids with activities and not food
Instead of giving some sweets to your kids when you’re trying to reward them, offer an activity instead. It can be anything, such as a trip to a place where your children like to spend time, movies, or bike rides.
- Cook food with your kids
Cooking can be a fun learning experience for your kids, but to do that properly, you’ll have to get creative. Whenever you cook with kids, show them how things are made and let them do something as well. You can also talk more about how some ingredients are good for your health and why you need to consume them from time to time.
It might take some time
Healthy habits are always difficult to get used to. Even adults often suffer to stay healthy, and when it comes to kids, the hard work is doubled. However, there is no reason for you to stress out about anything as long as you incorporate different methods and approach your kids nicely instead of imposing on them a new lifestyle. Good luck to you, and remember that this process might take some time and there is no need for you to rush things!
