Struggling to get your kids to make healthier food choices?
This post is for those of you trying to improve your kids' eating habits but feeling like you're getting nowhere.
We eat a healthy diet at home. I avoid additives where possible and usually cook meals from scratch, but I’ve also always had a strong belief in “everything in moderation” (with a few exceptions… Skittles, Mountain Dew, diet soft drinks and Zooper Doopers are firmly off my list!). I know that banning your children from eating 'junk food '— especially when their friends are regularly having it - usually just makes it more appealing.
My family and I recently did an interstate road trip, which involved two days of driving and three busy days of sightseeing. Invariably, these types of holidays involve eating out a lot more than we usually do, and I let my kids make their own choices, resisting the urge to launch into nutrition-related lectures (not easy for me, as you can probably imagine!).
Not surprisingly, by day four, my children had eaten more than their fair share of pizza, pasta, burgers and chips - and hardly any vegetables.
That evening, we were looking at the menu in a country pub bistro, when both my daughters announced that they were feeling pretty disgusting after several days of eating not particularly nutritious food. They then said that they needed to eat some vegetables and proceeded to order a chicken salad and salmon and veggies.
It was at that moment that I realised all my efforts to educate my kids about how food makes them feel had not been a complete waste of time. As parents, the eye rolls and “yeah, whatever” responses can make it feel like we’re talking to a brick wall - but sometimes it sinks in more than we think.
Rather than nagging our kids about their diets, it can be much more effective to help them connect what they eat with how they feel. This is especially important when your children become teenagers and start making independent food choices.
Here are a few examples of how different foods can affect your kids’ energy and wellbeing:
Too much greasy or fried food can lead to sluggishness, nausea or stomach aches.
Eating sugary cereal or not enough protein at breakfast can make it harder to concentrate and leave them feeling tired and grumpy by mid-morning.
Not drinking enough water can cause headaches, irritability and fatigue.
Artificially sweetened soft drinks and additive-laden ice blocks can contribute to mood swings, energy crashes, headaches, digestive issues, increased cravings, sleep disruptions and even asthma.
Eating a meal containing only refined carbs (and no protein) will make them feel hungry very soon after
It can feel like a slow journey, but persistence is key, and all your efforts will pay off eventually.
In my family, it’s a case of two down, one to go… My youngest is still a work in progress!
For more tips about how to encourage your teenager to establish healthy eating habits see the blog post ‘Inspiring Teenagers to Embrace Healthy Eating’