Healthy eating habits for kids

Healthy eating habits are often overlooked by parents of very young kids. Eating healthy food is not a choice kids make by themselves. It's a habit parents have to inculcate right from early childhood. By the time they realise their kids are into all sorts of unhealthy food it might be a little too late to change things. Healthy food habits are an invaluable part of a long and happy life for your kids.

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Healthy food habits are not something you enforce on your kids one fine day. If you haven't been doing it since they were babes in your arms, you've left it a bit too late. You now have to fight off junk food, advertising, colourful toys, and media circuses, in addition to your kids own whims and fancies. All this make eating healthy a big chore when, in fact, it should be one of the most natural things in the world. But that doesn't mean parents should give up without a fight. This is a battle parents have to fight for their kids' health and overall well-being.

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Junk food is here to stay due to its wide availability, low prices, convenience, and addictive taste and flavours. They cause childhood obesity, behavioural problems, temper tantrums, health risks, and diseases in adulthood. They take away considerably from a normal, happy life. There are a few things you can do to reduce its vile repercussions. 

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Cut out from children's diet from an early age

• white bread 
• white sugar
• processed food such as cakes, biscuits
• refined food
• sugary drinks
• soft drinks
• lollies

Check food labels for and avoid

• Soy lecithin 
• High fructose corn syrup
• Trans fats
• Sodium
• Added Sugar
• Artificial Colouring Agent
• Artificial Flavours
• Preservatives

If exposed to these products in infancy, a lifelong addiction is in progress by the time they're five. Replace them with wholemeal products, lean meat, pulses, yoghurt, fruits, vegetables, healthy snacks, fresh water, and simple, easy-to-make home cooked food. Teach them to read food labels when they are old enough to understand. Make your own bread, cakes, muffins, and cookies using healthy non-refined ingredients and make this a treat and not a daily affair. Create your own jams and preserves using traditional methods without harmful chemical preservatives. 

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By inculcating healthy eating habits in early childhood, you're giving your child a head start on the road to good mental and physical health. Armed with healthy food habits, your kids will be spared annoying diseases such as allergy attacks, asthma, frequent coughs and colds, temper tantrums, and whining temperaments. Introduce them to salads early so they don't miss out on the goodness of  raw food alongside a well-cooked meal. By encouraging your kids to eat healthy you would have given them a legacy that's hard to beat where family health is concerned for generations to come. 

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 If you find your kids are fussy when it comes to eating healthy, encourage them by, 

• showing cooking shows such as Jamie Oliver's 
• get colourful magazines and cookbooks that are full of tempting pictures of healthy food
• get them to begin cooking their favourite dishes
• starting them on tossing their own salads with their favourite ingredients
• bring up the topic of healthy food vs. junk food whenever appropriate without sounding preachy
• enlist their help in making grocery shopping lists
• show enthusiasm when cooking rather than treat it as a hated chore; your kids will soon catch it
• have a small veggie patch with the basic tomato and herbs and enlist your kids' help in maintaining it

If you have ideas about healthy eating for kids that you'd like to share, we'd love to hear from you. Do take the time to leave a comment. Thanks!