Setting your health aside during times of stress is incredibly easy to do, so much so that you likely do so without even realizing it. For example, if you find yourself navigating negotiations in child custody mediations, you may be making easy, quick meals that aren’t as healthy as they should be or maybe you’ve decided to eat more takeout for the convenience and comfort.
Either way, you’re sacrificing your health because you’re stressed. While it isn’t great that you do this to yourself, you definitely shouldn’t do this to a child, and the tips below will help you avoid that.
Balance Meals
The biggest thing you can do to keep your child’s diet healthy is to provide them with balanced meals. Make sure that meals have a balance of dairy, protein, grains, fruits, and vegetables. Not every meal needs to have all of these components, but providing a solid mix across all three meals will ensure your child gets the nutrients they need to grow up healthy.
Of course, if that was all it took to stay healthy, more of us would be proud of our diets. Unfortunately, we each have our own unique tastes and tolerances which can make meal planning difficult. For example, maybe you love green beans. That doesn’t mean your child will. Pay attention to the foods your child does and doesn’t like when preparing meals.
Maybe put a new food item alongside one they already enjoy because this may encourage them to try a bite. Try to limit foods that they truly dislike as it will just leave them upset that they couldn’t enjoy all of their dinners and you frustrated that they avoided them. One thing you could do is allow your kids to create a list of somewhere between three and five foods that they simply will not eat and allow them to swap these items every now and then as their tastes change and they try new foods.
Any item on this list won’t even be put on the respective child’s plate, but they have to eat at least a little bit of every other part of the meal to compensate.This sets clear boundaries and rules and can make mealtimes much more enjoyable as a result.
Provide Healthy Choices
While you may provide a healthy breakfast and dinner, there are two other mealtimes that are a bit harder to control: lunch and snacks. The school provides lunch, and we all like quick snacks, but school lunches tend to not be very tasty and quick snacks are sugary, overly salty or otherwise unhealthy. This is why you need to keep healthy snacks around.
If you have lots of delicious, healthy food in the house like dried fruits, peanut butter and crackers, snack times will be healthier and packed lunches will be just as good as your balanced dinners and breakfasts.
Eat Together
Eating meals as a family will not only be a good way to bond with your kids more but is also a great way to encourage them to eat healthier. It also makes it easier for you to be a role model. If your kid sees you eating and maybe even enjoying common dinner vegetables like spinach and broccoli, they’re more likely to try it themselves.
It also makes mealtimes more fun since you can crack jokes, tell stories, or even just talk about how your day went. If everyone at the table has fun while eating vegetables and they turn out to be tasty, you may find your kid eating them even when left to their own devices.
Pay Attention
Not every child likes the same foods and they might even be allergic to some. Whenever you try a new food or spice, keep it limited and watch your family for signs of an allergy. Some of these signs may be obvious, like their faces turning red and having a hard time breathing while others may be more subtle. Maybe they get more acne than usual or a small rash appears.
Even a patch of skin that turns red and gives off heat is a sign of an allergy that should be monitored because while it may seem minor right now, that doesn’t mean it will always be that way. Earlier, we mentioned creating a list of foods that your kids don’t like. You also need to keep a second list for their allergies and make sure that these foods avoid the plates of those who are allergic. No one, children included, should eat food that they’re allergic to.
Sometimes, children also have issues with the texture of certain foods even if they like their taste. While this seems minor at first, this texture aversion could lead to gagging or even vomiting. For those who suffer from it, this type of food aversion can be incredibly detrimental to those who suffer from it, but they can do nothing to correct it. Take food aversion seriously, or you’ll end up with messes and upset children.
Leave a Reply