When our kids are babies, Moms are almost fanatical in making sure that every bite of food that goes in their mouths is entirely healthy and loaded with nutrition. While you might eat junk food every now and then, you'd never dream of feeding your baby such fare! Dessert for your baby is applesauce or blueberries. Beverages are fruit juice and milk.
However, by the time your baby reaches school age, she's soon exposed to the junk food culture. Candy bars and soda creep in to the diet. Before you know it, your first grader is eating chips and drinking soda on a regular basis. Your children, eating healthy foods exclusively, becomes a thing of the past. All of your early efforts comes to naught. Here are some tips on how to avoid the junk food syndrome and keep your children eating healthy foods as the norm. Forming good eating habits will benefit your kids for a lifetime!
One major hurdle you need to surmount is the 'but everyone else gets to have...' argument. If all the other kids at school are allowed soda and candy by the carload, it becomes a peer pressure issue. One way of dealing with this is to have a chat with your kids and let them know what some of the consequences of a poor diet are. With so many kids now considered overweight or obese, being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, formerly known as adult onset diabetes, you've got some pretty persuasive arguments. When you explain how children eating healthy diets tend to maintain a normal weight and suffer less illness than those who load up on junk food and sugar, they might actually listen. Who likes a visit to the dentist to fill a cavity? Not any kids I know! Your chat doesn't need to be an authoritative lecture. Spread out your lessons on children eating healthy foods over time. Take a casual attitude. For example, bring up the issue of diabetes in the context of something you read today. I wanted to let you know something I ran across today that really shocked me. Have you heard about the illness called diabetes? Take it from there. Chances are good that your kid knows someone at school who has this disease.
Another major impediment to children eating healthy foods is availability. Fortunately, many schools are now removing soda machines and stocking snack machines with healthier choices, such as fresh fruit and juices. Almost all of our behavior patterns come down to habit, good or bad. If kids are given only good food choices at school, they'll go for those. If they can choose between a candy bar or a bag of trail mix, which do you think they'll choose? If your child's school still has vending machines with unhealthy food choices, be proactive in pushing for a change!
Perhaps the most effective way to get your children eating healthy foods, as a matter of habit, is to set the example in your own eating choices. If they see you scarfing down sodas and candy bars for snack food, you've already lost the war. On the other hand, if they see you eating fruit or having a glass of milk for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up, they'll tend to follow your lead.
However, by the time your baby reaches school age, she's soon exposed to the junk food culture. Candy bars and soda creep in to the diet. Before you know it, your first grader is eating chips and drinking soda on a regular basis. Your children, eating healthy foods exclusively, becomes a thing of the past. All of your early efforts comes to naught. Here are some tips on how to avoid the junk food syndrome and keep your children eating healthy foods as the norm. Forming good eating habits will benefit your kids for a lifetime!
One major hurdle you need to surmount is the 'but everyone else gets to have...' argument. If all the other kids at school are allowed soda and candy by the carload, it becomes a peer pressure issue. One way of dealing with this is to have a chat with your kids and let them know what some of the consequences of a poor diet are. With so many kids now considered overweight or obese, being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, formerly known as adult onset diabetes, you've got some pretty persuasive arguments. When you explain how children eating healthy diets tend to maintain a normal weight and suffer less illness than those who load up on junk food and sugar, they might actually listen. Who likes a visit to the dentist to fill a cavity? Not any kids I know! Your chat doesn't need to be an authoritative lecture. Spread out your lessons on children eating healthy foods over time. Take a casual attitude. For example, bring up the issue of diabetes in the context of something you read today. I wanted to let you know something I ran across today that really shocked me. Have you heard about the illness called diabetes? Take it from there. Chances are good that your kid knows someone at school who has this disease.
Another major impediment to children eating healthy foods is availability. Fortunately, many schools are now removing soda machines and stocking snack machines with healthier choices, such as fresh fruit and juices. Almost all of our behavior patterns come down to habit, good or bad. If kids are given only good food choices at school, they'll go for those. If they can choose between a candy bar or a bag of trail mix, which do you think they'll choose? If your child's school still has vending machines with unhealthy food choices, be proactive in pushing for a change!
Perhaps the most effective way to get your children eating healthy foods, as a matter of habit, is to set the example in your own eating choices. If they see you scarfing down sodas and candy bars for snack food, you've already lost the war. On the other hand, if they see you eating fruit or having a glass of milk for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up, they'll tend to follow your lead.
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