Healthy lifestyle has become a thing of the past, thanks to factors like homework, sports practice, events at school and socializing that manage to keep our kids on their toes all day. These factors have left them with so little time to think about a healthy lifestyle, including healthy eating habits. Here are some of the more common nutrition mistakes children are making these days, along with some tips on how to handle the same.
Staying away from specific Food Groups
Children tend to be picky eaters, gorging more on some foods while ignoring some altogether. As such, they would tend to miss the nutrition that comes with these foods. An effective way to prevent this from happening is to balance their diet and get them accustomed to the food guide that would let them know what they need to eat in order to remain healthy and fit.
Including the ignored foods along with the favored ones can motivate kids to eat the former as well. While enjoying what one eats is considered healthy, moderate eating should also be preached and practiced in order to make sure that children don’t eat too much at any one time.
Eating Fast
Many kids these days tend to gobble down their foods without chewing them properly in order to save time for other chores. This would only lead to issues like stomach upsets, digestion problems and binge eating etc., all of which would be detrimental for their health in the end.
Parents must make it a point to motivate their kids to sit down for meals and chew their food properly before swallowing it. Distractions like televisions, radios, games, phones and even books need to be eliminated during meal times. Children should be encouraged to take their time to touch, smell and taste the food to enjoy eating it. This would also allow them to pay attention to their bodies and stop eating when they are full.
Eating Junk Food
Lack of time to eat proper homemade food is making kids opt for other unhealthier alternative that they can easily grab on the go. These include sodas, sweets, chips, etc. These foods are less in nutritional value, but are stacked with calories that can make your kids suffer from conditions like obesity, diabetes and heart diseases as they age.
While not much can be done when kids opt for junk food outside the home, parents can opt to reduce the amount of junk food present in the house, and substitute them with healthier alternatives like almonds, cashews, walnuts, cherries, grapes, apricots and carrots and other veggies.
Drinking too much soda can also cause your kids to stack up on empty calories. Encouraging kids to drink water and fresh fruit juices would be a healthier alternative. These options should be readily available in the house so that the kids don’t go searching for sodas or canned juices.