How ??

You Can Provide A

Balanced Diet To Your

Children

Food Habits Page 2

The practice of making healthy food choices should be started in childhood. If

you give your children a well-balanced nutrition, they will have the strength,

stamina, alertness needed to complete tasks both at home and in school. They

will also have a more positive disposition. Some pointers on how to develop

healthy childhood eating habits are found in the succeeding paragraphs.

Be a role model

Children form habits through imitation and, so you

should act as a role model by eating healthy as well. It

will be pointless to encourage y our child to prefer

eating fruit and veggies when they see you gorging

yourself with potato chips and carbonated drinks.

Cook more at home, dine out less

Home-cooked meals are healthier since

they don’t have ingredients that are

unnecessary for human consumption

like food colorings, flavor enhancers,

and preservatives. At the same time, it

is a great activity to do with your kids.

In addition, this can be a good

opportunity to bond with your children.

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Aside from that, allowing your child to help you prepare meals is a good way to

introduce them to the concept of healthy eating. At the same time, finicky eaters

tend to be more receptive to try new foods if they helped to make it.

Familiarize yourself with the latest food pyramid for kids

Actually, the USDA has adopted a different

symbolic representation for proper childhood

nutrition. The old food pyramid for kids has been

recently replaced with the food plate. Both the food

plate and old food pyramid for kids share similar

assertions, being that parents should offer various

food items, and that there are certain food types

that should be eaten sparingly, and those that children need more of. The food

pyramid had six vertical stripes to represent the five food groups plus oils. The

food plate is partitioned into vegetables, fruits, grains, and

protein, and a dairy circle on the side. And just like the

previous food pyramid for kids, the plate has been divided

so that the grain section is bigger than the protein section

because children need more of the former than the latter.

Healthy grain options include brown bread and oatmeal. Healthy protein options

include fish, eggs, nuts, beans, and tofu. Believing that the food pyramid was not

simple enough for kids to understand and parents to implement, the First Lady

Michelle Obama presented the food plate as an alternative.

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Make eating healthy fun

Compelling your child to eat more healthful food items will not help them develop

the right attitude to following a well-balanced diet. You need to be innovative to

think up ways on how to motivate your children to

choose more healthful food items. For example, you

can top a bowl of whole grain cereal with a smiley

face made of banana slices for eyes, a grape for the

nose, and an apple slice for the lips. Serve fruits

and vegetables with favorite foods to increase

acceptance. For instance you can give them

homemade blueberry muffins, zucchini bread, and

carrot cake. When doing groceries, bring your kids so they can pick out fruits

they want to try.