Strategies to Make your Child Eat Healthy

PARENTING COLUMN

As a parent, you can give the option that they can have their sweet either before dinner or after dinner. Also make sure to keep a check on the sugar content of any food that your child is having. Foods such as breakfast cereal and fruit snacks also contains sugar. Note that every four gram is equivalent to one teaspoon of sugar.

It is very likely for children to pick up improper and annoying habits in their early age. Habits like your child picking their nose, twirling their hair, and breath holding may annoy you as a parent. These habits are very common for a child and tend to go away eventually with age. However, the scenario gets concerning if they pick up a bad and improper eating routine. It is important for you to realize as a parent that children won't walk out of their bad eating habits on their own. If not addressed on time, they will carry forward this habit into adulthood.

Here are some suggestions by experts for bad eating habits that children are likely to acquire.

Continuous Nibbling: If your kids are feeding on snacks most of the time, they won't be hungry at the appropriate time. This will also fail in recognising their hunger and fullness when they indulge in non-uniform snacking habits. To bring your child out of it, serve them two or three daily snacks. Kids thrive on routine and structure, so when they ask for another snack other than those two-three times which you provided, remind them that snack times are over. In addition, try to provide them healthy snacks, which include some proteins or fat.

Sugar Overdose: Babies are mostly born with an affinity towards sugar and sweet stuff. Most or all kids love it. However, added sugar, which are present in desserts and sweet snacks are helpful as they provide nutrition. Establish certain simple rules like offering only one sweet every day. As a parent, you can give the option that they can have their sweet either before dinner or after dinner. Also make sure to keep a check on the sugar content of any food that your child is having. Foods such as breakfast cereal and fruit snacks also contains sugar. Note that every four gram is equivalent to one teaspoon of sugar.

Rejecting veggies: Your child will receive their vitamins such as vitamin A and C from vegetables. They will also receive them by having fruits. If your kids have a lot of vegetables and fruits from an early age, they will grow up to be adults who eat a lot of vegetables and fruits. This will also lead to a healthy life and low risk of disease. Add a little bit of fat, which makes veggies taste better so that your child will have them. Try to create an appetizer tray of veggies that they can munch on while you are getting the full-course dinner ready.

Drinking juiceaddiction: More than half a cup of juice makes the tummyfull and leaves less space for food. To avoid this, serve juice to your kids in regular cups. In this way, they won't be able to consume the whole of it at one go as it will be limited. Secondly, don't provide kids juice directly when they are hungry. Provide them water first and then let them enjoy the taste of juice slowly with smaller amounts.

Too much of Carb: Children who reject protein-rich food and depend on carbohydrate food such as bread and noodles too much are likely to feel hungry pretty soon. It is said that most children do not enjoy meat because of the texture. This is one of the reasons why they prefer chicken nuggets as they have chopped up meat inside them. If your child refuses to have meat products, try to provide them other protein-rich foods such as beans, eggs and low-fat dairy products. However, do not stress too much on protein as most kids receive an adequate amount of protein. An average toddler requires only about 16 grams a day.

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