Teach every child about food and healthy eating

Recently I was asked to do an interview on Children and Food with Family Coach, Anna Liljekvist from Vibrant Family Solutions.

It was a great interview where we talked about how parents could help their children develop a positive self image, improve their eating habits and even how stressed out mom’s can find the time to prepare healthy meals for their family. To listen to the interview you can click here.

I have taken a special interest in helping children lead healthier lives, as have people like Michelle Obama with her “Let’s Move’ initiative and Jamie Oliver with his new show ‘Food Revolution’. Even celebrities like Bill Cosby are speaking out about the childhood obesity epidemic.

The number of overweight children has tripled since 1980 and it’s time to put a stop to it.  Our children are at risk for much more than just potential obesity. There have been a variety of studies done that show that poor nutrition and lack of physical activity are not only root causes of overweight and obesity, but they are also factors associated with lower academic achievement.

As parents there’s so much that you can do to prevent your children from being at risk. Here are just a few suggestions:

•    So many of us were raised being told to eat everything on your plate. This is one of the worst habits you could teach your children. Instead teach them to stop eating when they feel full and not to feel bad for doing that!

•    It’s also important to teach your child to eat slowly and chew their food. Ideally at least 20 times before swallowing.

•    Teach your kids to put down their cutlery between mouthfuls. This will help to slow down eating.

•    Only eat at the table. Another way to minimize mindless munching is to get into the habit of only eating when you are sitting down and able to give the food your full attention. The dinner table can be a great family time. Enjoy your meal and then linger around the dinner table after and have your children share things with you about their day. 

•    Have only good food in the house to eat, so that children will learn how to eat in ways that’ll help them be healthy.

•    Exercise with your children.  Help them make exercise a routine in their lives.

•    Don’t reward your children with food! There are many ways to reward them, food should not be one of them as it sets the belief that they should eat when they don’t need to.

Let us take this matter very seriously. It is important that we take a long-term approach as a society to resolve childhood obesity. As a weight loss coach I have witnessed the results of neglect in this area far too long. Let’s give our children the gift of health and start making some changes that will reverse these staggering numbers of childhood obesity we are currently seeing.