Healthy children: How to instill healthy dietary habits

Although the human brain is capable of changing its structure in order to create and alter new and existing neural pathways – it has the ability to adjust to new experiences, learn new skills and information and create new habits and memories – the psychological habits and relationships children develop throughout their childhood will have a significant impact on their weight, dietary habits and perception of food during adulthood – this is particularly relevant to young girls who are heavily influenced by their mother’s attitude towards her own body, diet and weight.

Despite many children being susceptible to fussy eating and a sweet tooth, one of the most important aspects of a child’s diet is the development of healthy habits in order to ensure that they learn to incorporate and ingrain healthy eating and exercise into daily life from a young age. This can be achieved by using some or all of the following methods:

• Colour and texture – kids, particularly those of a younger nature, are often attracted to bright colours and new, contrasting textures. Use this to your advantage by gradually introducing them to a variety of colourful fresh fruit and vegetables that are both hard and soft in texture, and visually vibrant. Ensuring that children develop a taste for the natural sugar found in fruit as opposed to the added variety in sweets and biscuits will also help them to maintain healthy dietary habits throughout life.
• Experimental fun – make meals and snack times fun by cutting food into different shapes and experimenting with a variety of food alternatives. For example, if your youngster despises milk, make your own tasty alternative by mixing a banana with a little water.
• Encourage exercise – whether its regular family walks and bike rides or an exercise based after school activity, encouraging your children to participate in physical activity will ingrain the importance of an active lifestyle from a young age, and make them far more likely to continue to participate and enjoy sports throughout life.
• Cleaver cooking – fresh meals, healthy snacks and tasty treats can all be made healthier when made from scratch with carefully selected ingredients. Allowing your children to help, watch and assist during the preparation and cooking of food will not only encourage them to opt for homemade alternatives, but allow them to develop a domestic habit that will benefit their health and waistline for life.
• Sugar swaps – introducing sugar to children from a young age can quickly lead to a taste for sweet treats that’s difficult to break and in effect, increase the risk of future health conditions. Swap sugary drinks, sweets and biscuits for fresh fruit – fruit sources such as apples contain safe levels of sugar – and teach them that sweet treats are for special occasions only.

Remember that as children develop, their bodies require the same healthy food as adults, but in smaller portions – kids should never be given the same sized portions as adults – and with more vitamins and minerals to support their growth i.e. whole grains, a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables, healthy proteins and calcium for adequate bone health and development.