Have A Healthy Family With These Healthy Habits

Childhood obesity has tripled over the last thirty years. More than a third of teens and children are now considered overweight or obese. The healthy habits and weight can easily be carried into adulthood. However, parents and legal guardians can start to develop a healthy lifestyle for their children. 

Be A Model For Good Behaviour 

You play a massive role as a coach and guide for your children, especially when they start to make more choices with what they eat. The actions and effect that you have can be profound, and a simple act such as eating together as a family is capable of improving their nutritional health.  Although it hasn’t bee proven why family meals are effective in achieving this, there is no harm in sitting together and enjoying a home-cooked meal, especially if it’s going to improve your children’s nutrition. Eating together also allows adults to be an example of good behaviour and intervene if they start to see bad habits forming. If you feel as though bad habits are already there, and there may be an unhealthy weight issue then it is important to book an appointment at your pediatricians.

What Can You Do 

Start Early 

You should start as soon as you start to wean your children, this will give you the best chance of establishing healthy eating habits. YOu should also include a good sleep routine and exercise early in life, therefore you won’t need to force them to create good habits later in life. Try to expose your children to a variety of different flavours and include different textures of the food your child already likes, for example, different types of potato, peas, or tomatoes. Research shows us that familiarization may not only help children more acceptable of healthy food but start to prefer it.

Fill Your Home With Healthy Foods 

One of the best things you can do is to ensure that the majority of the foods in your home are healthy options. You don’t have to stay away from goodies or desserts altogether but make it a once in a whole treat. Instead eat fruit and yoghurts as a different option to things like chocolate, cake, and ice cream. Having plenty of healthy choices in your home will make it easier to eat healthily

Model Healthy Eating

Children who see their guardians or parents buying, preparing, and eating healthier foods are much more likely to eat healthy themselves. You should also stay away from using food as a reward for good behaviours. If you make bad, unhealthy food a reward for being good, it can promote the idea that healthy food isn’t as good as bad food, or lead to them using food as a reward as an adult. 

Make It Normal 

Healthy eating doesn’t need to be a trick. If you start at a young age then your children will likely look at healthy good as desirable and tasty. Aim to eat meals together as a family, they are not only a great time to enjoy healthy foods together, they are also a great way to catch up. Healthy meals with a healthy conversation. To make it normal, you ideally need to cut down on eating out. Not only is eating out expensive but it can also be more unhealthy than eating at home. 

As you can see there are some great habits that you can get into that will lead to you having a healthy family with a healthy lifestyle.