How to Develop Healthy Eating Habits Bez kategorii
How to develop healthy eating habits? Regardless of age, it is always the right time to learn healthy eating habits. To shape them as a child and to change them as an adult.
“The best time to learn healthy habits is childhood and adolescence. During this time, our body, actually our brain, is most receptive to learning habits and beliefs. But that doesn’t mean we won’t be able to modify it later.
Let’s start with the meaning of the word “diet.” We often identify them as the “alternative diet”, i.e. the Sirtfood diet, the ketogenic diet, the Atkins diet, the Dąbrowska diet, etc., or as a strict diet for weight loss, the 1,000-calorie diet. This approach is MISCELLANEOUS. Diet is nothing but your way of eating. So everyone should strive to make it HEALTHY. Let us not ban pleasure foods (i.e. sweet or fast food products – but I recommend choosing healthier alternatives if possible). Everything is for people, only the amount and frequency of consumption is of utmost importance.
The parents, the family and the immediate environment (crèche, kindergarten, school, peers) are responsible for the design of HEALTHY children. The promotion of PHYSICAL ACTIVITY is also of great importance here, all the more so in the age of the Internet. Introduce a healthy diet while the child participates in the preparation (from shopping to plate) and eats together.
The child is the best observer of the behavior, the more you will regard parents as the authority of the behavior. So give him an example before your child starts talking and eating “normal” meals.
It is very important that you do not regard food as a reward or consolation. This can become a habit and, as a result of stress or discomfort, your child will reach for food to feel better and increase the risk of being overweight or obese. Don’t try to combine food with emotion.
It is inappropriate to encourage them to eat food, if the child says they feel full, they may continue to eat too much and take in too many calories, which can also lead to overweight and obesity.
Pay attention to the food you eat at every meal, even with a snack. This means not eating anything other than eating a meal, e.g. not watching TV, not reading books, etc.
Don’t ban sweets, but choose healthier snacks such as vegetables or fruits, homemade oatmeal or other interesting snacks early on.
Don’t lose patience when the period of neophobia (dislike to learn new flavors, texture of the food) gets longer or the child doesn’t want to eat anything. Read more about how to introduce new products to your child’s diet. Remember, however, that this should not be insisting and forcing you to eat selected foods. Not today, maybe tomorrow.
If your child is older and goes to kindergarten, it makes sense to take care of nutrition education. It is advisable to ask the supervisor or the head of the institution to do so. Others can also benefit from it. This could provide incentives for further health promotion measures (healthy eating, etc.).
Parents, it is worthwhile to take an interest in the simple principles of healthy eating. Anybody could use that!