We all want to feed our families the best—the best fruits, best vegetables, best meats. But the truth is, we are bombarded (“we” being us and our children) with commercials for prepared food, junk foods, convenience foods in print and in TV advertising.
And, if we’re being honest, the advertising works. Tell us something is crave-worthy, and we are likely all in on it. And we know better! What chances do our children have?
They have us. We give them the chance to eat well by modeling healthy eating habits and by putting healthy choices in front of them. It doesn't mean there is never a time for chocolate (fill in your own treat of choice, be it birthday cake, pie, ice cream, chips). “All things in moderation” is a good way to approach it.
Here are five ways to model good behavior or create good habits for the entire family:
Choose lean protein for your dinners.
Get your family used to a variety of proteins that includes lean fish, poultry, pork or beef, and when you put beef on the plate, look for Laura’s Lean Beef products. Besides being naturally lean, Laura’s Lean Beef is produced without added hormones or antibiotics.
Be a label reader and teach your children to read labels.
The fewer ingredients a label has, the closer it is to the way that food occurs in nature. You can choose to avoid extra sugar, food dyes, chemicals—any number of things. Explain this to your children. Even the youngest who read can be set the task of looking for sugar in something, for example.
Teach your children to cook from a very young age.
The tasks you give the family do not have to be difficult. Stirring something. Adding pre-measured ingredients to the pot. As they learn and grow, ask them to measure the ingredients (you will get a math lesson in along the way!). Invest in cookbooks aimed at different age groups or do some quick searching online. Let them get their hands dirty, let the kitchen get a little disheveled (and teach them to clean up after themselves at the same time). Soon your older children will be asking you what YOU would like for dinner.
To model healthy eating, keep the healthiest food possible in the house.
Fresh fruit, vegetables, dried fruit. Make it a rule that the kids never had to ask for your permission to reach for a piece of fruit as a snack. Word to the wise—make sure your children actually like what you are stocking. Ask your children what they like, stock that, and look for new and different, too! Let them have new tastes from the produce aisles.
Finally, think about going cross-cultural. Work outside of your own comfort zone to introduce your family to new dishes. Ask friends (ask us here!), do some internet searching, read the food sections of big city newspapers. Recipes typically identify unusual ingredients and often suggest places you can buy those ingredients. This experimentation helps your family become fearless eaters—and that is fun.
Above all, include your children in your meals. Sit down to dinner, talk about the food, their days, their lives.
Tell us: How do you model good eating and healthy food habits for your own families?
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