Healthy Eating Tips for Families

Eating healthy is essential for children as it helps them to develop and grow in a healthy and balanced manner. This article will provide helpful tips and ideas on how to encourage kids to make healthy food choices. We will discuss how to make nutritious meals that are both delicious and appealing to children. Finally, we’ll provide resources and ideas on how to make mealtime fun and enjoyable for the whole family. With these tips, you can help your children develop healthy eating habits that will benefit them for years to come.

Before you head to the Grocery Store

Make sure that you have eaten prior to heading to the store so you aren’t tempted by all of the different unhealthy foods, go with a plan (usually following a meal plan will help), and make sure you are purchasing mostly around the perimeter of the grocery store.  I do keep some junky snack foods on hand for my family such as pretzels, goldfish, and cereals but if you try to keep mostly healthy food that will help.  You can’t expect to have your child make the decision to eat an apple if a pop tart is the other option.  

Now once you are home you will need to help your family to make smart choices by reminding them the importance of eating fruits and vegetables to help them get faster and stronger.

Here are some things that I require for my children to practice eating healthier:

• they need to have a fruit or vegetable at every meal or when they grab a snack
• dessert is only allowed after dinner if they were outside and active that day 
• dessert is either on a bread plate or served in a teacup to keep portion sizes in check 

Some other things that I try to do are:

• have colorful dips on hand filled with greens and herbs so they can dip their veggies, fruits, or pretzels into them or pour on top of things like scrambled eggs or roasted potatoes
• rethink the whole grains.  You can mix white rice and brown rice together to help them get used to the brown rice
• spiralize vegetables and add them into the cooked noodles
• if your kids eat cereal, add a tsp of flax meal for added fiber that will probably go unnoticed

And lastly, spend at least 30 minutes at the dinner table.  Practice slowing down as it’s important to take time to chew your food so that you get all of the nutritional value out of your foods.  We love to play fun question games at the dinner table to get us talking and having fun.

Other blog posts you may enjoy:

5 reasons to Make Family Mealtime Happen

Meal Prep for Busy Moms