Encourage Healthy Eating by Making Mealtime Fun for Your Kids

Do you have picky eaters who dread sitting down at the table for a meal? Make mealtime fun for your children and encourage them to eat healthy at the same time. You'll instill nutritious eating habits for a lifetime of health benefits!

Try these ideas to add some fun to your healthy meals:

1. Incorporate many colors into each meal.

Children are fascinated by the rainbow and are more likely to pay attention to their food if it's colorful.

* Try a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables. Yellow squashes, green beans, purple eggplants, red tomatoes and others can make your table stand out and shine.

* You can also add color with your table settings. Entertain your kids with plates or placemats showing fun scenes.

2. Use a variety of shapes.

Children may enjoy having their food cut up into different shapes.

* Use cookie cutters or try your knife skills to make fun shapes out of food. From stars to circles, your kids will love them.

* You may also want to try letting your children use the cookie cutters to make shapes.

3. Create fun scenes and pictures.

Have you tried to add smiling faces to pancakes or turn waffles into little homes?

* Mealtime can also be more fun if you arrange the food on the plate into a picture or scene.

* Funny faces and figures are popular among children. However, you can also make outdoor scenes with salads as the grass and orange slices as the sun. Try turning the food into cute animals from time to time.

4. Dress up the meals with condiments.

Condiments can add color and spice to the meal and encourage your children to try new foods. Have plenty of ketchup, mustard, mayo, salad dressing, barbecue sauce, hot sauce, and other items handy before you sit down to eat.

* Your children may enjoy using the squeeze bottles to make fun words or shapes. The ketchup can be used to make a heart, and the salad dressing can help you create a little lake on their plate.

5. Make up appealing names.

The names of certain vegetables and fruits can make picky eaters squirm. However, you can fight back by using unique names for common food items. Children respond to cute vegetable names and are attracted to them.

* For example, children respond better to broccoli being called "little green trees."

* A study, titled "Attractive names sustain increased vegetable intake in schools," found that changing the name of carrots to "X-ray vision carrots" encouraged more children to eat them.

6. Cut up food into small bites.

Children often prefer to eat food that is in small pieces. It's easier for them to grab, chew, and swallow.

* If your picky eaters are refusing to finish their sandwiches or burgers, consider cutting these items up into smaller pieces. Bite-sized pieces can encourage them to finish their meals.

* You may also want to try miniature food items that are more fun for children to eat.

7. Encourage children to participate. From helping you cook to setting the table, children who participate during mealtimes are more likely to finish their food.

Mealtime can be a fun experience for your children, and you can help fussy eaters enjoy it. These steps are easy to follow and adjust to your family's needs.

Top Exercise and Nutrition Tips to Keep Your Child Healthy

Being overweight is unhealthy. Being underweight also has health risks. Research proves that about 80% of overweight children grow up obese.

It increases their cancer risk and can lead to bullying and low self-esteem. Then, you want your child to be healthy.

Pause for a moment and think about your own exercise and eating habits. What would you say about them? Would you like your kids to have habits like yours, or could they do better? How can you get your children to stay active and have good eating habits?

Incorporate these tips into your daily routine:

1. Talk to your kids about the importance of being healthy.

Teach them that different types of food give different types of energy. Help them understand that if they want to get big and tall, they need building blocks - food with natural nutrients.

● Help them know that they need to exercise or move their bodies daily. Convince them that when they do this, they will fall sick less and can play with their friends more.

2. Encourage daily exercise.

You could tell your kids to exercise directly. But a more effective method is to squeeze in a bit of exercise at different times during the day. They may not even notice it.

● You can tell them to walk the dog or take them to the playground, so they can play with their friends. Climbing or swinging on the monkey bars can help strengthen their muscles.

● Take a walk with them before or after dinner.

● Surprise them with gifts they can use for exercise, like bikes and skateboards. They can even use these as a means of transportation to school instead of you constantly dropping them off.

● Make exercise fun. Teach them your favorite active games or sports. Put on some dance music and jam to it.

● Challenge them to beat you in a race. Team sports like basketball, soccer, swimming, and karate are also fun.

3. Limit unhealthy and calorie-rich temptations.

Control what foods you buy and eat. The availability of high fat, sugary, or salty snacks will prevent your kids from developing healthy eating habits.

● Kids naturally eat what is available at home—stock up on fruits, vegetables, lean meat, and proteins.

● You can also learn recipes for healthy snacks and prepare them together.

4. Limit screen time.

What do we often do when watching something on our phones, computer, or TV? We mindlessly snack. That is not a good habit to encourage in your children. When they have nothing to do, encourage them to keep busy with things other than watching screens.

5. Eat as a family.

Unless they have special dietary concerns, they should eat what the family eats. Kids are more likely to eat their fruits and vegetables if they see everyone else doing so.

● What if your kids are against the idea of eating together? They will be more willing if you try to involve them in the meal preparation process. You can encourage them to invite their friends to dinner occasionally to make them more likely to want to eat with the family.

● Another important tip is to avoid using mealtime as an opportunity to give lectures.

6. Practice portion control.

This training helps children eat what they need, not simply because they want to. Serve food on smaller plates to make meals look larger. Dish them out on the counter, not at the dining table.

● If food is at arm's length, they will be encouraged to reach out for seconds, but if it's on the counter, they will think twice about it.

The goal is to keep your kids healthy, not to starve them. Make sure they are receiving a healthy, balanced diet. Don't forget to commend your children for their effort in obeying you.

As you work on helping them, ensure that you help yourself, too. Don't ignore your health. Your kids need you alive.

You love them dearly, so help them develop healthy habits they will carry throughout their lives.

Learn more about your health online when you read the rest of our information here about: Use Nutrition To Fight Disease With Food guide and also download the free health report available there!

Warren Tattersall has been a full time nutritional consultant for over 35 years and works with people all over the world to help them improve their health, increase their personal energy levels and to use supplements to assist with diet related health issues.

Just send him a note on the form here - Contact Us - to request a personal no obligation one-on-one consultation with Warren

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