Encouraging Healthy Eating for the Whole Family
We all want our loved ones to have healthy, happy lives!
Here Amy gives some tips to help create great habits when it comes to food, mealtimes and nutrition within your family!
Creating good habits
Healthy eating is so important to start from a young age. We want to make sure our little ones will take good habits and a love of healthy foods with them into later life.
Here’s some healthy tips to discuss with your family to start the health conversation!
Eat the rainbow!
Red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue…. I can eat a rainbow Eat a rainbow Can you eat a rainbow too?
Eating different coloured fruits and vegetables gives us lots of different nutrients called vitamins and minerals. These help us to become super healthy and grow up big and strong.
Can you think of foods that you enjoy for each of these colours of the rainbow? Let’s talk about how we can eat more of these this week. For example, orange carrots! We could peel and slice them into sticks and have them with hummus dip!
Are you drinking enough water?
We need to drink water every day to make sure we stay hydrated. Water makes sure that we don’t get too hot and that all our insides can work properly. Sometimes if you don’t drink enough water you can get a headache or feel grumpy.
Do you drink enough water? Great times to drink water are in the morning when you wake up and after playing and being active.
It is a good idea to always have a bottle of water with you to make it easier to get more water in throughout the day.
Can you try new foods?
It can take a couple of tries before you start to like a food, especially some vegetables! But did you know that grown ups in your family really like vegetables because they kept trying them when they were little? And now they love vegetables which is great because they are so good for you.
If you don’t think you like a food that’s ok, just be brave and try a little taste. The more you do this the more foods you will like and the more tasty and healthy foods you can eat as you grow up, nice and healthy.
How can we make family meal times more enjoyable?
Meal times are a great time for the family to come together and share experiences, feel close or even discuss the yummy, healthy meal that has been served. You are more likely to sit down and enjoy healthy meals if it is enjoyed as part of a family where you get to see the people you love eating healthy foods too.
Try to make happy memories around your healthy food and family.
Try to take some moments as a family to be thankful for your food and for the person who has prepared it for you, especially if the kids have helped out! Maybe go around the table and ask what was each person's favourite part of the day? Or plan after dinner family time if everyone tries some of their healthy foods on their plate.
DediKate Nutrition services include...
Weekly educational nutrition videos, recipes, ongoing email support for members and a live weekly question and answer session - all with our DediKate Nutritionist Amy!
