5 ways to Foster Healthy Habits when it comes to Feeding Kids

Teaching your kids healthy eating habits from an early age goes a long way with them. Healthy eating habits aid in maintaining a healthy lifestyle which further decreases the risk of various health complications while making the ageing joyous and contented. We understand that feeding kids with healthy habits is quite challenging but what’s even more difficult than it is- “evaluating what to teach and what to not.” But here are some approaches a parent can take to develop healthy eating habits that they can carry into their adulthood to keep themselves happy and healthy.

• Encourage your children to eat slowly: Eating slowly is one of the great ways to pay heed to the cues of hunger and fullness and hence it is always advised to encourage your children to eat slowly. Before second serving, make sure that you ask your child to check if they are really hungry or not. This will help in preventing overeating and further keeps the various lifestyle diseases at bay.
• Teach your kids to wash hands before eating:One of the very basic healthy eating habits is to maintain proper hygiene during mealtime. Washing hands and gargling before sitting at the dining table is a simple and effective way to prevent infection. Eating without washing hands can increase the risk of illnesses and infections as the germs on the hands can easily be transferred to the stomach.
• Discourage eating meals or snacks while watching TV: Eating meals while watching TV can lead to distracted eating that can make it difficult for the kids to pay heed towards the feelings of fullness and thus lead to overeating. Make sure that eating should be done in the designated areas of your home and with the whole family to fully enjoy the mealtime.
• Enlighten your kids with the gen of healthy and unhealthy: Teaching your kids with the information about healthy and unhealthy food lets them eliminate the consumption of junkies and bad fats from their diet which helps in promoting overall health and well-being. Make them aware of the food labels and understand them the difference between healthy snacking so that they always stick by the nourishing food options during snacking.
• Instil your kids with the knowledge of portion sizes: Maintaining portion sizes is extremely important to bid adieu to the various health ailments like obesity, indigestion, gas, bloating, stomach-ache and many others. Make sure that you make your kids understand about the ingredients, portion size and food labels so that they won’t end up loading everything in one go. Teach them to consume smaller 5-6 meals in a day to keep themselves fulfilled with the energy and nutrients throughout the whole day.

Footnote
Above written are the 5 ways to foster healthy eating habits in your kids. Make sure that you become a role model for them and set your example to make them understand better. Also, try to sit together during mealtimes to make the information sharing, meals and conversations pleasant.