One Little Trick to Create Healthy Eating Habits for Kids

We all want our kids to eat healthy food without any fuss. We want our kids to naturally pick out the healthy foods rather than constantly demanding junk and treats.

It is perfectly possible to teach children healthy eating habits in easy and fun ways BUT it doesn’t happen overnight.

Teaching your kids healthy eating is like teaching them to ride a bike. It is a skill that they need to learn.

Most children’s default setting is to ask for cake, cake and more cake.

Our job as parents is to gently steer them towards healthy foods and teach them that cake is a fantastic and delicious treat that can be eaten in moderation.

How Do You Change Your Family Eating Habits?

The thing about habits is that once you’re in a habit, you do it without thinking.

For healthy eating, that might be your kids asking for some fruit or nuts for a snack instead of stamping their feet for chocolate. (Yes, it totally can happen!)

Or it might be them eating some vegetables without being asked.

The problem is, when you’re not in the habit, it takes a lot of effort to get into it.

The best way to change your habits is to make it do-able and to keep at it for a period of time. (Depending on the habit, it can take anywhere between a month and 3 months to truly establish a habit.)

You just need to keep going!

Find One Thing That You’d Like to Change.

Have a think about the “worst” thing about your family diet.

If you could wave a magic wand what would you change?

Do you eat too many candies?
Do you eat too many cakes and cookies and sugary snacks?
Do you eat too many sweet and sticky desserts?
Do you eat too much junk food?
Do you eat too much out of a packet?
Do you drink too much sugary pop?

Find your “worst” thing and think how you can change it.

One great way is to make a substitute rather than trying to go without.

For example.

Eat too many candies? Eat dried fruit once a week instead.
Eat too many cakes and sugary snacks? Swap it for a healthy snack instead.
Eat too many sweet deserts? Make a fruit based dessert instead.
Too much junk food? Try making your own hamburgers instead.
Too much sugar pop? Try orange juice with fizzy water. (Or just fizzy water for adults.)

Be Realistic About Your Healthy Habits

Be realistic about what you can do with your routine.

If you decide that instead of take out every day, you’re suddenly going to cook from scratch every day, chances are you’re soon going to be overwhelmed and give up.

If you decide that every Saturday, you’re going to have fun and get the whole family cooking (prepare yourself for a bit of stress, total chaos and a messy kitchen but enjoy it) then your chances of success are much higher.

Make One Change Now

Think about what you’d like to change and find a way that you can make a slight improvement.

Then stick to it!

Don’t be put off by the fact that it only seems “small”. Once you are in that habit, once you can do that thing without thinking about it and without having to muster energy to do it, then you’re ready to take one more small step.

Remember that healthy eating is a marathon, not a sprint!

Come and Join the Happy Healthy Eating for Kids Challenge

If you’d like some help changing your habits, come and join the challenge! We’re finding fun and simple ways to turn healthy eating into a habit.

Teaching your child healthy eating habits can be overwhelming and stressful. Instead of trying to do it all, make one small change and turn it into a healthy eating habit.. #toddler #fussyeater #fussytoddler #toddlerwon'teat #pickyeater #parenting #positiveparenting.

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