Why You Need to Start Healthy Eating Habits NOW!

There’s no doubt that many people find teaching their kids about healthy eating frustrating and stressful.

It’s SO easy to worry about what your kids are not eating.

Here’s what one of my readers, Rachel said to me:

“I am a full time working mom and cooking is not my favorite thing to do, nor am I good at it. When I do cook it is also frustrating because my child will usually not eat new things so then I feel that I wasted my time cooking.”

I totally get it.

I dislike cooking every single day and you know what, I have had many times when I’ve wanted to scream at my kids, pick up the food and tip it down their throats. (Ahem, I didn’t though!)

Most of Healthy Eating Benefits are in the Long Term

Of course there are short term benefits of eating healthily:

• Grow Healthily. Getting all the nutrients you need to grow properly and not have a nutrient deficiency such as anaemia or vitamin D deficiency.
• Lack of Illness. Not being constipated because you eat enough fibre in the form of fruit and vegetables.

However, the majority of kids are growing well (if yours isn’t, you need to go to your doctor) so for most kids, the benefits of healthy eating happen in adulthood.

Related: 9 Simple Ways to Help Your Kids Eat a Healthy Diet

Long Term Benefits of Healthy Eating

It can be tempting to dismiss healthy eating as “not your problem” but who doesn’t want their kids to grow into healthy adults with less risk of:

• Diabetes (number one killer in the world)
• Heart Disease
• Cancer (many cancers are linked to poor diet)
• Weight Problems (and associated problems such as joint problems)
• Low self esteem.

The list goes on.

Those illnesses seem so far and distant for our kids that it can be easy to see why people don’t feel that it’s urgent to start with the healthy eating.

Related: What is a Healthy Diet for Children?

Why You Need to Start Healthy Eating for Kids Now

The problem is that healthy eating is a habit. Kids develop eating habits as young as 3 years old.

You can change eating habits but the longer you leave it, the more entrenched they become.

The younger your child, the easier it is for you to turn healthy eating into a habit.

How to Make Healthy Eating Fun

Like all things that we struggle with, often we need to look at it from a different angle.

We need to change the way we think about things.

Let’s go back to Rachel and see if we can help.

Her problems are:

1. Lack of Time
2. Doesn’t enjoy cooking.
3. Isn’t good at cooking.
4. Kids don’t eat the food.
5. Food gets wasted.

Can you relate? I sure can.

Quick Healthy Eating Solutions

I could write an entire article on each of these problems so here is a quick answer to each of them.

1. Lack of Time. Be more organised and find ways to prepare ahead.
2. Doesn’t enjoy cooking. Feel the cooking love and share the burden.
3. Isn’t good at cooking. Gain confidence and start with simple and healthy. Everyone can cook vegetables!
4. Kids don’t eat the food. This is a problem of habits. Kids don’t eat new foods and if you don’t cook frequently they see it as new food. Find tasty and healthy food that they do like.
5. Food gets wasted. Serve smaller portions. Allow kids to serve themselves. Save leftovers for the next day.

How to Enjoy Cooking

Let’s have a look at this problem in more depth. Rachel says she doesn’t like cooking.

Let’s put the fun into cooking.

Change the way you think about cooking. Put on your favourite tunes and start with a 5 minute silly dance. If your kids aren’t there, enjoy the peace and quiet for a bit.

If your kids are there, be silly with them. Find a way to connect and make it fun for everyone.

Sounds just like easy words to say? Try it!

If you don’t enjoy it, you need to go back and look at why. You won’t actually enjoy it until you make up your mind that you want to enjoy it.

Teaching our kids healthy eating habits is more often about our attitude to food and healthy eating than going out to buy armfuls of kale and eggplants.

Related: How to Cook Vegetables Your Kids will Love

Come and Join the Happy Healthy Eating Challenge

We’re finding simple and fun ways to turn healthy eating into habits. Come and join the fun!