Teaching Healthy Eating to Kids

As a kid who struggled with obesity and struggles around food, I have always had a passion with helping kids learn healthy habits with food. For kids, adapting a healthy lifestyle can impact one’s mood, stress, anxiety, relationships with others, as well as performance in school and sports. Not to mention overall health and risk for diseases in the long term. Oftentimes, your habits as a child tend to mold your adult behaviors. When you put all of that together, learning healthy habits at a young age can make a huge impact!

With that being said, it is a complex topic. Teaching the importance of certain foods, taking care of our bodies, and overall health is a conversation that should be handled carefully (and oftentimes without conversation at all!) Read further for some basic tips and tricks to starting healthier practices with your kids.

Set the Example

First and foremost, kids look up to what their parents are doing. If you aren’t eating a variety of nutrient dense foods, odds are your child will not be interested in eating those foods either. Set the example by incorporating fresh, whole, foods into your meals and snacks. In addition, at mealtimes, use it as an opportunity to highlight the benefits of those foods. For example, maybe when serving broccoli, you could share, “Broccoli is an excellent source of vitamin C, which can help protect us from getting sick.” This can help your child understand that while broccoli may or may not be their favorite, it provides extra benefits to keeping them healthy. Keep it simple and appropriate, based on age.

Good vs. Bad

While it’s important to highlight the good in nutrient dense foods, pointing out the bad in a slice of cake isn’t the same. Typically, I always recommend parents to avoid labeling foods as “good” or “bad.” Instead, teach your kids that some foods provide more nutritional benefits than others and should be included more frequently. Those foods provide more fuel, or nutrients, than others and it’s important to include them to provide the most benefits to our bodies. While other foods don’t provide as many benefits, they are still tasty! Sometimes we want to enjoy cake and that’s not something someone should feel bad about. If your child starts to believe that a food is bad, they may hide it and eat more when no one is looking. Ultimately, this can lead to the habit of emotional eating.

Health, not Appearance

Always aim to keep the conversation off of physical appearance and more about inner health. Making comments about your own body or others, in front of your child can be particularly impactful. Instead of teaching children to take care of their bodies, it pushes the focus on appearance. As a child, I can remember hearing adults talk about their weight or someone on TV talk about being “fat” and it directly impacting my own relationship with my body. It was something I struggled with for quite a while. Given how our society puts so much focus on weight and appearance, it is already coming from so many directions. It’s important to instill a body positive safe space at home and keep conversations about food away from appearance.

Make it an Activity

In addition to learning by example, kids also benefit from being involved in the process. Are you wanting to try healthier recipes for dinner? The idea may initially not sound exciting for kids, but there are ways to get them on board. Start by picking a few new recipes and seeing which your kids find the most appealing. Then include them by getting them to help with the preparation of the meal. If they help, they are more likely to be open in trying something new. Also, by giving them a voice, they won’t feel like it is being pushed on them.

Give Yourself Grace

No one’s perfect! There is no perfect path to healthy living or raising little ones. Sometimes putting fast food on the table is just part of staying sane— and that’s ok. Life is about balance and managing it is one of the best lessons you can teach your kids.

As always, for one on one counseling, whether for you or a family focus, don’t hesitate to reach out. Stay healthy!!