1) Firstly, I’ll remind you that no one is perfect and us mum’s are flat out busy already so when we contemplate the seemingly impossible task of helping our children to eat healthily, it can suddenly feel like an insurmountable gauntlet.
Even those of us who know how to eat healthily can still struggle with it, but it is actually really simple, we’ve made it hard because there is so much choice.
2) The next thing to remember is that it takes 10 introductions of the same food just for your child to even CONSIDER eating it!
So be patient, and just keep introducing healthy foods.
3) I find that having them eat their healthy food first and then giving them the food they want after is another good tip for your tool belt. (I make our own juices or smoothies and freeze them in Popsicle holders, or protein balls to give as a treat after they eat their meal.)
4) Begin to implement healthy foods as a normal part of each main meal and as snacks, which gets them used to expecting it over time.
5) Now think about your child’s eating from this perspective; if they are eating enough of their main meals, they shouldn’t require large, filling snacks that are anything other than fruit, veggies, nuts or rice crackers with hummus.
We have fallen into some unhealthy patterns due, probably mostly to clever marketing of snack foods, encouraging us to fill up our children on unhealthy packaged foods, but it actually throws their whole eating out of whack. WE have been tricked into thinking our kids should have elaborate snacks when they don’t need them and it actually stops them from eating their main meals properly.
So if you remove all snacks other than fruit, veggies, nuts or rice crackers with hummus, what happens? They eat less junk, it’s cheaper and they are also more likely to eat their main meals!
Follow next weeks article on part 2 of feeding fussy children. Find Noosa on Facebook and Instagram
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