Five proven ways to boost family health!

Do you struggle with meal time co-operation from the whole family? Are you making several meals to everyones tastes? Are your kids favourite go to snacks a packet of crisps or a chocolate bar?

It can be difficult and frustrating to get the whole family on board with healthy meal and snack times, but with a few tweaks healthier eating can be achieved and even fun!

1.Family cooking

No better way to get the kids involved with what they are eating AND creating some fun family time together. They learn by example and creating home cooked food is a great skill to have in life, they can start as early as you like! My toddler loves mixing the bowl of ingredients and chopping mushrooms with a blunt knife, half the fun is the mess and grazing on goodies as you go! I love our cooking time together as it’s a great bonding activity.

2.Eat The Rainbow

One activity I teach all my families is the Eat The Rainbow. Ask your child to paint their own rainbow on a piece of paper, you can even cut out pictures of different coloured veg to stick to each colour of your rainbow. Place it somewhere visible like the fridge and each day tick off the colours you’ve eaten that day. If you’re missing one, say blue for example, do some fun detective work to hunt down a blue fruit or veg they could eat that day!

3.Introduce new foods slowly

Kids need to trust the food on their plate, so don’t expect them to enjoy a new dish straight away. It is said children need to see a food 15 times before they like it or even try it, so persevere!

4.Have fun!

I try to give my veggies personality to encourage their consumption. If you say ‘Eat your vegetables’ children are likely to resist. Instead, try something like ‘today we have squeaky beans on our plate, who has the squeakiest bean!’ you will soon see them devour a whole pile of fine green beans!

5.Cut back on the junk

Remember you, not your children are in charge of what food enters the house hold. Having less easy not so health friendly snacking options available will mean everyone will start seeking alternatives (and may even enjoy them!)

 

When it comes to the not so healthy foods, be sure to allow them too in moderation so they don’t become a forbidden and more appealing option!

Try these ideas out for size and let me know how you get on, I love hearing your stories, recipes and feedback! [email protected]