I'm going to start this post by asking you to watch this video.
Heartbreaking, no?
Personally, I love this video and will show it to every parent I know. It's easy to shove some junk food into your kids' mouth when he/she is acting up, but all that it does is get your child addicted to fast food. And yes, that has been proven. Junk food IS addictive.
So how to prevent it?
Teach your children from a very young age that there are "good" foods and "bad" foods. My little brother would always want McDonald's when we went out. Always. Until one day I told him that people who eat McDonald's a lot become sick, and "fat", and "can't play football properly because they get too heavy" (he loves football). It worked like a charm. He started getting Subway sandwiches with me instead of nuggets and fries. He started eating more vegetables and fruit. He only eats Nutella once or twice a week as opposed to nearly every day. Baby steps.
If you have to, have one meal assigned per week where your child eats whatever their heart desires. But please don't make it an every day thing. Don't get them used to an unhealthy lifestyle. Think of the long run. You don't want to be partially responsible for their weight gain and health problems. People don't have to get heart attacks at the age of 30.
I found some videos and recipes that might help you with preparing healthier foods for your little ones, or even for you! I urge you to watch them and maybe get your children to help you out in the kitchen while making them, if they're old enough. They're more likely to eat something that they have fun making.
Another thing that kids should start doing at a young age is getting some form of physical activity.
Take them to the park, or the beach, get them a bike, roller blades or enroll them in some kind of a sport, a dance.. whatever. Kids have so much energy, and having them spend their days glued to an iPad is not going to benefit them in the long run. If they get used to exercising at a young age, they are more likely to continue this lifestyle in the long run.
Here are a few other tips that both kids and adults can benefit from.
- Ditch the juice boxes and chocolate milk. Those contain a lot of sugar, a lot of unhealthy fats, and don't contribute anything nutritious for your health. Instead, go for water, low-fat milk, or smoothies (click here for some recipes) that you can blend up right at home.
- Keep healthy snacks around instead of chips and candy. If your kids can't find any junk in the house, they are more likely to snack on healthier options. Try popcorn, cheese and crackers, fruit, or vegetables.
- Instead of frying the majority of your food, try roasting or grilling. Much healthier without compromising taste.
- Drink water. Adults should have around 8 glasses of water per day. You can also get fancy if you don't like the taste of plain water and make fruit infused water.
- Stop drinking soda. Even the 0 calorie or diet ones, because those are even more harmful than the regular kinds. If you want to know why, google "aspartame".
- Reduce the white carbs. Instead of white bread, use whole grain. Instead of white rice, try to have brown more often. Instead of white pasta, you get the idea.
- Eat lots of fruit and veggies. It is recommended that we have 5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day.
- Move. And no, you don't have to go to the gym. But have at least 30-40 minutes a day where you do something that moves your body.
- White meat > red meat. White meat is a lot more lean than red, and doesn't have nearly as much cholesterol so try to incorporate more fish and chicken breast in your cooking than beef etc.
- Cut down on saturated fat. This is found in junk food, cheese, lard, butter and cakes. What saturated fat does is it clogs your arteries. Not good. Instead, incorporate some unsaturated fat into your diet. This can be found in nuts, seeds, avocados and oily fish.
- Cut down on the salt. Too much salt can result in high blood pressure.
- Don't skip breakfast! It really is the most important meal of the day as it gets your metabolism going so that you can burn more calories throughout the day.
- Monitor your portions. We consume way more than we should. Eat slowly and listen to your body. When you're content, stop eating. Over-stuffing yourself is not going to do you any good.
- Take it one day at a time. You don't need to go head-first into a healthy lifestyle because you're likely to get off it just as fast. Take baby steps and incorporate healthy food gradually. And again, have that one meal a week where you eat what you want. But just. one. day.
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