Healthy Eating For Kids
So how do you get a kid to eat healthy? Well, it starts with you. Kids won’t eat healthy if their parents don’t. Kids are born free of sugar cravings and desires for McDonalds and chocolate cake. It’s their family members and friends who turn them on to these poor eating habits. It’s ok for kids to enjoy some candy and junk food every now and then, but it’s not ok when your child refuses to eat their dinner and only wants chocolate.
Hidden Sugars in Your Child’s Diet
To start your kid on a healthier diet, first cut down foods and beverages that contain hidden sugars. Start cutting back on juice boxes and sodas and replace them with plain water. To add a little flavor to the water, pour a small amount of juice into their cup. Try about 1 part juice to 4 parts water. Let them slowly progress into drinking water over sugar filled juices and beverages.
Fruits are a great alternative to candy. Even though they are not as tempting, if conditioned, a child can learn to love fruit as much as he or she loves candy. Strawberries, juicy peaches, and watermelon are some great tasting fruits that kids tend to love! Cut down on the amount of candy and junk snacks in the house and stock up on flavorful fruits.
Make Healthy Snack Alternatives for Kids
Snacking is a dangerous times for parents and kids. You’ll want to give them chips or cheese doodles for the convenience and ease, but these types of snacks are doing nothing for their little bodies. On the day that you do your food shopping, set aside ½ hour after you arrive at home to cut up fresh fruits like red and green peppers, celery, carrots, etc into snack sized portions. Separate them all into Tupperware. When it’s snack time, or even when you are packing their lunch, grapping a hand full of celery or carrots is quick and simple. Just place them in a plastic zip lock baggie and you have yourself a healthy snack!
Kid Fitness Programs
Anything is better for your kid then sitting in front of the TV, computer or video game console. Get active and bring your kid along with you. Take long walks around the block, chase each other around the yard, play a game of tag together…whatever you do, set aside 30 minutes each day where you and your child move together.
There are also many great fitness programs for kids at your local gyms. Call around to see who is offering what. Another great alternative to the gym is to enroll your child in karate or martial arts lessons. These provide fun and challenging hobbies for young kids while burning up calories, teaching discipline and toning muscles.
Our Healthy Eating For Kids Program
Our customized Healthy Eating for Kids programs work with your child’s likes and dislikes to gradually shape and change their eating habits. Many times, kids eat poorly because they simply do not know how or why they should choose better foods.
Our program helps teach kids to make healthy food selections while educating them on the benefits of their choices. Many young boys want to grow up to be big and strong, and young girls want long pretty hair and a nice smile. We show them how their food choices can help them grow to be all of these things.
We work through diet logs and meal plans to help show children healthy alternatives for the foods they love. By tracking their daily food intake, they start to see and understand how to make better choices, and why the foods they chose on that particular day could have been better.
Life has to be fun, and we try to help children realize that they can still enjoy pizza parties and ice cream parties while learning to eat healthy. A lot of our program teaches portion control, so that kids understand that they can have a slice of pizza with their friends or an after school ice cream cone, ss long as they are making other healthy food choices throughout the day.
Don’t delay; let us start showing your child how he or she can have a brighter outlook by making a few simple changes.
For more information, email NJFitnessExpert@aol.com
