April 29, 2012
We all want our children to grow up to be happy, healthy adults. But it can sometimes be hard to know how. These tips have been put together to help your kids to eat well, move more and live longer.
Whatever their weight, it’s important that children eat properly and get lots of exercise to build a healthy body.
It’s important for kids to have regular, proper meals as growing bodies respond better to routine. Here are some tips:
Kids do better with routine: Eat your meals at regular times. If family meals are at different times, your child may come to have poor eating habits. If your child can’t count on a regular mealtime, he may overeat at one meal, or snack on fattening foods between meals. Irregular eating keeps him from “tuning in” to his body’s natural cues for hunger and satisfaction. Do not skip meals.
Eat as a family: Eat together whenever you can. Kids copy parents, brothers, sisters and friends, Sit down and eat with your child. Involve them in helping to prepare meals. Talk about how healthy eating can help the whole family. Turn off the TV, cell phones while you are together. They need your attention.
Plan meals and snacks: Healthy eating takes time and energy. It is important to feed your child before he is hungry. Not planning meals may lead to feeding them whatever is easiest instead of what is healthy. Prepare meals at home and eat out less often.
Keep it simple: Limit your child’s choices at meals. Offer him several healthy choices of foods including some you know he likes, and then let him decide which of the choices he wants to eat. If you’ve prepared meat and vegetables for dinner, don’t let your child only meat instead. This can turn him into a “picky” eater.
Limit temptations: Avoid having a lot of junk foods such as chips, chocolates, ice creams and soft drinks around the house; these are high in calories and fat. It is hard to keep from eating these foods if they are always around.
Try and keep foods like pizzas, cakes, pastries as occasional treats only.
Limit TV time: Set limits on how much time your child spends watching TV and playing video games. Less than 2 hours daily is advised. Spending too much time just sitting can lead to weight gain. Teach your child to enjoy physical activity by encouraging them to play outside. Kids need at least 1 hour of physical activity outside of school each day
Make changes you can live with: Avoid trying to change everything about your child’s eating habits overnight. This will just frustrate you, your child, and the rest of your family. Focus on one or two problem areas in your family’s eating habits and work on improving them together.
60 active minutes
Kids need to do at least 60 minutes of activity a day to help them stay happy and healthy. But it doesn’t have to be sport – running around and having fun outside count too.
• Get them off the bus and out of the car – if it’s walkable, walk it.
• Clock up 60 minutes’ worth of active play each day after school and at weekends – this includes running around, going to playgrounds and kids’ outdoor games. And it’s all free!
The way life is today means that most of us spend too long sitting down doing nothing. Not being active means our bodies don’t burn off enough fat, which leads to it storing up inside.
• Get them running around after school. We tend to think that they get loads of exercise at school, but they still need to be active out of school hours too.
• Get them up and about after eating, instead of sleeping down on the sofa. Moving around helps digestion.
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