How to teach your child to eat right

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Jamie Oliver has been fighting a school feeding system that literally kills children for years. We shouldn't rely on a famous chef, so we need to teach children how to eat healthy on our own.

Why is it important for children to eat right

Why is Jamie Oliver attacking food in school canteens? Because in the UK and the US, children in schools are fed nuggets, burgers and chips. All this is poured with ketchup, sweet milkshakes and soda and is reflected in the obesity epidemic.

It would seem that things are not so bad in Russia yet. No fish sticks or fries are served in our schools. There are canteens in almost 90% of schools, there are opportunities for free meals. … There are not so many obese children - from 5 to 10% in different age groups, and the school menu is guided by norms and recommendations. …

Only then these slender children suddenly grow into adults who have massive weight problems. 60% of adults have extra pounds.

The point is not in the fat content of food and not in the wild amount of sugar, but in the fact that it is often impossible to swallow school food. Attempts to fit a healthy lunch into the minimum amount lead to something like this:

This is the menu of one of the food factories. At first glance, everything is wonderful, but when I read it, I again felt this unique aroma of the school cafeteria - the smell of an old wet rag. Someone was lucky with the food, but usually, against the background of bony pollock in gray puree, a buffet with an invariable sausage in dough and a kiosk with croutons across the street from the school look tempting.

Excess weight is not given as a gift for 18 years, it is gained gradually and imperceptibly. Jamie Oliver is right that the habit of eating harmful is established from childhood, and dealing with the consequences is always more difficult than preventing them.

Since we have no hope for a chef who will reform the school feeding system, we must take matters into our own hands and engage in the formation of good habits in our children.

How to teach your child to eat right

Do not force to eat in the dining room

If you are unlucky with the cooks, and the child does not eat at school, then you will throw your lunch money down the drain. The child will still buy a pie, tongue or croutons. Hot food should not be considered an absolute, although it is useful. Soup will not cure gastritis, which is caused by bacteria and exacerbates stress. Especially the soup that will not be eaten.

Irregular eating is not known what actually provokes inflammation. But if you choose between a tasteless lunch and a healthy snack, but dry food, then the latter is better. And the question of liquid is solved by a bottle of compote or a packet of juice.

The problem is that giving lunch for the whole day, especially for high school students, is difficult. There is no refrigerator, there is no place to warm up lunch, and even have to carry it in a backpack full of textbooks. Unfortunately, only lunches can help you here.

Eat right at home

No matter how things are at school, morning and evening are in your hands, and basic eating habits are established in the family. The only way to show your child how to do it right is to leave no options. That is, all food at home should be healthy. This means without a ton of sugar, minimally processed, cooked without liters of oil and without frying. And no canned food.

Fresh unprocessed foods, from which we cook at home, are overwhelmingly healthy. Don't bother looking for your next superhealthy meal. First, throw all the mayonnaise out of the refrigerator.

Learn to cook

If you think that healthy can never be tasty, then you have problems with the ability to cook. The same Jamie Oliver copes with the task, and we publish many of his advice.

Fast food and rolls are more appetizing because of the sugar, salt and flavorings. You can only compete with such artillery with food that drools. That is, from delicious and beautifully served.

Don't force me to eat foods you don't like

Your child is unlikely to want to eat broccoli from a steamer, and I understand him. Do not get hung up on the magical properties of one product, add substitutes to your diet. You cannot instill a healthy eating habit without a lack of desire.

Don't keep sweets at home

The stock of cookies and sweets will not leave every adult indifferent, let alone children. Buy a little bit of sweets so that you can only eat one serving of dessert. Fewer temptations - less chance of succumbing to them.

Reduce the amount of salt gradually

The World Health Organization recommends eating no more than 5 grams of salt per day. This is less than a teaspoon. At the same time, on average, we eat 1.5–2.5 times more. …

The lack of salt helps to avoid fast food. Because ready-to-eat and convenience foods start to feel overly salty when the receptors get used to the real taste of the food.

Use spices

Unless, of course, you are allergic to them. Spices are an analogue of flavor enhancers, only natural and healthy. A healthy alternative to nutritional supplements.

Have a nasty day

All the same, the child will eat something wrong, especially the teenager: how to resist when all the classmates went for burgers? Take control and arrange junk food outings to avoid turning junk food into a taboo pleasure.

Communicate the benefits in accessible language

The child does not understand what is useful. We already know what high blood pressure, excess weight and gastritis are. For children, health problems are too far away, it is difficult for them to give up harmful, but so tasty, for the sake of a vague future.

Talk to children in their language. Tell them how a specific product will help them. You need potatoes for more energy. Meat is needed to strengthen muscles and pass physical education standards. Nuts help solve complex examples and problems. This is already a clear benefit, not abstract health.

It will not be superfluous for adolescents to remind that appearance directly depends on nutrition.

Ask the coach at the sports school to talk to the children

It's great if the child goes in for sports. Because no trainer in the world will support an unhealthy diet. Ask your coach to give a short lecture (if he hasn’t already done so) about eating right and how it affects your athletic performance. Leadership authority should work.