Healthy Food Habits for Our Kids: Where Do We Begin?
All parents want their children to be healthy, strong, and intelligent. Food is the primary energy source that a kid uses to perform various physical and intellectual tasks and cope with challenges. We are what we eat. So if your kid eats fast food that has nothing to do with healthy ingredients, the child will be weak and suffer various health problems. How to make children love healthy food? Professionals provide several valuable tips.
#1. Start with Organic Baby Formula or Breast Milk
Breast milk is everything a baby needs till six months old. If a parent cannot breastfeed, only top-quality formula can substitute it. Baby formula ingredients must be natural and organic. The FDA and EFSA control baby products, but a parent should be attentive and avoid baby formula that:
*has artificial sweeteners, flavors, or stabilizers;
*doesn’t have a certificate to prove its safety;
*was taken from animals fed with chemicals or after-pesticide grass and treated with antibiotics;
*prevails in casein proteins instead of whey like in breast milk;
*is 100% inorganic.
Moreover, some kids have allergies or suffer indigestion because of animal proteins, so parents should search for adapted formulas such as HiPP Hypoallergenic, Comfort, or Anti-reflux. Experts also recommend using goat milk formula for gassy children due to its gentle influence on an infant’s stomach.
If children eat first food without sugar and flavor enhancers, they will not want them when being toddlers or older.
#2. Healthy Meals at Home
Baby feeding schedule should better coincide with family meals. A mommy and a daddy should have organic meals on their plates to manifest the desired example of healthy eating. When kids are over six months old, parents should encourage BLW by giving varied healthy food of different colors, tastes, and safe shapes to prevent choking. Parents should not force kids to eat because a stressed child always rebels.
#3. Shopping Together
Parents shouldn’t ignore their babies when shopping because it’s the best chance to teach kids to eat healthily. It’s better to avoid unhealthy food sections and prefer those with the desired products. Your shopping lists should include the following goods:
*vegetables
*fruit
*berries
*cereal
*eggs
*white meat
*fish
*greenery
*dairy
*water
#4. Cooking Together
Today, YouTube and TikTok bloggers have channels with natural meals and healthy baby snacks recipes. One cannot even imagine how many delicious things parents and kids can prepare without the use of excessive amounts of sugar, flour, grease, and salt.
Honey, maple syrup, sweet and dried fruit, or berries can replace sugar in ice cream and cake. For example, whipped cream and milk with strawberries, bananas, and organic chocolate will make super tasty ice cream or filling for a cake. Instead of red meat, one can use chicken or turkey.
In other words, kids can enjoy spending time with their parents and preparing yummy things with their favorite ingredients. Later, they will prepare school snacks independently, so parents won’t be busy with that.
Eat Slowly and Without Distractors
When people eat fast, they overeat because their stomachs don’t manage to signal their brains, “Enough!” Children mustn’t watch videos when having meals because their brains concentrate on cartoons and don’t notice that their hosts have eaten too much.
Apps to Stay Hydrated and Eat Enough
Water is the main component of a human organism, so drinking pure water is crucial. Unlike soda, tea, coffee, and juice, water has no calories or harmful substances. Apple Store and Playmarket have many apps that help to learn the required amount of water, carbs, fats, and proteins, depending on a person’s age, weight, and gender. Parents can use them to ensure that kids get all the nutrients and water needed to stay healthy.
