Inculcate Good Eating Habits In Your Children!

Hello everyone,

 I am Pradnya Padhye. I am a registered dietician. I am practicing from the past 16 years and in this video I am going to share with you a few tips that will help you inculcate good eating habits in your children. Childhood years are the formative years and what your child eats today will decide his health in adult. It is very important to begin early. Exposing our kids to different coloured foods, flavours and textures in the form of fruits, vegetables and millets is very important to ensure that they get wide range of nutrients that their body needs. This process has to begin when we start weaning. Having said that it is never too late to begin.

Second important thing is never missing the child's breakfast. Lack of time in the morning because of the rush in for school in the morning is a very common reason to miss breakfast. Your child's brain needs carbohydrates to function optimally, to have better concentration and memory at school. No child is born with the habit of eating breakfast and it is a very important habit that needs to be inculcated. You can begin with small portions of snacks that your child likes and then eventually move to the ideal breakfast snacks. Childhood obesity, childhood obesity is one of the rising trends now-a-days among kids. For many parents a chubby child is a healthy child and often the parents over feed the child in this pursuit. What we don't realize is the child gets used to the habit of over-eating and this is a major cause of obesity in adult. The fourth thing that is important is the rampant use of processed food in today's routine.

For many parents processed food or outside food only refers to the hotel food or the restaurant food, what we don't realize is anything that is packaged like a bread, a biscuit or a packet of cookies or chips, chocolates, tetra packs that your child consumes is also considered as outside food. Outside food is not only loaded with calories but is also loaded with toxins and chemicals in the form of additives, preservatives, food colours and so on. This food needs to be consumed strictly occasionally. Kids now-a-days are also becoming very picky or fussy eaters. Parents often discuss their child being fussy or picky eater in the child's presence. This leads to the reinforcement of the fact in child's mind that he is a poor eater. Many a times parents also give in to the child's demands for specific foods limiting his exposure to wide variety of foods. Any concerns about the child being a picky eater or ways to manage it should be strictly done in the child’s absence.

The next habit that we are inculcating in children is finish your plate rule. Though food wastage is not acceptable, forcing the child to overeat and finish the plate not only inculcates the habit of overeating but it might also lead to the development of a strong dislike for the food. What we can do is begin with small portions when we are serving the plate and only refill those portions that the child seems to enjoy the most; this way we are assured that the child is eating till he is full and there is no wastage of food. Falling ill is also one of the concerns that most parents face. Falling ill gives the child's body a chance to develop an immune system and he comes up stronger instead we should ensure that we are giving him a lot of fruits that are rich in vitamins and minerals so that he has a better immune system in the form of nuts, eggs in your child's health is also strongly recomming. You can meet up with your nutritionist or your paediatrician and assess your child's current eating habits to ensure he is eating a balanced diet and carbohydrates, fibre, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals and water is being consumed in appropriate quantities. The earlier you start the easier it is to develop good eating habits. It is never too late to begin. I hope this video is of help to you and by incorporating the above-mentioned points you can help your child to develop good eating habits. Happy parenting. For any further queries about your child's eating habits or his nutrition, lybrate.

Thank you.