Teaching kids about healthy eating

According to Discovery Vitality’s Healthy Active Kids report, our kids are not eating enough fruit and vegetables, are eating too many sugary treats, and eating too much fast food. One great way to get kids to eat better is to teach them about all the wonderful benefits of eating good, wholesome foods. This will help them to make healthier choices now, and this can become a habit. Here are some great ways to teach your kids about healthy food:

• Involve your kids in food preparation. Especially when you put their lunchboxes together. Tell them about the qualities of the foods as you use them, for instance, when chopping carrots, explain how they keep their eyes healthy.
• Make a game of teaching them about food. For example, quiz them about where the carrots come from and explain that carrots are a kind of root.
• Show them where food comes from. A vegetable garden is a great way to do this. Explain how plants grow and which part of each plant is edible. For example, show them that the root of the carrot is edible, the stem of the celery is edible, the leaves of the rocket are edible, and the fruit of the tomato is edible.
• Conduct food experiments with your kids. Let your kids experiment with different combinations and they’ll have fun learning about how to make foods taste good. For instance, they’ll soon learn that even though peanut butter and tuna are each delicious and good for you, they don’t necessarily work very well together.
• Teach them about moderation. When it comes to a healthy diet, it’s a good idea to teach them from a young age how to enjoy less healthy foods in moderation. Don’t ban sweets and chocolates, but teach them to enjoy a small treat once in a while rather than overindulging.
• Avoid using sweets as rewards. Telling your children that they’ll only get dessert if they eat all their vegetables might seem like a useful way to get them to eat their vegetables, but it’s not great for their health in the long run. This practise teaches them that sweets are a reward and teaches them to value healthy foods less. This can lead to unhealthy eating habits later in life.

Involving your kids in food early in life can help them to develop a healthy relationship with food and a good understanding of what it means to be healthy. And another great way to get your kids excited about healthy food is to take them shopping with you. To understand exactly what the healthiest options are, activate the Discovery Vitality HealthyFood benefit here or visit www.discovery.co.za for more information. You’ll know what your healthy options are when you shop; it makes a healthy diet more affordable with up to 25% cash back at Pick n Pay or Woolworths; plus, you can earn up to 1 000 Vitality points a month.

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