Originally published August 31 2012
Creative ways to get kids to eat healthier
by PF Louis
(NaturalNews) Getting kids to eat healthier is a challenge with all those TV ads promoting junk food for kids. As they grow old enough to mingle with their peers, they're exposed to other kids who eat junk food in daycare, kindergarten, or first and second grades.
Setting a strong example is the basis for starting your children on a healthy diet path. If you're eating chips and donuts or cookies while drinking sodas, that's what your children will demand.
If you let them watch too many TV kiddie shows, they're getting programmed for demanding you buy those silly drink mixes and bad cereals.
Average supermarkets are invitations to disaster. All those boxes of cereals and cookies advertised on TV children's shows are displayed prominently to get your child's programmed attention. They may demand you buy some and feel rejected if you don't.
It's a good idea to take them with you while buying bulk items and produce at a good health food store. This sets a foundation for working things out at home with a few simple tricks.
Creative suggestions from foodie experts
One thing all the experts seem to agree on is the family eating the same food together. Common sense, flavorful cooking and mixing in veggies with rice or potatoes is encouraged. Be calm and patient but unrelenting.
One discipline to avoid is forcing the child to clear his or her plate. That creates a negative attitude about whatever you're forcing to be completely consumed. It also discourages the enough to eat signals a child takes into adulthood.
This demands discrimination. You have to determine whether your child has really had enough to eat or is holding out for a dessert, which is another reason why desserts should be off the menu at home.
Eating simple carbohydrate and sugar deserts that digest quickly with slower digesting main meals leads to fermentation, poor digestion, and long-term gastrointestinal tract disorders. It's a bad mix for young and old.
Don't use sweets or sodas as a reward. That's self-defeating. Research was done with young children using brightly colored labels or cards as rewards for eating vegetables. Remember how you thought it was a big deal to a have gold star placed on your early primary school homework?
Acquaint your kids with raw veggies using a salad bar system. Chop up dark greens, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, and cucumbers. Offer them as a platter to create their own salad.
Avoid those trans-fatty acid hydrogenated salad oils created to extend shelf life if you want your children to stay healthy. They actually create disease over time. (http://www.naturalnews.com)
Another approach is to add some interesting toppings, tomato or marinara sauce, a light cream sauce, or mushrooms to veggies lightly steamed or stir fried.
It's okay to have a few sweets around for snacking away from meals occasionally. Try to use the best pastries/cookies from health food store bakeries.
Use fresh, organic fruits, apples, bananas, strawberries, plums, grapes, raisins, and whatever else may be available and yummy for healthy snacks. Add a few organic, raw nuts and coconut oil or hot air popped organic popcorn.
Avoid giving your kids pasteurized milk from confined grain-fed cows that have been shot up with antibiotics and growth hormones. It's beyond dead food. It's poison. You may want to try healthy, raw milk if you can get it. You can also buy almond milk or make your own coconut milk. (http://www.elanaspantry.com/diy-coconut-milk/)
The whole family should be using reverse osmosis water if your water system's fluoridated (http://www.naturalnews.com/032129_fluoridation_intelligence.html). It's a good idea to remineralize that purified water with some real sea salt or a liquid trace mineral supplement.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.squidoo.com/get-your-kids-eat-veggies
http://life.gaiam.com/article/10-ways-get-kids-eat-healthier
http://today.msnbc.msn.com
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