Allow your kid to select what foods they want to eat from a selection of healthy choices. ©Shutterstock
A balanced diet packed with nutrients is crucial for the proper growth of children. But practicing healthy eating habits is also as important as eating a nutritious diet for their overall health and wellbeing. By teaching your children healthy eating habits, you can help them maintain a healthy weight and normal growth. Also, this healthy childhood habits will help them maintain a healthy lifestyle when they are adults.
A new study has revealed that healthy eating behaviours in childhood may reduce the risk of, overweight, obesity and cardiovascular disease later in life. Published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the study advises parents and caregivers to create a healthy food environment for young children that supports the development of positive eating behaviours.
"Parents and caregivers should consider building a positive food environment centred on healthy eating habits, rather than focusing on rigid rules about what and how a child should eat," said study researcher Alexis C Wood from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, US.
The researchers noted that allowing children to choose what and especially how much to eat within an environment composed of healthy choices will encourage them to develop and eventually take ownership of their decisions about food. This may help them develop eating patterns linked to a healthy weight for a lifetime, they added.
As per the researchers, parents and caregivers can encourage children to eat healthy foods by:
If your child is a picky eater, you may find it hard to make him/her try new foods. It may be also challenging for picky eaters to allow to make their own food decisions. But the researchers say these behaviours are common and normal in early childhood, ages 1 to 5 years, as they are learning about the tastes and textures of solid foods.
The researchers warn parents against imposing rigid, authoritarian rules around eating and using tactics such as rewards or punishments. These tactics may work for short term, but the authoritarian approach can make children more likely to eat when they are not hungry and eat high- calorie foods. This will increase the risk of overweight and obesity and/or conditions of disordered eating, the researchers noted.
They suggest that parents should take an indulgent approach, where a child is allowed to eat whatever they want whenever they want. This will encourage children to develop healthy eating habits.
It's not just the parents that has a role to play in developing positive eating behaviours in children. Researchers say children's eating behaviours are influenced by a lot of people in their lives. So, it is important for the whole family to demonstrate healthy eating habits to the young children. Eat meals together as a family and make mealtimes pleasant with conversation and sharing. Avoid scolding or arguing during mealtimes. This may create an unpleasant environment, and children may learn to associate eating with stress and try to eat faster to leave the table as soon as possible.
With inputs from IANS
