Do you find it hard to get your children to eat anything other than burger and chips? Do you need help finding healthy foods that are delicious, nutritious and appealing to children? Children’s nutrition programmes and children’s nutrition advice can help you cut out the junk and improve your whole family’s diet.
A children’s nutrition programme isn’t like an adult diet plan. Children are still growing, may have different tastes to their parents, and still need plenty of treats! However, a good children’s nutrition programme can keep your child healthy now, and for the future. By building good eating habits, you could help your child avoid health problems in later life – including heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.
We can connect you with professional dieticians and personal trainers, offering expert advice on how to create the perfect children’s nutrition programme – no matter how fussy your child!
Children’s nutrition – hints and tips
Improving your children’s nutrition can feel like an uphill struggle. However, there are a few tips and tricks you can use to try and stay on the path to healthier eating:
- Lead by example. Don’t try giving your children broccoli if you’re tucking into a pizza.
- Eat a proper meal together every evening. Avoid the temptation to have snack-like dinners on the sofa.
- Eat a wide variety of food – see our guide to healthy eating for more information.
- Try and get fruit and vegetables into your child’s diet using stealth! For example, chop some peppers, tomatoes and a little spinach, mix with cheese and grill between two tortillas for a nutritious snack that kids will love.
- Make sure you try and include a vegetables, low-fat protein, grain, fruits and fibre in your children’s nutrition plan.
- Avoid saturated fat, unrefined sugar and excess salt. Check the labels – some products (such as biscuits, cereals and bread) have a lot more salt and sugar than you might expect.
- Give your child a treat every now and again! Chocolate and some sweets are fine in moderation!
- Make sure you include lots of foods with calcium in your children’s nutrition programme – this can help the development of strong bones and teeth. Milk, cheese and other dairy products, as well as dark leafy vegetables, are loaded with iron and calcium.
- Don’t cave in just because your child doesn’t want to try something or doesn’t like it first time round. Try to get them to eat it and have a healthy back up in mind if they absolutely can’t.
- Try and limit the amount of junk in pack lunches. Replace chocolate bars with grapes, slices of apple and mango. Try and avoid excessively sugary drinks. Try lightly salted or honey popcorn instead of crisps.
- Talk to you child and find out what they like and don’t like. Take them shopping – get them involved in the food preparation process. If they want to, let them help you cook or even let them cook their own dinner every so often.
Children’s nutrition for life
It’s more important now than ever before that children’s nutrition is taken seriously. 15% of kids are now classed as obese and a growing number are becoming overweight every year.
A proper understanding of children’s nutrition and diet – as well as the best ways to keep your whole family fit and healthy – can set your child up for a long and healthy life.
Contact us to find out more about our network of children’s nutrition specialists and personal trainers. You can also find children’s nutrition supplements in our online store.
