It is important to know that our children are greatly influenced by our eating habits. So, even if we make sure that we provide them with healthy food choices, it is necessary for us to also adopt them. This is the right way to keep our child nourished throughout his or her life. However, although this is legitimate in theory, nevertheless the family meal structure and eating habits of previous generations, always seem to stand in the way of this effort.
What Mistakes We Must Review
In older generations, the idea that they had to feed children excessive amounts of food daily is wrong. The so-called “food overload” is of no use to the child’s body, as it induces to overeating and, consequently, obesity. In particular, certain foods such as butter should be consumed in moderation by the child, although it was previously thought that only with such fatty foods children would grow up healthy.
Another important mistake many mothers and grandmothers still do, is altering the taste of several foods and drinks to be more pleasurable to their kids, to the point that the child cannot appreciate how tasty the milk or yogurt, egg or even water is. Instead of feeding your child milk with sugar, honey or cocoa, let them get used to the pure taste of some plant based or animal-based beverages. The same goes with many other foods. Even if the child initially complains that their fresh orange juice is not sweet enough, over time they will get used to it. So don’t add sugar everywhere with no reason!
Children need to learn to love water. But when you are not motivated to drink water every time you ask for a drink, it makes sense not to choose water to quench your thirst. Although several teas, vitamin drinks, milks or juices are beneficial to the body, no drink can ever replace pure water.
Moving forward, it is important that the child does not consume too much salt. This is another issue that is very often downgraded in child nutrition. We as parents should learn to use minimal salt in cooking and not to add too much salt on potatoes, salad or even on cheese. Since our child considers following our dietary patterns, we should reduce the salt we consume or even replace it with healthier choices, spices and herbs.
By paying attention to these small food details and helping children understand how delicious healthy eating can be, we build the ideal base for our children to get used to the traditional, healthier eating habits. In this way, this type of family progress will also be able to improve the nutrition of all next generations, eliminating nutrition mistakes that our ancestors passed to us.
Best of Health,