How To Ensure Healthy Eating Habits In Your Family

Medically reviewed by Shanmukha Priya, M.Phil and Ph.D. in Food Science and Nutrition

Developing healthy eating habits in your family, especially in your children, means that they maintain a healthy weight and are always energetic.

A set eating routine, variety of foods and recipes enable you to practice healthy eating for yourself and your family. 

Table Of Contents

• Healthy Eating Habits
• Establishing food values
• Ensuring there is food variety
• Food Routines
• Eating food together
• Eating healthy food
• Doing away with junk
• Offer healthy snacking options

Healthy eating habits should be a way of life, not something that is done once in a blue moon. 

 Incorporating healthy eating habits into the family, whether one has kids and young children or not, it is possible to have a sustained healthy lifestyle and make it seem effortless too.

Here are a few effortless and easy ways to ensure healthy eating habits for kids and adults alike. 

The Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Health Publishing’s Healthy Eating Plate is an evidence-based visual guide which is a healthy meal blueprint.

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According to the research about healthy eating habits, the Healthy Eating Plate exhibits that a plant-based diet rich in healthy proteins, healthy fats, whole grains and vegetables lowers not only the risk of weight gain but also long-term diseases such as back pain, diabetes, heart problems, and more.  

This is essential considering the fact that the world today is facing a burgeoning obesity epidemic due to unhealthy eating habits.

Healthy Eating Habits

It’s not just what you eat, but also the food routines, and the variety that bring to your meals help in developing healthy eating habits. Sharing a meal and eating at a designated place also ensures that you eat more mindfully and in a happy state of mind.

1.Establish good eating values

Whether it is adults or kids, establishing good food values like eating together, eating local food, etc. is the first step towards a healthy relationship with food.

Taking time to create dinner, establishing the type of ingredients you wish to include, etc. are all important too.

2. Try the variety of foods

Encourage trying newer food varieties by adding new foods to your table so that one doesn’t turn into a picky eater later.

Ways to avoid that from happening include introducing chopped, diced, shredded and mashed veggies in foods and soups so that one will eat them, as opposed to serving them as veggies and risking people not eating them. 

Stop using food as a reward, don’t force anyone to eat too much, and don’t allow children to dictate the family meal plan by offering choices.

3. Try food themes for meals

Taking a break from usually what is eaten to having food-themed nights will expose the family to more cultures and foods and expand their palate as well, which will help children later in life.

Think Mexican, Italian, and Chinese-themed food night changes, and this will encourage a wide variety of good eating habits.

Encourage everyone to cook, and not let cooking be limited to just one person. This also helps ensure that everyone is involved with the cooking process and is responsible for a part of the family food.

4. Make sure to eat together

The concept of eating together has literally disappeared from homes and everyone today just plonks down in front of the television to eat meals, which in turn causes obesity due to more food intake.

Introduce the concept of family meals where everyone sits together at the table and eats. 

This increases the feeling of belonging, encourages good family conversation and bonding, encourages mindful eating keeping in mind the portions and creates a positive relationship with food.

Moreover, it also helps children emulate good food habits when they see their parents.

5. Eat healthy food

Introduce fiber-rich items into the food because the more the kids eat fibre, the less they want sugar and fat. Fiber-rich foods keep insulin and blood sugar levels steady and are low in calories.

Adding dried fruit, seeds, nuts and ground flax seeds to smoothies, cereals, muffins, and pancakes are a great way to do so.

6. Do away with junk

Minimizing sweets and limiting sugary and sweetened beverages will work wonders for the child, especially since children outgrow the craving for sweets as they grow up. 

Limiting them to special occasions, replacing them with iced and herbal teas and the likes, and explaining to children why sweets aren’t healthy is essential.

Limiting such high-calorie foods is essential for adults as well, minimizing the risk of health problems such as heart-related diseases and diabetes.

7. Try Healthy snacking options

Toasted brown bread with hummus, whole grain pancakes, eggs recipes – the options are endless. Here are some amazing snacks which are totally nutritious. 

Enjoying cooking and eating good food doesn’t come in a day – it needs to be developed over time. Healthy eating habits not only keep children healthy but will also help adults immensely with weight loss. Get your free weight consultation with Possible today.

QUICK BYTES

1] What are some healthy eating habits?

Eating food along with the family, eating everything that is on the plate, eating a balanced, healthy meal and not calorie-rich foods every day, snacking healthy, eating a wide variety of foods, and inculcating food routines are some healthy habits.

2] What foods to eat to lose belly fat?

Some of the most effective belly-fat burning foods are fruits, pulses, fish, almonds, legumes and beans, green veggies, oatmeal, whole grains, chia seeds, eggs, soups, nuts, broccoli, yogurt, and spirulina.

3] What is the healthiest diet in the world?

An example of one of the healthiest diets in the world is the Pritikin diet, which includes foods like veggies and fruits, whole grains, starchy veggies, legumes, lean calcium, fish, and lean protein.

Caution foods in this diet are refined grains and sweeteners, and salt and oils. Foods which are an absolute no-no are saturated fat-rich foods like butter and cheese, organ meats, processed meats, and cholesterol rich foods.

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