By
J. Cosmos
SHOULD WE STRIVE TO HELP OUR YOUTH ATTAIN FITNESS?
DOES IT MATTER?
Together, let's draw up some standards for a diet that your children can enjoy, but is also nutritious.
I know that sounds difficult, but it is important to their future, even if they don't see that now.
How often do our children look at nutritious food as being boring. So let's give the subject some
serious thought. What we want to do is come up with a diet that is reasonably balanced without being obsessive about it.
We'll come up with some hints and tips that will help us all work out a healthy diet that works for your family.
First of all, let's vow to not use food as a gift. If our kids consider food to be a reward for good behavior, it might turn out to be a lifelong habit. Food is a fuel, not a treat. A food that is more taste than nutrition is not beneficial and needs not to be a lifelong habit.
Although a treat may become a part of some eating habits, it is still that. A treat. Not a reward for doing what we need to do anyway.
Second, let's try to keep the sugar in their diet to a minimum. Sugar adds a lot of taste to many foods in our culture but it also rots teeth and can cause children to put on weight when misused. We know this may make us unpopular as parents, but it really is better to give your children more of the main dishes of their dinner than to add sugar afterwards as a reward for eating that dinner.
If they are still hungry after dinner, let them eat a piece of fruit. I realize that the fruit also has sugar, but it will taste good without the fat that most desserts contain.
Next, let's try to keep the snacking to a minimum. We know that sometimes children need a snack to give them a burst of energy between meals. However, we should give them only when really needed and not because it is a habit to eat a snack at a certain time of day.
Good snacks could include fruit bars or fresh fruit. You might also include nuts and seeds or also unsweetened yoghurt.
Here is an important thought for you. We need to all strive mightily to not give in to advertising. Our children see the food their friends eat as well as the joyful children on the television eating the most non nutritious waste imaginable. We know that companies simply have to over-advertise this stuff, as we would never choose such trash while shopping thoughtfully.
We might feel like we have to give in on occasion to them, but let's make it the exception, rather than the rule.
Another important thing we really need to do is to set a good example. Children tend to copy the behavior of others, so they will need to see you eating carefully chosen, nutritious food. If you expect your children to eat healthy vegetables, then you should too.
Next, let's resolve to eat a good variety of food. We see unhealthy food all around, but let's make it just once in a while that we partake.
Most of the time we should see fresh fruit and vegetables and salads mixed with proteins such as beans and lentils. We really need complex carbohydrates like wholemeal pastas and wholegrain bread.
This can all be difficult, but maybe that's why it is so important.
Sleep well.
Little Boy Blue
DOES IT MATTER?
Together, let's draw up some standards for a diet that your children can enjoy, but is also nutritious.
I know that sounds difficult, but it is important to their future, even if they don't see that now.
How often do our children look at nutritious food as being boring. So let's give the subject some
serious thought. What we want to do is come up with a diet that is reasonably balanced without being obsessive about it.
We'll come up with some hints and tips that will help us all work out a healthy diet that works for your family.
First of all, let's vow to not use food as a gift. If our kids consider food to be a reward for good behavior, it might turn out to be a lifelong habit. Food is a fuel, not a treat. A food that is more taste than nutrition is not beneficial and needs not to be a lifelong habit.
Although a treat may become a part of some eating habits, it is still that. A treat. Not a reward for doing what we need to do anyway.
Second, let's try to keep the sugar in their diet to a minimum. Sugar adds a lot of taste to many foods in our culture but it also rots teeth and can cause children to put on weight when misused. We know this may make us unpopular as parents, but it really is better to give your children more of the main dishes of their dinner than to add sugar afterwards as a reward for eating that dinner.
If they are still hungry after dinner, let them eat a piece of fruit. I realize that the fruit also has sugar, but it will taste good without the fat that most desserts contain.
Next, let's try to keep the snacking to a minimum. We know that sometimes children need a snack to give them a burst of energy between meals. However, we should give them only when really needed and not because it is a habit to eat a snack at a certain time of day.
Good snacks could include fruit bars or fresh fruit. You might also include nuts and seeds or also unsweetened yoghurt.
Here is an important thought for you. We need to all strive mightily to not give in to advertising. Our children see the food their friends eat as well as the joyful children on the television eating the most non nutritious waste imaginable. We know that companies simply have to over-advertise this stuff, as we would never choose such trash while shopping thoughtfully.
We might feel like we have to give in on occasion to them, but let's make it the exception, rather than the rule.
Another important thing we really need to do is to set a good example. Children tend to copy the behavior of others, so they will need to see you eating carefully chosen, nutritious food. If you expect your children to eat healthy vegetables, then you should too.
Next, let's resolve to eat a good variety of food. We see unhealthy food all around, but let's make it just once in a while that we partake.
Most of the time we should see fresh fruit and vegetables and salads mixed with proteins such as beans and lentils. We really need complex carbohydrates like wholemeal pastas and wholegrain bread.
This can all be difficult, but maybe that's why it is so important.
Sleep well.
Little Boy Blue
Eat well and live.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=J._Cosmos
No comments:
Post a Comment