Set your house up for fruit and veg eating
PETER BROWN is a local Body Transformation Specialist whose motto is to help families break out of the diet cycle so they never diet again.
He believes that parents not only have a major responsibility to look after their own health and well-being, but also lead by example to set important life lessons for their children.
We all have the best intentions for our children, why are we facing such an obesity crisis?
Naturally we want to make them happy and do everything possible to give them everything they want and need.
In our lucky country the majority of children have access to the best education, entertainment and basic health care in the world.
Yet, there is one fundamental area we are lacking in.
What is that?
There are programs in schools promoting heathy eating habits, info booklets given to children to take home and many other initiatives promoting the need to eat more vegetables.
In fact, I don’t think there has been more information about eating more fruit and vegetables at any point in human history.
With all of this information surrounding us, what gives? Put it this way…
“I know I should eat more vegetables, I’ll start on Monday”
“I know I need to cook healthier dinners for the family, I’ll look up some recipes on the weekend.”
“I know we need to cut down on the take out, we’ll start after the weekend.”
Doing something you know you should do is completely different.
Habits are hard to break but when you know how they are formed it becomes much easier.
How do you take the first step?
The best lolly eaters won’t tell you this but they have lolly jars all over the house.
Bowls of mints, lolly packets in the cupboard, secret lolly stashes under the bed or in the cupboard.
That environment is set up for successful lolly eating.
To create an environment for successful fruit and vegetable eating we can draw from this example and use some of its strategies.
Now I’m not suggesting you leave bananas under your bed, but what I do suggest is to make eating fruit and vegetables as easy, delicious and simple as possible in your household.
How do we do that?
Fast Delicious Nutrition, or
FDN.
It is what I teach my clients and the key to their success because eating healthy is never about the food, it’s about your environment, and because one undeniable fact about food is you will eat whatever is close by.
How important is it for kids to be exposed to healthy eating habits from an early age?
Children who are exposed to a wide variety of food choices from a young age go on to form healthy eating habits that last a life time.
I leave you with this last little piece of advice.
If you want your children to eat more fruit and vegetables, you must first practice what you’re preaching.
Children analyse and scrutinise everything we do, therefore you have to show them before they listen.
Get them involved and give them some say, have them help in the kitchen and decide what they will eat and you’ll be well on the way to creating healthier habits for your whole family.
Fast Delicious Nutition
Follow these steps to improve
1.
the eating habits of your whole household.
Purge, Pillage and Replace.
That is, remove treats and sweets from the fridge. Get rid of the biscuits and chips from the cupboard and replace that food with foods that are less processed and healthier. You can still treat the kids, just away from the house. Go out for an ice cream instead of forming the every night ice cream habit. You’ll enjoy it much more.
2. Chop after you shop.
Sick of seeing fruit go rotten in the fruit bowl? Cut the fruit up as soon as you get home from shopping and store in an airtight container. Watch the fruit fly out of the fridge. Go one step further by chopping and storing your veggies in the same way and you’ll halve the time it takes to cook a healthy dinner throughout the week.
3. Always cook for more than one.
If you’re spending the time at the stove, you may as well cook to have left overs. Double or even triple the recipes and store your meals in the fridge or freezer. You’ll have fast, delicious food on hand all the time.
Who knows, get good enough and you might even be able to take a few nights off cooking dinner.