Developing Healthy Eating Habit in your Child

Want to help your toddler develop healthy eating habits? Offer them only healthy food. There’s no reason you need to give them sweets or junk food at all. Toddlers aged 1-3 years are growing and developing quickly and it’s an important time to make sure they are eating well in terms of right balance on nutritious values & the portion size. If you are struggling to maintain the right eating habit & your child always want to eat sweets, junks food or same kind of food please refer the below expert tips to build healthy eating habit in your child:

  1. Scheduled Meals – Each day schedule three hot meals at a fixed time. Serve the main meal at noon, when the digestion is at its peak. Ask your child to avoid running here and there, encourage to sit down while eating. Avoid giving food or drinks in the car.
  2. Right Chewing Habits – If the child eats too slowly, the food will become cold and the digestion will be held up. If they eating too quick, they are not chewing it properly that will lead to indigestion. Encourage your child not to eat too quickly or too slowly – leading by example and showing them the right chewing speed helps.
  3. Feed as per their appetite – Be sure your child has finished digesting the previous meal before eating a snack or a new meal. Do not force your child to overeat, feed him according to his natural appetite.
  4. Including Water – Serve small amounts of room temperature or warm water with the meals. According to experts, one third portion of stomach should be filled by water to have some space for digestion.
  5. Family Meal Time – Serve your family meals in a quiet and pleasant place without T.V, telephone calls, computers, or intense conversation. If the television is turned off, if there is a relaxed feeling, and calm conversation, the food will digest much better.
  6. Serve healthy fats – Diet with rich healthy fats are essential for growing babies. Cow’s milk, ghee, flaxseeds oils, sunflower and sesame oils, pumpkin seeds, blanched almonds, walnuts, soybeans (in the form of tofu, flour, oil) some fresh herbs, all contain essential oils for children.
  7. Introduce kids to a variety of foods – Don’t make extra food for your toddler, because you are bound to resent it and it sends her the wrong message. Just serve a variety of healthy foods and let them decide what to try. If your dinner isn’t toddler-friendly, then put some simple extras on the table, such as cheese slices, hard-boiled egg, or veggies. Taste buds change to enjoy a variety of tastes as kids get older. Eventually, all kids come to enjoy the foods they’ve seen their parents enjoy.

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