How Do I Make Healthy Eating Part of My Child’s Wellness Routine?

So your child has a trainer or is enrolled in after school activities… but frozen pizza has become a nightly dinner for him or her. Now what? Healthy eating is not easy in the hustle and bustle of daily life. It is, however, very important for the development of your child’s health— especially if they’re active! We need to replenish our bodies after hard work, and having sufficient vitamins is not something to be over looked.

So how can you make healthy food enjoyable for everyone, and form that lifelong habit for your child? I’ve got some ideas!

1. Recipe challenge: Have everyone in your family find a new recipe to try that includes veggies and a protein. Then, enjoy trying out these new recipes and rating them together! You just may find a new regular dinner idea.
2. New Food Tour: Make grocery shopping a family affair and spend time looking at the foods you usually walk past. What’s that fruit? That’s a weird looking vegetable! Have everyone choose one thing you’ve never tried before.
3. Meal prep: Is time the main setback to healthy snack options? Take one day a week to meal prep. The reason we grab junk food is because it’s usually little to no prep time and the quickest option. If you have pre-set snacks in the fridge, your child just may go for the apple and peanut butter rather than the Rice Krispies jfTreat!
4. Recipe Swap Out: Is frozen pizza still your child’s favorite? How can you swap out ingredients to make that pizza healthier? Maybe you add some green peppers on top or use cauliflower crust? Maybe you add spinach to their morning smoothie! Perhaps some small chopped veggies are added to the taco meat? Eating healthy can still taste yummy.
5. Talk About It: Do your kids know why we need to eat veggies? It may seem obvious, but the idea of baked Brussel sprouts instead of French fries sounds terrible until you learn about how fatty foods affect our body. Moderation is a great lesson, but understanding the health benefits of healthy food may teach your child more than you realize!

Exercise and nutrition go hand-in-hand, and should both be prioritized in any health journey. It may take extra time and come with a bit or resistance from you child, but experimenting with new foods and finding ways to eat more veggies will always pay off in the long-run. I hope this helps!