Good Food Parenting!

If you bribe or force your kids to finish the delicious and nutritious food on their plate, you may be sending them and their bodies’ the wrong message.

People including kids have a biological wiring to know when they are full. When you force or bribe your kids to finish their food you are messing with that mechanism’s ability to send them the “I’m full” message and this can lead to being overweight or obesity.

You don’t want your kids to be overweight because kids are mean and can be verbally abusive and taunt your kids by calling them fatty, thunder thighs etc, which affect your kids psychologically.  If they become obese, obesity causes the hardening of the arteries, which is like bone formation in the blood vessel which causes strokes and heart attacks. Also, diabetes and many other illnesses accompany being overweight.


Another thing is that whatever you do, you are modeling your bad behavior for your kids, so if you are asking them to overeat, while doing it yourself, you are modeling the overeating bad behavior for them.


Below are some good food parenting tips:


Don’t offer sweets including deserts as rewards for your kids eating healthy foods because you are reinforcing that the vegetable or other good food is unappealing. Instead send positive messages about healthy foods and make them as appealing as possible.


Don’t serve too many snacks during the day. Limit snacks to 2 or 3 low calorie snacks a day. Crackers and pretzels have high carbohydrate content, so they aren’t always ideal. Yoghurt, string cheese, and humus are better protein options. Don’t give kids a snack 2 hours prior to a meal.


To encourage kids to eat good food, let them pick the menu but as a parent take control of what your kids eat to lay the foundation of healthy eating habits. For example, make low fat salmon, shrimp and pasta etc, but if they don’t like that, don’t let them keep eating macaroni and cheese. You can give them peanut butter

sandwiches, or a  healthy cereal, which are both low calorie options.

Don’t let your kids stay up late. Sleep deprivation messes up their hormones and leads to more eating because they have low energy levels that eating will seem to help.


Also, let your kids be active not sedentary. Let them walk and run. Don’t keep them indoors watching TV and playing video games all the time. Ultimately as a parent you should use your personal and best judgment.