"Do This, Not That" When Raising Healthy Families

My mother is a huge fan of the Eat This, Not That book written by David Zinczenko with Matt Goulding. I have not read nor reviewed the book, so please do not misunderstand by mentioning it as a recommendation. [For the record, I don't believe any one food is strictly forbidden, although I certainly think there are foods we should concentrate on eating more than others.] What I like about the title is that there is an alternative provided instead of just stating the problem! Such is true with child feeding and healthy family lifestyles. I came up with my own "Do This, Not That" when raising healthy families. Let's start with the don'ts:

DON'T:
• Put your child on a restricted diet. Special diet prescriptions must be done under the care of a Registered Dietitian only and even then, we try to keep things as liberal as possible to avoid nutrition deficiencies.
• Deny your children food when they request to eat. This leads to food insecurity and can exacerbate a weight problem.
• Try to control your children’s eating habits like you wish you could control your own.
• Nag your children about food they did or did not eat.
• Force your child to eat vegetables or any other kind of healthy foods. It will backfire in the long run!
• Provide separate meals for your children, i.e., no short order cooking.
• Skip meals. Skipping meals often leads to overeating later.
• Force children to take part in exercises they do not enjoy.

OK, good. We got the don'ts out of the way. There are many more do's than don'ts and I believe in positive, empowering guidance:

DO:
• Focus on a family-wide healthy lifestyle that includes low-fat high nutritional foods along with regular exercise.

• Provide plenty of healthy food options in your home such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables reduced fat and sugar foods. Exclude any foods that may be overeaten.
• Be patient when your child denies certain foods. Research shows that it sometimes takes 15-20 exposures before they will accept. Continue to put those foods on their plate instead of deleting it from their menu.
• Plan meals at least one week in advance. Grocery shop at off hour times on the weekends so you have all the food you need during the week when schedules are busiest.
• Have regular family meals. Regular family meals are an essential part of a healthy family lifestyle. This is not only where families can have quality time together to talk about their days, but it is also a time where parents can model good eating behaviors.
• Limit calorie-containing beverages except skim milk, especially at meal times. Even 100% natural juices have a lot of calories.
• Limit “screen time” (television and computer/computer games) to a maximum of 2 hours/day.
• Exercise/Be active as a family. What a great way to do 2 things at once - spend time together and also getting healthy as a unit.
• Listen to what your children say they are interested in and help them get involved. If they enjoy an activity, they are likely to do it more consistently.
• Consider joining a team or a group for whatever activity you choose to take part in. The teams and groups help with consistency and accountability.
• Make changes slowly. Slow changes have a tendency to be more permanent.
• Involve your children in all aspects of food and eating: growing or shopping, planning and preparing.
• Make food experiences fun and creative. Fun and creativity is your child's world, so go there and experience things together.
• Model, model, model the behaviors you want to see in your children. Remember parents, you are your child’s biggest role models! How humbling, but oh so true.

Take advantage of the summer months. This is such a great time of year to make positive family changes that can become more habitual when school starts back up in the fall. My challenge to you is to decide to make just one change - big or small - this week that will make your family healthier. What will that be? I'd love to hear from you!