Teach your children to eat

Published: 10/08/2012 - Updated: 06/02/2016

If you want to improve your child's diet, you should give them the example. According to a study by the University of London with preschool children, the more fruit and vegetables parents eat, the most children do, the sooner the children taste them, they love them more. And babies who were breastfed, also tend to eat more fruits than those who are raised with a bottle, perhaps because breast milk taste depends on what the mother mother eats, and it is less sweet than formula.

No doubt we can start educating the palate of small children from the moment they are born, but we must not only teach, but to lead by example. If you want your kids to eat healthy, you must be the first doing it.

Benefits of honey

Honey is perhaps more beneficial than you think. Kids need simple sugars for energy. Honey in children can be a good source of calories, as it is a nutritious food that you can use to sweeten their food, however, do not get them used to eating too many sweets.

They don't have to eat a lot of honey, or to consume an especial kind. In general, the darker it is, more antioxidants contains. Try the avocado flower, and wild flowers.

Put color into diet

The variety certainly contributes to good nutrition. A good way to know that we are giving variety to our diet, is to include various colors. Talking about fruits and vegetables, we should try to include green, red, purple, white, and yellow.

That's how we can be sure of a good balance of nutrients, and we protect ourselves from various diseases, such as cancer, depending on the effects of each of the substances.

If you are one of those people who tend to eat only bananas, or certain vegetables, it's ok to do it, but if you give a little variety, you will enjoy better benefits on your diet.

To improve the quality of your diet, I recommend include the following foods of different colors:

Yellow and Orange:

Benefits: Fruits and vegetables of these colors stimulate resistance to infection and promote the health of the eye and the heart.

Examples: sweet corn, melons, oranges, grapefruit, carrots, pumpkin and sweet potato.

Red:

Benefits: Improves memory, and prevent diseases of the urinary tract.

Examples: apples, tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries.

White:

Benefits: Fruits and vegetables of this color, promote cardiovascular health, and increase the blood concentration, of high density lipoproteins (as the good cholesterol).

Examples: potatoes, onions, cauliflower and mushrooms.

Green:

Benefits: It is beneficial for the eyes, and increase the resistance of the bones and teeth.

Examples: lettuce, spinach and chard, watercress, broccoli and green beans.

Purple and Blue:

Benefits: Promotes urinary health and stimulate memory.

Examples: Grapes, eggplant, plums, red cabbage, blueberries, and blackberries.

Make eating a fun activity

Remember that children are exposed to a lot of advertisements and marketing, they are bombarded with misinformation of what is a good in a diet, marketing tries to get their attention with appealing characters or gifts. However, you can compete against them, prepare foods that are attractive to the view, the colors are a fundamental piece, and another strategy is to decorate using shapes, like a face, or a kitten. Presentation is very important in attracting the attention of children to food.

About the author
  • Miriam Reyes

    Miriam Reyes is a professional expert in nutrition and dietetics. She has more than 12 years of experience in caring for patients with overweight and eating problems. She studied at the Universidad del Valle de Atemajac (UNIVA), where she obtained a degree in nutrition. Linkedin profile.