By April D. Beresford, FNP-C, DipACLM
It’s back to establishing school routines. If your family is anything like mine, finding time for preparing three nutritious meals a day is a challenge.
The task of teaching children about nutrition is one of the most important tasks of raising them. Unfortunately, we are in a decade where our children, because of lifestyle-related diseases, have a shorter expected lifespan than we do. The prevalence of childhood diabetes, obesity, autoimmune disease, cancer and other chronic health conditions are all on the rise. But parents can influence this for the better with tips and tricks and mostly the example they set.
So what can we do? Here are a few suggestions that I have found that have worked for me:
- Proximity is key. Make the healthiest foods the easiest foods to see and reach for in the fridge.
- Discipline is key. Commit to buying primarily healthy foods at the grocery store with only occasional treats.
- Colors are key. Take advantage of the attraction of colorful foods like blueberries, bell peppers, grapes, raspberries, pineapples and mangoes. Pre-cut fruits and veggies to bite-sizes
portions for snacks and salads. - Camouflage is key. Use blueberry and blackberry smoothies to ‘hide’ greens like spinach or kale. Vegetables can be put into a blender and added to pasta sauce.
