Hate Veggies? How to Role Model Healthy Eating for Your Family When Your Habits Stink
I speak to many moms who are frustrated because their kids are not healthy eaters. They wonder why they can’t get their kids to eat broccoli or they only eat only Cheese Its and fruit snacks.
And then I learn that the mom's themselves don’t eat those foods or even serve those foods. The reality is that we have to walk the walk and talk the talk. There’s no way our kids can learn to love a variety of foods and flavors if they really don’t have the exposure to them.
Here are a few tips to encourage your kids to have healthy eating habits when yours need some work too:
1. Show by example, be a good role model
2. Go food shopping together
3. Get creative in the kitchen
4. Offer the same foods to everyone
5. Focus on each other at the table, make mealtime positive
Transcript of this Episode
Andrea Heyman 00:00 Hi friends, it's Andrea Heyman here with another episode of adventures and feeding my fam. Are you mom that loves Doritos and candy. Ah, hopefully I gave you a little chuckle because that made me laugh. This is fine. However, if you only eat or mostly eat these things, then guess what your kids are going to do? Yep, they're going to eat Doritos and candy. So today we're going to talk about what to do when you want your kids to eat healthy, but your habits kind of stink. It's gonna be a juicy one, it's gonna be fun. And hopefully my five tips will be pretty practical that you can begin to put into place with relative ease. Remember, discovery calls everyone I am signing folks up for free discovery calls at my website adventuresinfeedingmyfam.com/work-with-me. And that's where we can go a little deeper talk about some of the specific challenges you're having. If you're working on addressing a medical issue, whether it be dealing with food allergies in your family, or if you're pre diabetic, or are concerned about another health condition, and you need to adjust your eating habits, we can get a little more specific, and how to address that for you and your family. to still make it simple and easy. Because I want you to be able to get healthy, meet your wellness goals without making it super super hard on yourself.
Adventures In Feeding My Fam is a weekly podcast discussing the challenges and fun around feeding your family healthy meals. I'm Andrea Heyman, and I've been a registered dietitian for over 25 years. So I know the importance of good nutrition. But I'm also a mom of three so I understand the challenges in tumor that comes along with trying to make this happen. In this podcast, I'll share my tips, tricks and menus, but also share the stories and food prep failures that come along the way to interview guests. We'll discuss family food traditions, how to strengthen bonds around the family table, as well as their favorite family recipes. There isn't one right way to feed your family. But there are countless stories, you can take bits and pieces and learn from all of them.
Alright guys, we are talking about how to role model healthy eating for your family when the reality is that your habits stink. I speak to many moms who are frustrated, they'll kind of paint a picture of Andrea, my kids won't eat healthy. They're not good eaters. I can't get them to eat anything I want. The parents often wonder why they can't get their kids to eat broccoli, or they only want chicken nuggets or pizza bagels. And then I learn that they don't really serve the foods that they want them to eat. And the reality is, is that often the parents themselves, don't eat those foods. So oftentimes, you know, I can say that. Yep, you need to role model good behavior. But what does that really mean? So let's talk about that a little more. So what is role modeling? a role model is a person who serves as an example by influencing others. So for many children, the most important role models are their parents and their caregivers. as they age, their peers become more influential role models. But when kids are young, through grade school, typically, it is the parents that are the key role models. And this is especially true like I said, with younger kids, but it's good for older kids as well, even though they start to tune into what their peers are saying more and more. It's still important and not too late if you have older kids to start role modeling that healthy behavior that you want them to adopt. Alright, so I'm gonna break down some simple tips that you can adapt into your family table into your household so that your family and kids can be encouraged to eat healthier foods, and also might help you in the process too. Okay, so first one is the most obvious. Show by example. try new foods yourself, even if you didn't always like them, even if you haven't liked them in the past and you felt like Nope, I don't eat olives. For me, it's all us. But you know, if I try olives, maybe my kids will like olives too. When you're trying a new food describe its taste, its texture, its smell and only offer one new food at a time so that it's not overwhelming. So a meal can include foods that you know the kids will enjoy and have one new food so that you're slowly branching out to include and introduce new foods for them. And it makes it a little less overwhelming. So when you're offering new foods, avoid lecturing or pushing or forcing your kid to eat. And include a variety of foods including vegetables, fruit, whole grains with your meals, or snacks. And let your child see that you like to munch on these foods as well. Remember, you are the ultimate role model here. Okay, so number two, this is a little fun. go food shopping together with your child. Grocery shopping can teach your child about food and nutrition. You can discuss where fruits and vegetables, grains, where they come from. And I always think it's super fun when I see how brussel sprouts grow. Because usually we only see the round little brussel sprouts, we don't typically see them growing on the stock. The first time I saw that I was really amazed and when I've taken my kids to the store, and we've seen that I always pointed out because it's super fascinating. So if you're taking your kids to the store, let them make a healthy choice and keep the language positive, and say hey, you can pick a vegetable for the week or you can pick a fruit, let them be involved in it. If they're part of the choices and the planning, then they are a ton more likely to eat those foods. Additionally, if they're involved in the actual meal planning, and not even they don't even necessarily have to go to the grocery store with you. However, if they are involved in the planning, they are more likely to eat that food as well. Okay, tip number three, get creative in the kitchen. So cutting food into fun in easy shapes with cookie cutters or simply a knife. You can give cute names to your foods. I know that I used to call, I think a cheese sandwich. I used to call it a rainbow cheese sandwich because it had I think white cheddar cheese and orange cheddar cheese. So I called it a rainbow cheese sandwich. You know making things fun like that. You can even say salad you can call it Janie's specialty salad. And that's more appealing than just say, hey, try this salad. So, so using positive language and being a little more creative in the kitchen is really great as well. Encourage your child to invent new snacks. Make your own trail mixes using dried fruit, maybe some cereal, nuts, seeds, let them experiment and make some options up on their own. Get creative is the key and allow some flexibility in the kitchen. Again, when your kids are involved, they're much more likely to try new foods. Tip number four is offer the same foods for everyone. Don't single anyone out and say Gabe has to eat this food but everyone else is eating this. Or the flip is don't be a short order cook. First of all that is so time consuming and such a pain for yourself. And I don't think there's any parent out there that actually wants to do that. So definitely just one meal one set of options for everyone at the dinner table. It's so much easier to plan family meals when everyone eats the same foods. Now remember, when offering foods it can take up to 20 tries of a food before we decide if we like it or not. So that's not simply being served at the food, it means actually trying. So that can be quite a long process. So it's important. Even if your child says that they don't like a typical food, you want to continue to have it on the plate and have it available and have them be exposed to that food time and time many times again, and finally and I think this is probably the most important tip. Maybe the second most important, I can't decide this is an important one is make meal times relaxed and comfortable. Make sure You sit and eat with your kids, if you eat separately from them, then they don't have an opportunity to develop those really positive times around meal time that they can enjoy and have conversation with you. And they don't see you role modeling the healthy behavior if they see you eating separately. Definitely turn off the television turn off the devices so that everyone's present at the meal. take phone calls later, don't answer text messages. Don't even allow those phones on the table. My kids know this by now. But yeah, if they bring a phone to the table, I'm like, yeah, we have to put that away immediately. It's just not acceptable to me, I try to make the eating time stress free. I try not to pressure kids to eat certain things, because it doesn't typically allow for comfortable mealtime situation. Additionally, make sure the language is really positive. So don't allow the kids to say yuck, or kind of criticize any of the foods that are available. and have it be an opportunity to teach about healthy eating through discussions, questions, games activities. In summary, even if you yourself are not the healthiest eater, you can adopt these five tips, and to begin to encourage a more positive relationship with food as it comes to getting your kids to eat healthier foods and more nutrient dense foods. If you enjoyed this episode, please share and like it with a friend or a family member that you think will enjoy it as well. You can always check out the Facebook group where we are going deeper and talking about some of the issues and challenges that we are raising in these episodes here. And that's the place where we have bigger conversations. And the Facebook group is adventures and feeding my fam. You can find it there. Also us leave the link here in the show notes. Again, if you're interested in one of those discovery calls, where we can get a little more specific. You can find that on my website adventuresinfeedingmyfam.com/work-with-me. I look forward to seeing you there. Until next time, take care