How do I get my child to eat healthy?

By SONA MUKHERJEE
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No one wants to hear that their child is overweight. After all, kids who are a little chubby look cute. But what if the rounded cheeks start turning into a noticeably bigger waist and a child that, for want of a better word, is fat?

There was a time when there were rarely overweight children. Then, kids were more interested in playing when they came home from school, and you’d be hard pressed just to get them to eat their dinner.

Nowadays, an increasing number of children spend their after-school time slumped in front of the TV, snacking on junk food. And that’s just one of the reasons why our kids are putting on weight.

You see, having a healthy child doesn’t just mean they’re at a healthy weight; it’s also about establishing a healthy relationship with food. And as long as your child follows a balanced diet 80 per cent of the time, I wouldn’t worry too much about the other 20; you can’t control what they eat all the time anyway.

Your job as a parent is to ensure that they eat balanced healthy fresh food. However, you should occasionally, have some chocolates and sweets in the house for them to dip into if they wish. Many experts believe that this attitude dispels the tendency to binge on unhealthy foods when they’re away from home.

Another way to help them form a healthy relationship with food is to avoid using sweet foods as a reward for good behaviour, or as a bribe to get them to do something. It’s a trap that’s easy to fall into, especially if you’re working, and it’s a sure-fire way to set up a pattern of comfort eating later on in life.

Use non-food based treats instead, such as games they enjoy, especially the “old-fashioned” outdoor activities, which trump TV and computer games. Also, avoid calling any foods ‘bad’ or ‘fattening’, since this has been linked to obsessive dieting during teenage years when image often becomes their main focus.

So if your child is on chubby side, what can you do?

I realise I do say this a lot, but starting the day with a healthy breakfast really is important. A big bowl of porridge or a wholegrain cereal sweetened with some fruit, or even some eggs on wholemeal toast will mean that your child is less likely to go looking for the “wrong” things later in the day.

If you like cooking, get your child to help — this can put back some of the fun into food. Ask your child what they’d like to cook and eat, and make it in a healthy way, choosing grilling, baking and steaming over frying.

Also ensure that there’re raw vegetable sticks and fruit around to nibble on, and/or a good healthy soup loaded with vegetables and pulses for them when they come home from school starving.

It’s a fact that once in a while, your children will want to eat sweets and other junk foods. Instead of saying no, allow them a one-day-a-week treat. The idea is to allow them to eat whatever they like after their main meal.

Alternatively, give them a small plastic box with a packet of crisps, some chocolate biscuits and a packet of sweets to last the week — your child can then choose when and what to eat from it.

It is also important for them to see you eat the healthy foods you serve them. Children learn from their parents, so if you reach for biscuits rather than an apple, then they will too. Remember, it’s not about taking away all of life’s pleasures, rather, revisiting your relationship with the very thing that nourishes you.

The writer is a clinical nutritionist and certified by the Nutritional Therapy Council in the UK. Please direct any questions about family nutrition to her on living@nutritionbysona.com