Simple Tips For Introducing Kids To Nutrition And Fitness

Popular notions about children and eating agree that kids are exposed to far too much sugar, carbonated sodas, and fat in their diets.  With the link between marketing and kids eating habits well established, reversing the trend of childhood obesity will present a difficult hurdle to overcome.  Fortunately, there is hope, in that the same principles that apply for improving adult eating habits also apply to children.  So try these simple tips to encourage your kids to make better choices in the kitchen.

Expect No Less For Your Kids Than Yourself
It’s easy to fall into the trap of feeding children from the “kids” menu, while we eat from the “healthy” menu.  Food from the kids menu is less expensive, and after all — kids can eat anything and not gain weight, right?  Obviously that isn’t true.  Kids are wired to like sugary, high fat foods, while adults (at least in theory) have a greater capacity to reject unhealthy foods.  Reject the traditional kids menu in favor of healthier fare to avoid building bad eating habits.

Enjoy The Outdoors Together
Modern day children are besieged with an array of items to distract them from physical activity.  Couple this with the reality that in today’s world, protective parents are less inclined to let kids out of their sight; for very real reasons.  These realities make it even more important to spend time with your kids, exploring the great outdoors.  There are, of course, many entertaining and simple outdoor activities for kids, or for the more technology-minded, activities like modern day treasure hunting, offer ample opportunity to pique their interest in being outdoors and reaping the health benefits as a by-product of that interest.

Ditch The Television
O.K., this is probably impractical.  But there’s ample evidence to support the idea that greater amounts time spent watching television correlates with weight gain.  Recent reports on the television viewing habits of younger Americans indicate that the so-called Gen Y’s are forsaking traditional paid television services for alternatives available on the internet.   While this doesn’t bode well for the financial statements of broadcast companies, it may work out to help with the ongoing obesity problem.  At least if television time isn’t replaced with another sedentary activity.

There are a number of options available to parents hoping to make fitness and nutrition lifestyle habits for their children.  It requires some imagination, and its not easy, but with determination, and the application of a few basic principles, there’s success to be had.