Growing Healthy, Happy Children From The Ground Up By Ailsa Nicola
As more research is done, we're learning that health during adulthood actually depends a great deal on childhood health habits. As a parent, you can work to help encourage and develop these habits in kids.
While it's impossible to control everything a child does, there are a few key health habits which can make all the difference. Regular physical activity is highly recommended by pediatricians, but it may be difficult to encourage this habit in children.
If a child does not have a safe place to play outside or be active, it may be necessary to look for unconventional ways to be active. Local parks and playgrounds may be an option. Many times, after-school programs have a physical activity component. In order to encourage regular physical activity for life, families that spend time together biking, hiking, or physically active tend to be healthier for life.
Find fun ways for kids to be active every day and try to limit sedentary activities as much as possible. Another component of building a healthy lifestyle is healthy eating. It's important for kids to learn about fresh fruits and vegetables while they're young and make eating fresh foods a habit.
Choose a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, with lots of colors to make it a more exciting experience. Letting kids choose a new fruit or vegetable to try from the grocery store each week is a great way to get them excited about trying new things.
Remember that half of the plate should be fruits and vegetables, so try to incorporate them into most meals. Kids are often more open to trying new foods than teenagers and adults, so make sure that this is encouraged as a healthy habit. Healthy eating isn't just about increasing fruits and vegetables, it's also about decreasing or limiting some foods. Limiting processed foods, saturated fats, and added sugars is an important healthy habit to teach kids. Try to encourage eating freshly prepared meals the majority of the time. Also, limiting sweets like cookies and cakes is recommended. Fresh fruits and fruit-based desserts are always good options for a child with a sweet tooth.
One of the key offenders with sugar consumption is sugar-sweetened drinks like soda. Try to encourage kids to drink milk and water instead of soda when available. It's certainly fine to enjoy all of these foods occasionally, but encouraging healthy eating habits and limiting these foods is recommended.
These healthy habits form the basis of good health in children and are especially important to encourage as children grow up. Most kids lead their adult lives based on the habits that they picked up in their early years, so by encouraging these healthy lifestyles early on, it's much easier to help children grow up to be health-conscious adults as well. Make sure that kids understand a healthy lifestyle depends on consistent, healthy choices to eat good foods and be active every day. Children are eager to learn and easy to teach these habits and patterns early on in life.
