Good Habits For Overweight Children |
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Establishing Good Habits You Can Live With Set goals for yourself and your family. Sit down if you need to and plan out a course of action. Begin with some rules. Try to turn these into future habits. You'll be surprised how much better you will feel. Set Regular Meal and Snack Times Families who eat regularly tend to eat more healthfully. Planning regular meals helps in selecting a greater variety of foods and serving balanced food choices. It is difficult to get the entire family together for a sit-down meal each night, but planning to do so on several nights a week will encourage family members to plan their schedules accordingly. Make the meal fun, too. Let various members of the family either prepare or plan their favorite meals. It lessens the load of work on any one person and provides a greater chance for families to communicate and enjoy each other's company, too. Seek out New Recipes If you have a recipe file that hasn't been used in years, throw it out and start over. Look for recipes the entire family will enjoy and get the family involved in shopping and preparing them as well. Look in newspapers and magazines and talk to friends about their favorite new recipes. You may find that this will be fun for you as well. Keep an Ongoing Shopping List and Shop Weekly Planning properly, keeping lists of needed foods, and shopping regularly all keep families on track with stocking staples, being able to prepare quick and healthy meals, and avoiding impulse eating. Place a blank pad of paper on the kitchen counter or attach one to the refrigerator with a magnet. Encourage family members to jot down foods and supplies that need to be purchased. If you have the items on hand, preparing meals is so much easier and less stressful in the long run. Prepare Extra Foods on the Weekend Prepare greater amounts of food over the weekend when you have more time and save these for busier nights. Take advantage of extra time to prepare larger quantities of main dishes or special foods, like banana breads or yogurt pies, that can more easily be served during hectic weekdays. Pack Snacks to Go Make up portions of snacks that are easily portable, and be sure to keep them handy. If you•find yourself constantly carpooling your child around during the day and hunger pangs strike, keep snacks available in the car, in backpacks, or for after-school activities Identify Problem Times of the Day Identify your child's problem eating times, and try to find alternate activities. If your child (or yourself) is guilty of eating in front of the television at night or snacking inappropriately after school, try to rearrange schedules. Plan activities during those times like sports practices or taking a walk during long television periods, or set out preplanned snack choices after school. Kids who grab snacks after school often choose the first food they see. Placing fresh fruit or a bowl of popcorn on the table will encourage a healthier snack choice than in the contents of the cookie jar. Make Time for Activities Schedule activity time just like you schedule dance class or an appointment. Encouraging a wind-down period, like taking a walk after dinner for fifteen minutes or so, will allow time to relax and open lines of communication with the entire family. Be Wise When Eating Out If possible, monitor your eating out of the house. Try to limit eating away from home to no more than two or three times each week. Eating out can encourage high-fat calorie consumption. Be wise with food selections at restaurants. Avoid fast foods when possible. When you do eat out, choose restaurants that offer a variety of healthier choices. No one chooses to be overweight, particularly a child. As parents, it is up to us to manage any weight-related problem before it becomes uncontrollable. By setting a good example ourselves, we can take the first step in nurturing and nourishing our future generations. Being supportive, loving, and caring is as important as feeding our children a healthy variety of foods. In doing so, we can set the stage for raising healthier children. Doesn't this make good sense? The best approach to handling an overweight child is through a combined long-term approach to weight management and physical activity.
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