Keeping things balanced is crucial to supporting wellbeing and kids learning to like new foods.. Offering kids nutritionally balanced meals and snacks is important for their general health, development and well-being. But, we know that right? It’s all too easy though, for parents to get caught in the rut of offering kids the same foods most of the time. Often the foods they know their kids will eat, foods they know their kids won’t refuse, and won’t kick up a fuss about being served. But, this doesn't necessarily serve kids well in the long run. Keeping the meals and snacks you offer kids balanced is more than just providing all of the food groups and a wide variety of nutrients to your child. Balanced meals and snacks for kids is also about offering a fine balance between foods your child knows, accepts, likes, and will eat and foods which your child not-yet-likes or foods you expect they will leave on their plate. Many parents would like more guidance on what foods make balanced nutrition…understandable. But, did you know that more parents feel they have a fair idea of what foods to serve their kids, but just don’t know how to go about getting their kids to eat these foods? Knowledge is only powerful if you have actionable steps for implementing this knowledge to make a difference. Knowing what nutritious foods to feed kids, is not powerful if you do not know how to support kids in eating a wide variety of these nutritious foods. Only 1/3 of parents are confident in the way they’re feeding their children. So, despite many parents having a fair idea of what foods their child should be eating, they are struggling with confidence in how to go about getting their kids to eat these foods. Having a solid strategy for how to plan what you will serve your children in order to optimise their eating patterns in the long run is one thing I teach parents in my FINISH FUSSY EATING online course. Knowing you are using a strategy which is best supporting your child’s eating patterns, and is backed by evidence and proven to work, can take a lot of stress, worry and parent-guilt away from you! It can not only improve the way your child eats, but give you invaluable confidence in the way you are feeding your child. --> What you can do now (other than sign up to the FINISH FUSSY EATING online course, of course...): 1. Offer your little ones nutritionally balanced meals and snacks each day
Offering your children balanced nutrition at each and every meal and snack is one very effective way to support improved eating behaviour in your child. A general rule of thumb is to offer 4-5 food groups at meals, and 2+ food groups at snacks.
2. Offer both, new or not-yet liked foods and liked foods at every meal and snack.
Offering your children a balance of new and already liked foods at most meals and snacks is one very effective way to support improved eating behaviour in your child. A general rule is to include 1 new or not-yet-liked food along with 1+ already accepted and liked ‘safe’ food (‘food friend’) at most meals and snacks.
So offering both, a balance of nutrition (food groups) and liked/not-yet-liked foods at each meal/snack, provides an opportunity for your child to eat a wide variety of nutrients, but also learn to like a wider variety of nutritious foods. If this all seems like a challenge to plan for and implement, then I strongly recommend you get on the wait-list for my FINISH FUSSY EATING online course. Alysha
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