Whole Health Dietitian
Pick 1-2 of these changes at a time to start making healthy adjustments:
-Cut back on saturated fat keeping it to 0-15g/day
-Cut back on refined sugar, especially from juices soda, pastries, candy, and other sweets.
- Pay attention to portions - use measuring cups to make sure you're accurate
-Encourage healthy carbs such as fruit & whole grains: Quinoa, dark rice, whole-grain cereals, breads, etc.
-Cut down on fast food (1 time a week) & establish eating-out rules/limits.
-Limit the number of snacks given per day & make them healthy
-Change to 1% or skim milk or unsweetened almond milk.
-Serve lean meat, poultry, low-fat cheese, and fish
-Decrease animal products -try to have at least one meatless meal each day. Replace with more legumes, lentils, veggies, nuts & seeds.
7 bad habits that contribute to overeating
-Grazing throughout the day instead of eating planned meals and snacks
-Skipping meals
-Super-sizing portions
-Drinking soda or juice with meals instead of water
-Serving meals buffet style instead of serving controlled-portion meals
-Not considering macronutrient needs or following the plate method (1/2 plate veggies, 1/4 protein, 1/4 plate carbs)
-Eating beyond fullness
You can avoid unhealthy eating habits with the family:
-Providing healthy foods
-Encouraging the eating of breakfast
-Reviewing lunch menus with your child’s day care or caretakers
-Getting kids to help in kitchen; even young children can help with simple tasks
-Striving to serve appropriate portions to the entire family
-Identifying and limiting treats/occasional foods
-Discouraging the use of food as a reward, which often occurs in early childhood (for example, potty training); use stickers instead
-Using tools to combat hunger, including delay tactics, offering fruit or veggies when a child is hungry, or offering water/milk instead of food
-Slowing down the pace of eating, don't eat quicker than 20 min
-Reading food labels
-Teaching balanced eating to all family members
-Preventing toddler redundancy of food selections by offering different foods
-Establishing eating-out rules