Eating Habits

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

Eating environments for kids
 

-Not in his/her room alone
-Eat meals at home together
-No TV while eating
-Develop a reasonable meal schedule for children; children should not eat dinner too late because they are unable to sustain hunger that long, which contributes to overeating.
-Prevent grazing throughout the day by having structured eating in approved places
-Develop rules for snacks (asking permission or providing an allowable snack box)

Click here for tips on healthy eating in general