Easy ways to eat more

Easy ways to eat more healthily as a family

Nutritional therapist and spokesperson for the British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT) Chloe Steele shows us five easy steps to help create good eating habits that will keep your family happy and healthy long into the future.

During the winter months, in particular, you may want to ensure that you are supporting your family’s health by encouraging good eating habits.

A varied diet, rich in fruits and vegetables, can support the immune system and help chase away those winter blues. But with a growing amount of online nutritional advice, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. These top tips will help you and your family to break those bad habits and eat better and smarter.

SUPPLEMENT SNACKS - Healthy eating isn’t about counting calories, forcing everyone to give up the things they love or starving yourself to the point that the cat suddenly looks like a tasty meal. The foundation of healthy eating is replacing highly processed foods with those as close as possible to the way that nature intended. Removing snack foods from the home will prevent everyone from grabbing an unhealthy option when they get home from work or school. Instead, encourage fresh fruit and vegetable snacks, or make and bake your own snacks, and only buy ‘treat’ foods occasionally.

EAT TOGETHER - Modern lifestyles mean that we are busier than ever and often struggle to find time to eat together. However, sitting down as a family to share a meal away from the television can have numerous benefits. Children who join in frequent family meals are less likely to be overweight, and more likely to try healthier options such as fruits, vegetables and calcium-rich foods. So allocate at least one mealtime a week to sit and eat as a family.

BOOST YOUR FAVOURITES - The majority of the time healthy eating is not about removing but adding something to your diet. Taking a favourite family meal and adding extra vegetables, beans or pulses is a great way to boost its nutritional value. For example, adding lentils to spaghetti bolognese can increase its content of iron, zinc and vitamin B6, all of which help support the immune system. However, if your children are like mine and can’t find a pair of shoes that are right under their noses, but can spot a lentil in their food from one hundred paces, then add these nutritional boosts in small amounts and increase them gradually over time. Healthy eating is about building good habits, rather than quick fixes.

GROW YOUR OWN - Research showing the correlation between growing your own food and increased fruit and vegetables in the diet is not in its infancy, especially when it comes to children. Positive experiences of growing fruits and vegetables build positive feelings about eating them and can increase a child’s tendency to choose healthier foods. Vegetables such as cabbage and broccoli are perfect for growing in winter and are high in fibre, which is important for gut health and can positively affect your mood. If you don’t have space at home, consider growing your own herbs on a windowsill or search for a local community garden that you can get involved with.

INVOLVE EVERYONE - If planning family meals fills you with dread, then you are not alone. Giving your children the opportunity to take control and choose what to have for dinner one night a week is a great opportunity to allow them some autonomy – and give you a break. Now, I am not suggesting you allow them free reign to eat ice cream with chips for dinner, rather allow them to pick a meal from pre-approved recipes. If you really want to instil good eating habits, why not involve them in the cooking too? But only if you can handle the mess.

Chloe Steele is a Nutritionist Therapist and BANT Spokesperson. www.bant. org.uk Follow her on Instagram

@ladyaboutnutrition