Nutrition for the Family

How can you bring nutrition into the home and teach the family about the importance of nutrition?

Bring Nutrition onto the Table

• Eat breakfast each morning and make sure your kids eat a healthy breakfast too
• Make a fruit and vegetable for lunch and dinner each day
• Encourage your kids to drink milk with meals
• Encourage healthy portions

Make Meal Times Fun

• Don’t talk about “bad” stuff at the table
• Don’t argue with your significant other or with the kids
• Ask them about their day
• Have them help you with dinner preparation if they are old enough
• Plan a theme night each week for dinner and choose different cuisines (Mexican, Ethiopian, Indian, Thai, etc.)

Another thing you can do, if you have younger kids, is to have them make place mats for everyone. You could make them draw something nutritious (one person draws several fruits, another draws vegetables or a garden, etc) or have each child draw their favorite food or fruit/vegetable.

Plan Nutrition-Related Field Trips

What about a field trip? Plan a trip to the grocery store, and discover all the different fruits and vegetables out there. Have the children pick a new fruit or vegetable to try (and if you don’t know ways to prepare them, look up a good recipe online). Take them to a farm, or a farmer’s market (depending on where you are located and the time of year that it is). Take them on a factory tour of a food place!

Have Them Read

Buy a nutrition-themed book (not a diet book though) and read to your child (for young children) or have each child pick a book that has a nutrition focus and tell the family about it over dinner.

Get your children involved in reading nutrition/food labels. Have them help you plan a nutritious meal or choose the healthiest potato chips or cereal that the family likes (as an example) at the grocery store.

Spread the Word

As well, don’t feel like you have to only do these activities within your family. Ask your children’s friends, your friends, your family to get involved with your activities. Nutrition is like a smile–it’s contagious, and the more people who get involved, the better!

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