If you thought your kids have acquired their junk food eating habits from peers, you may not be wholly true. Habits start quite early in the life of a human, and if your kid is taught the benefits of healthy eating right from infancy, they are less likely to indulge in junk food eating out of peer pressure, if at all, than otherwise. A formula which works very well in this case is palate training.
Contrary to its name, this formula is pretty simple and straightforward, in that it doesn’t require any expert knowledge on your part. It was invented by two members of the Good Food Village Trust, Louise Rutten and Mitzy Wilson. Palate training is all about training the tastebuds of your kids in such a way that they start loving natural and healthy foods much more than those yummy fast foods. So let’s get right on it as to how to start training the palates of your kids.
1. Let them appreciate natural foods: Your kids would eat organic foods only when they love them. From quite an early age, you should teach your children that beets or carrots don’t taste bad. Conventional preaching doesn’t work too well in case of kids for whom, seeing is believing.
Do you hate cardio and still want to lose weight? This plan may be exactly what you are looking for Check it out now
So you could go a bit further, peel off a carrot and let your kid lick it with his tongue or chop it off and ask him to put a piece on one side of his mouth and keep it there for a few moments to enjoy the taste. Such small and gradual steps would make your kid addicted to carrots. In fact, you can use this formula for any food you want your kids to eat.
2. Don’t encourage bad habits at home: While it is true that you don’t have absolute control over what your kid eats when he is out of home, you could still control his eating habits in a number of ways.
For example, when he goes to school, pack his lunch box with healthy fruits and vegetables. If your kid doesn’t eat it at school, make him eat the same at home. It is still possible that your kid may have a bite of pizza or hamburger at school or a sip of soft drink at a friend’s party. However, they won’t get addicted to them if you don’t allow those foods at home, since a kid needs to eat a particular food at least 14-15 for him to get addicted to it.
3. Walk the talk: It is easy to preach the benefits of healthy eating to your kids but do YOU follow your own advice? Keep in mind that kids have a tendency to emulate the adults, particularly their parents, and if they catch you enjoying a packet of chips on a lazy Saturday evening, why would they be contented with a carrot or cabbage? If you wish to inculcate good eating habits in your kids, you need to adopt them yourself first.