Diet Tips For A Healthy Family
Eating as a family is always a good habit and every family should be encouraged to eat together. Also, all family members should be involved in the process of making food, whenever possible. Additionally, the taste and preferences of all the members should be considered while preparing food, as diet is an important aspect of healthy living. And though it may be individualized, yet as a family, food preparation happens at one place and there is common preparation for all. Thus, here are some benefits of eating together as a family.
Benefits Of Eating Together
- Quality time is spent together
- Foods are served, shared and enjoyed at the same
- Children learn the art of eating from their parents
- Eating at home makes you much more healthier
Important Points To Remember
- Plan ahead for family meals
- Discuss the groceries required for all
- Once a week, plan for a big meal at home and invite other families over
- Mothers should pay special attention to the preparation of an infant’s food and provide a nutritious diet that will promote the growth of the child
- Food for children should be more attractive and palatable, so discuss various recipes which can be made tasty and are healthy too.
- Also, encourage children to participate in the process of making food
- Adolescents also need special attention, as this is the age when they are prone to many nutritional deficiencies.
- Adolescent girls need more iron in their diet as they can suffer from anaemia
- The elderly in the family have to be given special care, as they go through changes in their body, changes in taste etc.
- Thus, their diet should be softer and easily digestible and also more palatable
Other Diet Tips For The Family
- Consume a variety of foods including grains, different vegetables, fruits and dairy products
- Choose whole grains and try out different grains every week, for example include quinoa once and next week try foxtail millet
- Each family member can make healthy snacks and discuss the importance of the snack
- Everyone in the family should motivate each other to eat on time
- Having small treats occasionally, is acceptable
- Make sure all the family members are having enough fluids every day
- Discourage frequent intake of caffeine and junk foods
- Always keep nuts, soymilk, popcorn, fruit juices, and digestive biscuits on the table
- Avoid keeping sail on the table, instead use black pepper and other spices
- Practice healthy cooking methods and educate the family about the same