Parents' eating habits must set example for kids

Healthy eating and a nutritionally balanced diet has a direct influence on growth, behaviour patterns and immunity to disease.

Parents know that babies and toddlers eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full. They eat intuitively in response to what their bodies are telling them, but this innate sensibility degrades eventually over time as children are bombarded by all sorts of conflicting messages from the media from, their parents and from their friends about what to eat and how much to eat. Eventually people completely lose touch with their biological eating cues.

Parents must set an example

No-one is born fat, but once we're weaned our food choices aren't left up to us. Parent coax their children to eat what has be dished up for them - we enhance its taste with sugar, play games to encourage them to eat, they are told to eat stop dawdling and eat quickly, they are told that they will only get pudding if they finish their food; they're even told someone else will eat their food if they don't eat it fast enough. Adding to this parents who don't eat healthily, habitually skip meals, eat for comfort, or overindulge also undermine any teaching their children receive about healthy eating.

According to Mary Holroyd, founder and chairman of Weigh-Less, eating healthily means eating a balanced diet. This includes a variety of vegetables and fruits, which should constitute at least half a plate. The other half can then be divided between a protein and a starch or carbohydrate.

Weigh-Less offers a couple of suggestions to instill positive eating habits and to counteract the negative influences your child will be exposed to. Children won't starve themselves. If your child doesn't finish all their food, it probably means they are not hungry, so don't force them to eat more than they need. It is also important to encourage children to eat when they are hungry and to stop when they are full.

Let them play with food

Most children will take about 25 minutes to eat a meal, and though this may seem frustrating to time-pressured parents, it allows their bodies to alert them to being full. The longer your children eat according to hunger and stop when they are full, the more likely they'll listen to their bodies as they grow up.

Allow your children to play and experiment with their food. This doesn't mean encouraging food fights, but rather allowing your child the time to appreciate the textures, flavours and colours of the food they eat, and which we overlook. Give your children also a wide variety of healthy food choices. Encourage your children to eat fruit instead of sweets and drink water instead of fizzy drinks.

By living what you teach them, you'll reinforce healthy eating rather than undermine it. Offer two courses at meals - one savoury course followed by a yoghurt or fruit. This gives two opportunities for your child to take in nutrients needed and offers a wider variety of foods.