Top 10 Tips for Healthy Eating (Children)

1. Keep things positive, children love to hear what they are doing well!

Top Tip: It might take time to find which food works best for you and your child, try to celebrate achievements and successes associated with meal times.

2. Sugar swaps are great for encouraging healthy eating.

Top Tip: Create a game to see who can do the most sugar swaps in a week, e.g. switch snacks to fruit instead of sweets or crisps, swap fizzy juice for water or milk, swap sugary cereals for toast or cereals with lower sugar and record the progress on a chart.

3. Children respond well to routine

Having regular and consistent meal times will support your child.

Top Tip: Try to organise your day around 3 regular meal times and try to ensure they don’t skip breakfast.

4. Remember “ME” sized portions

Although children are growing, they have much smaller tummies than adults.

Top Tip: Serve smaller portions and allow them to ask for more if they still feel hungry; this will allow you to celebrate when they finish their first serving rather than having to tell them to finish what’s on their plate.

5. Monitor the number of snacks that your child is having.

Top Tip: Reward your child with an activity, a trip to the park or a sticker rather than sweets. We all love to give our kids what they want, but sometimes it’s kinder to say no.

6. “Five – a – day”

Giving your child 5 portions of fruit and veg a day can be done in so many ways, encourage them to drink a glass of unsweetened fruit juice or a smoothie before they start their day

Top Tip: Cheer up their lunch box, draw a smiley face on their banana skin or use low-fat cream cheese to stick fruit and vegetables together to create something that will make them smile.

7. Include your child in meal planning.

Top Tip: Talk to your child about food, ask them to help you do the shopping and discuss what is healthy and why you are cooking it; this will help them to understand and learn about healthy living.

8. Spend time with your child at meal times.

Top Tip: Try to eat together where possible, and even try cooking together once a week.

9. Cut back on fat in your meals.

Top Tip: You can grill or bake food rather than frying it, and you can also try literally cutting the fat off, trimming off any fat that you see from meat before cooking it.

10. Variety is important

Always encourage your child to try new things, and try not to serve the same meal more than twice in one week.

Top Tip: Try to introduce one new piece of food per week and reward your child for trying it. We don’t all like every type of food but remaining consistent will allow you and your child to explore different tastes together.

You can find lots more tips and guidance on Healthy Eating on NHS website.

If your child is having frequent difficulties relating to meal times and food, try keeping a food diary for at least one month, if the problem persists and you can’t find the cause, please contact your GP.