Mindful Eating for you and your Kids. Nutrition can be fun.

Mother and daughter cultivating the garden

Most parents want their children to eat healthy meals; to drink water and milk, eat more organic fruits and veggies, less sugar and no fizzy drinks. You want them to have a healthy understanding of food and an interest to try new foods and to continue to enjoy accepted ones. Most of all you want nutrition to be fun.

Most parents form their definition and checklist of “healthy foods” based on their own expectations and food experiences. Food rules get created; no sugar, no lollies, no preservatives, no additives or colours, and the list can go on. Before parents realise it, they have probably taken all the joy out of eating, especially healthy foods.

Teaching your child to have a mindful attitude towards food should start as early as toddlerhood. While “mindfulness” seems like a new hippy concept, your child is born an expert (if only their expertise extended to cleaning up after themselves…).

Infants and toddlers are connected to their senses; they look, feel (sometimes a little too enthusiastically), smell, and taste their food before they eat it. Children do not eat out of boredom or for emotional comfort like some adults do. The younger the child, the closer they are to truly mindful eating.

Think of the following points as strategies that may help when encouraging an attitude for mindful eating in your children so that it becomes second nature to reach for the right, nutritious things to eat.

There’s no right or wrong way of eating, instead, there’s a variety of ways and food experiences.
Give your children some ownership in the process. Parents can decide on what healthy foods to offer (it’s brussel sprouts, broccoli and brown rice for dinner tonight!) and where to eat them (I know Spongebob is on and yes, Mummy does want to watch it too but the table is a better place for us all to eat together). Children can decide what they are going to eat and how much.
Talk about food. Discuss what a healthy food is. Most little kids don’t understand the concept of health, so start with basics. Instead of classifying food into good and bad, teach them to think of a healthy food as something that will help them grow, get taller, become strong, play more, or run fast (or even make their hair curly or enable them to see in the dark).
Get your child involved in food selection and meal preparation. Take your children shopping and encourage them to select things they want to try. Show them you prefer fresh organic food and make a habit of trying one different food, as a family, once a week. Children like to help; let them wash produce, set the table, toss the salad, sprinkle cheese or spices (just stay away from the pepper and dried chilli flakes), or anything safe for their age.
Make meal times for meals only. One of the principles of mindful eating is to be completely involved in the eating experience. Let your children have utensils and let them eat on their own (don’t stress about the mess). At least once a day, eat meals together as a family.
Be a role model. Children want what their parents have, so make sure you are eating healthy foods to nourish your body too. Be aware of how you think of, or label, foods.
Don’t reward eating a healthy food with something that is not. Instead, make fruits and vegetables festive, reward with fun activities or special attention, and offer dessert occasionally, detached from eating any other food.
Be patient and continue to offer a variety of foods. When your child refuses to eat something remember that it takes 10 to 15 times for children to trust and try a new food. Offer it in different cooking methods, shapes, temperatures, and offer something that looks good.
Abandon food rules. While general guidelines can help your whole family to eat well, be careful not to go overboard. Remember that children are developing impressions and attitudes towards food. Instead of countless rules, stick to a simple one: if you ate it once today, you can’t eat it again.
Take it easy. They won’t eat the way parents want all the time. Have an occasional treat, and allow your child to experiment with all foods. Most important of all, don’t take the pleasure out of food. Create healthy eating memories.