Easy Ways To Get Your Family To Eat A Healthy Diet

Getting the family to eat healthily can seem like an impossible task. Whether you’re struggling with it because you’re pressed for time between all the demands on your time, from the school run to keep the house clean, or your children are in a stage of being fussy eaters, sometimes you just want to get anything on the table and can’t worry too much about how healthy it really is. It doesn’t have to be as hard as that though. With a few simple changes, you can obtain a healthy diet for your family, while still keeping it as something that your kids will eat. 

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Don’t be afraid to experiment a bit. You might be surprised by what your children will actually try if you offer it to them in an interesting way, whether you sneak some greens into tasty smoothies or try something new together as a family, like chaga mushrooms. Here are some more easy tips. 

Cut Out Trans Fats

Trans fats have gone from a lot of foods, but they are still present in a few others. These fats are the least healthy fats for you, as they increase your chances of heart disease. This happens because trans fats increase your bad cholesterol and decrease good cholesterol. Spend some time reading food labels when you’re at the grocery store, and use what you learn to cut out trans fats from your diet. To eat less of other unhealthy fats, try to bake, broil, or grill meats more often, and avoid frying food. Use a cooking spray, which is easier to use less of, or olive oil rather than other oils in your cooking. 

Eat More Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are good for you, as well all know, and they also help to fill you up, so you don’t feel hungry again later and head to the cookie jar for a snack. Fill your plate with fruits and vegetables, and you won’t need to supplement with vitamin pills. You’ll also be less hungry, and you soon find that your tastebuds will crave fewer sweet and salty foods as you get used to the way veggies taste. If your family needs some encouragement to eat vegetables, try describing them with more appealing words. For example, turn ‘green beans’ into ‘sweet, sizzling green beans’. 

Cut Back On Salt

This doesn’t just mean that you should sprinkle less salt on your food when you serve it. You also need to get into the habit of reading food labels. Most of the salt in our diets doesn’t come from us adding seasoning. In fact, most of the salt we eat comes from foods that the manufacturers have salted already. It is recommended to consume less than a teaspoon of salt every day. A teaspoon of salt contains 2,300mg of sodium, but only 1,500mg is what is recommended for children, anyone over 51, all African Americans, and some people with certain illnesses. If you’re worried that food without salt will taste boring, you can add more flavor with different seasonings, such as garlic, pepper, curry powder, ginger, lemon juice, or fresh herbs. You can also try seasoned salt, which has a lot less sodium per teaspoon than pure salt.

Cut Back On Refined Grains

Try to eat less white rice, pasta, and bread. Instead, try to choose whole-grain versions of these foods instead. At least half of the grains that your family eats every day should be whole grains, such as whole-wheat bread, whole-grain pasta, and brown rice. If you don’t like the taste of whole-grain pasta or brown rice as much as the white version, or you’re struggling to persuade your children to eat it, you can try some other options like whole couscous, bulgur, or quinoa, and see if you like those any better. Some of these ingredients can be a little bit more difficult to find and some are more expensive than buying rice, but these alternatives taste good. Quinoa is delicious, for example, and has almost double the protein of brown rice. 

Replace Meat and Poultry

You don’t have to give meat and poultry altogether but on occasion, you should try to replace it in some of your favorite recipes with beans, lentils, or fish to obtain a healthy diet. These options have just as much protein as meat and poultry, and if you nake a good sauce and season it well, you will barely be able to notice the difference. You might just find a new family favorite. 

Try Low-Fat Dairy Products

If your family won’t eat fat-free cheese, you can try to slowly ease in low-fat or fat-free dairy options, and see which products you like and can get the family to eat. If you usually use whole milk, try to switch to 2%. When you get used to 2%, you can drop to 1% or skim milk. Once you get used to it, your whole family will likely prefer milk, yogurt, cheese, and other dairy options with lower fat. 

Cut Out Sugary Drinks

Even if your family are big dessert lovers, you can still really cut out a lot of sugar from your family’s diets by dumping sugary drinks. Drop fizzy drinks and some juices, and switch to 100% juice, iced teas, and water. Say goodbye to sodas, punch, and sports drinks. Some coffee drinks that also appeal to your tastebuds with their sweetness actually have all of the calories of an entire meal, without any of the nutrients. Some of these coffee drinks have more than 500 calories, with some even reaching 1000 calories. Do you really need that in your diet just from a drink?

Gradually Reduce Portion Size

Overeating can be a problem in a lot of families. If this is true for yours, try using smaller plates and bowls. Family-style service, which keeps extra food on the table for anyone to dig into, might be less work for you to dish up, but it almost always ends up with people eating more than they actually want. If you just serve everyone their own serving, they will eat less. Put any leftovers away into the fridge, not on the table, where people will eat them without really thinking. Second helpings should be small. If your kids want a second serving of meat or grains, ask them to take a second helping of the veggies too. This should help everyone to eat a more balanced diet. 

Cut Back Screen Time

No food should be eaten in front of screens. Don’t let the kids or the adults in the family eat anything while watching TV or using the computer. Eating in front of a screen is an easy way to eat more than you meant to without thinking. Instead of allowing everyone to gather in front of a screen, make other plans to keep the family more active. When it is screen time, ditch the snacks. Eat meals at the table and not in front of the TV. 

Schedule Regular Mealtimes

If everyone in the family eats together at a regular time, and snacks are only available when it’s a while until your next meal, you might be surprised by how positively this can affect everyone’s weight. Regular mealtimes help people to not overeat. Once you start eating, it is hard to stop, so stick to three meals and one snack each day. Start the day with a healthy breakfast so you don’t start the day hungry and searching for snacks. An easy, nutritious breakfast could be cereal with milk or yogurt, and a glass of fruit juice.