Health and Food Tips: 7 Healthy Eating Habits for Parents

If we parents should make just one promise to ourselves that concerns children, it should be a life-long investment on health. Tips for effective parenting come only from parents having healthy eating habits. This is where strong minds and body come from.  Poor parenting comes from having poor health and chronic sicknesses.  Parents can only take care of their kids as much as they can take good care of their own selves.

Being busy parents is not an excuse for not taking care of ourselves.  This is true when it comes to providing themselves with right food and nutrition.  Without understanding the healthy eating habits, parents tend to eat less and choose the wrong kinds of food.  Today, they are more concerned about their children’s welfare and simply neglect their health.  All through the day, 24 hours is given to children and there’s almost no time left for themselves. 

Healthy eating habits all parents should develop:

1.   Consume less meat, and buy leaner cuts.  Before eating, pick the leanest option, trim all visible fats from meat and remove the skin from poultry.  Don’t go on a crash diet; this is risky to your health.  Maintaining healthy eating habits means discipline on the part of parents.

2.   Never assume that a fat-free or low-fat label indicates the right food diet.  These labels do not necessarily mean the product is also low in calories.  Also, watch out for sugar and sodium content.  Since fat plays a big part in making foods taste good, sugar and sodium may be added to make up for the lack of fat.  By going fat-free, you may take in excess calories, which are eventually converted into body fat.

3.   Healthy eating habits help parents keep blood cholesterol levels.  Eat more oats, carrots, chick-peas, and soybean foods.  Use lots of garlic in your food.  This powerful clove keeps down blood pressure, cancer, infections, and diabetes.

4.   Take time to chew your food, as this prolongs eating and gives you the feeling of fullness.  It also aids digestion and helps you savour the food fully.  If you must reach for seconds, wait for 20 minutes after you’ve finished the firsts.  It takes that long for your brain to know that your stomach is full.

5.   Drink a full glass of water before a meal, and another one during the meal, even when you’re dining out.  This aids digestion and makes you feel full.  The healthy way to eating habits is avoiding salty foods: anchovies, smoked fish, pickles, capers, luncheon meats, salted snacks.  Use honey only if you prefer its flavour.  Honey is no more nourishing than ordinary sugar.

6.   Eat potatoes for Vitamin B and C, minerals and protein.  The potato has the undeserved reputation as a fattening food.  However, it is the butter we use when we eat baked potatoes that add up the calories. Whenever possible, eat the skins of the fruits and vegetables.  You get the most nutrients that way including the roughage you need.  Including fibers make healthy eating habits important for parents. 

7.   Cut down on bacon, ham and other treated meat products.  They contain sodium nitrate and nitrites are widely believed to be cancer-causing.  Neither excessive fat consumption nor fat phobia is good for parents healthy eating habits.  We have to get the pendulum back to the middle where there is a place for some fat in our lives.

Above all, remember that balance, variety and moderation tips form the basis of a healthful diet.  These are the genuine, healthy ways to all eating habits parents can do.  They need to get out nutrients from each food.  This means 50 to 55% from carbohydrates, 15% from protein, and 25 to 30% from fat.  Parents should learn to eat these without having guilt on themselves.

Health and Food Tips: 7 Healthy Eating Habits for Parents  is  a post on  Modern Parenting Tips: Styles & Approach to Train & Discipline Children

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