Want to establish healthy eating patterns at home? Here’s how

Research conducted as part of Safefood’s three-year campaign to tackle childhood obesity found that more than 40 per cent of parents in Ireland routinely give their children treats, such as crisps, chocolates and sweets, at least once a day. Most worryingly, is the finding that it was children aged five and under that were given the most treats, with 50 per cent getting a treat “at least once a day or more”.

Many parents involved in the research talked about their struggle to establish healthy eating habits in the family and how challenging this was. As families we are bombarded by colourful adverts for unhealthy food treats – and they are everywhere. From the garage forecourt, to the newsagent’s, to the supermarket, you can’t make a journey without your children being tempted by food treats.

Even in some gyms and play centres, you can see vending machines packed with crisps, sweets and chocolates. In addition, parents have got into the habit of consistently using food treats as a means of motivating children to behave well.

As some parents taking part in the study put it: they were caught in a habit of “bribing [rather] than bringing their children up”. Children were constantly demanding treats from them and parents were giving in to get a moment of peace. However, most parents also realised the negative patterns they were caught in and were looking for ways to change these.

As part of my work, I have been supporting the Safefood campaign to help families to reduce the use of unhealthy food treats and will be writing a series of three columns for Health+Family. It can be hard work to establish healthy eating habits in families, but it is well worth the effort and below are some ideas for getting started.

Set some rules

The first goal is to stop the family having food treats every day. The real problem is the fact that children have got into the habit of getting crisps, sugary drinks or biscuits every day almost as part of their regular diet. One way to progress is to establish one or two blanket rules about treats. For example you can set a rules such as:

– food treats are only given at the weekend or on a treat night;

– no fizzy drinks, only water and milk when children are thirsty;

– a healthy lunch box for school is always provided.

Having a blanket rule makes things clear and removes the possibility of negotiation.

Reduce the size of treats

The second goal is to reduce the size of the treats that children get. There is no need to give a young child a bar of chocolate, when one square might do, or a full bag of sweets when one sweet would be more than enough.

Often parents give children an adult portion of dessert when a fraction of this is all they want. With treats it can definitely be the case that less is more. The treat can be appreciated more if it is smaller and less frequent.

Also, giving out smaller treats allows you to spread these out over the week. For example, you might have a small bag of chocolate drops that you give the child one at a time over the course of the week. In terms of health it is the accumulated amount of these treats that causes the problems meaning that small amounts over the course of the week is fine.

Use alternative treats

A third strategy and perhaps the most important one, is to use more non-food treats as rewards for our children. Simple items such as stars, stickers and tokens can work just as well as a means of distracting and motivating children. Have a treat dip bag at home with lots of small items such as coloured pencils, rubbers, clips, twistables, football stickers, etc, that you can give out one at at time.

With older children, focus on positive experiences as rewards such as a trip to park, time playing a game, playing music or reading a special magazine. For bigger rewarding experiences such as trip to the zoo, the child can earn points or stars over the course of the weeks that build towards this. Alternatively, instead of giving a child a treat, give them some of the money it might have cost, which they can save to buy something (non-edible!) at the weekend.

For more information see safefood.eu

This is the first article in a three-part series on establishing healthy eating habits at home. Next week, we look at how to break bad habits with children around food.