What your family eats can have a significant impact on their mood and performance. Children are especially susceptible to additives in food that can impact their behaviour and abilities.

So what can you eat?

There is a wide variety of healthy whole foods that you can prepare for your family that do not contain any additives, artificial sugars or preservatives, and are as simple to prepare and as delicious as the food your family has always eaten. Stock your pantry with raisins and other dried fruit, nuts and seeds, chips, pretzels, and old fashioned popcorn.  There’s also pasta, rice, beans, oatmeal, and cereal. In the fridge have cheeses, plain yoghurt that can be sweetened with honey, natural fruit juice, hormone-free meat, and fruits and vegetables. 

Here are some tips on how to eat healthy and get your children to like it:

•  Cook from scratch – when you have the time (like on the weekends) take the time to cook a healthy meal from scratch, including all the vegetables you can. Cook up a big batch and freeze it in meal size portions for use during the busy week days.

•  Give children small healthy snacks to avoid low blood sugar levels. Children always want a snack between meals as their little tummies digest their food and it has been used up before the next mealtime. However, we usually resort to junk food for snacks which gives them a sugar high (and then the resulting sugar low) which is exactly the opposite of what they need to keep their blood sugar levels constant between meals. Try giving raw veggies (carrots, peas, cucumbers) and fruit, nuts and dried fruit or whole wheat biscuits as snacks.

•  Try new things. Be willing to try new things in order to find healthy alternatives to your family’s normal diet. Try new breakfast ideas such as smoothies or whole-wheat pancakes for breakfast. You need to start thinking out the box in order to give your family the nutrition they need in a form that they will like.

•  Reintroduce now and then. My kids never used to like avo or tuna. But I reintroduced them a few months back and now avo and tuna are their favourite foods – which I am overjoyed about. Don’t assume that if your child did not like something at 2/3 years old that it will always be that way. Keep buying and preparing as wide a variety of foods as possible as your children will usually end up having the dietary preferences that you have.

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