Healthy Eating Tips for Families

Posted: Jan. 1, 2005

• Guide your family's choices rather than dictate foods.
• Encourage your child to eat when hungry and to eat slowly.
• Eat meals together as a family as often as possible.
• Carefully cut down on the amount of fat and calories in your family's diet.
• Don't place your child on a restrictive diet.
• Avoid the use of food as a reward.
• Avoid withholding food as punishment.
• Children should be encouraged to drink water and to limit intake of beverages with added sugars, such as soft drinks, fruit juice drinks and sports drinks.
• Plan for healthy snacks.
• Stock the refrigerator with fat-free or low-fat milk, fresh fruit, and vegetables instead of soft drinks or snacks that are high in fat, calories, or added sugars and low in essential nutrients.
• Aim to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day.
• Discourage eating meals or snacks while watching TV.
• Eating a healthy breakfast is a good way to start the day and may be important in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.

If your child is overweight
Any weight management program for children should be supervised by a physician.

• Many overweight children who are still growing will not need to lose weight, but can reduce their rate of weight gain so that they can "grow into" their weight.
• Your child's diet should be safe and nutritious. It should include all of the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for vitamins, minerals, and protein and contain the foods from the major Food Guide Pyramid groups. Any weight-loss diet should be low in calories only, not in essential nutrients.
• Even with extremely overweight children, weight loss should be gradual.
• Crash diets and diet pills can compromise growth and are not recommended by many health care professionals.
• Weight lost during a diet is frequently regained unless children are motivated to change their eating habits and activity levels for a lifetime.
• Weight control must be considered a lifelong effort.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

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