Every parent dreams of their child being a “good” eater, which, of course, means something different to everyone. Some may be satisfied if their child occasionally eats a little bit of vegetables, while for others, the three main meals a day are important. There are families following various diets, or perhaps certain ingredients need to be eliminated from the diet due to intolerance. The diversity is apparent, and although what food ends up on our children’s plates is important, the establishment of healthy eating habits still emphasizes consistency.
However, knowing that a healthy eating routine is much more than serving healthy food on the table, unfortunately, families are often too busy to even establish the simplest eating routines. If this is the case for you too, then keep reading because haphazard eating rarely leads to healthy eating habits!
The first step in breaking the cycle of unplanned eating is to understand the benefits of introducing eating routines, which help to…
- …separate eating from other activities,
- …spend more time together with family members, and
- …develop and perfect appetite-regulating abilities. The latter refers to the ability to perceive real hunger, in other words, to eat when we are genuinely hungry and stop when we are full. With this ability, we can recognize external triggers behind perceived hunger rather than genuine hunger. It is understandable, therefore, that the ability to regulate appetite is the basis of lifelong healthy eating and living. Chaotic, irregular eating leads to the opposite, resulting in unnecessary calorie intake or insufficient and poor-quality eating.
It is unquestionable, then, that we must invest energy into establishing eating routines because it greatly influences our children’s long-term health. At this point, the emphasis is not on how much spinach or other vegetables they ate, although that is important too, but rather on having the opportunity to eat regularly and, as part of this, following routines as part of the daily schedule. In this section, we provide you with support specifically aimed at how to establish well-functioning routines.
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