PLAN MEALS TOGETHER
Get children involved in making heart healthy meal choices right from the beginning. By giving the kids a sense of control from the start, you are also giving them more responsibility for what they are eating. It's your job to guide their choices – give lots of praise for making healthy selections and work out together how old favourites can be adapted.
Try this:
• Spaghetti bolognese made with extra lean beef or even free-range turkey mince can taste just as good as when it is cooked with fatty minced beef. Use wholegrain spaghetti and serve with a salad or vegetables.
• We all know that a healthy well-balanced diet should include at least five-a-day fruit and vegetables. But this should be in a variety of colourful fruit and vegetables for the maximum health benefits. Encourage children to eat a rainbow of colours each day. For example, purple plums, blue blueberries, red tomatoes, green broccoli, yellow sweetcorn and orange carrots.
SHOP TOGETHER
Take the children food shopping with you. Instead of succumbing to pester power, make the most of the opportunity by encouraging the kids to learn more about the ingredients used in their everyday meals.
Try this:
• Give the kids the responsibility of choosing the family's fruit and vegetables. If there are scales available, let them also do all the weighing and sticking on labels – they'll jump at the chance.
• As you wander up and down the fruit and vegetable aisles, or through a local market, get the kids to identify unusual fruit and vegetables. For instance, ask them to find a celeriac or point out a pomegranate. Guess what it might taste like and buy one to try if you can.
COOKING TOGETHER
There's no doubt about it, kids love cooking. So, it makes sense to cook something healthy together. And don't limit it to baking, most children will get enormous satisfaction out of helping to make the family meal. The youngest can help out with simple tasks such as washing vegetables and stirring, whilst older children can help prepare ingredients and get involved with cooking. By helping them learn cooking skills early on, you are setting them up for a healthier life. And, children love trying food they've made themselves.
Try this:
• Even if it's just once a week, try to get the kids cooking. Delegate tasks and get the whole family involved. A fun activity for the children is for them to design menus or place mats for the table. Pick a healthy eating theme for them to create a design around. If you can laminate them then you'll be able to use them time and time again.
• Ask each family member to prepare a different course of the meal. Little ones can put together simple salads and older children can attempt more elaborate dishes. Make sure you're close to hand if they're cooking or using sharp knives.
GET ACTIVE
Physical activity helps your child build a healthy heart and develop strong muscles and bones. It also helps reduce the risk of some chronic diseases in later life, for example heart disease. Children should be aiming for a minimum of 60 minutes of moderate intensity activity a day, but it doesn't all have to be at once and can include walking to school, active play with friends at break time and out of school, sport or structured exercise. Getting active with your kids will have health benefits for you as well.
Try this:
• Go for a brisk family walk in the countryside or around the town and pass the time by asking the children to make alphabetical lists under certain topics. They could start with first names, animals, vegetables or fruit.
• Points awarding during the week for making healthy food choices can be added together, and a prize awarded that the whole family can enjoy - such as a trip to the local swimming pool.
ON THE WEB
If they're going to be using the web, use the opportunity to educate them about healthier food choices. Visit the British Heart Foundation websites with your children and help them understand the importance of diet and exercise to their wellbeing. Log on to yoobot.co.uk, where kids can create a quirky, virtual robot version of themselves. It's a fun, educational game that teaches children how their lifestyle can affect their body and health. The Food4Thought website has some great advice for adults on how to make sure your kids are healthy. As well as some great tips for creating packed lunches, there's advice on how you can make fast food a healthy treat. Check it out together – it won't be just the children who learn something useful.
