by Philip Wyre

Created on: November 03, 2009

An important part of any healthy child's upbringing is their diet. Child hood is the time in which your child will develop eating habits that they will carry for the rest of their life. You can take an active part in helping your child develop healthy eating habits that will last them a lifetime.

Serve fruits and vegetables at every opportunity - keep in mind the 5 a day rule. Any fruits or vegetables you buy can be either fresh, frozen, canned or dried, all of them count. To help encourage your child, take them to the store and let them choose which fruit and vegetables you will serve.

Purchase fewer high sugar drinks and other high calorie snack foods. Snacks such as candy, chips and cookies should be seen as a treat by your child, not as a daily thing. Buying less of these items and providing more healthy snacks at snack time will help your child develop a good relationship with snack food.

Encourage your child to eat breakfast. Breakfast provides your child with energy that they will need to concentrate in school. If your child misses breakfast and becomes hungry later in the day, they may start to look for food, and the only type available may be the healthy foods they should be avoiding.

Cut down on the fast food. It is common knowledge that fast food is not good for you. As with snacks, fast food needs to be seen as a treat rather than the norm. You can even encourage your child to choose healthier options when they are eating out such as salads with low fat dressing or choosing the smaller portion options.

Replace Fruit juice with low-fat milk or water. The calcium found in milk is important to help your child grow up healthy. Pure fruit juices may be healthy, but they contain a lot of calories per serving.

Cut down on saturated fats in your family's diet. Healthy fats such as Omega-3 can help your child develop a healthy heart and can be obtained from sources such as fish, olive oil, seeds and nuts.

Eat as a family at the table. Eating together as a family encourages your child to try new types of food. It will also help build up a stronger family relationship, which is never a bad thing.

Don't give up if your child will not try a new food at first. Children can be uncomfortable with new types of foods you serve, but it is common for adults to be shocked at the things they used to hate! Some children will need new foods served to them up to 10 times before they take the plunge, keep at it!

Don't reward your child with food. If someone promises you cake and ice cream if you eat all your greens, it won't take you long to realise that cake and ice cream is much more important than vegetables! Although it may help them finish this meal, kids will soon learn to hate food the see as less valuable.

Provide small portions, your child can ask for more if they want. Many of today's problems with obesity comes down to poor portion control. There are many websites and films that compare today's fast food portions to those a few generations ago and show them to be much larger today. It is your job to provide healthy food to your child, but your child has to learn to distinguish when they are full. Piling a massive plate of food in front of them will encourage them to eat it all, but if they have to ask for more, they will only ask if they really need it.

Be aware of the high fat/high sugar foods or beverages that are strongly marketed to kids. Many unhealthy foods may be marketed by your child's favourite cartoon character's or offer free gifts and come in bright packaging. If TV is constantly telling your child to eat these unhealthy foods, it is up to you to tell them the benefits of fruits and vegetables, they will thank you in he long run!

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