St. Louis Children’s Hospital

Foods high in fat, salt and/or sugar are available everywhere you turn—in snack machines, at the ballpark and on displays in checkout lines. As kids gain easier access to these foods, many are facing health complications, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes, once seen almost solely in adults.

“There are kids in our country who are on their way to heart disease by age 10,” says Kathy Viau, MS, RD, CSSD, registered dietitian on staff at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. “But it takes an entire family to make necessary changes toward more nutritious eating habits that will positively impact everyone’s health.”

According to Viau, parents often express concerns about the amounts of time and money involved with developing healthier eating habits. However, with careful planning, you and your family can adopt a healthy diet without wasting precious time and money.

The Benefits of Proper Planning
Planning is perhaps the most important part of adopting and maintaining a healthier diet. It can help you save money, buy foods your kids will actually eat and even bring the family together for some quality time. When planning meals:

• Get the kids involved. Although it might take a little extra effort, bringing the kids with you to the supermarket and letting them pick out fruits and vegetables they’d like to try can be a great way to get them excited about healthy eating. You may even consider taking a healthy cooking class as a family one Saturday instead of going to the movies.
• Make it a date. “Just as you’d mark your son’s soccer game on the calendar, schedule snack or meal preparation,” Viau says. “It’s a fun way to spend time together, and marking it on the calendar gives you a concrete schedule to follow. This makes it a ‘no-miss’ event—like the last game of the season.”
• Taste the rainbow. Viau recommends eating a fruit or vegetable from every color of the rainbow by the end of each week. Kids may even enjoy coordinating colors with days of the week.
• Let ads be your guide. Planning meals around sales and coupons is a great way to save money. If bagged salad, asparagus and boneless, skinless chicken breast are on sale this week, make a meal incorporating them. Your kids can even get involved in helping you clip coupons.

“Having kids help you clip coupons is great not only for allowing them some say-so in what your family eats, but also as a lesson on the value of saving money,” Viau says. “Keeping track of how much money you save and putting it toward a family treat can be a really fun reward for all of your efforts.”

Give Them Options
It’s important for your kids to try new things, but there will probably be some foods they just don’t like. Maybe you’re not fond of the texture of mushrooms or the taste of raw celery. Keep this in mind if your children express distaste with certain foods. Forcing them to eat foods they don’t like could potentially cause them to avoid trying others they might enjoy.

“Many families I speak with have success with the one-bite rule,” Viau says. “Make sure they at least try a food before saying they don’t like it, but don’t force them to eat it if they don’t. If they won’t eat a red vegetable, have them eat a red fruit instead.”