Fun Food For Kids - Start Them Off Right

Fat kids are hitting the headlines again.The British government is worrried about the growing number of five year olds (about 25%) who are already overweight. They claim that this could affect life expectancy if the trend is allowed to continue. Other experts say that this is an exaggeration and that these levels of obesity will NOT affect the mortality rate.

Whatever you believe about the above figures, as a parent you will be concerned about helping kids to discover fun facts about food and recipes. If they discover early on that healthy eating and a nutritional program is fun, then they will hooked for life.

Kids are bombarded with food ads every year - in fact they see about 20,000 of them ! These food ads are not really into healthy nutritional programs as they are concerned with brainwashing kids and making money. Kids are hungry all the time, it seems. Most snack foods are loaded with trans fats, sugar and salt which is not exactly healthy. So much so that recent research shows that hyperactivity and ADHD in kids could be caused by these food additives and colourings.

The best way for kids to find out fun food facts is to let your them help around the kitchen. Kids like to cook and they like to eat what they cook. They are are much more adventurous when it comes to trying new foods than we think, and they will copy our attitudes so if we are boring in our choices of food, then they will copy us.

Teenagers who had always eaten with their families were much more likely to be on a healthier nutritional program when they moved into adulthood and were drinking less soda and eating more fruit and vegetables. Kids are curious by nature so a great way to exploit that is to eat lots of new things and rave about them. The kids will be much more likely to imitate you and will enjoy trying new dishes.

A geat way when eating out is to forget the kids' menu - many kids choose fish fingers or chicken nuggets because they are not familiar with anything else. That is what they get at home so it is no surprise that they want the same old food! If parents are enthusiastic and get the kids to share something with them from the main menu, then they are much more likely to be interested.

When The University of Minnesota did a survey of the schools who were offering healthy nutritional lunches alongside with more traditional fare, they found that there was no reduction in the sales for the healthier meals. Some schools now offer a low-fat turkey hot dog and have found that this healthy alternative is popular with the students.

Smoothie recipes are great for parents and kids love them too. This is one of the best way of disguising healthy ingredients like fruit and vegetables and getting the kids on to a nutritional healthy eating plan, without them realizing it.