Episode 53: My Top 10 Tips for Keeping Kids Healthy Over the Festive Season

Episode 53: My Top 10 Tips for Keeping Kids Healthy Over the Festive Season

It’s Christmas Eve, and for many families, the festive season means joy, excitement… and a whole lot of food challenges! Between constant treats, late nights, and holiday chaos, it can feel tricky to keep our kids on track with healthy habits. But don’t worry—today I’m sharing 10 practical, doable tips to help you balance fun and nutrition over this busy season.

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Links
https://nourishwithkarina.com/feedingbabies
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Highlights:

Top 10 Tips for Keeping Kids Healthy Over the Festive Season (00:00.014)
Setting Healthy Boundaries for Children (02:22.486)
Balanced Meal Planning for Children (04:45.73)
Parenting with Children: Setting Acceptable and Tolerance Rules (07:01.994)
Teaching Mindfulness in Children's Eating (09:18.38)
Healthy Snack Guide for Kids (11:35.448)
Active Family Activities for Children (13:59.606)
30 Days of Nutrition Tips for Kids (16:15.042)
Importance of Fluid Intake for Children (18:29.934)
Parenting and Sleeping Patterns in Australia (20:43.406)
Limiting Screen Time in Family Life (23:03.822)
Boosting Children's Immunity with Nutrient-Rich Foods (25:22.614)
Zinc and Fiber in Nutrition (27:35.166)
Promoting Healthy Eating Strategies for Children (29:37.646)
Understanding Children's Eating Habits (31:57.312)
Healthy Kids Recipes and Their Impact (34:15.863)
Healthy Nutrition Tips for Kids (36:33.39)

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes

Here’s a quick breakdown of the 10 tips we cover:

Start the Day Right
Kick off with a nutritious breakfast to stabilise blood sugar levels and set the tone for the day.
Encourage Balanced Meals
Structure meals with a mix of protein, carbs, and colourful veggies for energy and fullness.
Keep Treats in Check
Set clear boundaries to enjoy treats without overindulging—balance is key.
Be Snack Smart
Choose high-protein, high-fibre snacks to keep kids full and energised.
Stay Active as a Family
Incorporate fun, screen-free activities like walks, dance-offs, or backyard games.
Stay Hydrated
Make water the go-to drink and keep sugary drinks to a minimum.
Prioritise Sleep
Stick to bedtime routines to avoid cranky, overtired little ones.
Be Mindful of Screen Time
Limit screens and encourage creative, outdoor, or family-focused activities.
Boost Immunity with Nutrient-Rich Foods
Include vitamin C, zinc, and fibre-rich foods to keep their immune systems strong.
Support Overeaters
Use mindful eating strategies and portion tricks to help manage big appetites.

Bonus Tip: Get the kids involved in the kitchen—let them play, experiment, and create healthy meals!

If you’re keen for easy, healthy recipes to try during the holidays, check out my Healthy Kids Recipes page: Healthy Recipes for Kids.

👉 Don’t forget to register for my free 30 Days of Nutrition Tips starting January 1! Click the link in the show notes to join—let’s kick off 2025 with simple, practical tips to nourish your family.

Wishing you a joyful, love-filled Christmas!

Top 10 Tips for Keeping Kids Healthy Over the Festive Season (00:00.014)
You're listening to the Easy Feed Podcast, episode number 53, my top 10 tips for keeping kids healthy over the festive season. Hi there, I'm Karina Savage and with over 20 years experience feeding children, including my own, I've learnt all the secrets that busy mums need to get their children eating better and actually enjoying healthy foods. So a huge welcome to the Easy Feed Podcast.

Well, hello, hello. I hope you're really well. Today is the 24th of December and it is Christmas Eve for those who celebrate Christmas. It's a very special time of the year for many families. And I hope that the festive spirit is within you because it's such a special time of the year, especially when you've got little ones. So I hope you're really well. Today's episode is all about.

keeping kids healthy over the festive season because it can be a challenge, right? School breaks up and then the parties begin. And then I feel like it's this constant challenge to keep some level of consistency with what they eat because they're in holiday mode, right? For the best part of two months for Lucky Ducks, I feel it's a challenge sometimes as parents to keep them on an even keel, especially with their blood sugar levels.

Because often they're just going back to the pantry for an extra biscuit or an extra chocolate out of their advent calendar or, know, whatever it is, they seem to consume a lot more junk and treat food over this festive season. Which on one hand is okay because I'm all about allowing treats and, you know, having fun. It also needs to be balanced with the healthy stuff because it's not just Easter or Christmas day. This is two months worth, so it's something that we rarely need to be mindful of.

and have some strategies in place that support us to support them have a little more healthy intake over this time. So I think it is absolutely possible to keep children healthy and energized while still having fun, still allowing treats, but setting very clear boundaries around that. A lot of mums I work with say to me, yeah, but is it okay to say no? And I say, of course it is, as long as you are allowing them treats.

Setting Healthy Boundaries for Children (02:22.486)
And other times it's just about being very clear with the boundaries and saying, yes, you can have a treat, but that's it. We're not having 15 treats today because sometimes they'll try and push you, right? Often they will. You give a little bit and they'll try and take more. So it's about just being clear with boundaries, but also allowing them to have some treats because at the end of the day, we want them to understand how these treat foods fit into a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

And we need to be role modeling those behaviors ourselves, right? And yes, there might be some little trips to the pantry late at night once the kids are in bed just to top up, but that's all good. That's all part of it. So let's start with tip number one. Tip number one really relates to trying to start the day well. And this is really setting them up with a healthy breakfast. look, breakfast can be at eight o'clock. It could be, I mean, if you've got a super early riser, it could be 6.30 or

Five, 30 of you are really unlucky, but if you've got a teenager, it could be 10, 10, 30. So breakfast can vary, but really at the end of the day, we want them to put something that has some good quality fiber, protein or healthy fats in their breakfast. Because what this is going to do is help make them feel fuller and that's going to help stabilize their blood sugar levels across the morning. So it's going to make for a better...

happier, healthier morning. They're not going to be moody. Well, they might still be moody depending on their age, but screens and everything plays a role of that as well. But the other day, they're eating better, they're likely to have better behaviour, better mood. They're going to feel better and they're not going to have those sugar highs and sugar lows. So you're less likely to have tantrums and they're less likely to crave sugary stuff by 9am because they're feeling full and satisfied from a big bowl of porridge or a big plate of scrambled eggs on grainy bread. So.

That's what we really want to be starting with. We want to be starting the day with some healthy options. It could be cereal. It could be toast with avo or eggs. It could be a smoothie where you put banana, yogurt, plant milks, regular milk, fruit, other fruit like berries. You could put avocado, could put ground linseed, spinach, you know, really you can put whatever you want in there. I've got some good smoothie recipes on my website. I will pop the link to that in the show notes.

Balanced Meal Planning for Children (04:45.73)
starting the day with something that's going to make them feel full, satisfied, and give them some long lasting energy. That's the key. And that's going to tame the sugar monster in them. So number two really follows on in terms of making sure that their main meals are as balanced as possible. We do want to keep up that intake of good quality proteins, healthy fats, some carbohydrates, but really making sure we're getting in lots of colorful plant foods.

Veggies, definitely for lunch and dinner. Now for lunch, it might be just chopped veggies next to a sandwich or a toasted sandwich, completely fine. Dinner may be cooked veggies or it might be a salad. Or again, it might be raw veggies if your children prefer raw veggies or frozen peas if they prefer frozen veggies from a sensory perspective. But really trying to keep lunch and dinner balanced. I like to aim for roughly a third protein, a third carbohydrates and a third vegetables.

That's really the rough goal here. So it might be one third fish or chicken or tofu or edamame, one third potato, sweet potato, brown rice, pasta, noodles, quinoa, and then one third veggies or salad. This ensures that they get a mix of essential nutrients and it keeps things interesting. And look, some kids will like them mixed and often children will not like them mixed and they prefer their...

food deconstructor. This is very normal up until the age of about 11. It's research proven. So number two is encouraging balanced meals. When they're balanced, there's much more likelihood of their sugar levels being stabilized because you're going to get veggies in, which is fiber. You're going to get protein in. And if you can use healthy fats, amazing. I'm a big fan of extra virgin olive oil. You can use avocado. If you're giving fish, that's a healthy fat. So.

Really making sure that you're trying to get into some healthy fats as well, where possible. Moving on to number three, we want to keep treats in check. This is not to say that they can't have a treat every day. They absolutely can. And often it will be a couple of times a day, but we just need to set, as I said before, some clear boundaries around

Parenting with Children: Setting Acceptable and Tolerance Rules (07:01.994)
what is acceptable, what is tolerated. And that way you don't have to have the constant argument every single minute because they are asking you for yet another chocolate bar or yet another ice cream or donut because they know what the rules are. So I think it's been really clear about the limit and every family is going to have different rules. My friend was looking after my son the other night and she was out at a local, it was like a end of year event.

And she had my son and there was lots of kids around and lots of kids were getting soft drinks. she said, no. And I was like, thank you so much because I would have been exactly the same. She said, you know what? I was the odd one out. Every other child and parent, they were giving them soft drinks. And she said, no, you can have juice boxes. And the kids were happy with that. She was very clear with the boundaries around that.

And I was really happy with that. The kids respected that and accepted the fact that they were having juice. It's completely fine to set boundaries that you feel comfortable with for your family. It's really important that we don't feel peer pressure because every other child's doing it. And our children will make us feel guilty. The number of times that my kids come home, especially one of my children says to me, everyone else in the grades doing this, everyone else is doing it.

And, and then you speak to their parents and realize that not everyone else is doing it, but they're very good at making you feel like you're being the mean one and you're the one out to try to get you to change your mind and do what they want you to do. Parenting is hard work, but it's really important to have the confidence to stick to what you feel is right and go with that. And be seen as the bad cop. Bad luck doesn't mean they can never have treats, but

If you don't want them to have the soft drink or the Mr. Whippy ice cream because they've already had enough junk that day, then that's fine. Stand firm and be clear with the boundaries. If they've already had a couple of treats that day, it's completely fine and appropriate to say, well, no, let's swap to something else. You've had this, you've had that. Let's have one of mummy's homemade cookies or some toast with Vegemite as a snack rather than another piece of chocolate brownie.

Teaching Mindfulness in Children's Eating (09:18.38)
I think it's also important to try to teach kids mindfulness so that when they are having the giant chocolate marshmallow Santa or whatever it is that might be in their advent calendar, encouraging them to enjoy it, eat it slowly, not feel like they've got to shove it down quickly and then want more. Because that's what adults that feel guilty about eating do. They feel guilty about it, so they shove it down, but they don't even really enjoy it. And they're like, now I want another one.

Enjoy the other one, it down so quick because I was feeling so guilty. I'm not saying kids feel that way, which is great, but I think it's important that we teach them to eat it slowly, enjoy it, savor it because that's it. They're not having any more today. So enjoy it and be grateful for it and then wait till the next day. So really trying to pad their healthy snacks, sorry, pad their snacks out with healthier options for the rest of the day. look.

That's best practice is not going to always happen because you're going to go to your friend's house in the afternoon and then they're going to bring out the plate of cookies or rocker or whatever, or your best intentions go to, you know, where, but it's about trying to where possible, especially if you're home that day, set up a routine where the kids are exposed to more healthy food. And it literally may be just keeping a whole lot of chopped veggies in the fridge.

Having lots of fresh fruit, always sitting around, you can just throw it together on a plate that goes with their snacks. It goes with their lunch, it goes with their dinner, just so they're getting those extra nutrients, that extra fiber throughout the day. So that leads me on to number four, which is being snack smart. So it's really important to be strategic with snacks. Use those foods rich in protein, healthy fats and fiber.

to help stabilize blood sugar levels throughout the day. Great snacks include toast with peanut butter, mini toast with avocado, guacamole with corn chips and salsa, crackers with pesto or beetroot hummus, crackers with tuna. You can do mixed nuts and dried fruit, chopped veggies and cheese or hummus. There's plenty of really good

Healthy Snack Guide for Kids (11:35.448)
high protein, healthy fats, high fiber snack options. We just have to remember them. And that's why I've got a healthy snacks guide. It's a free guide. It's got 60 healthy kids snacks. So I'll pop the link in the show notes and you can check out my healthy snacks guide there. It's also helpful to take snacks when going out, especially if you're not sure what food is going to be there. If you've got children under the age of 10, I think it's really

Important to have a few healthy things in your bag that can help bridge the gap between meals and keep their behavior and sugar levels stable. You don't want to get to the point where they are so hungry that you're pulling into the station and buying a chocolate bar because that's just reinforcing the sugar highs and lows. So having convenient snack options in your bag, like some mixed nuts or healthy muesli bars or homemade ones even.

fresh fruit, veggie sticks, those kinds of things are really helpful just to have in your bag, to have on hand, even just a carrot and cucumber, chuck them in your bag if the kids are hungry, just to get them through. Now I'm not saying that I carry a carrot and a cucumber in my handbag, but I definitely know mums that do. Even when they get to the beach, she pulls out a carrot and a peeler and give it to her child and she's like, you gotta eat this first before you go get the ice cream. And look, I'm like, wow, you know, they're eating vegetables at the beach.

And it's not something that I've ever done, but apparently you could chop them up and bring a bit of hummus or whatever. And that could be the snack. If you're going to the beach on a hot day, fresh fruits, amazing as well. But muesli bars are really good because they're non-perishable. You can just leave them in the bottom of your bag and they can be a really easy go-to for when kids are hungry. Also something's a bit salty if it's hot and they're swimming like Cobb's popcorn. Not that I have an affiliation with them, but I think they're a good brand, not too high on salt, especially the lightly salted ones, the light blue one.

That's another good one for kids over the age of three. Just have a packet of that in your bag. Just again, it's just something if the kids are really hassling you, like you throw that at them and you know, it's still a good snack. Okay. Number five, staying active as a family is a really good one to ensure that kids are maintaining a degree of fitness and health over the school holidays. Many children are super active and they will be racing around on their bikes with their friends or they will be.

Active Family Activities for Children (13:59.606)
jumping around in the pool in the backyard or at the beach or running around with their cousins. On the whole, kids don't have to be told to be active, but with the rise of screen time and gaming, there is definitely a percentage of children that will be a lot more sedentary over the festive period, over the school holiday period. It's really important that if you are a parent of a child who is more sedentary, who does like to sit in front of a screen.

Get them outside, take an evening stroll together. So in Australia, it's summer, it's Christmas time, the festive season. Taking an evening stroll as a family in a local park, suburb or by the beach. I have really fond memories of taking family strolls in the evening, in summertime. And I grew up in Adelaide and back then there was always lots of

fruit trees hanging over the fence. My Nona used to be a shocker for this. She used to like, you know, grab a nectarine and just eat it as we're walking along. Cause she lived close by and so we'd spend a lot of time with her and walk with her and my parents and my brother. you know, we would, we would take the route where you did have the overhanging summer fruit. It was delicious. And you know, I have fond memories of that. So.

Not only are you getting activity, but you're spending quality time together and you know, you sometimes eating delicious fruit. I don't think that it happens as much nowadays. I don't tend to see as much overhanging fruit over the edges of fences these days, but it's definitely something that happened a lot when I was growing up and it was awesome. I just remember doing that on an evening. So that was a really nice thing to do. That's a good activity.

But if you don't feel like doing that, you can organize games at home, whether you organize a game of tag, do a scavenger hunt or set up an obstacle relay course in the backyard for you kids. I remember doing that too with my brother and my dad would set it up in the backyard. Or you do a dance off, just fun different things to be active, but be connected as a family. Cause that's really important too, because kids remember all that stuff, right? It's not the stuff that costs lots of money. It's just your time.

30 Days of Nutrition Tips for Kids (16:15.042)
Do these fun activities because kids really love that. Okay. I'm just taking a pause now to let you know about something super exciting that's starting in less than a month now. I want to share with you my 30 days of nutrition tips starting January 1. And you can register now for this and it's free for all of you. Starting on January 1, every day you're going to get simple, practical inspiration from me.

to help feed your children easier and create a healthier, more nourished family. It's designed to make feeding your little ones easier, much more enjoyable, one tip at a time. So registration is now open. I'm going to pop the link in the show notes so that you can click on that and register now. Head to the link and I can't wait for you to join me on these 30 days of nutrition tips. Okay, moving on to number six, hydration.

Hydration was the topic of my last episode, check out episode number 52. For a full rundown on hydration and the needs for babies, children and teens, it's something to be mindful of. The reason I dedicated a whole episode to it is because it is so important and can definitely impact a child's well-being, their mood, their energy levels.

Dehydration can cause tiredness. It can make them feel young. It can impact their behaviour and their mood. So it's important to remember to offer, especially young children, water throughout the day, especially for not big drinkers. Some children are really big water drinkers and others aren't. My two children are very different with their fluid intake, but it's important that children are sipping on water throughout the day, especially when it's hot or they've been very active and are sweating a lot.

Children are much more at risk of dehydration compared to adults. So it's really important that they are drinking. One way of checking is to look at the colour of their wee. If it's super yellow, then they are a bit on the dehydrated side. But if it's pale yellow and they're weeing regularly, then they should be right.

Importance of Fluid Intake for Children (18:29.934)
With babies, it's really important that they have at least five to six wet nappies per 24 hours. If they don't have much in their nappy at all and their lips and skin are getting a bit dry and their poos are getting a bit hardened and they need more fluid. Same goes for toddlers. If their poos are getting hardened pellety, they may need increased fluid intake. There's a whole lot of other factors that contribute to constipation and I've got a whole podcast episode on that, but inadequate fluid intake can cause or increase risk of constipation.

Now, children may be tempted to reach for sugary drinks like your soft drinks, lots of hot chocolates, but we really need to make sure that we are encouraging water as much as possible throughout the day. They also may be hitting you up for lots of juice and juice is okay in moderation. I'd say half a cup of juice per day maximum. Always choose the hundred percent freshly squeezed orange juice. I'm not saying you've got to go to a cafe and have it freshly squeezed or freshly squeezed it yourself, but make sure it's a hundred percent juice.

not made with concentrate that has colors or preservatives because yeah, it's a bit of a minefield with juice. And look, if your children struggle to drink water, then adding a bit of juice to the water, so it's like 5 % juice and mainly water, then that's completely fine. Sometimes you need to add a splash of juice just to color it, to add a tiny bit of flavor and it helps them to drink their water better.

But if you're looking for volumes of hydration required for children for different age groups, then do check out that podcast episode because it goes into all of those numbers for you. Other things that you can do to flavor the water aside from juice is pop in some fresh fruits. You can pop a strawberry in or you can pop a slice of lemon or lime or orange into the water to kind of infuse it to give it a bit of

taste and make it a bit more fun and colourful. You can also use fun straws to try to increase their interest in drinking water. Moving on to number seven. Number seven relates to sleep because sleep is something that very much changes in the school holidays for children. I reckon it's for children probably above the age of seven or eight. They just get into a different routine. Like we're all on

Parenting and Sleeping Patterns in Australia (20:43.406)
kind of summer mode here in Australia. If you're in the Northern hemisphere, you're in winter mode and maybe you are. Rugging up a bit earlier because it's darker and colder, but here we've got daylight saving and I feel like the days just get longer and later. Kids just go to bed so much later and late nights can really affect children over the days in the weeks and they can just become so tired and cranky and irritable.

Especially if they're spending more time in the sun, especially if they're not eating as well. And it really all adds up and escalates into a bit of a monster when they're throwing tantrums and you're like, wow, what is going on with this child? So it's completely fine to be flexible. You've got to go to your friend's house. You want to be able to spend a bit more time and they might even go to bed at your friend's house and then you carry them back home. Well, you chuck them in the car and take them home.

It's trying to set up a routine most of the time. When you're at home, trying to be as consistent with the bedtime routine as possible. So easy just to get caught on the couch watching a Christmas movie. And then before you know it's like nine or 10 o'clock and it's like, my gosh, you guys have to go to bed. So it's about trying to be really consistent when you are home. So they are getting to bed that bit earlier. They are getting a solid night's sleep.

because it's going to help their immune system and their energy levels. Okay. Moving on to number eight, we need to be mindful of screen time. This is my number one guilt as a parent right now. I feel so guilty every time they have a pupil free day or on the weekend that they're on screens. And I know that they are allowed to be on screens for a bit, but I just hate it. I feel like screens just...

make them dumb. I know that there are educational aspects to some screen time games and whatnot, but I just hate screens. I just would rather than be outside. I would literally rather than be lying on their back in the grass, looking at the clouds, just not thinking about anything, just letting their brain have some time out, being creative, just.

Limiting Screen Time in Family Life (23:03.822)
bang off the screens. so that's a big thing for me. I hold a lot of frustration around that when I'm trying to work too and they're in school holidays, because I feel like if I'm not taking them out doing things and they're at home, they want to be on the screens. I hate that. So it's an ongoing challenge for all of us, especially those that have school-aged children. It's just something we need to be mindful of, I think, over the festive season.

It's okay to have some screens, but we really want to try as much as possible, get them outside, being active, connecting with people in person rather than on a screen. And I think it's really good to set boundaries around that, encourage breaks, try and encourage them to play a board game with each other, if they're siblings or with you.

We'll do some cooking together. So I think it's about trying to manage it as best as possible. And again, like I said before with the junk foods, whatever rules you want for your family is completely fine. Whether it's half an hour a day, two hours a day, nothing in the weekend, just on the weekends, no screens at all. Whatever your rule is, I think it's important to, and I'm going to be doing this with my kids as well, setting up some ground rules for the entire school holidays and then trying to follow through and be consistent with that.

And it is going to be different because we kind of got different things going on. Like we're going back to Adelaide for Christmas to see everybody. And then we'll be back in Sydney for a couple of weeks and we're going away for two weeks. So things are going to be broken up a bit. But again, I'm going to try and set up some consistency. What is allowed because then you get a little less pushback. mean, I'm still going to get pushback, I know. I just have to try and have more confidence around saying no.

And deal with the repercussions of when I say no, and they lose it. And it's like, well, bad luck, you can go out and be bored because I know that that's going to help them later on in life be a lot more creative. reckon some of the best entrepreneurs were probably the most bored kids ever, but they use their brain, they were creative and now look at them. So yeah, I think that's really important for our kids is to try to limit screen time as much as possible. Trying to encourage connection with each other as siblings, with their parents, if you can.

Boosting Children's Immunity with Nutrient-Rich Foods (25:22.614)
not work for those few hours or get them out riding a bike. It really depends on their age because you want them to be safe. Most of the time they need to be supervised if they're out on a bike or wherever, unless you take your laptop and you're working down at a skate park or whatever. Certainly we've all done that because it's just survival, right? But it's an ongoing challenge for parents these days. Moving on to number nine is boosting your child's immunity with nutrient rich foods.

We want to support our children's gut health and immune system because three quarters of the immune system is in the gastrointestinal tract. We want to support our child's immune system with some key nutrients. And those key nutrients are vitamin C, zinc, and what we call prebiotics, which is really the sexy name for fiber. Because those three nutrients will significantly support the immune system.

Now vitamin D also supports the immune system, but in Australia over summer, we tend to get a reasonable amount of vitamin D because most of our vitamin D comes from the conversion. When we spend some time in sunlight, we get good amounts of vitamin D. It's much higher risk in winter. People that spend a lot of time indoors, and this especially goes for people that are on games a lot inside on screens, and also people with darker colored skin.

They need more time in the sun for the same vitamin D conversion. They are at increased risk of vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is important for immune and bone health. Vitamin C, zinc and prebiotics also contribute to a well functioning immune system. And we're lucky because summer berries, passion fruit, mango, kiwi, they're all rich in vitamin C.

As are some vegetables like cherry tomatoes or tomatoes, red capsicum, broccoli. So they're all rich in vitamin C. I'm pretty positive that most kids will have at least one food that has some vitamin C in it. If not some orange juice, that's another option. But most of the time kids do get some vitamin C.

Zinc and Fiber in Nutrition (27:35.166)
Zinc is found in lean meats. It's found in soy products like edamame, tofu. It's found in legumes like chickpeas, hummus, black beans, lentils. It's found in nuts and seeds. It's found in oysters. So zinc is important for the immune system and making sure that there's a good source of protein going in.

A couple of times a day, which is why I talk about having a one third of the plate being protein at lunch and dinner, because we need to make sure that we are getting a good mix of these nutrients and zinc is one of those.

The prebiotics, otherwise known as fiber, everywhere in plant foods. So we have fruit and vegetables and wherever possible, leave the skin on. We have whole grains, wholemeal bread, nuts, seeds, fresh fruit, dried fruit. All of those foods have prebiotics or fiber. Oats, a bowl of porridge, chia. They're all really good sources of fiber and will help to feed the good bugs in and

gut and keep them in good population and that in turn supports the immune system. So it's really important that we have a variety of these foods as main meals and snacks to make sure that we keep our kids immune systems working and as strong as possible. Okay. Number 10, I'm going to include for those that have overeaters because I do have a number of mums inside my membership that have overeaters and are concerned about their child's large consumption of food and large appetites.

And look, we can certainly all be guilty of overeating at this time of year. I think it's important to support our children, especially when needed, who are big eaters. When we have buffet tables and abundant treats and sugary drinks around, it's very easy for us all to overeat. Some strategies around that is keeping them away from the treat table because some kids just don't have the ability to.

Promoting Healthy Eating Strategies for Children (29:37.646)
stop eating. it's like, let's put you over on the inflatable where you're bouncing around and you're not standing by the cupcake table. He's just trying to set up a strategy that's going to support good health. It's fine for them to have some treats, but we use a smaller plate. Put one of your treats on and then put everything on this one plate. And then we're done. We don't keep going back every five minutes for another thing. Cause otherwise your tummy might feel sick. So you say, let's put it all on one plate and then we're done.

And that could be a strategy for a child that, or for a parent of a child who over-eats a little too much. The other thing is to try and fill up their plate with lots of fresh plant foods. Still definitely put some treat foods on there. And it might be a couple of treat foods, especially if you're at a party and everyone else is having them, but also really try to pad out the plate with plant foods and low calorie or low energy dense foods. So something like popcorn, for example, put that on the plate because it fills up the plate.

but it's not that high in calories. Trying to pad out the plate with plenty of plant foods, but allowing them to have some treats as well is really important. I think it's also important to have a chat with kids that are older by this. mean, probably over 10 and over. You can start to talk to them about mindful eating principles and head hunger versus tummy hunger.

You can talk to them about the fact that sometimes we eat when our tummy's really full, but our head wants more because we know it tastes good. We remember that it tastes good. And talking to them about the difference between head hunger and tummy hunger can help to sometimes make them understand why you might be saying, I think it's probably had enough. You can talk to them about the size of their tummy, you know, is roughly equivalent to the size of their fist when it's empty. So you can say to them, we'll look.

You've already had a couple of cupcakes and a piece of fairy bread or whatever, fairy floss or, and a meat pie or any couple of sausage rolls. And so maybe your tummy needs some time to digest it. So you're just trying to broach the concept of mindful eating and eating to what you need and the difference between true hunger, which is where your tummy's rumbling. You really need some food.

Understanding Children's Eating Habits (31:57.312)
and head hunger when you're actually very satisfied, but you just want more because it tastes good. Or sometimes kids eat for other reasons like adults as well. It might be when they're upset, emotional eating, or when they're nervous or because they like food and it's time to eat. So they just eat again, even though they may not be hungry or they're just mindlessly sitting on the couch eating, eating. Kids can eat for different reasons, just like adults. I've got.

a whole module on this topic inside my Nourish Kids membership to help support parents with overeaters. We talked about this with some of the mums. It's just about trying to support kids to know that they can absolutely have treat foods, but those foods need to have their place. And there are sometimes food compared to the everyday foods which nourish our body. But whatever the food is, we need to eat to what we need. We don't want to.

overeat because then our tummies can feel sick and we can feel yuck. So it's just trying to plant those seeds of mindful eating. This is probably only if you've got slightly older children, it's not going to work for, you know, a three year old. all right, that was number 10 and they've got a bonus one for you. I always have a bonus one. I, I like this one because again, if you've got some time over the festive period of the Christmas holidays, get.

into the kitchen with your kids, cooking, inventing things, being playful with food, not sticking to your typical recipes, trying to branch out, do something different, get the kids to create their own recipe. It may be a waste of food for that particular recipe, but you know what? The kids have been creative, they're off the screens, they're developing a love for baking or cooking or being inventive in the kitchen. And who knows where that may lead. So it's really important to.

Allow mess and allow kids to be creative in the kitchen. As long as it's safe and they're not going to chop their fingers off in blenders or with sharp knives, you obviously need to supervise it. But let them help with simple tasks, especially if they're young, like washing vegetables, cutting herbs into a salad, measuring ingredients or decorating cookies. You just want them to be as involved as possible because it will help them build a familiarity and trust and love.

Healthy Kids Recipes and Their Impact (34:15.863)
for various foods and a much greater variety of foods. If they've been involved in making a zucchini slice, they're going to be much more likely to eat that zucchini slice than if you make it and put it in front of them. So it's really important to get kids involved as much as possible. I've got good recipes on my website, free ones on the Healthy Kids Recipe section. I've got a fantastic Healthy Kids Recipe ebook, which you can find on that website as well.

And of course my members get access to all my recipes as part of the membership. So yeah, they're really good recipes. They're really healthy recipes, tasty and easy for families to make. I encourage you to check them out. You can put a healthy twist on recipes. You can always sub out plain white flour for plain wholemeal flour or same thing, plain self-raising flour. You swap it for wholemeal self-raising flour.

You can always add linseed, flaxseed meal, chia or hemp seeds into cake mixes and cookie mixes for added nutrition. I like to add an extra egg where possible to boost the protein of muffin mix or banana bread, or even pancakes. can throw in an extra egg into the mix. Wherever possible use fruit to sweeten the recipe and then as much sugar as you need to, to make it palatable. Most of my recipes will use.

About a third of a cup of sugar per recipe. The highest might be half a cup, but most of the time it's only about a third of a cup of sugar. And that's using like a good two cups of flour because you don't want the recipes to be too high in sugar. You want them to be mainly healthy, but at the same time you want the kids to eat them. So I think there needs to be that real fine balance between taste and health. Otherwise they're just going to go for the supermarket muffin. Then you don't want that. I use them as a fallback sometimes.

But it's much better if they eat your own homemade stuff. Okay. I am going to wrap it up there. I reckon even if you took one or two of those tips out of those 11, it's going to significantly help improve your child's health, whether it's their physical health, their mental health and wellbeing, connection time, there's plenty of things we can do. And it's not about feeling guilty about not doing those things because, you know, none of us.

Healthy Nutrition Tips for Kids (36:33.39)
want to set ourselves up for failure. We don't want to set our bar too high because life is busy. Just try and focus on one or two of those 11 and see how you go. Try and couple of those things. Perhaps their nutrition, their snacks, their meals, their sugar levels, their activity levels. Have a play, see how you go. Let me know what you think about this episode. And as I said earlier, you have one week left to register for my.

30 days of healthy nutrition tips for kids starting January 1. Jump onto the link in the show notes. Register now and it's free. You will get a free healthy nutrition tip for your family every day of January. And I can't wait to get started with that very soon. I wish you a beautiful Christmas time with your family, a beautiful, happy holiday period. I think it's just really

important that you're spending special quality family time together. So I love sharing good nutrition information with you. And I love the positive feedback you give me. So thank you so much. I love it. I will wrap it up there and I will chat to you again in 2025. Bye for now.