Episode 23: Seven Healthy Habits When Feeding Kids.

Episode 23: Seven Healthy Habits When Feeding Kids.

Welcome to The Easy Feed Podcast! Today, we will discuss seven amazing ways parents can help their kids eat healthier. As a fellow mum, I get how tough it can be to ensure that our little ones are eating well, so, let's dive in!

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Links
https://nourishwithkarina.com/feedingbabies
https://nourishwithkarina.com/3-week-feeding-kids-reset

Highlights:

Introduction (00:01.038)
Becoming a Good Role Model for Children (02:23.694)
Motherhood and Body Image Concerns (04:47.726)
Influencing Children's Eating Habits (07:04.462)
Optimal Breakfast Consumption Strategies (09:29.582)
Children's Breakfast Preferences and Healthy Habits (11:54.83)
Strict Eating Habits in Children (14:13.806)
Promoting Healthy Eating Habits in Children (16:27.79)
Healthy Dietary Guidelines for Kids (18:47.598)
Eating a Rainbow for Children (21:09.262)
Healthy Habits for Feeding Kids (23:35.31)

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes

In this episode, we'll cover essential topics that every parent should know:

1. Being a positive role model: Learn how your words and actions around food and body image influence your child's mindset. Discover how your eating behaviour and language at mealtimes dramatically influences your child’s food preferences.

2. Reducing white foods: Discover strategies to balance the much loved “white diet” with higher fibre whole grains, proteins, and good fats to stabilise your child's energy levels.

3. Smart breakfast choices: Find ways to offer nutritious breakfast options tailored to your child's preferences.

4. Balancing sugar intake: Understand the importance of low sugar NOT “no sugar” and how to teach children how to have a healthy relationships with treat foods.

5. Persistence with new foods: Learn why it's crucial not to give up on offering diverse foods, even if your child initially refuses them.

6. Balanced dinners: Listen to me explain the approximate ratio of carbs, protein, and vegetables at dinner time, to create well-rounded meals for your family.

7. Eating the rainbow: Get tips on encouraging your child to consume various colourful foods across all food groups.

Dive into this episode today!

To learn more about getting our children to “eat their best lives”.....and join a supportive community of parents dedicated to nourishing their kids, visit nourishwithkarina.com/membership . Together, we can raise happy, healthy eaters!

Learn more about my membership program, head over to: https://nourishwithkarina.com/membership

Introduction (00:01.038)
You're listening to the Easy Feed Podcast, episode number 23, Seven Healthy Habits When Feeding Kids. 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.

Welcome back. It is so good to have you. I hope you're really well. I hope you are getting through March okay. I can't believe it's already March and I hope the family is well. I've had a few family members sick this week. I feel like there's stuff starting to fly around. So hopefully your family is well, but if they're not, hope that they recover quickly. Today we're going to be talking about seven healthy habits for parents to follow.

when feeding kids. And I think these are all important things that we just need to be mindful of when we're feeding our children. So to start off with, I want to talk about being a good role model because as parents, we are their teachers for everything in life, right? And sometimes I say good luck to them, but it's true. And they learn all the good things and the bad things from us, don't they? They hold a mirror up to our face. And sometimes that's not as pretty as we hope, but most of the time, hopefully we're doing

doing well in and look, we're always harder on ourselves than we should be. So I think it's just important to remember though, that food, the way we talk about food, our bodies, the way we talk about our bodies, the way we talk about other people's bodies. Kids pick up on all of that and they are sponges. I keep saying it, but they are sponges and they absorb all the cues, the verbal cues.

and the non -verbal cues from us. So we really need to be mindful of what we say about food and our bodies and also about them and their eating habits because we've got to remember that our external words can become their internal words and things that we say that might just be an off -the -cuff comment can stick with them. And you know, you do hear stories, even adults saying, I remember the very day that my dad said,

Becoming a Good Role Model for Children (02:23.694)
I'll don't eat too much of that or you'll get fat or, you know, you know, off the cuff comment that sticks with them for sometimes life. And so we just need to be really mindful of comments that we make because sometimes our children, you know, will carry that with them without us even realizing. So when I talk about being a good role model, I mean, first of all, we need to be really mindful of showing our kids.

that we love our body and that we are really positive about our bodies because if we show that we're unhappy with certain body parts, we call ourselves fat, we call ourselves unhealthy, we deprive food in front of the kids or say I shouldn't eat that because it's, you know, going to make me fat. You know, all of those things kids pick up on and it's really important to try and be mindful of not saying those things and also not

saying it about other people. So don't, you know, see a guy on the street and go, gee, he's... Because some people do that. And I'm really mindful of trying not to do that because again, you just don't want your children hearing those types of words coming out your mouth. I mean, they're going to hear it anyway in the schoolyard, but we need to be really mindful about the words and the messaging we have around people who live in larger bodies or people who live in smaller bodies or, you know, people that might eat more junk food or unhealthy food, but...

being just really mindful about how we talk about that. And certainly as a mother, how you love your body and how you talk about your body and you know, whether you've got a jiggly bottom or not, or if you've got strong legs or larger legs or, you know, smaller legs, you know, how you talk about your body is so powerful and your daughter will pick up on that. And the way to avoid any risk of disordered eating in

teenage daughters is to have a mother who loves her body and has a really positive, healthy relationship with food because we find that mothers who have a really positive relationship with food and love their bodies and portray that self -love and that positive body image to their daughters, those daughters have a much better chance of growing up without any eating disorders or issues with restriction.

Motherhood and Body Image Concerns (04:47.726)
because it is out there and it is scary as a mum of a teenage girl. Not that I have a teenage girl yet, but she will become a teenage girl in a couple of years time. And it is scary. And so the influence of social media and well, predominantly social media these days and television, we're still up against all of that and filters. And so it's really important that as mums, we are showing our daughters that our bodies are there to, you know,

help us be strong and fit and do amazing things for us every day. It's not there just to look beautiful and we don't have to try and achieve a certain body weight. I hate scales. I wish all the scales in the world were burnt because again, it's really associating your self -worth in a way with a number on a scale. And look, that number can change whether you've drunk a litre of water, you're going to gain an extra kilo, whether you've just done a massive trip to the toilet.

You're going to lose weight. So it's so variable. And I feel like sometimes we define ourselves and our success by whether that number's gone up or down. Well, some people do. I mean, I think I haven't had scales in the house for years because I just hate them. But yeah, it's, it's really powerful to be mindful of the influence that we have over our children and boys as well. I've certainly seen many boys in my time that

start to self restrict as well because they watch something on YouTube and they see these very influential men in their late teens, early twenties and their buff and they're, you know, trying to build muscle and they're encouraging, some of them are actually encouraging restriction of carbs and things like that. And that is incredibly dangerous to a teenage boy. So, you know, as dads as well, it's really important that we're role modeling healthy eating behaviors. So.

Being a really positive role model for your child is a very, very important habit to have. So just checking in on yourself, how much you're showing your kids that you love your body, no matter what it looks like in your bathroom, in the bathroom. And you know, they're like pointing at your butt and saying, mommy, what's that bit? You're like, well, that's my, that's my little jiggly bit. And I love that bit, you know, I love my bottom. And so just trying to be really positive, even if they've done, you might not be.

Influencing Children's Eating Habits (07:04.462)
You know, as in love with your butt in that current state, but don't let, let on like, you know, make sure that they realize that you still love your body. Another really positive way that you can influence your children over time is eating with them. And I go on about this a lot. And certainly it's one of the pillars of many in my Fussy Eating program, which sits inside my membership because the feeding environment is so powerful.

to set up children for long -term success with feeding. And eating with your child is one aspect of that positive feeding environment because when your children are seeing you enjoying food and just because when your children see you enjoying food and eating a variety of healthy foods, they build know, like and trust in that food. And when I say no, it's a knowing, not a yes, no. So they build a trust and liking for that food.

when they see their parents eat and enjoy food. And there's even a nuance, a difference between them seeing their parents eat the broccoli versus eating it and enjoying it. They can pick up even on that nuance of whether you're actually really enjoying the food. And children that experience their parents enjoying a food build that know, like, and trust factor. They build that ability to bring that food into their repertoire a lot sooner.

than a child that's going to eat on their own and be fed the same foods all the time. Because that's what they eat and at least then the parents know that they're going to get at least something in their bellies. And I don't have a problem with that. I don't have a problem with serving up the foods that they will eat, but it's the environment. It's that positive role modeling that's really powerful as well. And again, I go into a whole lot more detail about how we introduce children to the adult sort of safe foods, even though it's not a safe food for the child yet, but

eating in front of your children is really powerful from a role modelling perspective. Okay, moving on to number two. The second healthy habit revolves around reducing the white foods. Now, this can be a very big struggle, especially when you've got fussy eaters. But if you can't reduce the white or sub it out for wholemeal or whole grain, then let's try to improve the white. And the way that we improve on the white is to value add to it by

Optimal Breakfast Consumption Strategies (09:29.582)
putting it with protein or putting it with good fats or putting it with more fibre. So if you can't get fibre into the bread, putting something with it that has fibre. What these proteins and fats and fibre are going to do is they're going to mix with the white food in the stomach and overall it will slow down the release of sugar into the bloodstream. And what that does then is it means that you're

blood sugar levels aren't going to, or your child's blood sugar levels aren't going to rush up as quickly. You're not going to have it drop as quickly either. So it's going to be a more sustained release of sugar into the bloodstream and their energy levels are going to be much more stable. Their concentration, behaviour and mood are going to be much more stable. So what does this look like? Well, if we are talking about things like rice crackers or, you know, cruskets or white bread, then

If we can put healthy options with that, pair healthy options with those, such as hummus or pesto. Now pesto and nut butters you can't necessarily send to school. You can send the substitutes, like a chickpea or soy based. You can use chopped veggies. You can use avocado. They're all good ways of helping to slow down the release of that fast sugar in the white bread or the white crackers.

And not only is it going to slow down the sugar, it's also going to add valuable nutrition. It's going to add fiber. It's going to add vitamins, minerals. So for example, you could do peanut butter or avocado on white toast or hummus or avocado in a white bread sandwich. You could add cheese or pesto or smashed avo or hummus to white crackers. You could include nuts as part of an afternoon tea snack that also has something that they like.

You could also add chopped veggies to that afternoon tea snack or include some of my really healthy, high protein, high fiber baked goods and snacks such as my black bean brownie or my bliss balls. Now these are member only recipes and you can find out all the details about joining my membership in the show notes. Otherwise head to my website nourishwithKarina .com forward slash membership. Okay. Number three, be smart about breakfast. Now again,

Children's Breakfast Preferences and Healthy Habits (11:54.83)
Kids can be fussy. Some kids don't like much for breakfast. My daughter's never been a big breakfast eater, whereas my son is. So different children are going to have different preferences at breakfast time. One of my downfalls early on when my daughter was super fussy was I would give her too many options at breakfast time and it only just confused the matter. So my advice would be just to give two healthy options, give them some autonomy so they can choose one and

Hopefully it's a whole grain breakfast option or like a grainy bread with scrambled eggs or avocado or something like that. However, if they are still at the white lower fiber end of the spectrum, then trying to add some high protein or high fat spreads to that would be beneficial again to help slow down the blood sugar levels or adding some fruit. Adding fruit will always help to slow down the GI, make it a slower release of sugar.

because fruit comes with fibre. So perhaps trying to put a little bowl of fruit next to their breakfast cereal or their toast every day would be a great idea. The fourth healthy habit I have for you is to reduce the sugar, but not completely deprive the sugar. And the reason I say that is because we want to teach our children how to have a healthy relationship with these treat foods or these sometimes food and children that are over -restricted.

or forbidden from ever having anything sweet, will start to sneak food or will be the ones that cannot leave the party table at a kids birthday party because they haven't learned how to manage themselves and manage their intake when exposed to large amounts of these treat foods. And it's our role as parents to help teach them how these treat foods can fit into a healthy balanced diet or

lifestyle and we do that by including them in sometimes or including a little square of chocolate in the lunchbox so that your child, when they compare their lunchbox with the other children, don't feel completely left out. Because granted, they will start trading lunches at some point or snacks at some point and then you'll see the little packets of Oreos or you know, barbecue shapes or whatever. You'll see them come home in your child's lunchbox because they've swapped for something else because

Strict Eating Habits in Children (14:13.806)
They don't get them themselves. I heard a story once about a child at a local school whose mum was super, super strict and this poor child didn't learn how to have that healthy relationship with food. Unfortunately was stealing money out of people's school bags. So unfortunately he was stealing money out of people's school bags and going to the canteen and buying treats for himself because he never got them at home.

So that's an example of where being too strict will actually backfire and will create more disordered eating habits. At the end of the day, if you're making something at home and you're putting a little bit of sugar in it, but it's also got wholemeal flour and eggs and flaxseed meal and bananas, it's going to be so much healthier than something you've bought from the supermarket. It doesn't matter if there's a little bit of sugar in it. It's actually going to make it taste good and it means that they're actually going to eat it.

because you find the older the kids get when they go from, you know, the younger years, year one, year two, and once they're reaching year six, seven, it's a whole different ball game. You're going to find that they're really wanting those higher sugar, higher salt foods, and you start to lose the battle with those really healthy foods. And so if you've still got a little bit of sugar in your food and it tastes good and it's healthy,

then that's going to be a much better option. Lunch boxes do change as children get older and it's about accepting that and still trying to include as much goodness and plant beads and colour in their lunch box as they move up the ranks to the year four, five, six and then beyond into high school. Now, tip number five is don't stop, don't stop. And what I mean by that is don't give up on giving your child a food just because they've refused it.

two or three or four or even five times. Now, I was guilty of this with my daughter when she was really young. I gave up on tuna way too early and then my son probably didn't get it nearly enough. Now, he loves tuna. My daughter still doesn't and it's probably because I just gave up way too early. I didn't give her a little bit of tuna on the side, you know, more than probably twice and that was my bad but...

Promoting Healthy Eating Habits in Children (16:27.79)
I didn't have the confidence to back then. And I think it's really important to try and be open -minded and stay really positive and say, you know what? They'll like it one day. And if they don't, then doesn't matter. There's plenty of foods out there. And if they don't like tuna, then so be it. But try not to give up on offering something just because they refuse it a few times. Just try and keep popping it on the plate or popping it on the side somewhere, just so that they've got that exposure or just eat it in front of them so that they can see and, and develop that know, like, and trust factor.

So don't give up, pop it in the lunchbox, a little, you know, tiny little bit of plant food in the lunchbox that they're still not eating, but just pop it in there anyway. Don't do it to the point where they're going to start to throw it at you and you get home, mix it up a little bit and just put it in small amounts, but try not to completely stop offering foods that they haven't learnt to like yet.

because they will like them one day and it's just about building that familiarity and trust. Okay, we're doing well. We've got through five now, got two to go. So habit number six is at dinner time, aim for roughly one third of each. And by that, I mean one third carbs, one third protein and one third vegetables. No fruit, just vegetables. Now, when I say this,

I do need to just put a clause in there and say, sometimes I work with parents whose children are massive eaters and are possibly a little too heavy for their height. And if you have one of those, then possibly some nights you could just remove the carbs or reduce the carbs and increase the veggies to half of the plate or just do literally half veggies, half protein carbs, whatever that combination might be.

So it's just being mindful of that when you've got big eaters or over eaters who you're just trying to flatline their weight for a little bit. Not that I love talking about weight, but sometimes it's a bit of a medical concern. So if you do have someone that's a bit a little on the heavier side, then go for half a plate of veggies. But as a rule of thumb for all children, all normal, healthy, I shouldn't say normal, but all healthy children, I would aim for a third protein.

Healthy Dietary Guidelines for Kids (18:47.598)
a third carbohydrate and a third vegetables. And it could be a third vegetables or salad. It doesn't really matter. And again, they may like it in raw form versus cooked form. And that's completely normal. And they will possibly like it deconstructed, not mixed. And this is possibly normal. So one third protein, one third carbs and one third veggies. And it's about, you know, if they really don't want the protein that you're eating, just sub it out for a handful of nuts or a bit of hummus or something like that. Don't cook a different meal.

And I've got a really, actually in my membership, I've got a really good cheat sheet on this. And we talk a lot more in detail about subbing out and protein subs, especially because often I find that children who are fussy struggle with that protein intake and getting enough of those nutrients from those protein foods such as iron and zinc. So that's something that we do focus a lot of lot on in the membership because, you know, it's a need and I like to help mums when they need it most. So.

Yeah, but as a rule of thumb, one third of each, and that's a pretty simple way of viewing dinner. Whatever you're eating, just do one third protein, one third carbs and one third veg. Now the protein could be white meat, and I would recommend white meat more often than red meat, just from a health perspective. Fish or absolutely vegetarian options. I also recommend a super healthy, could be edamame, it could be tofu, could be baked beans, could be four bean mix, could be a curry.

So plenty of good protein options there, but as I said, if it needs to be a blob of hummus or a handful of cashews, because I don't want the salmon that you're eating and totally fine as well. So that would be the protein. Carbs, you would go for something like pasta. It could be homo pasta, it could be legume pasta, could be just regular pasta. That's low release anyway. It could be basmati rice. It could be sweet potato, could be roast potato, could be quinoa. Any of those would be good carbohydrates.

And then the veggies, of course, is going to be what they will eat and what you're eating. But as I said, it could be cooked, raw, frozen, grated, peeled, you know, mixing it up again, just to try to increase the interest in the vegetable, really. Moving on to number seven of our healthy habits for feeding kids. So number seven talks about trying to eat the rainbow across all the food groups. Now this isn't trying to put pressure on you to say, you know, they've got to eat all the colours of the rainbow and their vegetables.

Eating a Rainbow for Children (21:09.262)
and their fruit, what I'm trying to say is actually take the pressure off and just try and tick some boxes across everything that they eat. So if they don't eat any red vegetables, they will not eat capsicum, they will not eat tomato, but they eat red apple, then great, you've ticked off the red. Or if they won't eat any green vegetable, but you can get them eating, you know, some kiwi and some apple, great, they've ticked off the green for now. Yes, it would be great if they could get some green veggies in because green veggies are super...

nutritious and perhaps you can sneak some spinach into a smoothie one day. Once you've got the blueberries in, you can get the spinach in. There's a hot tip for you. Maybe you can get some broccoli in somehow, but at the end of the day, try to eat, you know, a rainbow across the food groups. And I've got a really good podcast on this. If you look back, I can't remember exactly what number it is, but I literally do a podcast on can children survive without vegetables? And I look at all the nutrients in vegetables and where else you can get them from.

from all of the other food groups. And I always say if they're eating some coloured fruits, then often they will be making up for those vitamins in the fruits. And the veggies, of course, will be a work in progress. But just trying to remember that it's a balance across all the food groups. And things like nuts and seeds and baked beans, they can be really nutritious if kids aren't there yet with their veggies. So talk to the kids about how the different colours give their bodies different superpowers. And yes, you can call things

you know, green things, hulk broccoli, or, you know, things like that just to make it more fun. But just trying to, yeah, pick, you know, colours across the fruit and vegetable spectrum would be good. Get children involved in choosing fruit and veg in the supermarket or growing veggies in pots at home is another great way to encourage their interest. And herbs are another excellent one. So if they want any broccoli, but you can sprinkle some dried oregano onto their pizza before the cheese goes on.

Great. That's a tick that is green. Okay. So give yourself a pat on the back. So trying to remember that eating the rainbow can be across all the food groups. And yes, you can make up for veggies, a lack of veggies with the fruit in the short term with the ultimate goal of them having more vegetables. And you know what? They will get there if you set up that right feeding environment. As I talked about earlier, people often ask me about those, you know, green powder.

Healthy Habits for Feeding Kids (23:35.31)
blends that you can get from the supermarket. And sure, if your child doesn't eat any green vegetables and they'll take that green veggie powder in a smoothie or mixed into something, then go for it. That's fine to use in the short term. The ultimate goal is to get them to eat the vegetables, which is going to be higher in fibre and nutrition. But in the short term, absolutely it's fine, especially if it also makes you feel better that they're getting some more nutrition. Okay, that's it. That's our seven healthy habits for feeding kids.

I hope that's been very helpful for you. Please reach out to me. Send me a message. If you've got an idea for a podcast that you would like me to talk about, then please send me a message. Please leave me a review. I love seeing your comments and I'm very grateful for them so we can get the podcast out to more parents and more mums. So have a wonderful week and I'll chat to you soon. Bye for now.