In honor of World Health Day (April 7), Family Food ExpertsTM Founder Ellen Briggs shares nutrition tips for families. Through extensive research, the company’s ingredients standard board of 12 health professionals has managed more than 25,000 “Kid Kritics” in blind taste tests.
Research shows that having a healthy, balanced diet improves brain capacity, maximizes cognitive capabilities, and improves academic performance in school-age children. Alternatively, the research also shows that having too much junk food and an unhealthy diet decreases academic performance by limiting the amount of information to the brain. Source here.
Here are 5 tips inspired by the Fuel Your DreamsTM program for publication with attribution and a link to www.FuelYourDreams.net :
Teach your kids about the connection between what they eat and drink and what happens inside their bodies. Once they learn that 100 billion neurons in their brain send thousands of messages so they can run fast, they are totally motivated to eat avocadoes and sweet potatoes so they can be the best they can be. Kids will eat healthy foods that taste good.
Don’t make broccoli a 4-letter word. Find ways to include fruits and vegetables in creative and varied ways, and your kids will love to experiment and add it to their menu.
Be transparent with your kids – they’re too smart. Rather than hiding, pureeing, masking vegetables, if you prepare and present them properly, kids will embrace vegetables and create healthy, lifelong habits.
You become what you eat and drink. However, kids need a reason to eat healthy food beyond “your mom said so.” So, for example, if a kid wants to be an NFL football player (a popular choice among boys) or a veterinarian (the number one pick among girls surveyed), educate them on what specific foods can “fuel their body for success.”
Don’t “dumb it down.” Kids are critical thinkers (love to ask and understand the “why”); they love to vote (power); and they appreciate being heard. Further, kids are egocentric, focused primarily on their own desires. Once kids understand WHY nutrition fuels success, they will crave it.
For more information, printable resources, to publish a Fuel Your DreamsTM recipe that is Kid Kritics ApprovedTM or an interview with Founder Ellen Briggs, please email ellen@kidkritics.com.
