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Body Image & Health Inc. |
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Fact Sheet 4: Encouraging Diet-Free, Healthy Eating Behaviours for Children |
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Tips
for
Parents In
General
Avoid
classifying foods as either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ - try ‘everyday’
foods or ‘sometimes’ foods instead. Forbidding particular foods or
labelling them in a negative way may set up cravings and feelings of
guilt when these foods are eaten.
Model
eating all foods (especially ‘sometimes’ foods such as chocolate,
lollies etc) slowly, with appreciation and in a relaxed, guilt free
manner, rather than eating quickly, secretively or all at once.
Be
aware of not using food as a punishment or over-using food as a reward.
Avoid
giving your child instructions to lose weight, even if you are concerned
that your child is becoming overweight. Instead, encourage the whole
family to adopt healthy eating patterns and regular enjoyable physical
activity. If you need further support, seek professional advice from
someone who specialises in childhood weight issues.
Avoid
conveying an attitude to your child that says, I will love you more if you lose weight or eat less. Reassure them
that your love for them is not conditional on how they look, what they
eat or how much they weigh.
Avoid
using extreme weight loss practices yourself, as children are great
imitators. Adopting a healthy lifestyle is the best way to manage your
weight while also modelling healthy behaviours for your children. At
Home
Make
family meal times enjoyable and stress free. Refrain from making an
issue out of eating habits or discussing family conflicts at the table.
Find another time to sort out these problems.
Make
sure there is an abundance of nutritious foods in the house and that
access to less nutritious foods is limited
Encourage
your children to listen to signals from their body about when they are
hungry and when they’ve had enough. Ask your child to use these as
cues to tell them when to eat and when to stop eating.
Serve
food in the centre of the table and allow everyone to dish out their own
size of meals according to their appetite. Encourage your child to
listen to their hunger and fullness signals when they do this so they
can learn, for example, that second helpings usually need to be smaller
than their first helping
Don’t
insist that your child eats everything on the plate. Do encourage them
to at least taste some of the food. For
information about eating disorders, contact the Anorexia and Bulimia
Nervosa Foundation on 9885 0318. For
tip sheets on nutrition for children contact the Department of Human
Services on 9637 4144.
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