Good habits are learned as a child: eat healthy, but with taste
How to teach children the culture of proper nutrition and a good relationship with food? We asked the nutritionist Eliza Kuczynska who followed the protagonists to lose weight and become a TV testimonial. 8 weeks during which 20 women, chosen from over two hundred candidates, followed a slimming path, with the help of an expert in nutrition and of a personal trainer. At the end of the program, the 5 testimonials of the TV commercial were selected.
Many participants in "This Time I Can" are also mothers and they know well how important it is to adopt a correct diet, in order to avoid the development of important pathologies and eating disorders from the first years of life. .ssa explains to us what is the best way to learn how to pass on proper nutrition education to the little ones.
Across the game children can be helped to taste food by stimulating their curiosity through the senses: passing from knowledge to experimentation.
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Discover new flavors
Among the basic problems is the aversion that many children develop towards certain types of foods, typically fruit and vegetables, during their growth. In these cases, experts speak of problems such as: selectivity (targeted choice of certain foods to eat) and neophobia (fear of tasting new foods).
During the growth and development of the child, nutrition must be varied and complete in order to guarantee a correct supply of all the nutrients necessary for the body.To make this possible, selectivity and neophobia towards food must be overcome through an educational approach that allows you to taste and discover new flavors without fear.
The whole family must try to have the same type of diet
The child is socially influenced in the choice of food and tends to eat by imitation. In this context, the family plays a crucial role.
No constraints
Forcing the child to forcibly taste a food leads to an increase in his aversion to the food itself. Even proposing a reward as a result of the action (eg eat all the vegetables on your plate and then you will have ice cream) does not lead the child to voluntarily consume the food and risks overfeeding just to get the reward.
All foods must always be offered on the table
The choice of foods offered from day to day at the various meals must be varied, inserting new or differently cooked foods from time to time, even if the child does not like them.
Meal times must be respected!
The meal must be a specific time of the day. It is important that there is education at the time of the meal. It would be advisable for everyone to eat together at the same time sitting at the same table.
No games and no TV
The time of the meal is important, so there should be no distractions of any kind. We invite you to turn off the television and remove games. Let the children free to experiment and learn about the foods on the table.
Take it with you to do the shopping
Involving the child at the time of shopping will make him feel master of his own choices. He will be able to learn about new foods and will be able to choose the ones to experiment himself, intrigued by the colors and smells.
It's time to get your hands on!
It is time to exploit the senses. The child must be able to become familiar with what he has chosen at the supermarket, he must learn to know it and for this reason it is important to use all 5 senses. From sight you get to touch and smell, in a path of "friendship" with the "new". Washing, peeling, cutting and creating: the kitchen is a place to learn new things while being close to mum or dad. Colorful and fun dishes will attract the child's attention more.
Now taste!
After preparing the dish together, it's time to take advantage of the last of the 5 senses: taste! Trying to eat something that has seen birth and that has gradually known in all stages of preparation can be simpler, it can reassure the child, and help him overcome the neophobia. If this does not happen, remember not to force the baby to taste it, but propose the unloved food over time and several times, in different ways.
