How to Make Lasting Changes in Your Child’s Health

How to Make Lasting Changes in Your Child’s Health

By Chef Joe Ciminera

In America, childhood obesity is on the rise and more influential leaders such as Michelle Obama are joining together to promote obesity awareness. However, mothers, arguably one of the most influential people in a child’s life, are one of the only ones who can make lasting changes in their children’s health. Here are a few simple tips that require only small changes in your child’s diet, but yield enormous results.

The first step to getting your children to eat healthy foods is involving them in the kitchen. If you’re trying to serve your child a new food, don’t just sit them down at the table and hand them a plate of something they have never seen before. Introduce the food to them as an interesting and fun new way they can get involved in the kitchen and spend time with you. When the meal is ready to be served, they will see eating it as their special reward for being helpful. The food item will be a lot more familiar and your child will most likely put up less of a fight when you serve it again.

Another tip to get children eating different kinds of foods is to put it in a familiar form. I talk about this in my Food For Kids DVD with regard to roast beef. When children see a floppy piece of red meat they often turn away in disgust. But by putting the meat on two pieces of bread and making an open face sandwich topped with delicious gravy or their favorite condiment, this unfamiliar item is suddenly turned into a delicious and nutritious meal.

While traveling throughout the country developing my Food For Kids DVD, I noticed that a lot of children did not touch a sandwich if the bread was dry. When getting children to eat a sandwich make sure the bread is coated in either mayonnaise, mustard, cream cheese or hummus-something that will keep the bread and whatever is inside the sandwich moist. If your child isn’t particularly interested in helping out in the kitchen, you can make the sandwich yourself and place a cookie cutter or two on the plate place. Your child can then shape their sandwich however they want and they will probably be more inclined to eat it because it looks the way they want it to.

Here are a few things to think about while shopping for food for your children. When buying cold cuts, look for products that do not contain nitrates. Nitrates turn into nitrites in the body which can cause cancer. Also look for multi-grain breads. Bread that still contains grain is in its natural form without added chemicals that are found in white bread. Multi-grain bread is also high in nutrients and fiber which are essential to a child’s diet. By feeding your child multi-grain bread early on, they are more likely to continue eating this healthy food option instead of other nutrient deficient options. Often picky eaters have a hard time adjusting to multi-grain bread which is why it is important to coat the bread with your child’s favorite condiment. Another easy change you can make that will yield good results for your child is switching from butter to olive oil when cooking. Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats while butter is high in saturated fats. The fat in butter is not particularly harmful in moderation, but in general olive oil is healthier to cook with as it creates good cholesterol in the body.

By making these small changes and involving your children in the kitchen you can not only ensure your child is healthy, but you will teach them the invaluable lesson of how to eat healthy that will last them throughout their lives.

 About Chef Joe Ciminera

After finding much success working in some of the most world renowned restaurants, Chef Joe Ciminera decided to bring his unique cooking style to television as the host of the nationally televised cooking show Taste This! TV which airs on PBS. While on break from filming his 10th season, chef Ciminera is taking time to promote a cause he is truly passionate about: preventing childhood obesity. Chef Ciminera’s Food For Kids DVD is a seven day meal plan that helps kids get on the right track to eating healthier. The DVD is the result of 2 years of dedicated research and development. Chef Ciminera traveled around the United States trying out his recipes on real children and talking to them about the foods they liked. The Food For Kids DVD is an invaluable resource to parents as it contains over 30 kid approved, healthy and easy recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack. Chef Ciminera’s step by step demonstrations along with his helpful hints will help parents become more confident when making healthy food choices for their family. http://www.foodforkids.info/.