Almost half of today’s overweight children are obese, the number is rising constantly and something has to be done. Teaching our children how to eat healthy is a parents duty. If done properly, the habit will become second nature to the child and they will take their healthy eating lifestyle into adulthood and the probability of a longer happier life will be greatly increased.

Here are 5 ways you can ensure that will happen.

1. More Fruit – Getting kids to eat fruit is sometimes like trying to pull teeth, well there are ways to make it more fun and appealing and, if required, some sneaky tricks to get your child eating healthy they will never know about. Make them fruit smoothies and shakes. You can even freeze them and create lollipops and icepops. Smoothies are great ways to get certain green vegetables into the mix that a lot of children refuse to eat.

2. Make It Fun – Your children will be more willing to eat a healthier diet if you incorporate play and games into mealtimes. Get them to create a picture on the plate, maybe a garden with green vegetables, or a green smoothie called Hulk Juice. Let them invent their own recipes so long as they include certain ingredients. Fun is always a great way to get your child to enjoy healthier eating habits.

3. Make it Relevant to Their Interests – Kids view mealtimes as just a distraction from their play times, so seeing a plate of vegetables will make them even more disinterested. If you convince them that, unless they eat a certain food, they won’t be able to run fast or play sports. Or that Spiderman eats broccoli so he can fight bad guys then they will take more interest. There are many various ways to create healthy eating children.

4. Don’t Take Away Candy – We all know thats kids love candy and fizzy drinks and anything else that is bad for them. If you take away all these things completely then they will just resent you and the healthier options you have replaced them with. Instead make them rewards for eating something regularly. Maybe a visit to their favourite fast food restaurant after each month of eating healthily.

5. Join In – Sitting down at the dining table and eating as a family is the No.1 proven way of teaching children how to eat a healthy diet. By all doing the same thing at the same time becomes a routine, and by seeing you do the same as them your kids will be more willing to join in. Also it enables you to make sure they are eating the healthy food instead of sneaking it to the dog.

It is our responsibility to make sure our children grow up to be as healthy as possible. Child obesity is rising constantly and it needs to be stopped. Teaching our kids how to eat healthy is the best way possible for them to become healthy, successful adults. For more ideas and tips visit http://www.squidoo.com/simplerecipesforchildren and ensure your children become the best adult they can be.

Regrettably, weight loss for teenage girls often entails unsuitable, unhealthy eating habits, such as crash dieting or experimenting with diet pills. Sadly this is often the onset to eating disorders and other serious health problems.

Studies undertaken show that nearly 70% of young teenage girls have attempted to lose weight before their 18th birthday. Is it necessary for these young girls to be dieting, and are they doing it in a way that is not detrimental to their health?

It is crucial to teach your teenage daughter how to develop a healthy lifestyle which is more than merely encouraging her to eat healthy meals. A healthy lifestyle means to develop habits that she can practice for the rest of her life.

This article addresses the issues of healthy weight loss habits, weight management and body image.

Promote Gradual Weight Loss

As a parent it is not always easy to get your child to eat healthy balanced meals, and there are circumstances where your child may need to lose a little weight. It is then your role as a responsible parent to promote safe, gradual weight loss.

Many teenage girls will put themselves onto strict crash diets. The problem with crash diets is that not only are they potentially damaging to your daughter’s health, but gaining the weight back again is inevitable and unfortunately the gain is often beyond that of her original weight.

A loss of 1-2 pounds per week is recommended to achieve permanent weight loss results.

Get The Whole Family Involved

To get your teenage daughter to adopt healthy eating habits, the whole family needs to be involved. Rather than filling your kitchen with unhealthy snacks or “forbidden foods”, stock your kitchen with foods that are good for you.

Offer snacks that are nourishing, satisfying, and tasty. Always prepare nutritious, well balanced meals and replace those sugary snacks and potato crisps with fresh fruit and nuts.

Teenagers who get the support from their families will achieve better weight loss results and are more likely yo maintain their weight loss, than those who don’t. Additionally, children who grow up educated in healthy eating habits at home will adopt those habits for the rest of their lives.

Start The Day With A Nutritious Breakfast

There are a number of reasons why teenage girls will often skip breakfast such as; not feeling hungry, they’re running late, or they believe that skipping breakfast will help them to lose weight.Missing breakfast wil in factl slow down her weight loss efforts. Eating a nutritious breakfast fuels the brain and the body, and kick-starts the metabolism to burn off additional calories right throughout the day.

Drink Plenty Of Water

One of the biggest weight gain perpetrators is high sugar drinks, energy drinks and fruit juices. Instead, try to promote water as an alternative to these high calorie beverages. Not only is water calorie free, but it flushes out harmful toxins and rejuvenates the body.

Discuss Body Issues

Many teenage girls struggle with body image issues and it is vital to discuss openly with your daughter any of the concerns that she may have with her weight and body image. Encourage her to discuss her worries, about her body image and why she thinks she needs to lose weight. For the health and safety of your daughter these issues should never be brushed aside. Your support and assistance will allow your daughter to continue to grow in happiness and good health.

How many times have you seen young children, even toddlers, eating fries, pizza, candy, and soda? If you are like millions of other Americans, you have seen this scenario numerous times. More and more parents are feeding their children fries and other fast foods because it is quick and it does not require the parent to force the child to eat. Yes it’s no surprise that kids like the food. Fast food tastes great; however, it’s not great for you! So instead of scoring brownie points with your kids by buying them fast food, why don’t you attempt to instill healthy eating habits?

The earlier you start to instill healthy eating habits the better the results. If your child gets accustomed to eating fast food, it may be a rather difficult transition. Therefore it is necessary to start this process early in life. Lets first point out that there are countless options for healthy cooking at home, and your child can absorb this information by helping you with the preparation of the meal. This way your child will build healthy self esteem and healthy eating habits.

As for the meal itself, be sure to give your child a small portion. You do not want to scare the youngster by placing a huge plate of spaghetti in front of him/her. Also remember not to force your child to eat and don’t rush your child through the meal. Furthermore, a very important aspect of instilling healthy eating habits in children is to make the meals visually pleasing. Make dinner time fun and creative. And try not to push too many healthy foods onto your child because he/she may start to build a hate relationship towards the forced foods. So if your child illustrates poor eating habits, try a few of these techniques to improve their diet.