Worried About Your Child's Unhealthy Food Habits? Nutritionist Shares Some Tips

In today's times, parents look forward to instilling healthy eating habits in their children. However, frankly only a handful of become successful in getting the job done. Often, they end up making excuses about how the child becomes more attracted towards fast food. At the same time, it is not always correct to blame the mothers, as it is the equal responsibility of the men as well to take care of the child's eating habits. If you are a working mother or a parent and finding it extremely difficult to control your child's eating habits, worry not! Nutritionist Anjali Mukerjee has shared a few tips from her own personal experiences in a video that she said worked perfectly for her kids while growing up.

"If you are a working mom and you have children at home, and you obviously want to inculcate healthy eating patterns in your children, this is what you do, because this is what worked for me," Mukerjee said in the video.

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Here's a list of the tips and tricks mentioned by Anjali Mukerjee

1. No to soft drinks

The nutritionist said that parents should make sure that they do not allow their children to consume soft drinks from a very young age. "I ensured that there were never any soft drinks at home from a very young age so they don't crave for soft drinks," she stated.

2. Protein-rich snacks

Ensure that children get to eat snacks that are rich in protein. Parents should make sure that they have protein-rich snacks available for children whenever they come from school. "It could be chicken tikka, kebab, sprout salad, chana chaat, these kind of things. But there was never Farsan and chips waiting for them. They ate substantially at meal timing so that they are not honestly hungry in between," Mukerjee noted.

3. Vegetable juices

Children should be made to drink vegetable juices from a very young age. This makes sure that there are "many antioxidants and that much of detoxification happening in their bodies," the nutritionist noted, adding that children should be made to eat vegetables in soups, salads, or in the cooked vegetable format.

4. Don't deny any food item

Mukerjee stated that parents should not deny them from eating any food item, otherwise, that would make that particular food very dear to them. "I didn't want them to feel that this is some great food they could taste, whatever they wanted within limits, but there was always another kind of food available to them, so they thought that is normal and that is the way to eat," she stated. Also, parents should never look forward to rewarding their kids with chocolates as it's not a good practice.

5. Deal with stress

Children should be taught how they can deal with stress. Most of the time, they latch onto food of their choice when they feel stressed. So, proper counseling should be given to them regarding the same.

Further, the nutritionist noted that parents can look forward to giving supplements to the children from a young age as they will not fall sick. Also, they should be encouraged to play racket sports and other games so they get to follow some form of exercise on a routine basis.

Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for a qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.