We all want to teach our kids about eating healthy. However, when we don’t practice good eating habits at home it can be hard to show our kids how to continue with healthy eating habits after they leave home. Kids, particularly teens, can eat on the run and often include junk food that doesn’t really feed their bodies. Here are a few tips that may help you to establish some healthy eating habits for the whole family.

Establish Meal Times

One of the most important rules you can create is that meals are always at a set time. Your body works better and handles food better when you do this. Yes, it can be tough with today’s busy schedules, but if you give mealtimes a priority you will find that over time your family will learn that dinner is at 6PM, not whenever they happen to show up.

Keep Distractions at Bay

While most of us are used to multi-tasking, the dinner table is not the place for this kind of activity. Screens should not be within site of the dinner table and phones should be put away. Meal time is a time for conversation, being a family and getting caught up on our lives. It is also a good time for kids to learn the art of conversation. Now might be the right time to start that lesson by discussing current events with your kids over dinner. 

Eating Healthy By Making It Fresh

Yes, it is tempting the throw that frozen pizza or ready made dinner in the oven when you get home from work. But as research continues to show us, eating all of our meals from prepared foods is causing all types of illness, perhaps even some forms of cancer. It takes more time to cut up fresh veggies from the local farmers market for a salad, but do it anyways. In the long run, you are teaching your kids how to care for themselves in a healthy way whenever you make a healthy meal from fresh ingredients. Cooking is love, so why not show them you love them with inventive new ways for eating healthy with home cooked freshly made meals.