If there’s one thing the COVID-19 pandemic has changed, it’s our eating habits. A recent study showed that COVID-19 has increased unhealthy eating habits in already at-risk populations. Furthermore, increased patronage to establishments serving fast food, ice cream, donuts, and other desserts contributes to increased obesity. With more stress and snacking, it’s vital to switch to a better lifestyle sooner rather than later. But even amidst anxiety and lack of physical activity, keeping everyone in your family healthy is possible. Need advice? Start with a realistic plan of action and simple daily strategies like the ones we’ll share below.
The Importance of Healthy Eating
Making the right food choices boosts your health and well-being in many ways. Essential nutrients such as protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals have several functions. They:
• Repair your tissues and help fight infections
• Keep you energized throughout the day
• Help you stay focused and productive
• Lower your risk of heart disease and other metabolic diseases
• Improve your mood and combat depression
• Protect your gut health
These are just some of the benefits of a healthful diet. While any kind of food can provide your family with these nutrients, the best food sources are those that are unprocessed or closest to their natural state. Not only do whole foods contain more nutrients, but they’re also low in sugar and calories.
An NIH study found that heavily processed foods add about 500 extra calories per day to your diet. Processed foods can tend to lead to overeating and weight gain which can also cause serious health conditions.
How to Get Your Family to Eat Healthier
Getting everyone in your family on board for healthy eating can be challenging at first. No matter what you do, keep things light and positive! Small changes can make a difference. Use these daily strategies to encourage healthy eating.
1. Clean out your pantry!
The first step to eating healthier is to toss out junk foods. Even with the best intentions, sometimes you’ll find yourself craving something unhealthy and checking the cupboards for a tasty treat. Those high-sugar and high-carb cookies, cereals, and potato chips need to go.
2. Stock up on healthy, non-perishable snacks.
Replace the junk with healthy snacks that have a longer shelf life. So, when you run out of fruits and veggies, you can simply open a pack of nuts, chickpeas, dried fruits, or whole-grain oats.
These snacks have longer expiration dates. They can be extremely helpful during severe weather or when you’re just too busy to stock up on fresh food items. Just remember that whole food snacks should be your priority!
3. Read nutrition labels.
When shopping at the grocery, do you bother to read food labels? Don’t be tricked by claims on the front of the packaging such as natural, organic, or fortified. Check how many protein, fat, carbs, calories, and added sugars are in one serving.
Watch out for sugars that are hidden under different names on the ingredients list: corn syrup, fructose, maltodextrin, fruit juice concentrate, and rice syrup.
4. Start a small vegetable garden.
Vegetable gardening is a great way to encourage healthy eating! With vegetables growing just right outside your home, you’re more likely to include them as ingredients for your next meal. Your whole family will also benefit from food security in the future.
Here’s an extra benefit of planting veggies: The activity itself is an excellent way to relieve stress and work your muscles. If you engage your spouse and kids, it would be a great opportunity to exercise together!
5. Use natural sweeteners instead of refined sugar.
Does your child have a sweet tooth? Do you? Sugar may be every person’s dietary weakness, but while it enhances the taste of food, it can cause inflammation, weight gain, fatty liver, and cellular aging. A study also showed that high-fructose corn syrup and other refined sugars cause cancer.
Thankfully, there are natural and low-carbohydrate sugar substitutes. These include stevia, monk fruit, and erythritol. These options have a glycemic index of 0 to 1 which means that they won’t affect your family’s blood glucose levels.
6. Let your kids help out in the kitchen.
In some families, it can be hard enough to convince kids to eat their veggies. But by bringing them into the kitchen at an early age, they’re able to explore different tastes. And while you’re meal prepping together, talk about the benefits of each ingredient! Let your kids explore different healthy foods and recipes to get excited about.
7. Explore homemade versions of popular processed foods.
Make a commitment to ditch ultra-processed foods. While they’re super convenient especially for busy weeknights, you already know that these foods can make your family sick in the long run.
Can’t let go of pizza, candy, chips, chicken nuggets, cookies, and soda? Here’s good news: There are tons of recipes for “healthy versions” that you can make at home. For example, you can make parmesan crisps by simply sprinkling grated parmesan on a baking sheet and baking them until crispy for about 12 minutes!
Or instead of regular soda, make a refreshing version for your family by mixing real fruit (strawberries, for example), a natural sweetener, and sparkling water.
8. Get creative with frozen treats.
If your family loves popsicles during the summer, make some fruity ice pops from real fruit such as apples, blueberries, bananas, watermelons, and kiwis. They’ll come out gorgeous, thanks to their vibrant colors. You can either puree a fruit or keep its original form! For creaminess, add coconut milk or yogurt.
9. Do advance meal prep.
Advance meal prepping has all sorts of benefits such as helping you save time and money and preventing food waste. More importantly, for your own family, it eliminates last-minute decision scenarios where you’d end up grabbing fast food.
The key is to make a list of simple five-ingredient (or less) recipes and pick a day of the week where you’ll do most of your cooking. Separate cooked food into containers and label them. Find more meal prep tips here.
10. Be an expert at disguising vegetable flavors.
Make picky eaters at home love your veggie dishes by disguising their taste. Depending on your recipe, any of these hacks will work: Pair them with cheese, sauté veggies, add soy sauce or coconut aminos, or drizzle freshly squeezed lemon!
Final Thoughts
These tips should make healthy eating easier and fun, especially during these tough times. However, if you get into a situation where some of your family members don’t want to quit junk food, don’t get frustrated or stressed out. Forcing them to make a total lifestyle change may trigger rebellious behaviors. Start slow and be a role model yourself! Incorporate healthier alternatives slowly, and soon you’ll start to see healthy eating habits form for good.
