Your snack and food choices really do matter…
It’s tough to stay away from unhealthy foods, no matter who you are. We all have that one or two guilty pleasure that is impossible to resist–brownies, chocolate, cookies, French fries, bacon, frappuccinos, and the list goes on. Making the healthy food choice is actually quite difficult. When presented with two options (healthy and unhealthy), the unhealthy one is usually the more appealing due to the fact that it’s the better-tasting one. But if you make poor food choices, your health will be drastically affected. You are what you eat!
The same goes for your children…
Did you know that the foods your kids choose to eat at a young age can determine how healthy they are as they grow older? If they prefer to snack on cookies and unhealthy foods, they’re more likely to be overweight. If they prefer veggie sticks and fruit slices, they’re more likely to be healthy.
The journal Pediatrics posted the results of a study that examined food choices among toddlers. Toddlers were fed a normal, balanced meal, then were given two choices of post-meal snacks: sweet and salty foods. The toddlers who chose the salty foods were far less likely to gain weight than their sweets-loving counterparts. The toddlers who ate sweet foods had a higher risk of too-high BMI by the age of 33 months (just under 3 years old).
READ MORE: 10 Healthiest Snacks for Women
That’s a pretty serious finding! If your child is making poor food choices at such a young age, you’ll find that those decisions are going to carry on throughout their life. Sugar and sweets are highly addicting, as the above-mentioned study discovered. Many of the children who chose sweet foods were also upset when the sweets were taken away. This speaks a great deal toward the addictive effects of sugar on the human body.
So what can you do? How can you help your child to make healthy food choices? Well, it all starts with you!
Children tend to imitate a lot of behavior. They have no idea how to act, as they’re still too young, so they emulate what they see you do. There is a very real chance that sweets-loving children are that way because they’ve seen their parents. If that is your child, it’s time for you to make the change together.
Eliminate all sweets and sugars from your diet. This is going to be much harder on you, as you have grown accustomed to eating sweets regularly. But if you can make the change and cut sweets from your diet, you’ll be doing your child/children a favor. By eliminating sweets from their diet, you reduce the risk of sweet tooth and sugar cravings, and can help to reduce their risk of obesity. It’s a sacrifice all parents should be willing to make.
Yes, cutting sugary foods from your diet will be tough. You will not be able to enjoy those baked goods anymore, and say goodbye to that something sweet with your morning cup of coffee. But here’s the good news: after a while, you won’t miss it. Once you kick the addiction, those feelings of sugar withdrawal will dissipate. You’ll still want to eat something sweet every now and again, but you won’t be addicted to them. In the end, you’ll feel a lot better, and you’ll be much healthier. Best of all, your children will be, too! You’ll give them a fighting chance at a healthy life, as cutting sweets can help to reduce their chance of childhood obesity.
http://www.futurity.org/toddlers-body-fat-cookies-1142992-2/
