By: Kristen Clifford
All my life I have struggled with my weight. Mainly this is because I have never quite figured out how to respect food for what it is…fuel. Since I was a child, I’ve always used food as everything, except for fuel. When I was sad – it was a pick me up, when I was bored – it gave me something to do, when I felt lonely – it provided me with company. All these unhealthy views on food, plus my lack of nutrition knowledge, lead me to where I am today.
I realized shortly after my twins were born in October of 2010, that I was heading down a very dangerous path. I bit the bullet and took control of my health. I wanted to set an example for my kids, I never wanted to see them struggle with food or their weight the way that I have. I’m happy to say that in the last 15 months I have begun to develop these healthy habits and have now lost 114 pounds.
I’ve decided that I need to teach my children how to respect food, and how to use it properly. Food is not a reward or a punishment in our house, it’s just food. I try not to focus too largely on food or how it relates to weight. We mainly talk about health, and which foods are healthy and help us grow big and strong.
Some of the main things I try to focus on to teach my kids healthy eating habits are:
1. We don’t eat all day long, we have a set schedule to eat on. We have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Between each meal they are allowed 1 snack each. They are not allowed to snack continually.
2. I try to keeps lots of healthy snack options in the house, lots of fruits, veggies, and low fat options. My kids love to snack on dips like hummus and guacamole with fresh vegetables.
3. I try to get them involved with picking out healthy foods. I let my oldest pick out a special fruit and vegetable each week that she would like to snack on. She loves picking them out. To a kid, the produce section is full of so many colorful foods to chose from.
4. I also let my oldest get involved with preparing our dinners. I’ve found that if she has worked just as hard as me to prepare the meal, then she’s going to want to eat her masterpiece.
5. The main thing I try to do is lead by example. If they see me eating constantly, then they will want to eat constantly. If they see me eating chocolate and chips, then they will want chocolate and chips. I try to eat lots of healthy foods. I do not force food on them, I put the vegetables on their plate, I don’t make them eat them. I have learned the less attention I draw to the healthier foods, the more likely they are to eat them.
Overall we try not to dwell on food, I don’t want their lives to revolve around food and it’s consumption. We also never mention words like “fat,” “overweight,” “skinny'” or “diet.” Those words do not exist in our house. The only words that we use are “healthy” or “unhealthy.” I also try not to focus on the unhealthy food. If they want ice cream, then that’s fine, we go and get ice cream. I don’t keep ice cream in the house, but we will go out as a family and all enjoy together. Maintaining a healthy life is all about balance, it’s not all healthy food, and no unhealthy food, it’s about finding the right balance between them.
Community Voices for Health 
Your the best<3
Becoming A Healthy Eater
Being a healthy eater requires you to become both
educated and smart about what healthy eating
actually is. Being food smart isn’t about
learning to calculate grams or fat, or is it
about studying labels and counting calories.
Healthy eating is all about balanced and moderate
eating, consisting of healthy meals at least
three times per day. Healthy eaters eat many
different types of foods, not limiting themselves
to one specific food type or food group.
Eating healthy requires quite a bit of leeway. You
might eat too much or not enough, consume
foods that are sometimes more or less nutritious.
However, you should always fuel your body and
your brain regularly with enough food to keep
both your mind and body strong and alert.
A healthy eater is a good problem solver. Healthy
eaters have learned to take care of themselves
and their eating with sound judgement and making
wise decisions. Healthy eaters are always aware
of what they eat, and know the effect that it
will have on their bodies.
When someone is unable to take control of their
eating, they are also likely to get out of control
with other aspects of life as well. They could
end up spending too much, talking too much, even
going to bed later and later.
You should always remember that restricting food
in any way is always a bad thing. Healthy eating
is a way of life, something that you can do to
enhance your body or your lifestyle. If you’ve
thought about making your life better, healthy
eating is just the place to start. You’ll make
life easier for yourself, those around you, and
even your family.
I especially love #5.
Healthy eating is really necessary so that we can live longer. Have a look at the helpful write-up at our own website: http://www.melatoninfaq.com/