We've all seen the Change4Life campaign ads on the television in the past few months and understand that heart disease and diabetes are real issues to be concerned about, but besides getting your children out and about more, what else needs to be done?

Simple – diet change. Before you recoil in horror, remember that this doesn't mean the whole family going onto a stringent, all-veg diet for the sake of your little ones. Small adjustments to your family's eating habits can make all the difference, and this is key to the government's plan for a healthier Britain.

Proportional child-sized meals

Whether eating out at a restaurant or having a meal at home, children often get given the same amount of food on their plates as the grown ups do. While your child may yearn to be treated like a grown up, when it comes to food, they should be eating only what they need.

Buy child-sized plates – your child will eat the right portion, and you can still instill important values about cherishing food and eating up everything on the plate, without it being detrimental to your child's health. If eating out, encourage children to leave what they cannot finish instead of forcing it down. You can also ask the restaurant staff to pack up a portion that is too big to take home, at the start of the meal.


Eat together as a family, and not in front of the TV

“A family that eats together, stays together” is how an old saying goes. Besides improving relationships within a family, eating together at a table also keeps children from bolting down their food as fast as they can. If kids are engaged in conversation at the table, they're more likely to eat slowly, in time for the signal that tells them they're full to register in their brains.


Don't let children give up on vegetables

There's picky eating, and then there's being foolish. We know how difficult it can be sometimes to convince children to eat, and out of exasperation and desperation, we sometimes make concessions, for example, giving them unhealthy snacks and letting them get away without eating vegetables.

Break the cycle by remembering that you're the parent, and this is for their own good. You need to be in control of their diet, and as the child, they need to obey you. It takes several tries over a period of time for the brain to decide that it likes something, and although there are some items of food each person naturally dislikes, they are bound to find some vegetables that are not awful to eat.


Moderate snacks

Everybody loves snacks, and you don't have to give them up completely. Moderation is key. You could let your child have a less healthy snack like crisps or chocolate, providing they have fruit or flapjacks as the next snack. A good idea is to decide on “unhealthy snack” days (ideally, a maximum of 3 days a week) and alternate them between days where the snack is fruit or something else more healthy (check out our healthy snack recipes).

You can also choose low-sugar options for puddings, ice creams and yogurts – your child won't be able to tell the difference.

“Unhealthy” snacks can be used as special, hard-to-get “rewards” which need to be earned, for example, if a child completes their homework well all week, or goes out and does a lot of exercise. You might have some resistance at first, but if you can introduce your children to delicious-tasting healthy snacks, over time they will get used to it, and become less dependent on fattening foods like sweets and crisps.


Try your best to reach 5-A-Day

It might seem like a chore, but eating 5-A-Day is really a lot simpler than it seems. A serving of fruit juice counts as one, as does a sprinkling of fresh or dried fruit on top of cereal in the morning. If you add a serving of vegetables to lunch and dinner, and have a healthy fruity snack in between, you'll soon be on your way.


Useful Links:

Apply for a FREE Change4Life Action Plan here
Take a look at our comprehensive advice section for Fussy Eaters