Good, and bad, habits in all areas of life are established in childhood. So this age is the most important period for establishing healthy habits, including a healthy diet. Below, we have looked at some of these basic habits which are established in childhood and continue throughout the child’s life. This list includes both habits to be encouraged, and those to be avoided.
Quantity of food
A key factor in food intake is quantity. There is no reason for a child to be forced to eat food when he/she is stating that he/she does not want it, or is not hungry. From early on in their lives, children without any health problems are able to instinctively regulate their food intake to what is needed for them to develop properly. Unfortunately, this ability is lost as the child grows up with the result that the child tends to eat the amount of food he/she is offered.
Because of this, it is important to avoid children eating, or being forced to eat, large amounts of food and rapidly gaining weight. Statistics show that overweight children become overweight adults. Being overweight is associated with a variety of diseases such as early stages of hypertension and diabetes (pre-hypertension, pre-diabetes), joint problems and increased blood lipids which lead to an early burden on the cardiovascular system. In addition, in girls, excess weight can affect the time that the menstrual cycle starts.
Eating breakfast every day
One of the most important dietary habits is eating breakfast daily. During the night the body spends 6-8 hours (for children 8-10 hours) without food. So when you wake up in the morning, your body needs the energy and all the good nutrients that breakfast provides so that it can "get started". Especially for children, this ensures that they are able to function well enough mentally to cope with the demanding school day and also in their after-school activities. Eating breakfast has been shown to have a beneficial effect on health. Adults and children who eat breakfast (at least most days of the week, ideally all) manage to regulate their weight better and to keep it within the normal range. A full breakfast includes foods from all the food groups, with the most common being: cereals, dairy foods and fruit.
Eating a balanced diet
As already mentioned, it is important for children to learn eat a variety of foodstuffs from all food groups. These should be eaten in the right quantities, and as often as necessary. Research shows that children today are lacking both in the quantity and quality of food they eat. They often eat meat, sweet/salty/fatty snacks, soft drinks instead of water and juice instead of fruit. They rarely eat fruits and vegetables, pulses, fish and sufficient quantities of dairy products (without eating cocoa or chocolate at the same time).
This results in them having a high-calorie diet which is rich in fats (and not always good fats), and does not meet their needs for vitamins and minerals. This in turn results in these children not growing normally. The best way to tackle this is for children to eat homemade food, which parents “filter” by type and quantity, both inside and outside the home. Also, it is crucial not to categorise food as “good” and “bad”, and of course it is vital that food is not used as a way for parents to exert pressure on their children (as a reward or punishment) or for children to put pressure on their parents (as a bargaining chip).
Encouraging good eating habits at these ages creates a strong foundation for a good diet in the future, and is also the best defense in cases when children are eating food outside the home and without parental supervision, such as at children's parties.
How and where food is eaten
Another factor that affects the amount of food consumed among other things, is how and where the meal is eaten. More specifically, it is crucial that children eat their meal calmly, sitting in a chair in the kitchen, using cutlery (not their hands), without television or other distractions, and of course without rushing.
This encourages them to chew and swallow their food properly and facilitates digestion. The ideal conditions for this are eating meals at home. The whole family should eat at least one meal a day together, in a quiet environment away from the television, stress and tension. In addition to nutrition, this improves both family relationships and the child's ability to cope socially when eating outside the home.
Food and emotions
It is extremely useful to separate food from emotions, the most common being sadness and joy. When a child is sad or stressed, he/she should not need to eat food to feel better, and he/she should definitely not be encouraged to do this. When a child learns to eat food based on his/her emotions, he/she develops an unbalanced relationship with food, and this relationship becomes more pronounced in adulthood. A child who learns to eat on the basis of his/her emotions and who eats to make himself/herself feel better is the adult who will eat when he/she is under pressure in his or her professional or personal life, and who is more prone to developing eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia).
This child’s negative feelings will improve when he/she has his/her parents’ attention and his/her self-confidence gets stronger, he/she develops interests and interacts with peers.
Summary:
We must always be aware that parents are undoubtedly role models for their children. This is not only the case for diet, but also for other behaviors and habits (for instance smoking). There are, of course, the exceptions which prove the rule.
To summarise, the most important eating habit are:
• eating breakfast every day,
• eating a balanced diet which includes food stuffs from all food groups as often as recommended,
• eating food in the right place and in the right way
• Separating food and emotions.
Anthoula-Ismene Naoumis
Dietitian/Nutritionist
Health Counselor at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)
