One of the problems that many dieters face is family meals. If you are the only one in the family trying to lose weight, you may find yourself cooking more than one meal and furthermore you can be tempted by the meals you are making that aren’t destined for your plate.
If you are following a good well-balanced healthy eating plan there is no reason why it would not be suitable for the entire family and you should be able to make a few amendments here and there to make it more palatable and attractive to those who still crave desserts, cheese sauce, and lashings of peanut butter on their morning toast.
By the entire family following generally the same plan you are in fact looking after their well being. Your children will be being educated about good food practice without it being dictatorial or enforced and theories will be put into place with minimum effort. Recommendations like 5 a day become part of their routine in a natural way, moderation becomes the norm, yet they will still know how to indulge themselves without running the risk of childhood obesity and other modern-day conditions caused by poor dietary choices.
There are some simple ways in which you can keep your diet plan on the right path but adjust it for other family members and also ways of introducing new ways with food without compromising the things the children love. Here are 5 ways to develop a healthy eating plan for the whole family.
Snapshot Survey
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Please subscribe for your personalized newsletter:
Dairy Products, Creamy and Cheese Sauces
Substitute semi or skimmed milk when a recipe calls for whole milk. For cheese sauces use low fat versions of cheddar which are plentiful in supermarkets. There are excellent low-fat yoghurts and fat free desserts that are still a treat and help with fruit intake if your children don’t like eating fruit. Use low fat spread instead of butter particularly on sandwiches or toast that is going to have a topping. Butter is a high calorific luxury. If your family drinks sufficient milk, there’s no reason why semi-skimmed shouldn’t be your milk of first choice. Calcium intake wouldn’t reduce.
/filters:quality(70)/thumbs/57/gtp2ovo2lrfwvld40ufmpj_1080x1350.jpg)
Chips (Fries)
Oven chips have less fat content than fried potatoes and frozen chips can be surprisingly good. Introduce other baked potato products that generate interest such as curly fries but check their nutritional value. Make your own tasty baked wedges. These are really easy to do and will also fit in well with your own healthy diet plan.
/filters:quality(70)/thumbs/00/ajkrjht5xhjzo354ve7pq_1080_1224.jpg)
Smoothies
Instead of repetitive cereals and toast for breakfast, invest in a good blender or smoothie maker and engage your family in devising and making your own smoothies. You could make them the night before and chill overnight to add to the next day’s lunch box.
/filters:quality(70)/thumbs/63/jep3cawyfwf74glpp71tec_1080x1350.webp)
Vegetables
Varieties that previously have been considered to be exotic are now widely available so introduce new vegetables into your diets. Teach the children about the vegetable, where it comes from, how it’s cooked, which cuisines use it … Lots of vegetables will certainly do no harm to your attempt to lose weight. Have a couple of meat free meals a week. Vegetable lasagnes and curries can make satisfying, tasty and interesting meals.
/filters:quality(70)/thumbs/67/gntpna39jivmz47pokd1w_1080x1350.jpg)
Treats
Allow treats often but in moderate quantities. Abstinence or denial can have the opposite effect and there’s no harm in chocolate and snacks if managed properly.
If you can engage the whole family in a good well-balanced healthy diet your own endeavours will be easier, and everyone will benefit from a better state of health.
