Mindful Chef ambassador, Kristy Coleman, is a registered nutritionist and mum to an adventurous toddler. Kristy is a big supporter of our new Family recipes and, like us, believes food can be a powerful tool to bring people together. Here top 5 tips to look forward to mealtimes with your family and encourage a healthy relationship with food:
1. Get involved
Children love to be involved in whatever grown-ups are doing, the kitchen is no exception. Children are more likely to be less fussy eaters if they have a good relationship with food and know how to cook. Depending on age, ask your child to help washing vegetables, measuring ingredients, peel, chop or arrange food. So next time you get your Mindful Chef food box delivery, ask them to help you unpack the box and depending on your appetite for mess, let them help you prepare the recipes. Or you could simply task them with laying the table.
2. Eat together
As tempting as it is to eat when your child is asleep or after they have eaten, do try to make time to eat with them where you can at the table. Your child looks to you as their role model and showing them the importance of eating at the table, taking time between mouthfuls, chewing properly and enjoying being together over a meal can support healthier eating habits that last into later life.
3. Sharing plates
Sharing plates are a great way to encourage children to try new tastes. Serve up family meals in the middle of the table and let everyone get stuck in. This is a great way to serve up meals if you’ve got a fussy eater and encourage them to exercise control over what foods they want to select and how much. Always add a side or two of veg, the more colours and variety the better!
4. Talk about where food comes from
Yes, really, bananas grow on trees and carrots in the ground! Children need to be taught where their food comes from, otherwise, they just assume it gets delivers or comes from the supermarket shelf. Encourage their inquisitive nature by playing guessing games about where food comes from or even try growing your own. It doesn’t mean getting yourself an allotment, it can be as simple as growing cress heads or some windowsill herbs.
5. Don’t give up
As easy as it is to stick to ‘safe’ foods you know your child will eat, variety is so important. Research shows it can take 10-15 exposures to a particular food before acceptance so keep presenting foods that your child may not have expressed an interest in before and they may surprise you. Don’t put off new flavours for fear of rejection, you are helping to expand their taste buds even if it is just a taste rather than eating a whole portion.
Our new Family recipes are available from November 24th 2019. Get £10 off your first two recipe boxes by entering code BLOG20 at checkout.
Mindful Chef recipe boxes provide you with the tools to cook delicious nutritious meals, in under 30 minutes. Each box contains healthy recipe instructions, pre-portioned ingredients and fresh produce sourced from small award-winning British farms.
