Are your children eating you out of house and home these school holidays? My top 5 tips on encouraging healthy meals and snacking which will make sure you are not in the kitchen all day!
1. Spend 1 day meal prepping a few snacks and have a plan for lunches and dinners.
Snacks such as – healthy muffins, mini quiches, bliss balls, pre done smoothie or fresh juice, bbq chicken pulled apart, fritters, scrolls, banana loaf, raspberry loaf…
2. In the morning, even though you don’t need to be making lunches for school, it is great to package their lunch and snacks first up in the morning like you would for school (with different foods to keep school lunches exciting). This allows you to get the preparation out of the way, then when they are hungry you can give them their lunch or snacks to munch on rather than being in and out of the kitchen all day. If you have plans outside of the house, you will need to have packed food for them anyway, right?!
3. Provide protein and healthy fat meals and snacks. Avoid refined sugary snacks as much as possible as these do not satisfy and fill the belly up! It only gives them a little sugar high and then they are hungry half and hour later. Sound familiar? By incorporating a high protein breakfast and snack options such as rolled oats, cheesy eggs, eggs and bacon, protein smoothie, avocado and feta toast allows satisfaction due to the protein and fat content. It is ok to have the odd treat, but there needs to be a balance between the healthy foods and the sometimes foods to ensure sustained energy.
4. Getting active! There can be an element of boredom if children are inside all day. They tend to constantly be thinking of food if they aren’t stimulated by an activity, otherwise they will be looking in the fridge or pantry. Get outside or out for a bike ride or play date. This not only helps take their mind off sitting around eating all day, but promotes healthy fit children which is essential.
5. They may have a parasite or unhealthy bacterial balance called dysbiosis! The gut is such an important part for our body to function at its optimum. If there is an imbalance in the gut flora, the growth of unhealthy pathogens such as parasites and candida like to thrive! This will make children potentially a lot hungrier, or at least they think they are! It can also contribute to some children not having an appetite at all. There are natural non invasive treatments we use at Naturopath To You to support digestive health in an easy and effective way! School holidays are the perfect time to re-set gut health which will also promote learning and concentration at school. Winning!!
