What are the benefits of a healthy diet

Healthy diet helps you maintain your weight and keeps you healthy. One can improve his or hers diet and encourage healthy eating. One of these strategies is to have regular family meals. Those meals are meal when the whole family is sitting and eating together. It encourages closeness between the family members. Even teens, who in those years wish to strike out on there own, still want their parent\\\'s advice, so the family meals are a perfect way for teens to ask and for parents to give the advice. One more benefit of family meals is that through them, the parents can introduce new food to the kids and they can be a role model for healthy eating. To encourage family meals, allow the kids to invite friends to dinner, involve the kids in the preparation and cooking of the meal.

The second strategy is to stock up healthy food at home and to throw out any unhealthy food because the kids, younger kids especially, will eat anything that is available at home. So it pays up to stock up on fruits and vegetables, nuts, dried fruits, apple chip and to keep them at hand on a visible place so the child takes it instead of, for example, potato chips. Of course, one should not go in to the extreme and throw out favorite snacks and sweets. Just use them once in a while. It will keep the children happy.

The third step is to become a role model for the kids. Kids try to imitate the adults they see everyday. It is a natural way of learning. So, if a parent is eating the healthy diet, there are significant chances that the child will follow in his footsteps. At least until they are teens. A parent should also watch out that he is not overindulging or that he is not complaining about the food. That way the parent is encouraging a healthy attitude towards food.

Fourth strategy is not to battle over food. One should not force the kids to eat everything from the plate. If that is the case, a parent is negating the child\\\'s feeling of fullness and encourages overeating. Kids should decide when they are full. They are small adults. Also, blackmailing with deserts should also be avoided. A parent can establish a timetable for meals and snacks. That way it is easier to skip a meal when you know when the next one is.