At the start of each year, we often set life goals for ourselves that drive our involvements and endeavors throughout the year. Some of these goals are personal, others aren’t, like the healthy nutrition goals we set to keep the family in great shape. Setting healthy goals when planning nutrition for kids and the entire family can often times feel overwhelming. We also considered that nutritional goal setting might be new to some, so we’ve got some pointers to help you in setting nutritional goals for the family. Read on.
Get everyone involved
If you’re setting nutrition goals for the entire family, it would be exciting to do this with members of the family present. This way, you’re certain what everyone likes, as everyone gets to contribute their ideas and set at least one personal goal. We can safely refer to this as another opportunity to bond with the family.
Be Specific
When setting these goals, being realistic helps you check the sustainability of these goals. Instead of just stating “less carbs and more protein”, list food items you want to cut down on and food items you would like to increase their consumption. According to Huffington Post, it helps to create a weekly menu and introduce new meal ideas into the menu each week so it becomes less boring. It also helps you save time on deciding what meal to prepare for the family.
Engage your kids in progress tracking
This would be an exciting procedure for them and a way to keep them inclusive in planning their nutrition. You can also extend this process to letting them hang around during meal preparation or involve them in the actual preparation of the meals. This can help better their interest in meals and increase their appetite. You can create a progress tracking sheet that sits at the dinning and your kids can be in charge of recording everyone’s progress.
Be Realistic
The struggle to sustain some healthy nutrition plans are as a result of the complexity in the plans. Kids will always get cravings, and sometimes a glass of Nunu milk outside meal time doesn’t wreck the entire plan, so make room for a little treat here and there. Also, take into consideration the fact that goals take time, some more, others less but consistency will always yield result.
For more nutrition tips for your family, click here