Updated 31st July 2024
5 top tips to help your family eat healthier
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Encouraging your family to adopt healthier habits may feel like an uphill struggle.
Whether it's your child who won’t touch that vegetable you want to try or your partner who just wants their “usual,” it can be hard to find a middle ground that satisfies everyone and doesn’t compromise your health goals.
But there is a way forward. The most important thing to remember when you're making dietary changes is that nutrition is a science, but eating is a behavior.
This means that every change has to appeal to both your body and your mind, or it won’t stick.
Here are five tips to help you guide those around you without sacrificing enjoyment or causing unnecessary stress.
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1. Don’t overhaul people’s diets overnight
Most humans are creatures of habit, and foods and mealtimes can be a real source of structure and comfort.
Changing things drastically can be unsettling, making all your best intentions unsustainable.
Pick a meal and set a frequency to start incorporating changes. For example, you could say, “This month, we’re going to improve our snacking habits. We’ll try one new snack each week.”
Don’t be tempted to go above and beyond right from the start. It’s important to be determined, but it's better to start small than to set a goal and not reach it.
You can always raise the bar if the first steps go well.
2. Variety over restriction
Focus on what you can add, not what you can take away.
So, instead of thinking, “What should I cut out of my diet or remove from my plate?” think, “What can I add to my diet and add to my plate?”
Focus on increasing plant diversity whenever possible. But also, diversifying anything in your diet can be a good thing.
This can include trying different colors of fruits and vegetables and using new herbs and spices — they all contain different healthy plant compounds.
3. Schedule in ‘fun food’
Building sustainable habits doesn’t just mean focusing on what you’re eating, but also how you’re eating and who you’re eating with.
It can help to think of meals as falling into two categories: fuel food and fun food. Both can (and should) be delicious, but they should also serve different purposes and be enjoyed in different quantities.
“Fun food” is essential to building a well-rounded dietary pattern that keeps you and your companions happy in the long run.
“Fuel food” is the everyday food that gives you all the nutrients and energy you need to get you through your day. It keeps you nourished and healthy. This is likely to form the majority of your diet.
Fun food is what you’re likely to have less often, but remember that it has to be part of a balanced lifestyle.
Balance doesn’t mean that we eat all foods in equal amounts, but that there’s room for all foods in different quantities.
The birthday cakes, the Sunday morning treats, the ice creams on that trip to the beach, the dessert your auntie brought to the first family BBQ of the year — enjoying these is essential to you feeling that you’re not being deprived of anything physically or socially.
It’s a cornerstone of teaching moderation because fun food is part of the plan and not a deviation from it. This allows room to enjoy food as the pleasurable and social experience that it should be.
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4. Address food architecture
What does your immediate environment for food look like at home? What do you buy and stock that you want to improve the quality of?
How accessible are healthy foods in your home? Are they squished in the back of that cupboard or are they front and center, where you can easily grab them?
One strategy is to rearrange your kitchen to bring healthier items to the front or use clear containers to store wholesome snacks. Also, consider the layout of your dining area — is it inviting?
My favorite fridge organization tip: Don’t use the vegetable drawer in your fridge for vegetables. Ironically, this drawer is often a vegetable graveyard. They only make it out to be discarded once they’ve gone off.
Consider using the vegetable drawer for things that don’t go bad, like sauces and condiments. Use the exposed shelves at eye level for vegetables.
5. Meal prep involves the whole family
First, decide on a system. Perhaps a whiteboard stuck to the fridge that everyone can write on, a notebook for meal planning, or an online planner that you all have access to. Next, give everyone a space to contribute to the plan.
If you have young kids, make a meal plan and have them contribute one meal they really want to eat that week.
This means you need to do less thinking, it gives them agency over what they eat, and it helps them feel involved, which puts you one step closer to them trying something new.
When you all get comfortable with this system, consider setting some requirements. This could be something like, “your meal has to contain two vegetables and one of them has to be purple.”
Also, tap into how you feel inspired. Is it by watching food videos on social media or scrolling through all those saved recipe videos you’ve kept? Or are you more tactile and prefer a cookbook? Schedule a trip to your local bookshop or library for some inspiration. There’s a whole world at your fingertips.
Summary
This is likely to be a journey that will require patience, creativity, and flexibility. But by getting everyone involved and tapping into the shared experience of food, we’re confident here at ZOE that you can help those around you eat better in the long run.
