Swamped! Don't Have Time to Feed Your Child Healthy Food? Read On!

With most families struggling to manage time, children, and bills, serving your child healthy food options drops to the bottom of the priority list. However, with epidemics like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity on the rise, trying to develop good food health habits early may be one of the best gifts you can give your child.

Here are some tips on trying to manage your busy schedule and keep your home a healthy one.

Have healthy food options always available

Stock your refrigerator and cupboards with simple healthy options like high fiber blueberry muffins, fruits, low sugar yogurt, nuts, raisins, and whole grain breads. Have spreads like natural peanut butter, real fruit jams, and low fat cream cheese to spread on the whole grain bread for a snack. Make little treats like homemade granola bars (most recipes take about twenty minutes) or low sugar yogurt topped with nuts and raisins. You might even have a container full of child friendly carrots, broccoli florets, and cucumber slices handy to dip in peanut butter or a low fat dressing.

Make eating healthy food a family affair

As much as possible, engage your child, family, and friends in your endeavors to keep food healthy for your child. Cook up a homemade whole wheat pizza together and let your child choose the toppings or have your child help stir batter when you make muffins or choose what vegetable to buy for a snack this week.

Always keep a look out for relatives and friends that unwillingly, or willingly, undermine your good intentions. (My abuela was notorious for giving my little brother Little Debby snack cakes for breakfast every day.) If a talk with them does not work, try your best to provide the right kind of snacks and curb their actions when you are with your child.

Take one day a week (or every other week) as your official cooking day

Designate one day a week as your cooking day. You can choose whether to include your spouse and child in your cooking day or relegate a friend or spouse to watch your child while you cook. In that one day, try to make at least two large casserole type dishes (or double a single recipe) or a hearty stew, maybe cook up some burgers or chicken breasts for quick meals, or bake homemade goods like muffins, breads, or cookies. When you have finished your cooking, separate out portions according to what you would need for the week and freeze and refrigerate accordingly in sealed containers and aluminum foil. Have quick foods like whole wheat pasta, couscous, whole wheat dinner rolls, or frozen vegetables handy as sides for your prepared meals.

Multitasking is pretty important on cooking day, and fortunately, this is probably something that you have already mastered. So while your chili is cooking in the slow cooker all afternoon, you can probably cook up two batches of whole grain blueberry muffins and some homemade granola bars.

Not only will your child grow up with healthy eating habits, he or she will always have fond memories and recipes to pass down to their child down the road.