Nutrition for families today is even more important because of environmental 
factors of water and air pollution, genetically modified foods, processed foods, pesticides, and household chemicals. These factors can contribute to illness overtime and eating a healthy diet will reduce these risks.
There are many parental concerns over genetically modified plants, artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial enhancers. It has become trickier finding foods that are healthy to put in our grocery carts. Even more challenging can be changing an unhealthy diet to a nutritional one. Teaching nutrition and why it is important is key to our kids choosing healthy lifestyle.
Begin teaching your children about nutrition
A great way to start changing a family’s diet is to teach our children about nutrition. Begin with the concept “You are what you eat.” Explain how healthy foods help your body grow and stay strong. Also share that processed foods weaken our immune systems which open our bodies to illnesses, and can make us feel sluggish, lazy and even get us fat. Explain how living foods are natural foods whether it be eggs, milk, fruits vegetables, legumes, nuts, wheat, or rice. Further discuss how dead foods are the process foods plastered with harmful synthetic hormones, artificial fats, dyes and preservatives, and artificial enhancers.
Play a fun nutrition game
While schools touch on these concepts in class, they are not integrated in our children on a daily basis – easy to forget. With every meal have a fun question and answer session about the food your kids eat. Teach your kids how milk has calcium and it builds strong bones and teeth. Ask your kids if this is important to them. Share how fruits and vegetables help the immune system which protects them from illnesses. Include how protein builds muscles to make them strong, fiber cleans their pipes, and how water flushes pollutants out of their bodies. Let your kids contribute to choosing what fruits and vegetables they will eat with meals and ask them what the nutritional value their choices have.
Explain what makes food “taste so good”
Also, teach your kids about how soda and fruit “drinks” containing fructose corn syrup that can make them fat. Share how the seemingly “good tasting” food is filled with unnatural artificial enhancers and colors that make them taste good, but these food additives have been linked to childhood obesity, allergies and ADHD. Ask them how they feel about this. Explain how foods that are processed have preservatives that allow the food to keep for a long time – it is basically dead food with little nutritional value. Tell your kids a cheat won’t hurt once and awhile, but only always in moderation.
Benefits of a nutritional lifestyle
We have been conditioned to eating processed food without knowing publically the health risks until these past several years. Once your family begins integrating nutritional meals into their lifestyle, the processed food won’t taste so good any longer. Getting back to basics of the home cooked meals, growing your own garden vegetables, or purchasing from the local farmer market is the healthiest way to feed your family. Eating consciously you will find your family has more energy and feels healthier mentally and physically.
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I am Dustin Maher, America’s Trainer to the Moms. I am a leading expert on getting moms in shape. I have appeared 88 times on local and national TV, appeared in many magazines and newspapers and been on over 25 radio shows. I have a blog (www.dustinmaherfitness.com) that receives over 1,000 visitors per day and an active mailing list of 6,000 people. I run 11 fitness bootcamp locations in Madison, Wisconsin, and have sold over 10,000 fitness DVDs. My mission is to reach one million moms by the end of 2015 with the support they need to change their mindset, eat better, exercise effectively, and be part of fit families and communities so they can transform their bodies and their lives.
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