The festive season is here and they call for celebrations and holidays. Celebrations are synonymous with food and form an integral part of all social activities in our culture. 

For a parent, it could be challenging to have control over what your child eats, especially during times of celebration. And it gives children a great chance to enjoy different delicacies and sweets. Besides, if you have found yourself restricting your child’s food choices during previous festivities then you must stop that as it impacts their relationship with food. 

Tips for your child towards Healthy Eating Habits during Festive Season

1. Good First Meal of the Day

Breakfast forms an integral part of the day and is essential to break the long fast of the night for children to boost their metabolism and keep them energized. Ensure to give your child a healthy and balanced breakfast so as to prevent them from binge eating throughout the day.

2. Engage in Physical Activity

Holidays can set in a rest mode for the family and often may cause a change in routine. Children then often resort to watching TV for a longer period and sleeping at odd hours, which may affect their levels of activity. Thus, ensure your child is physically active and gets more play time to burn off those extra calories consumed during the festive celebration by engaging in any sports activity. 

3. Avoid Packaged Aerated Beverages for Hydration

It is best not to have aerated drinks before meal times or with meals. Drinking a beverage loaded with sugar before the meal will reduce the meal capacity and add empty calories which will cause the children to feel hungry sooner. Water, Tender coconut water, buttermilk, milk, homemade lemon juice (Nimbu Pani), lassi, or homemade sharbat are healthier choices compared to packaged aerated beverages that are loaded with artificial colors and preservatives.

4. Give Fruits A Festive Twist

Eating seasonal fruits is a wise choice anytime during the year. But during festivals, they can become an unattractive option for children due to the variety of food options at that time. To make fruits interesting for your child even during festivals, give them an interesting twist of festivity. You can make it a smoothie, make a mixed fruit salad, or try out interesting fruit recipes like; Apple Kheer, Pineapple Jamun, Banana Barfi, Papaya Halwa, Orange Kheer, etc.

5. Replace Sugar and Make Wise Choices

Make homemade sweet delicacies using raisins, dates, or honey as sweeteners, and avoid store-bought sweets and chocolates which contain preservatives and colors. Also, add wholesome ingredients such as nuts and seeds to your sweets to make them healthier.  

Also, limit the number of outside sweets and chocolates your child is consuming. You don’t want to be too strict during the festive season, but you also need to make sure your child doesn't go overboard with it.

6. Share Sweets

Share sweets and delicacies with the neighborhood, friends, and relatives. This ensures that once the festival season is over you don’t have too many sweets lying around in your home which are easily accessible to your child.

7. Adopt My Plate Concept While Eating Outside

Teach your child the concept of MyPlate and serve food for them that contains all the food groups in portions. MyPlate is an illustrative meal place setting to show a proper distribution of five food groups in a way to form a balanced diet. The plate format is used to make determining the serving size easier.

The concept states to fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables. While the other half with lean proteins and grains to create nutritional balance. The above image is a representative picture of ‘MyPlate.’

8. Personalized Nutrition

Adopt Personalized Nutrition for ensuring that your child gets sufficient macronutrients and micronutrients based on age, gender, and need. Giving your child Gritzo SuperMilk before and after the festive season will ensure your child is getting the right amount of nutrients regularly. And it will also help to strengthen their immunity so that a few empty calorie consumptions during festivals do not harm them. 

This approach ensures your child gets the right nutrition in the right amount as per their need. And the best part is it has 0% bad stuff. This means No Preservatives, No Refined Sugar, No Malt, No Artificial Flavor, and No Trans Fat. Only great taste and personalized nutrition.