Eating well as a family

Healthy eating habits help children to achieve and maintain a healthy weight and support healthy choices into adulthood.  It's not just about what your child eats, but also the environment around them.  Eating together creates a positive environment around mealtimes.  We encourage families to eat together, with children having the same meals and adults modelling the behaviour they want to encourage.  This encourages children to try a variety of foods.  Try to sit down and eat meals as a family at roughly the same times each day, without the distractions of the TV or phones.

We need more of some foods and less of others to keep us healthy. The Eatwell Guide shows what proportion of what we eat should come from each of the 5 food groups.  However, it doesn't apply to children under 2 as their nutritional needs are different.  Between the ages of 2 and 5, children should gradually move to eating the same foods as the rest of the family in the proportions shown in the Eatwell Guide.  The 5532 leaflet can be used as a guide to foods and portion sizes for 1-4 year olds.  

Although the principles of healthy eating are similar for adults and children, children do not require the same portion sizes as adults. They have smaller bodies and stomachs and their portions should reflect this. At different ages, children will require different amounts of food to meet changing energy and nutrient requirements.  Avoid using adult-size plates for younger children as it encourages them to eat oversized portions.

The Eatwell Guide recommends that we should drink 6-8 cups or glasses of fluids a day.  If we don't drink enough fluid, we can feel tired and struggle to concentrate.  Drinking enough fluids is also important for healthy toilet habits.  Tap water is the best choice as it doesn't contain any sugar or acids that can harm our teeth and it is free!  Lower-fat milks and sugar-free drinks also count.  Fruit juice and smoothies should be limited to a maximum of 150 ml per day as the sugar found in them is more harmful to our teeth than that found in whole pieces of fruit.  You can find out more about healthy fluid choices for different age groups here:
For children aged 1-4 years
For children aged 5-11 years
For teenagers and adults