Optimal nutrition for a lifetime

Good nutrition starts with the choices you make at the grocery store. Being “smart with your cart” will help you make informed decisions. You need to know which foods offer the nutrients your family needs and which have merely been marketed as healthy.

As a parent you are a role model for good eating habits for your children. What you do will have a far greater impact than what you say. This includes establishing a family mealtime routine, understanding portion sizes and teaching your children to plan and prepare meals.

Children are influenced by more than their family’s habits when choosing what to eat to stay healthy. The influence of peers and the media on a growing child’s body image and the temptation of junk food are well documented. For this reason, it is important that your child has a healthy attitude to food to resist the messages they receive outside the family.

About this section

This section looks at how you and your family can enjoy good nutrition for a lifetime by developing healthy habits and balanced attitudes towards food. You can find out:

• how to make the most of your trips to the grocery store
• which foods to buy to maintain a balanced diet
• how you can promote positive eating habits
• how you can evaluate your family’s diet
• how to encourage a healthy body image for your child despite media and peer pressure
• how to make sure your child is eating enough for their needs and answers to other common nutrition questions.