Most parents in Brisbane strive to provide their families with healthy meals. However, due to busy lifestyles and not knowing all the options available, achieving this goal can be challenging.
Don’t worry, we’ve got you! There are some simple things you can do to ensure you and your children get proper nutritional value from all the meals you prepare.
We’ll examine why it is important to enjoy a healthy diet, what actually constitutes healthy food and how to incorporate them into your breakfast, lunch and dinner options.
Get ready to eat yourself into better shape!
Why are healthy meals important for families?
A balanced diet of foods with good nutritional value is vital for maintaining your life expectancy and overall well-being.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, being overweight (including obesity) is the second highest risk factor that contributes to illness and death. Only smoking does this more.
In fact, being overweight has been linked to 30 diseases overall, such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, musculoskeletal conditions, and cancer.
Along with regular exercise, eating a balanced diet of foods and consuming less sugars, salt, and both industrially-produced and saturated trans-fats are great ways to help counter these risks.
What are the main benefits of healthy eating?
Overall, there are several benefits to healthy eating. Primarily, doing this helps you to get to and remain at an optimal weight for good health. Therefore, it significantly reduces your chances of contracting obesity-related diseases.
Doing this can also strengthen your teeth and bones, improve your memory, focus and brain function and experience better moods and mental health.
Family preparing healthy meals together in the kitchen
What are healthy foods?
You’ll find it very hard to eat healthily if you don’t know what foods are good for you. Therefore, it is worth taking the time to understand what constitutes a balanced diet.
Essentially, there are five different food groups you should try and eat from every day. They include the following:
- Dairy (cheese, yoghurt, milk)
- Grains (wholegrain and high cereal fibre)
- Fruit
- Lean meats, poultry and fish
- Vegetables and legumes
Foods are classified together because they provide us with similar levels of the important nutrients we need from that particular group.
For example, in the dairy group, the key nutrients include protein and calcium, while the fruit group is a terrific source of vitamins, particularly vitamin C.
You are recommended to eat certain amounts of each food group daily to meet the nutritional requirements that will promote good levels of health. However, you do not need to eat from each food group at every meal.
That said, you are advised to eat a variety of foods within each food group, as you’ll gain different benefits from doing so. For instance, within the legumes and vegetables group, pumpkins and carrots are high in vitamin A, and potatoes have lots of vitamin C.
What are unhealthy foods?
Essentially, unhealthy foods are what is known collectively as ‘junk food’. In other words, it is food that contains a high level of sugar or salt and fats and does not contain much in the way of minerals, vitamins and fibre.
Typically, junk food is seen as the kind of food you get at fast food restaurants. However, it also includes meats, cheeses and frozen foods that are highly processed, sweet, carbonated drinks, lollies and chocolate bars.
Eating these foods on a regular basis can result in weight gain, diabetes and heart problems.
How do I get the family to eat more healthy meals?
So, if you want your family to eat more healthy meals, but you are pressed for time with a busy schedule how can you go about doing that?
Well, one way is to get someone else to do it for you. For example, FoodSt offers meal delivery services in Brisbane. However, if you would rather prepare the meals for yourself, one of the best ways to do this is to be organised enough to do so in advance.
For instance, instead of cooking enough food for one family meal, consider making the dish in bulk and freezing it. That way, you automatically have another one you can call upon on another occasion when you are pushed for time.
It is also worth introducing fruit and nut breaks into your day, especially in between meals or during morning or afternoon tea, to avoid snacking on bad foods. You can pre-empt this by putting small amounts in different containers for every day of the week.
You are probably aware that you are recommended to eat five servings of vegetables every day. So, another thing you can do is prepare the odd vegetarian lunch or meal a couple of times a week to boost your consumption of that important food group.
There are several creative ways you can incorporate vegetables into your menu, including these delicious vegetarian egg tacos or cauliflower fried rice that your kids will love!
What to read next…
Fixing the fussy eater epidemic: 8 Tips to inspire healthy eating
The new healthy kids program that’s Raising Keen Kids
