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Creating a community in Ballsbridge with the EXOFIT fitness studio

EXOFIT | Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 | Personal Training | Personal Trainer

Personal Trainer advice for the Little eaters!

Anthony Murphy - Head Trainer at EXOFIT

Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 | Personal Training | Personal Trainer

25/01/2022

1. Don't demonise sugar

It is important that we don't demonise sugar with our little ones. Foods that contain moderate levels of sugar can still hold good value to an active lifestyle and hold a good value of fiber, nutrients and protein. Let's take muesli for an example - a portion of muesli might show up to 14g of sugar per serving but it will also hold up to 8g of protein and 5g of fiber. If we take this serving and add 3 tablespoons of Greek yogurt and 1 tablespoon of chia seeds we have now added an additional 10g of protein and 5g of fiber to the morning breakfast. Leaving a great balance, not creating an early eating disorder and giving the fuel that is needed for their active lifestyle.

2. Choose your labels correctly

As a personal trainer I'm always cautious of the words I use to prevent a bad relationship with my clients and their eating patterns and the same principle should apply to our children as parents. Try to prevent using the words 'bad' as this could potentially lead to a 'bad' relationship with their view on certain food types. Good alternatives to use might be 'variety' for example. We aim to teach our children that variety is key for our body, eating chocolate all day will not be a smart idea because we missed out on variety - this same principle would apply in the same view as eating broccoli all day as we would miss out on variety.

3. Out of sight, out of mind

What they don't see, they don't crave. There will be times when the control or the situation is out of our hands as parents and that is completely, ok. For example, at a birthday party etc, but these times are far and few in between and variety is what we promote to our children. But we do have control on what we choose in our weekly shop, and this will take up at least 70% of the foods they eat and see on a weekly basis so shop smart and hide even smarter. 

4. Be patient, consistent and make it fun

There is great research to suggest that it could take up to 14 times for a baby and toddler to get use to a new food. So we need patience and need to remember that they need time. When we as adults try a new food in a restaurant we might smell the food first and then cut into it and examining it with our knife and fork before we eat it. Why do we expect our children to be different? Let them touch, look, play and get comfortable with this new food and hopefully in time you will notice they open up to the idea of tasting it.

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Anthony Murphy - Head Trainer at EXOFIT

Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 | Personal Training | Personal Trainer

MSc, REPs

25/01/2022

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