You should not be depending on the government advisory or labels on food packaging to get your education or make better decisions about whether or not to eat something. The governement needs to ensure the food is safe to eat.
As an adult, you need to be driven by your desire for better health, physical capacity and preparedness and a hint of vanity. If you needed a label to tell you something is not good for you, it’s a little late in the decision making game.
The education and habits you need to be an effective eater for health and wellness outcomes are most effectively inculcated when you are young.
Children watch you everyday and they learn. They learn how to eat, how to move, how to talk and what constitutes normal behaviour, attitudes, expectations and habits.
By the age of 18, the average child has had 20000 meals (closer to 35000 if they eat like they do while they holiday) with their family, friends and/or loved ones.
These were opportunities to show kids how to pick foods, practice portion control, display impulse control, be open to cultures and be tolerant of others food habits. I’d argue the dining table is a terrific learning forum. And it is learning by osmosis. Not just exposition. And that makes it so much more powerful.
You could normalise how healthy, hygienic food is prepared. Why fried food or greasy snacks is not the norm but the exception.
Why it is OK to serve yourself just what you need and nothing more.
Why paying for food is not a license to overeat.
Why food as an experience is not about volume or value but about savouring every bite.
Why walking away after a bite is sometimes enough.
Why walking away from something everyone considers a normal indulgence is necessary.
Why eating habits need to evolve past culture, history and identity.
Why asking for the smallest serving is fine.
Why carving out 10 minutes to prepare your own meal, regardless of how simple, is more empowering than waiting 10 minutes after pushing a button.
All this happens through action. We don’t realise how often. It’s a daily case of show don’t tell. And the evidence suggests we are showing them some counterproductive ideas and inculcating habits that are hard to undo.
The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken (Samuel Johnson via Warren Buffett). Let us show kids that eating habits are not chains that tether but rather springboards to a better existence.
