Healthy kids: Has lockdown changed our children's eating habits?

By Katie Cole

Have you felt guilty about your kids not getting enough fruit and vegetables during lockdown? Has a sugary snack become part of the daily routine rather than a treat?

The pandemic has forced us to spend more time at home and for many families that has meant cooking and preparing more meals for our children and grandchildren. 

As part of our Back on Track series our reporter Katie Cole has been getting some advice and tips on giving our kids a nutritional boost. 

Lyndsay Myhill is the founder of Tiny Tasters cooking classes for children in Northumberland.

She said: "We use lots of strategies in our classes that can be used at home. Food exposure is really important, even when your child has refused that food or meal in the past just continue to offer it. 

"Everyone is juggling working from home and childcare and other things and it's difficult but if you can just find the time to  cook with them that is our main tip, just get them in the kitchen.

"Even if it just scheduling in a family meal , a couple of times a week sit down as a family and eat together and model good eating habits and show them that food is good for us."

Professor Amelia Lake works in public health nutrition at Teesside University. She said: "We just have to accept it was a very challenging time but it's thinking about what we can do now and together as a family is to reinstate healthy lifestyles.

"One of the most simple way is eating fruit and vegetables. That doesn't have to be fresh, it can be frozen or tinned. It's just enjoying food together as a family so it isn't just 'can I have a snack please'."

More from our Back on Track series:

• Emotional eating: almost half of us have gained weight during the pandemic

• Tyneside physiotherapist: “Lockdown has changed our bodies, I’ve never seen so many injuries”