Are fussy eaters more likely to be unfit?

Are we to blame bad parents for fussy kids? We know that our tastes and preferences are a combination of the genes we have inherited and the environment that we are brought up in. Is it a coincidence that Indians and Mexicans seem to deal with spice better than us English? After all, they have been brought up on the stuff.

The question for me is can this be translated to the fitness world. With child obesity on the rise and the future implications this will have on the UK should we be encouraging parents to stop poor eating habits as soon as they emerge?

There is an obvious link between healthy eating and the people we think about when we say fussy eaters. I can’t think of many kids that get called fussy because they just refuse to eat chocolate and ice cream!

Making healthy food more appealing to children needs to be a starting point. A lot of the unhealthy foods that are attractive to young people are processed and have been designed to contain an appealing flavour. So trying to compete with that by just offering up boiled veg is never going to work.

I’m yet to come across any real evidence that suggests fussy eaters are less likely to be physically fit. But we now know that the most beneficial nutritional regimes incorporate a wide variety of foods. If you are unwilling to try more than just a select few ingredients then it’s unlikely that you are going to be maximising the potential benefits that your food can offer you.

But what is the message to parents? Should we be forcing children to eat healthy food when we know they don’t want to eat it? For me the answer is education. Children need to be aware at a young age what the potential dangers of an unhealthy lifestyle are. That means that schools need to be honest with children and so do parents. Pretending like there isn’t a problem won’t do anybody any good.

Society often looks to unhealthy people and blame them because they are just a product of their own poor lifestyle choices. In reality this can often be the result of a lack of education at a very young age. It stands to reason that a child who is more aware of the dangers of something is less likely to want to indulge in it; think of smoking for example.

If we can’t force kids to like healthy food then we at least owe it to them to give them the information they require in order to make the right decisions as they get older in life.

If you want to improve the way you eat and get in good shape and think you’d benefit from the guidance of a professional, talk to Ollie Lawrence Personal Trainers in Manchester today to find out what we can do for you.