Back to school: HCF warns of barriers to healthy eating

With kids heading back to school, HCF Australia (HCF), Australia's largest not-for-profit health fund, has warned of common barriers preventing parents from providing healthy meals to their growing children.

HCF's new study of Australian parents with children under 18 years at home, published to coincide with the start of the 2022 school year, found that more than three in four (77%) Australian parents who responded to the survey said they face barriers to healthy eating.

Specifically, seven in 10 (69%) respondents said they have a fussy eater child, with two in five (41%) admitting that they prepare two or more additional meals at dinner to accommodate for fussy eaters. Meanwhile, more than half of these parents (56%) admitted to bribing their children with screen time if they eat their main meal for 2.3 days per week on average.

Moreover, a vast majority (96%) of the respondents admitted that their family eats takeaway food because it is fast and convenient despite knowing it is unhealthy.

HCF chief officer for member health, Julie Andrews, said families do not need to battle the pressure of mealtimes alone, advising eligible HCF members to access the health fund's Healthy Families for Life program – designed to encourage children to develop positive eating habits for growth and development.

“We know that setting kids up with strong nutritional foundations early in life can help reduce the risk of chronic conditions in their future,” Andrews said. “It's also important we encourage parents to role model healthy eating behaviours themselves to make sure everyone in the family is developing healthy habits to last a lifetime.”

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Dietician Dr Jane Watson, from the Healthy Families for Life program, offered tips to help parents provide healthy meals to their children:

• Take short-cuts: Have quick meals or leftovers or even a “picnic” dinner.
• Keep it simple: Do not expect to prepare a gourmet meal because there are quick options that provide as much nutrition as meals that take hours to prepare.
• Be realistic: Keep your high expectations for days you can meet them.
• Create a pre-meal routine.
• Plan meals to save money and time, reduce stress, improve nutrition, and contribute to calmer mealtimes.
• Expect that children might eat nothing at all for that meal, for example, if they are tired, not hungry, or not in the mood for eating.
• Remember: It is not what they eat at each meal, but what they eat over a few days or a week that matters.

“When mealtimes become difficult, and parents feel they need more support, it's important that parents seek help,” Dr Watson added. “Good support will give parents and carers strategies for calmer mealtimes, dealing with food refusal, and supporting their children to establish lifelong eating patterns for healthy growth and development.”