Have you recently made an effort to clean up your diet, but you struggle getting your family eating healthy, too? You want them to support you in making changes to be healthier, and you want them to be healthier, too because you care about them. But how do you get them to ditch the junk food they’ve become so accustomed to and adopt better habits without the backlash? The answer is making a gradual transition and staying positive!
Get the Whole Family Eating Healthy
Growing up a Junk Food Junkie
Growing up in Michigan, my house was positioned above a convenient store. A typical meal for me consisted of grape soda and Hostess pies. My father was convinced that if food had a long shelf life, there was something in it that would make us live long, too. We had the worst possible eating habits, and both sides of my family were genetically predisposed for obesity. Trust me, if we could make the change, so can your family!
From Junk Food Junkies to Clean Eaters
My family made the transition when I was in my early teens, and my mom began teaching Jazzercise. I remember seeing how happy working out made her and how good she felt about herself. And without even realizing it, our family began eating healthier. She never said, “We’re going to change how we eat,” or “We’re not buying this type of food anymore.” She just gradually stopped buying it. We didn’t even notice the change, but somehow we transitioned from junk food junkies to pretty clean eaters.
Making the Transition
So how do you make this transition with your own family?
#1 – Gradually make healthy swaps and stop buying junk.
Don’t announce to your household that you are making changes or that you won’t be buying certain foods any more. You’ll get immediate backlash. Just slowly start making healthier swaps and stop buying one unhealthy staple at a time. For instance, you don’t need to tell everyone that you made spaghetti with whole wheat pasta tonight. Just make it! They probably won’t even realize it, and if they do, all they need to know is that you tried a different brand. If you don’t make a big deal of it, neither will they!
#2 – No food rules. 
Don’t make food rules about what is and isn’t allowed in the house or what your kids can and can’t eat. Forbidding something only makes them want it more, and it can also give them hang-ups about food. Just stick with the “everything in moderation” approach and make healthy choices readily available, so they’re easier to make.
#3 – Keep it positive.
I truly believe that I don’t have any hang-ups about food or my body because growing up, I never once heard my mom speak disparagingly about herself or her body. Never ever say, “I’m fat,” or “I’m gross.” Not only do YOU not need to engage in negative self talk, but when your kids hear it, they internalize it, too. It’s almost as if you’re saying it to them. Instead, keep a positive outlook and make positive comments after you exercise or eat a healthy meal, such as, “I feel great,” or “I’m getting in good shape.” This way, your kids start to make positive associations with eating healthy and working out, too.
Getting your family to make healthy changes is totally doable! You just have to make it gradual and focus on the positive effects! Before you know it, your entire family will be enjoying a healthier lifestyle without even realizing it!
Great easy read, easy to follow article. Simple and makes great points. We have eliminated alot from our kitchen, but I do not deprive my daughter of being a kid. We try to have a treat meal or snack once a week, so we can all enjoy and get our sugar fix…LOL! I have always hated looking at myself in the mirror but I have found that working out in front of one helps me dramaticlly w/ form. Now my daughter loves dancing and teaching her pretend class in front of the mirror as well. I hope she grow up w/ more self confidence than I had to learn to get. Thanks for the great read Chalene.
You are sooooo right about forbidding things! Can’t makes want! 🙂
Wow, did I need this today! I’ve felt like I’m constantly battling my family about healthy eating habits. I try and try and I feel that I get set up for failure because I hear, let’s eat out, buy this, etc. Thank you!
This is great advice, Chalene! Especially about subtly introducing cleaner foods and not forbidding foods from ever gracing the pantry again – that would definitely trigger the “diet cycle” (restriction > deprivation > lose control) for me if I was on the receiving end of that message.
what if your husband is the one buying the food and he is the one bringing it into the house no matter how much you ask him not too.??
Explain to him how much it would mean to you to be on this journey together. Let him know how important it is to you, and that you’re asking because you’re looking out for him!
I absolutely love this. I have a really hard time eating clean because sometimes it is just so convenient to eat the processed food. But lately, I have been trying to stick to the outside of the grocery store. It really has helped clean up the food in our house. In fact, tonight we are trying a new recipe for lasagna… which includes tofu. 🙂
Im so happy to learn this about you Chalene. I always wanted to know more about you especially if you have always been such a healthy person or not.
I bought TurboJam in 2004 and now i have TurboFire. Im in love with your work outs and how it keeps me from getting bored. You are such an inspiration and lovely person. My dream is to be like you but in my own way LOL.
Thank you for sharing so may helpful things to better our lives. I pray you and your family are always safe and blessed.
I am the daughter in my family, and I’ve tried to encourage/inspire/ and cook and help my parents to make healthy choices. Still not interested. It’s frustrating and to see them raise my teenage sister that way. But she is very independant and has utilized my fitness pal to count calories and water intake. I encourage her to eat clean and to eat every few hours 🙂
Funny! I remember my Mom looking in the mirror and saying, “Heyy Gorgeous!” or “Good Morning Beautiful!” and to herself and it always made me giggle. I don’t think I recall her ever looking (or talking) down on herself.
I do remember her telling us AFTER we tried (and loved) it that she used turkey instead of beef or frozen instead of canned veggies. LOL! Anyway, good tips!
Impssreive brain power at work! Great answer!
Everything you say is so true! It works! I’m a much better mom because of you. I owe you so much.
By the way, I would like to know if you’ll make an event in Montreal, QC, Canada one day or nearby? California is very far from my home and I don’t have the money to go see you there. I dream of your big cardio partys or the convention at Idea World that is so great.
Let me know…
I have to go now, my Turbo Jam workout is waiting for me.
xx Lanie
LOL, thankfully I raised my kids on healthy foods. Never fast food, well, except occasional trips to Chik Fil A. For good grades on report cards we would tell the girls to pick a place for dinner (hmmm), and it was usually The Melting Pot or a Japanese Grill. Yeah, they had expensive taste back then. Now that they are grown, they are still healthy eaters. Sure, they eat a lil junk every now and then, but the occasions are few and far between. They are utterly disgusted with their friends that eat fast food. 🙂 And every now and then I will surprise them and put a box of Oreos in the pantry and they flip out!!!!! Yes, the rare form of junk food that ends up in my house is a treat, but honestly, not one that they go crazy for. There is a lot to be said for eating healthy.
I was not raised on healthy foods either, although my mom always cooked at home, it was not “healthy” cooking. We were raised on pop, cool aid and cereal loaded with sugar.
When I was married and on my own, I set out to do things differently. My mom, sadly, just passed away at age 67. And in my opinion a lot of her health issues had to do with her poor food choices and lack of self control for years and years.
I am not about to go that direction. What we eat is a choice, and with every choice comes a consequence or a reward. Choose life. <3
I love you Chalene (and I love Jenelle too)
Great blog that you simply have here both design and layout is brilliant.|
Thanks for this post! I agree about no food rules. Being a mother of twins I’ve found the more food rules, the more resistance I get. It simply doesn’t work! Great post.
I’m a mom of 2 boys, but was recently on a school field trip where a girl in my son’s 3rd grade class was upset because another girl’s mom had been trying to teach her daughter about eating healthily, which had resulted in the girl coming to school and telling the other girls they shouldn’t be eating certain foods because they aren’t healthy and will make them fat. On the field trip, one of the girl’s refused to eat the chicken fingers her mom bought her at this museum restaurant with quite limited options because she was afraid her friend would make fun of her for eating a food that could make her fat. I’m a Beachbody coach, so always advocating for healthy eating myself and teaching good habits to our children, but how do we teach them (girls especially) these habits without them becoming obsessed at a young age about their bodies. Having boys, I don’t ever hear conversations like this, but I felt badly for this girl. A 9 y.o. shouldn’t worry about being fat, though I wish her mom would help her make better food choices since she is starting to get on the overweight side. I’d love to hear your thoughts about how to teach kids to make good food choices without bringing up what poor diet does to ones body.