Healthy eating doesn’t just happen. Making your family’s diet healthier starts with creating a healthy meal plan and making sure your meals match your plan.

So where do you start?

Plan family meals for the week.

Make a healthy meal plan and include all meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner. But don’t forget to include snacks, and if your family cannot go without desserts, add those too. If you plan healthy options now, you won’t have bad food in the house to binge on later.

Make sure to add lots of green vegetables to your meals. They are full of vitamins and help fill you up. Don’t feel like you have to have meat in every meal, either. Vegetarian meals can be just as tasty and often are lower in fat.

Once you have a plan, make your grocery list and stick to it. By only buying what’s on the list, you can save money and calories.

Handle the craving to constantly chow!

Eating in-between meals can cause more cavities, so try to cut snacking. When you do snack, try and make it as healthy as possible.

Try breaking up veggies (baby carrots, red peppers and broccoli) into snack baggies. Keep them in the same place in the fridge so anyone in the family can grab a healthy, pre-portioned snack.

Plan snacks that are low in carbs and sugars, like nuts!

Lots of water and fresh juices

Cut the soda and juice consumption. Drink water and only add in other drinks occasionally.

Don’t forget about where you put the items in your fridge and cupboards. If an item is unhealthy – make it hard to get to. If something is healthy make it easy and quick.

Do you have other tips to help make a healthy meal plan? We’d love to hear them.