Six Ways to Help Your Child Break Bad Eating Habits: Beyond Popeye and Spinach

All it takes is a quick look at the statistics - childhood obesity (17 percent of kids between 2 and 19 are overweight in the U.S.), type 2 diabetes (as many as 50 percent of new diabetes diagnoses in children are now type 2), soda consumption (now the top source of added sugars in young people's diets), lack of fruits and vegetables (on any given day, one out of four babies and toddlers don't eat any at all) - to know there are serious problems with the way our children eat today. Following are six ways to help you get your child away from unhealthy eating habits:

Make fast food an occasional treat, not a regular meal. Yes, fast food is just that - fast and easy, especially for busy working parents who get home with little time left to prepare meals. But cooking healthful meals doesn't have to take long if you keep the right ingredients on hand, particularly in you have a microwave oven. Keep stocked up on sustainable shrimp and fish, free-range and antibiotic-free chicken, grass-fed beef and quick sides like organic beans, rice, tomatoes, barley, squash and spinach (stay away from processed foods, which are full of chemicals and expensive as well), and no meal needs to take more than a hour-hour to 45 minutes to prepare.

Help your kids understand where food comes from, and what it takes to raise it. Food comes from the earth, nurtured by sunlight, water and healthy soil, not from the grocery store. Provide your children with a hands-on appreciation of this by planting a few fruits or vegetables they can grow by themselves, whether in the backyard or in a few pots on a sunlight windowsill. Kids are more likely to give peas, squash, tomatoes, strawberries and onions a try if they've grown them themselves.

Take your kids to the source. From berries in the spring, apples in the fall and Christmas trees in November and December, there are many crops you and your children can gather yourselves at pick-your-own farms and orchards. Make a point of taking a pick-your-own trip at least two or three times a year.