The older I get, the more I care about what my kids eat.  And I'm really trying to avoid eating junk food as much as possible.  The problem is that my kids really, really love food that's not that good for them.  The other problem is that I've realized that lots of things I thought were good for them might not be as good as I originally thought.  

If you are trying to implement healthier eating habits in your home and working to avoid eating junk foods, try these tips. 

~ My mom always liked to say that kids would eat what you put in front of them.  She's right. If you keep the junk out of the house, the kids can't eat it.  Instead of buying a lot of snacks at the store, we buy them for special occasions when we're going to eat them. 

~ Make as much as you can homemade. I am amazed at how many foods I thought were healthy actually contain all kinds of sugar, preservatives, etc. When you make things at home, you know exactly what you are putting into the food that your family is eating, and it makes avoiding eating junk food much easier. 

~ Don't cut snacks completely. I used to have a neighbor that didn't allow her kids to have any sugar. When they came to my house, they would devour any treats they could get their hands on. If was as if they had no control.  We don't have sweet snacks every day, but we always have something that's completely indulgent on Friday nights. I think it helps to balance my kids. They know they can have sweets, but they don't need them all the time. 

~ Plan ahead.  I've been trying really hard to plan their after school snacks and our meals ahead. It makes it much easier for me to make sure I am giving them healthy food when I know what I'm going to serve.  If I don't have anything planned, I'm much more likely to grab anything I can - and it's usually not healthy. 

~ Start a garden. My kids didn't like vegetables much until we started growing our own. For some reason, they wanted to eat what they had grown, and now they love lots of vegetables. The same is true with allowing them to help cook in the kitchen. If they help to make something, they are more likely to eat it. 

~ Talk to your child's school about getting rid of vending machines and other junk. It was hard for me to get my daughter to stop eating junk food when she could buy all kinds of unhealthy food a la carte at lunch and get soda from a vending machine.  I approached the school board and was actually able to get them to make changes in what they offered.  

I'm sure there are other ways to get your children to stop eating junk food; these are just some that have worked well for me.