There’s no question that parents are kids’ first and most influential role models. It’s a crucial part of the job description when you sign up to become a mom or dad. Whether you realize it or not, your eating habits, for example, directly affect your child. If you don’t have a healthy relationship with your food, then neither will your babies. This can ultimately set them on a very unhealthy, frustrating and even life-threatening path in the long-haul.

“The biggest threat to our children’s health in North America is the dysfunctional eating environment that they are growing up in,” says Maya Adam, M.D., who lectures on child health and nutrition at the Stanford University School of Medicine. “The culture of eating in the U.S. is such that it doesn’t support a child’s health and wellness. It actually sets them up for a lifetime of struggles with weight and disease associated to their weight,” adds Adams, who is a mom of three. National stats support this: Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the last three decades, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In this video, Adam shares some smart, practical advice on what parents can do to better feed their family, including where to find fast, healthy 20-minute recipes that you can cook together with your kids.

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