Two main reasons why a good dad should do his best to eat healthy food:
- A father needs to do everything to improve and encourage children’s healthy eating habits. Please provide your kids with examples of tasty, healthy, good-looking food choices with simple and clear explanations of why these foods are good for them and the whole family. Your children will mimic you. They will copy what you do and try to eat what you do. This is an excellent opportunity for fathers to improve their health and eating habits with their children, as supported by a study: Dietary outcomes of overweight fathers and their children in the Healthy Dads, Healthy Kids community randomised controlled trial – PubMed (nih.gov).
As a father, I recommend taking three action steps forward:
- By explaining uncomplicatedly why those food choices will improve health, resist diseases, and help kids grow big, strong, and pretty. With every meal on the table, use the opportunity to hint why that particular meal, vegetable, or piece of food is excellent and nutritious. Please don’t overdo it. Just provide a short hint. A tiny tip is enough, and it is always essential to resist the urge to lecture. Your kids need an example and quick suggestion to encourage curiosity and not to hear endless and repetitive blabbering. When they wish to know more about it, they will ask.
- Whenever your family schedule allows it, try to include your children in food choices while visiting your favorite grocery store or farmers market. Use the labels to explain why some food choices are better than others. Show them that you are proud when they pick a healthy article. At home, get kids involved in deciding what the next meal should be; Healthy Eating (for Parents) – Nemours KidsHealth. While preparing the food, ask them to help you by giving them some safe tasks to perform. It doesn’t matter if they do something useful or play with the food. You will undoubtedly spend quality time together at a minimum, and they will learn something in the process.
- Influence your children by giving your constant and excellent example, as nicely stated in 5 Family Nutrition Tips for Dads (eatright.org). If a father does not follow his own advice, he should not expect the children to accept it either.
Following these simple three steps, you will ensure that your children have good and balanced nutrition and awareness of why it is essential to eat healthily.
A father must never forget that he is there to provide not lecturing but guidance and example. Father is responsible for what and when his children eat, while the children’s choice is to be a bit picky and how much they will eat, Raise a healthy child who is a joy to feed (ellynsatterinstitute.org). Don’t pressure your kids while having a meal. Let them be in a place of excellent and healthy food choices and happy family time.
- Why dad’s health and nutrition are important?
The answer to why a dad’s health and nutrition are essential is very straightforward. A good father is a caretaker, a provider, reliable and lasting. You cannot be that while eating junk food and being unhealthy. A father must take his health very seriously, so he can provide for and give to his family for many decades. A father should be a synonym for constant availability and support. In my business terms, a father needs to be able to be bankable and support his children for as long as they need him: to grow, develop, finish school/university, have a secure income, to have families on their own. A father will have an extremely challenging time fulfilling this vital role if his health is poor. We can be sure that bad eating habits and poor food choices will not help. What is the right choice to make if a father genuinely cares for his children is evident. Excuses are not an answer if your children ask why you took the easier path and could not be for them when they need you.
To demonstrate what I am saying, I will use my personal example.
This was me when I was in my 30s in the picture below. The 30s are supposed to be when a man, a father, is in his prime.
And on the following two pictures, below is me in my 40s.
My son took the photos and was proud of his father’s achievements and happy with the number of hours we could actively play. That is the best reward a dad can get.
What should be the father’s diet and why
The father’s diet should consist of: a moderate intake of proteins, healthy fats, and low amounts of carbs.
I will base this article on my personal experience. I went from someone being healthy and with a good physique in my ’20s to obese and unhealthy in my ’30s. On my journey back to become healthy and fit in my 40s, I can give you a few simple pieces of advice that will lead to visible improvements within two to three months.
Please notice that I am not saying that you will finish “your job” in a few weeks as that will not happen. I am saying that your physique and health will visibly improve within two to three months. To continue the journey, you must adopt a new and healthy lifestyle. There is no miracle pill or some grand secret. My improved health condition and knowledge are based on a lot of reading, listening to renewed MDs, constant try & to improve the method, and checking my vital parameters. As I work for two companies and have a small kid, my time is precious, so I need to think about something that will give me results and will not take too much of my time.
The simplest way to become a healthy and vital dad is to follow this:
- Stop eating “white sweet things”: sugar and flour.
- Stop drinking soft drinks or juices.
- Stop or reduce alcohol and cigarettes.
- Stop eating highly processed foods. For the same amount of money, take good quality whole food.
- Stop using refined vegetable oils. Use extra virgin olive, coconut oil, and butter instead.
- Eat a fruit or two daily (citruses, avocado, green banana).
- Eat berries.
- Eat eggs.
- Eat smaller amounts of meat (chicken, fish, mollusks, beef). If possible, take grass-fed, grass-finished. As explained nicely by Making Better Food Choices (awionline.org)
- Eat a handful of healthy nuts, but don’t overdo it: walnuts, almonds, pistachios, Brazil nuts, macadamia, cashews, hazelnuts, pecans, Top 10 healthiest nuts | BBC Good Food
- Eat leafy greens as much as you can.
- Replace your standard chocolate with dark chocolate, 85% of cacao parts or more.
- Stop wasting your time in front of the TV and take a walk or do some light and safe exercises.
- Once per week, you can take a piece of cake or pancakes, but do your best to make healthier versions.
Follow this simple guideline, and you will see visible improvements within two to three months.
Even better. Before starting with this, measure your body weight, take photos of yourself from different angles, and do a blood test. Do the same in the following three months and track your results.
Please note that I do not have a medical background. I have learned this by following respectable MD’s YouTube channels, reading a lot of related literature written by professional nutritionists, and following my health improvements over the past five years. Before implementing these healthy habits in your life, I highly recommend you visit your MD to track your improvements. If you have some illnesses, involving your MD on this journey is a must.
Improving your healthy habits, following your MD’s advice, and regular medical checkouts should give you the best results and help you avoid complications.
To help you better understand this topic and how to improve good life habits, I have reviewed the top 5 nutrition YouTube channels I could find, which I used personally to achieve my good results.
Remember the primary goal. You don’t need to be too fit. It would help if you improve your health and look better in the process. Your kids will be proud of their dad, version 2.0. You can be sure of this.
Five best nutrition YouTube channels for healthy dads
I have reviewed dozens of YouTube channels, tried to implement their teaching, and checked their authority. The following five are the best I could find so far and which I can highly recommend. This recommendation is made based on my personal experience. I wanted this review not to be just a good guess. I spent more than 800+ hours watching and listening to what they have to say and experimenting on myself by applying their teaching over the past four years.
Disclaimer: Please note that I have no connection or relation with the mentioned people, their products, related websites, and channels. This review is not paid promotion material of any kind or anything similar.
The presented list below and rankings are my conclusions based:
- From my extensive research over the past four years,
- My experience
- And my understanding of that they have said and published among many other YouTube channels I have explored in the same period.
There are many other good channels, but I have found the list below the best and most helpful on my own journey, and I wanted to share it with the rest of the dads who would like to learn and improve their health as I did. It is entirely free. Only your strong will and persistence are needed.
As for myself, I will be happy to hear if someone else made it to improve their personal and family life and what was the most beneficial for them.
I have used the following criteria, which will rank from 1 (worst) – 5 (best):
- Authority
- Easy to understand the presented material
- Quality and quantity of the provided material
- The usefulness of the material and advice
- Skills of the presenters to transfer their knowledge
- Number of subscribers and channel maturity (how long has been active on YouTube)
Dr. Steven Gundry
- Authority: 5
Steven Gundry is a renowned cardiologist with 40 years of career as a surgeon. For the past 15 years, he has focused on reversing and preventing ailments through diet.
- Easy to understand the presented material: 5
Very easy to follow and understand.
- Quality and quantity of the presented material: 5
There is an abundance of material to watch. The audio has very high quality, so you can listen to it while doing something else.
- The usefulness of the presented material and advice: 4
The presented material is of the highest level. Still, on several occasions, certain expensive kitchen appliances or materials are required, which are not accessible to everyone. I know this is not the presenter’s intention as he recommends them only for better results. Yet, it affected my final ranking as probably he could provide some more affordable options too.
- Skills of the presenters to transfer their knowledge: 5
Very skilled presenter with a great voice. Video material usually lasts between 30 – 60 minutes but is easily digestible.
- Number of subscribers and channel maturity: 3
437k subscribers at the moment of writing this article (2022 08 21), while the channel has been active since July 18, 2019.
Total score: 27
Dr. Sten Ekberg
- Authority: 5
Sten Ekberg is a former Olympic decathlete and a holistic doctor. His focus is on all aspects of health, wellness, good quality of life, nutrition, stress reduction, and a healthier way of living.
- Easy to understand the presented material: 5
Very easy to follow and understand.
- Quality and quantity of the presented material: 5
There is an abundance of material to watch. Audio is of very high quality, so it can listen to while doing something else. However, visual attention is recommended in many cases for an easier understanding of the presented material.
- The usefulness of the presented material and advice: 5
The presented material is of the highest level with much practical advice.
- Skills of the presenters to transfer their knowledge: 4
Definitively very skilled presenter with excellent knowledge, practical advice, and pleasant voice.
The downside is the tendency of Dr. Sten Ekberg to overexplain. In some cases, the additional information is definitively useful. Still, it can be harder to follow and require extra effort to keep watching and listening to material until the end.
- Number of subscribers and channel maturity: 5
2.21M subscribers at the moment of writing this article (2022 08 21), while the channel has been active since May 4, 2010.
Total score: 29
Dr. Eric Berg
www.youtube.com/c/DrEricBergDC
- Authority: 5
Eric Berg specializes in healthy ketosis and intermittent fasting. He focuses on getting healthy and losing weight by consuming high-quality food and supplements.
- Easy to understand the presented material: 5
Very easy to follow and understand.
- Quality and quantity of the presented material: 4
There is an abundance of material to watch. In many cases, visual attention is recommended for an easier understanding of the presented material. Audio is of very high quality, so it can listen to while doing something else.
- The usefulness of the presented material and advice: 4
The presented material is of the highest level with much practical advice. What bothers me, from time to time, is that some of the presented material “feels” not thoroughly investigated but based on newly acquired knowledge without thorough testing or direct experience.
- Skills of the presenters to transfer their knowledge: 5
Definitively very skilled presenter with excellent knowledge, practical advice, and pleasant voice. Video material is usually short in a range of 5 to 15 minutes, making it easy to digest. You can always find time to listen/watch a video or two throughout the day.
- Number of subscribers and channel maturity: 5
8.47M subscribers at the moment of writing this article (2022 08 21), while the channel has been active since November 23, 2008.
Total score: 28
Dr. Jason Fung
www.youtube.com/c/drjasonfung1
- Authority: 5
Jason Fung is a specialist physician, neurologist, and New York Times, best-selling author. Dr. Jason Fung has experience treating thousands of patients. He shares his insights on weight loss, nutrition, type 2 diabetes reversal, and intermittent fasting.
- Easy to understand the presented material: 5
Very easy to follow and understand.
- Quality and quantity of the presented material: 5
There is an abundance of material to watch. The audio is of excellent quality, so it can listen to as a podcast while doing something else.
- The usefulness of the presented material and advice: 4
The presented material contains much practical advice based on Dr. Jason Fung’s waste experience, which I found pretty helpful in many cases.
- Skills of the presenters to transfer their knowledge: 3
Although presenter knowledge is undisputed, his presentation skills can be better.
- Number of subscribers and channel maturity: 4
853k subscribers at the moment of writing this article (2022 08 21), while the channel has been active since May 24, 2011.
Total score: 26
Thomas DeLauer
www.youtube.com/c/ThomasDeLauerOfficial
- Authority: 5
Thomas DeLauer is a YouTube influencer and a guy who used his own transformation journey to help people to make small changes to their lifestyles to become healthier and more fit.
- Easy to understand the presented material: 3
Thomas has considerable personal knowledge and was wise to take a research team to help him with the data he is not an expert in. The drawback is that his team is trying to fill each video with so many “expert words and phrases,” which sounds forced. Although I highly recommend the Thomas channel, I advise you to be patient and filter all these “smart words” and stick to the conclusions.
- Quality and quantity of the presented material: 5
There is an abundance of material to watch. The audio is of excellent quality, so it can listen to as a podcast while doing something else. However, from time to time, visual attention is needed for a better understanding of the presented material.
- The usefulness of the presented material and advice: 3
The presented material contains considerable practical advice based on facts and figures. Still, the all-present feeling is that “big words” are forcefully squeezed in.
- Skills of the presenters to transfer their knowledge: 4
Thomas’s presentational skills are on a very high level. Still, filtering of the “big words” is often needed to make simple and valuable conclusions.
- Number of subscribers and channel maturity: 5
3.21M subscribers at the moment of writing this article (2022 08 21), while the channel has been active since November 29, 2009.
Total score: 25
Conclusions:
I highly recommend all the listed channels as I am personally subscribed to all of them and enjoy their content. I find them helpful and complement each other in many aspects. Yet, I would like to list the viners and rank the best of the best based on the above-presented criteria.
No. 1: Dr. Sten Ekberg, score: 29 – www.youtube.com/c/drekberg
No. 2: Dr. Eric Berg, score 28 – www.youtube.com/c/DrEricBergDC
No. 3: Dr. Steven Gundry, score 27 – www.youtube.com/c/DrGundry
No. 4: Dr. Jason Fung, score 26 – www.youtube.com/c/drjasonfung1
No. 5: Thomas DeLauer, score 25 – www.youtube.com/c/ThomasDeLauerOfficial
For more reasons why good dads should be healthy, I highly recommend reading my article: The role model of a dad. If dad is not healthy, he will have a lot of difficulties fulfilling his primary role as a father.
Also, kids are always proud of their dads if they are healthy, strong, admiring, and ready to play actively.
What more to ask for?
More about it can be read in my article How to be an Updated father and not an obsolete father.
