Child Nutrition—Creating Healthy Eating Habits Early
In today’s pleasure based society, it can be difficult to create a healthy diet for yourself, let alone your children. Children are the target of a significant amount of advertising of unhealthy and sugar-ridden foods. Child nutrition is potentially one of the most challenging aspects of raising a child for the simple reason that you, as a parent, are up against the entire advertising industry in getting your kids to eat healthy.
That being said, you should start creating the healthy eating habits early. If you create the foundation for your child’s nutrition when they are younger, they will have a better chance of eating healthier as an adolescent, and as an
adult. In fact, healthy eating for your child, and their nutrition, is potentially one of the best things you can teach your child.
How to Start Early with Child Nutrition
Well, that’s simple; keep the simple sugars in your child’s diet to a minimum. They are part of our diet for sure, but proportionally, they are a very small aspect of it. Keep the simple sugars for small desserts, such as a cupcake, for example, is good for after dinner.
Of course the hardest part of this is the fact that most of the time, your kids will want more than just “every once in a while” with their sugar. The trick to this is not to deny them, just to find ways around it. Suggest fruits, which have natural sugar in them as well as many other healthy ingredients for your child’s overall nutrition.
Surprisingly enough, out of all the types of “treats” out there, chocolate is most likely the healthiest. Chocolate, research suggests, is healthy for the heart, helps keep blood pressure low, includes anti-oxidants to keep from
getting sick, and helps keep fat from building up in your arteries. However, it is best to keep in mind that this is pure chocolate—straight from the cocoa nut without any sugar added – and this is an incredibly bitter substance. So,
while chocolate is good for you, your average Hershey’s bar isn’t quite that much of a panacea because of the added sugar.
However, using chocolate as the reward or dessert is much healthier than most other sugar laden treats out there, but should still be eaten in moderation. Another tactic that can be beneficial is by using healthier foods as rewards —such as vegetables with ranch, tortilla chips with salsa, and the like. While still not the healthiest foods on the planet, they are significantly better for you child’s nutrition than straight up candy and pop.
Perhaps the most important aspect of your child’s nutrition is going to be having a balanced meal. What constitutes a balanced meal in terms of child nutrition will differ greatly based on who you talk to. It also depends on your child, their activity level, body type, etc. But as a general rule, having a meal with a majority of protein, preferably animal protein, a small amount of carbs, such as a piece of bread or a potato, and a legume with every meal is a fairly
balanced meal for all walks a life, regardless of the age. Having meat in your diet provides you with calcium for your bones, protein for muscle development, and fats that you can use for energy. The legumes will give you a variety of nutrients, depending on the particular legume that you pick, as well as a secondary source of protein.
The carbohydrates will provide your child with “instant” energy. The carbs found in bread, pasta and potatoes is processed much the same way sugar is in your body, and your body can burn the carbs quickly without much
processing needed. However, carbs need to be used sparingly—if your child isn’t as active, likes to sit around and doesn’t use the carbs he is taking in, as otherwise those carbs will be converted to fat and stored.
The idea is that by instilling these kinds of ideas and rationale into your children at an early age in terms of their childhood nutrition, you will help them the rest of their lives by providing a strong support of what their diet is
supposed to be like. Similarly, avoid fast food like the plague. Some experts suggest not eating fast food more than once every three months, and only then too as a last resort. That is the biggest threat to your child’s nutrition and overall health
Nutrition for Kids-Complete guide on proper nutrition for your kids