Nutrition For Kids
Nutrition for kids is a topic that comes up on a daily basis. Parents are concerned about their kids weight gain most of the time. It is important that since they are growing, you do not want to put them on a diet that restricts any of the main nutrients. However, what you do want to do is restrict the intake of empty or garbage calories. This would include foods with sugar, trans fats and foods with alot of fat.
Parents also have to be educated about what foods are good and what are not. A lot of so called healthy foods such as breakfast cereals, cereal bars, and fruit snacks are anything but healthy and sure they are low in fat but they are loaded with sugar!
Nutrition for kids starts at home. I encourage parents to adopt healthy eating patterns themselves and only keep good, nutritious, whole foods at home. It is alot better for a kid to snack on an apple, nuts or cheese than a granola bar or cereal. Fruit juice is another culprit as it has very high sugar content. If they must drink it I recommend diluting it heavy with water.
The recommendations are to follow a balanced diet from vegetables, fruits, whole grains, dairy, and meat. Remember to watch portion sizes and hidden sugars in sauces and spices.
Make sure that kids always have breakfast. This should not be a problem as they are at home and you control what they get to eat. Same thing goes for supper.
Supplementing with fish oil and a good multi vitamin/ mineral is highly recommended. Our diets are lacking in these vital nutrients, I would follow the daily recommendations for this. The direct link between nutrition and health is very important and is especially important as children are growing up as many body systems are in development. This is why they should be following the proper nutrition guidelines.
It is important to say that childhood obesity and early onset diabetes is at an all time high. There is also evidence to support that the beginning signs of heart disease is showing up in some teenagers! Another important thing to remember is that the habbits a child is taught when they are growing up usually follow them into adulthood. This means that if your child is overweight then there is a good chance that they will be like that for the rest of their life.
