Nutrition for Kids
“Our food should be our medicine & our medicine should be our food”
– Hippocrates
Heather Morgan once said “Every time you eat or drink, you are either feeding disease or fighting it.” Gulping down something that you get is not enough. Moreover, it might shred off your life too. You should be aware of what you consume and what nutrients do they provide. Thus, maintaining a balanced diet along with sufficient exercise keeps you healthy. If food consumption is done vice versa, you might end up in a hospital bed or lives your life on medication and a handful of pills that has to be consumed after every meal to balance your imbalanced and diseased system.
Nutrition is important for kids just as it is important for adults. However, considering the peculiarity of growth pace and the developmental nutrient requirements, food and other supplements should be provided to the kid ensuring the way of nutrients in to their system.
Guidelines for a Healthy Diet:
Diet that consists of varieties of food in certain amount and proportion which ensures the adequate requirement of calories, minerals, proteins, vitamins as well as alternative nutrients to manage the period of leanness albeit short.
Six main nutrient groups make up a balanced diet namely proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, minerals and water.
FOOD- SOURCE OF ENERGY:
Physical as well as brain growth development require a lot of energy which finds its source from food a child have. Physical activities consume a lot of energy which is signalled by kid experiencing strong appetite after a game outdoors. Rapid growth too requires energy. Brain function also require a lot of energy so does the cognitively demanding tasks and hence the ambient supply of glucose is indispensable so as to catalyse the brain functioning and enhance the cognitive functioning. For the betterment of memorizing and maintaining emotional wellbeing too, energy is relevant. Carbohydrates and fats supply the energy.
PROTEINS – MILK IS A MUST:
Why are kids given milk daily? Why kids are forced to drink milk albeit they show dismay when milk is given to them? Because, milk is a good supplement of proteins in addition to calcium and fat. Proteins are responsible for building, repairing and maintaining body tissues. Hence, proteins are necessary for growth. Kids’ diet thus must include 2-3 servings of proteins. Give kids milk with breakfast and dinner. Add other protein rich food like eggs, pulses, meat, fish and other dairy products like yogurt, cheese etc.
STRONG BONES AND TEETH – CALCIUM IS THE KEY:
Calcium is the source of strong bones and teeth. Calcium when not provided in adequate amounts will result in bone density issues like Osteoporosis after years which are quite common among a larger proportion of adults today. Hence, to let kids have strong bones and teeth and to avoid future bone density issues and dental problems related to calcium deficiency, supplement calcium-rich food to kids like milk, other dairy products, leafy vegetables specifically more darker green in hues.
IRON:
The red colour of blood is due to the presence of haemoglobin and the central element of the haemoglobin compound is Iron or Fe. Growth requires expanded volumes of blood and hence larger amount of Iron too. Meat, fish, cereals, poultry etc are sources of Iron.
ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS:
To avoid poor school performance and disorders like Dyslexia and Dyspraxia, it is very much important to maintain the supply of sufficient amount of essential fatty acids – Unsaturated fatty acids.
TIMING:
Just as the quality of food so is the proper timing and breaks important. Having a large vessel of food all in a go for a day is not the ideal way of having food and it is also very unhealthy and cause discomfort too. Having three meals a day plus two snacking time is ideal for the 24 hours nourishment cycle. Breakfast provides energy for the morning to noon session and a snack in between breakfast and lunch provides the extra nourishment for energy backup and wellbeing. By noon, the energy from breakfast will be nearly consumed to full and the lunch provides the energy and nourishment for afternoon period until evening and late evening snack will add to the depreciating energy and emanating afternoon fatigue. Then the night dinner completes the nourishment course for the 24 hours. Thus timing and the necessary breaks in between the in takes needs to be carefully followed for proper appetite and digestion.
BREAKFAST IS INDISPENSABLE:
Breakfast is the brain food and hence no matter what should not be skipped. However, it is common among kids and adults to skip breakfast while hurrying to preschool and workplace. Those days when breakfast is skipped, you can observe yourself being weak, fatigued and lacking interest to perform your tasks nevertheless you try to compensate it in lunch. Many people face gastro troubles on days they skip breakfast like severe chest pain and other difficulties. Kids are unaware of the necessity and importance of these and it is the responsibility of parents to make sure that kids have quality breakfast in sufficient amount without due.
EAT HEALTHY AND KEEP KIDS AS FAR AS POSSIBLE FROM JUNK FOOD:
Advertisements, shopping and friends introduce the flavours of junk foods to kids and unfortunately junk food tastes better than the healthy food due to the artificial taste makers, flavours and added colours. This attracts kids more to junk food. However the flavours, masalas and other preservatives in junk food like pizzas, noodles, burgers and frozen food items are mostly unhealthy and also found to be carcinogenic. Hence enlighten kids about the health consequences of junk food and benefits of healthy food. Teach them to eat healthy and be healthy. Try to have nuts, fruits and salads as snacks instead of fritters and oily fries.
Food that provides optimal amount of nutrients at proper intervals as a routine is necessary. For the physical growth and cognitive enhancement; along with avoiding several diseases and biological conditions arising due to deficiency of nutrients, a balanced diet also analysing the genetic background, size, shape, gender etc should be provided. Just as lack of food causes deficiency related diseases and disorders like anaemia, food consumption in quantities much more than required especially junk food or fritters and oily stuff results in diseases like obesity and heart problems. So, eat healthy food in appropriate quantity daily and drink lots of water for a healthy life and be role models for kids as kids try to emulate what parents do. Teach kids good food habits. Eat healthy- Live healthy.
See Also: Importance of Good Habits for a Child
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