Nutrition for the Kids and Teens

Healthy Eating Habits

Good nutrition is the basis of lifelong health. Thus it has to begin in infancy. But soon, your kids will get bombarded by messages which will counteract all your efforts. Between peer pressure as well as the television commercials for junk foods, getting children to eat right may seem more and more futile.

Thus, parents need to instill healthy eating habits in their kids. These include simple things such as getting kids involved in food preparation, inspiring them through your own health choices, and just simply turning off the television. All these can make a huge impact on your children’s lifelong relationship with food.

Develop the healthy eating habits

Children tend to develop a natural preference for what they are eating most often as well as enjoying. Hence, you need to make the healthy choices appealing. You need to ensure that your child’s diet is as nutritious and wholesome as possible, even while allowing some of their favorite treats. You need to please both your child’s palate as well as your parental responsibility.

Since the childhood impulse to imitate is quite strong, the best thing which you can do in order to start your child off on the right dietary foot is by being a role model. Thus, when your youngster wants to taste what you’re eating, your plate is full of healthy selections. In case you’re asking your child to eat vegetables, while you are enjoying potato chips and soda, your actions will tend to override your good intentions.

Tips in order to promote healthy childhood eating

Have family meals on a regular basis. Knowing that dinner will be served at approximately the same time each night and that the complete family will be having it sitting down together is a thought which is comforting, enhances appetite, as well as provides a perfect opportunity for you all to share what’s on your minds. Breakfast is another good time to have a family meal. Besides, kids who eat breakfast usually do better in school.

More meals should be cooked at home. Eating home cooked meals is healthy for the entire family. Also, it sets a great example for kids about the importance of food. Restaurant meals will always have more fat, sugar as well as salt. Thus, save dining out only for the special occasions.

Get your kids involved. Children tend to enjoy helping adults in their grocery shopping, selecting what will go in their lunch box, as well as preparing dinner. It is also an opportunity for you to teach them about the nutritional value of different foods, as well as how to read the food labels.

Keep a variety of healthy foods available. Besides, keep your pantry free of any kind of empty calorie snacks. Keep fruits, vegetables, whole grain snacks as well as healthful beverages around. These should be easily accessible. Thus kids will become used to reaching for these healthy snacks when they’re hungry instead of any empty calorie snacks such as soda, chips, or even cookies.

Let your kids choose. Don’t insist that a child must clean the plate, and do not use food as a reward or a bribe.

Make your picky child enjoy a wider variety of foods

Picky eaters are going through a developmental stage which is normal. They are exerting control over their environment besides having concern about trusting the unfamiliar. Then, children also go through a stage, where they don’t like to touch one type of food. Research has shown that it takes the average child 8-10 presentations of a new food before he or she is able to accept it willingly.

In case your child is otherwise healthy, eating just a few select foods for some time will not have any adverse effect. Thus, rather than insist your child to eat a food which is being rejected, you may try some of these:

Offer a new food to your child only when he is hungry and rested.
Present to your child only one new food at a time.
Make this into fun; like a game, or a play-filled experience. You may cut this food into unusual shapes.
Serve new foods with the child’s favourite foods in order to increase acceptance.
Eat that new food yourself, as children love to imitate.
Have your child help you to prepare food. Often they tend to be more willing to try something once they have helped to make it.
Limit the beverage intake. Picky eaters like to fill up on liquids instead.
Limit the snacks to maximum two per day.

Persuade the children to eat more of fruits and vegetables

In case you can make mealtime playful, it can mean healthier eating for you as well as your kids! There are some creative ways in order to include more fruits and vegetables into your child’s daily diet:

A bowl of whole grain cereal can be topped with a smiley face. Use banana slices for eyes, raisins for the nose, and peach or an apple slice for mouth.
Create a food collage for your child. Use broccoli florets for trees, carrots and celery for the flowers, and cauliflower for clouds. You may use a yellow squash for a sun. When you’re finished, eat your masterpiece!
Make frozen fruit kabobs for your kids. Use pineapple chunks, bananas, besides grapes and berries.
Do your food shopping with children. Take them with you to the grocery store or Farmers’ Market. Let them see the different sizes and colours which fruits and vegetables offer. Let them pick out a new fruit or vegetable in order to try.
Try fruit smoothies as a quick healthy breakfast, or even as an afternoon snack.
Add vegetables as well as fruits to baked goods, such as blueberry pancakes, zucchini bread, as well as carrot muffins. You can add shredded veggies or fruit pieces to any baked good.
All soups, stews, and sauces can have extra veggies in them. In order to make them blend in, grate them up before you add them to something like red-sauce.
Keep lots of fresh fruits as well as veggies available in a place where children know to look when they need a snack. Easy fruits and vegetables in order to grab and eat on the run are apples, pears, bananas, besides grapes, figs, carrot as well as celery sticks, zucchini slices. Add some yogurt or a tub of nut butter or tahini in order to provide extra protein.

Healthy eating for toddlers as well as young children

Instill healthy eating habits in the toddler years, as young children are highly impressionable. Toddlers can be introduced to new tastes as well as textures as they transition from baby food to the real food.

Remember that toddlers have very small stomachs. It is better to feed them 5-6 small meals in a day, rather than three big ones. Depending on your child’s age, size, as well as activity level, your toddler will need between 1,000-1,400 calories in a day. It is perfectly normal for your child to be hungry one day and run away from it the next day. Don’t be worried in case if your child’s diet isn’t up to par each day. He or she should be satisfied and get a well-rounded diet.

Nutritional requirements of toddlers and young children

An important part of any toddler’s diet is calcium. They require about 500 mg each day. The best source of this nutrient is milk. Until the age of two they should be drinking whole milk. Older toddlers can switch to 2% or skim milk in case it is given the okay from the paediatrician. In case your kids are lactose intolerant or don’t like dairy, you need to incorporate calcium-rich foods such as fortified soy products, cereals, as well as orange juice.

The child’s iron consumption is important, too. Toddlers require 7 mg a day in order to prevent iron deficiency. This can affect growth, learning, as well as behaviour. In infancy, breast-milk contains a readily-absorbed type of iron. Besides, baby formula as well as food is usually iron-fortified. Thus babies don’t have to worry about getting enough iron. But after switching to the real food, it’s vital to ensure that your child is getting good sources of iron. These include fortified cereals, small amounts of red meat as well as eggs.

Dietary guidelines for toddlers as well as young children

Fruits and vegetables – Two servings of each per day are required. These may be given as snacks, like apple or carrot slices, or in the form of soups.

Whole grains – Four daily servings are needed. You can include buckwheat pancakes or multigrain toast in breakfast, a sandwich made of wheat bread in lunch and brown rice or any another whole grain as a part of the evening meal.

Milk and dairy – Three servings, or one pint of whole milk is required per day. Cheeses, yogurt as well as milk puddings are useful alternatives.

Protein – Two servings each day is needed. Encourage your child to try a variety of foods which belong to this category, like turkey, eggs, fish, besides chicken, lamb, baked beans, as well as lentils. Nuts are an excellent source of protein, but not a good choice for children under five years of age due to the risk of choking.

Vitamins and minerals – Check with your child’s doctor in order to be certain that your child’s diet is adequately meeting all the recommended nutritional needs for his age group

School-age children need healthy diets

Eating tends to become a social activity during this stage of life. Your kids will probably be spending more time in school than they do at home; as well as eating meals at friends’ houses; besides adopting various eating habits from their peers. It may get difficult to ensure that they are getting adequate nutrition when you are not around in order to monitor their choices.

For kids aged between 5-12 years, the main thing is variety. Creative serving ideas will help towards maintaining the healthy eating habits which are established in the first years of life.

Since children are impressionable at this stage, it’s very important to instill healthy attitudes in them toward food. One of the best ways in order to do this is through family mealtime. Studies have suggested that children who tend to eat regular family meals are more likely to eat fruits and veggies. Besides, they are less likely to fill up on unhealthy foods. Eating as a family will also give you the quality time in order to catch up on your kids’ daily lives.

During family meals, you need to teach by example. So you should eat a wide variety of healthy foods. Keep your own portions in check, not overeat, and share the feelings of fullness as well as satisfaction. Avoid obsessive calorie counting or commenting on your own weight. This way the kids won’t adopt negative associations with food.

Nutrition guidelines for the school-age kids

As kids develop, they need appropriately sized portions of the same healthy foods which adults eat, besides more vitamins and minerals in order to support growing bodies. This means whole grains; a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables; any source of calcium for the growing bones; as well as healthy proteins.

Contrary to what many parents tend to believe, kids don’t require huge amounts of fat because they’re being active. But the kind of fat which they’re eating does matter. Butter on vegetables, avocados as well as corn chips, pecans or walnuts are preferable to French fries, donuts, or candy bars besides fast food cheeseburgers.

Dietary guidelines for the school age children

Vegetables – have 3-5 servings per day. A serving refers to one cup of raw leafy vegetables, or 3/4 cup of vegetable juice, or even 1/2 cup of any other vegetables, either raw or cooked.

Fruits – 2-4 servings per day are required. A serving may include 1/2 cup of sliced fruit, 3/4 cup of fruit juice, or even a medium-size whole fruit, like an apple, banana or a pear.

Whole Grains – 6-11 servings in a day. Each serving should be equal to one slice of bread, or 1/2 cup of rice or an ounce of cereal.

Protein – Two or three servings of 2-3 ounces of cooked lean meat, poultry or even fish each day. A serving in this group may also include 1/2 cup of cooked dry beans, or one egg, or 2 tablespoons of peanut butter for every ounce of lean meat.

Dairy products – Two or three servings in a day of low-fat milk or yogurt, or natural cheese is required.

Zinc – A new study indicates that 20mg of zinc taken five times a week may help to improve memory as well as school performance, especially in boys. Good sources of zinc include oysters, beef, pork, liver, besides dried beans and peas, whole grains, as well as fortified cereals, nuts, milk, cocoa and poultry.

Teenagers have special nutritional needs

This is the time of growth spurt. Kids tend to gain about 20% of adult height as well as 50% of adult weight during adolescence. Since growth and change is so rapid during this period, the requirements increase for all nutrients, especially calcium and iron.

Eating habits are quite well set by now. In case your child’s choices are less than ideal, it’s a challenging time to get a course correction, since teens have other priorities. The best way in order to make teen dietary changes is by giving information about short-term consequences which they can relate to. These include appearance, athletic ability, besides popularity and enjoyment of life, as these are more important to most teens than any kind of long-term health.

When you are speaking of long-term consequences, link them to all those things that teens care about, such as body image.

Special nutritional requirements for teens

Calories – Due to the growth and activity at this time, adolescent boys tend to need 2500-2800 per day, while girls will need around 2200 per day. It’s advisable to get these calories from lean protein, low-fat dairy, as well as whole grains, besides fruits and veggies.

Protein – For the body to grow as well as maintain muscle, teens need 45-60 grams per day. Most teenagers can easily meet this need from eating meat, fish, as well as dairy, but vegetarians need to increase their protein intake from non-animal sources such as soy foods, beans and nuts.

Calcium – During puberty, your child’s body will need all the calcium it can, in order to ensure strong bones in the future. But many teens do not get sufficient amounts of calcium, which leads to weak bones resulting in osteoporosis later in life. Encourage teens to cut back on their soda consumption as well as the other overly sugary foods, as they tend to leech calcium from bones. They should get the 1200 mg of calcium needed per day from dairy, calcium-fortified juice as well as cereal, besides other calcium rich foods like sesame seeds and leafy greens.

Iron – Iron is required in order to help new muscle mass gained in adolescence for obtaining energy. Iron deficiency leads to anaemia, fatigue, as well as weakness. Boys need 12 mg of iron each day, and teen girls, who lose iron during menstruation, need 15 mg. Iron-rich foods are red meat, chicken, beans, besides nuts, enriched whole grains, as well as leafy green veggies such as spinach or kale.

The problem of children, weight and self esteem

At times, parents who are concerned about their child’s appearance, popularity, as well as future opportunities tend to over-react to a normal, healthy weight for that particular child. Many adults, particularly women put them on a diet at age 9-12. Before deciding that your child may be having a weight problem, you need to consider a few things:

If your child is within the normal range on the charts for his or her age and height.
If your child’s body type is simply a reflection of his or her genetic heritage.
If your daughter is approaching puberty, when normal developmental changes include addition of body fat.
If you have your own childhood or adolescent issues with weight which may be causing you to be overly concerned about your child’s weight.

Several studies have found that there is a strong link between obesity and time spent watching TV as well as playing computer games. This is a fact as:

We tend to burn fewer calories watching TV than we do while sitting still.
TV commercials urge their viewers to eat. Most ads are for fast foods, soft drinks, sugar-coated cereals as well as candy.
Too much TV will prevent kids from developing the skills and love of sports which makes physical activity so enjoyable.
Playing computer games may even be worse than watching TV.

Not only is it addictive, they can be played all day and all night.

After careful consideration as well as consultation with your paediatrician, in case you have done everything you can with healthy food and still your child is leaning toward a weight problem, you need to add exercise; which means turning off the TV!

In order to encourage physical activity, play with your kids. Play football; go cycling, skating, or even swimming. Go for family walks and hikes; and help your kids to find activities which they enjoy by showing them the various possibilities. By encouraging healthy eating as well as physical activity for your entire family, you will give your children the best opportunity in order to grow into healthy and confident adults!

Junk food and kids

In case you’ve been following the guidance as well as suggestions given so far, then your kids are probably well on their way to having lifelong healthy eating habits. But the outside forces can make it difficult for the kids to avoid the junk food. Even at school, vending machines as well as unhealthy cafeteria choices can be pitfalls towards healthy eating. Parent activism can make a difference in school nutrition. With pressure from parents, some schools have now banned soft drinks as well as junk food altogether. Some schools have installed vending machines which offer healthy alternatives.

At home, in case your kids are asking for junk food, you can try by substituting some healthier alternatives.

A few kid-friendly junk food alternatives
Eating out with kids at fast food and restaurant and provide nutrition for children

Nearly one-third of children are eating fast food every day. Children who do eat fast food consume more calories on a daily basis. This increased calories leads to increased pounds and add to the child’s risk of getting overweight.

It will be a challenge to persuade your youngster to order a salad instead of a cheeseburger, but still you can steer them towards some healthier options. Remember these important tips about fast food/restaurant dining for kids:

Soft drinks are full of calories and no nutrition. Thus, kids should rather have water or milk.
Avoid chicken nuggets as they are not real chicken.
Skip the fries and take along a bag of mini carrots, grapes, as well as other fruits and vegetables to have instead. These will add vitamins and fiber to the meal.
Order your kid’s meal and have some substitutions done. Children love the kid’s meal basically for the fun box and the toys rather than the food. Ask to substitute healthier choices for the soda as well as the fries. Many restaurants are making it easier in order to substitute. All of them usually have water and milk available as beverage options. In sit-down restaurants, ask them to opt for chicken and vegetables or spaghetti with tomato sauce instead of a big plate of macaroni and cheese.
Always remember that you are modeling their food habits. Thus, when you eat out with the kids, follow the healthy eating guides yourself! Kids are more likely to do as you do, and not as you say.

The fast food restaurants offer healthy choices

Fast Food

Whenever you think of fast food, big chains like McDonalds, Pizza Hut, or Kentucky Fried Chicken will come to mind. But healthy eating guidelines can apply to a huge variety of eateries, including the chains with full service, mall food courts, as well as buffet or cafeteria style restaurants. Whether you are eating in or at a take out; choosing your own food at a buffet or waiting in line to order; you can learn in order to make healthy food choices.