Children Eating Habits

A like adults, children too require eating a wide-ranging array of foods for maintaining ideal health. Improving nutrition and encouraging smarter eating habits in children is bound to garner immense benefits. The following are key pointers for bettering children eating habits.

Calcium is crucial for boosting growth of bones and teeth. Milk and milk-based products are ideal calcium sources. In case one’s child is incapable of digesting milk or one opts for not serving milk products, then the following substitute ways would ensure he/she is getting adequate calcium.

• Serving veggies rich in calcium like broccoli, kale, brussel sprouts and collard.
• Including calcium-rich beans such as bean varieties of great north, navy, black turtle and even baked version of beans in their salad or in casserole could be served up.
• Trying calcium-fortified soy and rice-derived beverages. Serving it cooled as an alternative to cow’s milk in one’s favoured recipes or adding it to warm or chilled cereals.
• Serving lactose-decreased or lactose free milk products such as the less fat or fat-free version of milk, curds and ice-cream. This is ideal for people having lactose intolerance that mostly leads to abdominal pain and bloated feeling on drinking milk. Trying the low-fat version of yoghurts or cheeses in miniscule quantities which could comparatively be digested with more ease as compared to milk.

Giving a child 1-2 snacks additional to his/her 3 every day meals and offering a broad array of foods like grain, veggie and fruits, low-fat milk products, lean cuts of meat items or beans.

Encourage snacking on dry fruits, low-fat curd and popcorn (air pop form).

Letting the child choose whether and the quantity they eat. Keep trying to offer new types of foods even when he/she doesn’t eat them firstly. It could take ten or more attempts prior to a child accepting a new type of food, hence never giving up in case the child doesn’t take an instant liking to it.

Always cooking with less fat and opting for baking, roasting or poaching foods rather than frying them.

Limiting the quantity of sugar one ads in the child’s dietetic intake. Choosing cereals that have less or no included sugar. Serving water or less-fat milk more frequently as compared to sugary sodas, aerated and fruit-flavouring beverages.

Choosing and preparing food items with lesser salt. Having fruits and veggies handy for snacking rather than salted snack items.

Involving the kid when one plans and prepares meals. Kids would be keener on eating meals that they assisted in fixing.

Having meals together as a family and serving all the same food.

Not being too stringent and minimal quantities of sweets or food items from fast-food joints could still hold a position in a healthful dietetic intake.

Ensuring that the child never skips out breakfast as it provides the energy they would require for listening and learning in school.

One could opt for simple and easily made snack ideas like:

• A blend of dried fruits and nuts.
• Veggies or fruits (fresh, frozen or tinned) served plain or alongside less-fat yoghurt.
• Rice cake, whole-grain or multigrain cracker or bread dished out with less-fat cheese, fruit spreads, and butter forms like peanut, almond or soy nut.
• Pretzel or popcorn (air pop type) with a dash of salt-less seasoning mixture.
• Fruit smoothies whipped up by blending less-fat milk or yoghurt and chilled or fresh fruits.
• Dry cereals dished out plain or alongside less-fat or fat-free milk.

It is very important that one warily selects snack items for children according to their age. For instance, preschoolers and younger-aged kids could easily gag on food items that are difficult in chewing, tiny and rounded or sticky-textured, like hard veggies, whole grape, hard chunky cheeses, raisin, nut and seed and popcorn.

Children eating habits could always be improved at a young age for reaping optimal lifelong advantages.