It is up to the adult to ensure the meals a child consumes us as balanced as possible. With balanced meals, the child will be able to have all the necessary nutrition needed for optimum and normal growth patterns both mentally and physically. Besides the various food groups and nutrition supplements that should be part of the daily diet plan of a child, the preparation style of the food should also be taken into consideration to ensure its nutritional integrity.

The following are some recommendations to consider when keeping a child’s nutritional balance, foremost in his or her daily food intake: Always make it a point to offer nutritional snacks such as fresh fruits, vegetables and yoghurt. When a child chooses such nutrition packed snacks habitually it effectively decreases the possibility of unhealthy food choices and intake. Teaching a child the importance of reaching for a glass of water instead of sweetened drinks is another good habit to inculcate.

Water is not only a cheaper alternative but is also one that is ultimately the only totally healthy liquid to consume. Sharing a nutritious meal with a child, as often as possible will help to encourage the child to make healthy choices simply by watching the adult’s positive eating habits. Basically, with proper nutritional intake the child will be able to develop mentally and physically without any unusual problems. The health conditions of the child would also be better both in the growing stage and as a good foundation for the future adult phase in life.

The common nutrient deficiencies

From infancy to the toddler age group, there is usually quite a limited amount of foods that can be consumed. Ensuring that these foods are highly nutritious can be quite a challenge for the adult in charge of ensuring a complete and healthy diet plan. Although infants who are on a breast milk diet as supposed to be able to get the best and most complete nutrition needed, most mothers today are not conscious of their own heating habit and certainly not ensuring total nutrition content.

When this happens the milk produced will not have all the ideal nutritional content. Then same applies for the younger children age group where simply providing snacks and food that are convenient and quick for consumption are often not highly nutrition upon examination. The following are some of the deficiencies that are likely to show up in the health of children:

1. Vitamin D – this is common in infants born to mothers with low levels of vitamin D in their own body systems. This usually leads to development of Rickets, which is a bone delebitating disease.
2. Vitamin K – it is becoming a very common practice to administer a dose of this vitamin in a newborn as it help to prevent a rare condition which causes bleeding into the brain.
3. Iron – most infants who are breastfed for longer than 6 months are usually are risk of developing iron deficiency in the first year. This can be changed with some additional foods into the diet plan besides simply depending on only the breast milk for sustenance.
4. Vitamin A – this is a fat-soluble nutrient that is stored in the body and used according to the body needs and when there is an insufficient amount of this vitamin in the child system, frequent infections occur.

Teach your children about healthy eating

There are a lot of reasons why a child should be taught to eat healthily from a very young age. With good eating habits inculcated into a child daily dietary regiment the assurance of getting all the nutritional needs for the body will be well under control. It would also ensure the child’s weight and health conditions are kept to its optimum.

The following are some recommendations on who to approach the topic of healthy eating habits for children: Guidance and not dictation, is the way to help children adopt a healthy lifestyle and make informed food choices. Providing a healthy array of stacks within easy access of the child will help this process even more. Teaching a child to consume food at a slower rate is also another way to show them good and healthy eating habits.

Eating slowly will allow them to actually learn to taste and enjoy the foods being eaten thus helping them to eat less and yet feel fuller. Including children in food shopping sprees is another good way to educate them on healthy food varieties available and how to discern these for the benefits of the body. Making this exercise as fun and informative as possible is good for the child’s future healthy food choices.

Encouraging children to help in the actual food preparations is also another good exercise to inculcate in the daily routine of food preparation. This is also another fun way to introduce healthy food to the child and encourage them to form a habit of eating such foods. Encouraging the consumption of water over other drink choices is also another healthy choice to follow. Water is a much better choice as it not only hydrates but also is less like to cause unwanted negative build-ups in the body system.

Fight child obesity

Most families today have a rather high ratio of obesity within the family unit. This is due to a variety of reasons of which the popular ones are lack of exercise and the intake of very unhealthy foods. The following are some recommendations as to how to go about putting some control back into the individual’s hands and help them along with the fight towards obesity: Maintaining an even meals routine is one way to start the journey towards rectifying the negative presence of obesity.

When a child is used to keeping to specific times for meals and is strictly discouraged from indulging in eating outside these time frames, then there is less likelihood of the said child looking for food outside the time frames set. This will then help to eliminate the need to eat all the time which is mostly due to habit rather than the actual fulfillment of hunger. Making meals interesting and easy is another way to encourage children to have fun during meal times.

Excerpted from the book Nutrition for Kids.

This excerpt has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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