Kids will show their naggings. In fact, it is their way to make them feel loved and cared. And they will tend to shower most of their "attention-seeking" behaviors on the breakfast table, during the lunch hours and at dinner time. And it then just becomes a "role-play" for you to show that you really care. You'll cook their favorite foods and buy them their desired toys. But in that process you'll need to maintain your own identity - a strict, health conscious parent who really cares what her children eat and who really bothers to teach them to eat healthy.
Points Which You Should Note
Many lifelong food habits are established between the ages of 6 and 12. During this time in particular, parents should try to display the same behaviors of healthy eating and regular exercise which they would like their child to have for life.
- Allowing kids to eat when they are hungry and stop when full is the key to lifelong weight control.
- Using food to bribe, punish or reward encourages a child to ignore hunger cues. Buy your children a book or small toy instead of an ice-cream cone when you want to show them you are pleased.
- According to the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, children need 60 minutes of daily physical activity.
- Television and computer games are partly to blame for kids' sedentary habits. Limiting screen time goes a long way toward good health. Studies show that children who watch less than two hours of television daily are more likely to be physically active and have a better diet than kids who watch more.
- Inadequate physical activity and excess calorie consumption, particularly from the high-fat and sugar-laden foods which kids favor, add up to extra body fat that a school-aged child may never lose.
- Foods such as sweetened soft drinks, French fries and candy are usually to blame for the extra calories that result in weight gains. To make matters worse, these choices take the place of more nutritious foods. For example, children who drink more soft drinks such as soda and sports beverages drink less milk.
- Drinking milk is the easiest way to build bone because it provides both calcium and vitamin D.
- Children who do not get enough dairy items or alternatives may need supplemental calcium and vitamin D. See your pediatrician or a registered dietitian if you're concerned.
- Getting children involved in food choice and preparation is one of the best strategies for helping them eat right.
- Take your kid shopping for groceries and make sure they choose among healthy foods. For example, let your child choose between bananas and kiwis or oatmeal and other whole-grain cereals.
- Involve your kid in cooking healthy foods. Let him make a healthy brown bread sandwich or other easy-to-cook healthy foods. This will encourage him to eat healthy, as he himself has made the dish.
- Research shows that dining together without distractions including television viewing translates into a better diet and lowers the chances of overeating.
- Kids who eat breakfast take in more of the nutrients they need. Breakfast skippers typically do not make up for the missed opportunity the morning meal provides.
Kids' Menus at Different Meal Times
For Breakfast
Cereal (particularly whole-grain types) with milk and fruit make a quick meal that offers an array of nutrients including carbohydrate, fiber, calcium, iron, folic acid and zinc. A 2009 Journal of the American Dietetic Association study that followed 660 boys and girls aged 8 to 10 for an average of seven and a half years found a link between eating cereal and a healthier body weight and lower levels of total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol) and triglycerides (fat in the blood.)
Other Options
- A bowl of poha / upama with mixed vegetables, a glass of milk or fruit juice.
- Whole wheat base (or chapati )pizza with vegetable topping with 100% orange juice.
- Low-fat fruited yogurt; whole-grain toast; 100% juice.
- Fruit and yogurt smoothie; whole-grain toast.
- Scrambled egg with a wholegrain toast and 100% juice.
- Waffle sandwich prepared with two wholegrain, toasted waffles spread with almond, peanut, soy or sunflower seed butter and milk.
- Vegetable based paratha with low fat curd and a fruit.
For Lunch
- Vegetable soup or boiled, steamed veggies.
- Soya chunks boiled with other vegetables.
- Roti roll with veggies inside or soya chunks sabzi.
- Rice with peas and carrot.
- Rice with soya chunks in it
- Boiled palak with carrot and noodles.
- Semiya Pulao with veggies and raisins.
- Roti/paratha (mixed flour + grated veggies / stuffed with vegetables)
- Rice with thin kadi.
Hungry kids will eat what you have on hand, so stock the kitchen with the fixings for healthy snacks like these, many of which are great to take on the go:
- Trail mix made from low-sugar cereal, dried fruit, chopped nuts and mini chocolate chips.
- Sandwiches prepared with wholegrain bread, egg and raw veggies, with peanut butter.
- Hummus or peanut butter and whole-grain crackers.
- Fruit and yogurt for dipping.
- Bowl of wholegrain cereal and low-fat milk.
- Vegetables and low-fat dip.
- Popcorn and 100% juice.
- Roasted soybeans / channa and nuts.
- Low-fat cottage cheese and wholegrain crackers.
- Nuts
- Mini idlis with vegetable seasoning and chutney.
For Evening
- Some dry fruit and nuts.
- Boiled pulses
- Corn
- Milk with biscuits
- Cookies
- Chocolates
- Rice Flakes (flattened rice)
- S/w with tomato sauce
- Ice -cream-1 small scoop
- Any fruit /fruit juice
Tips to Induce Healthy Eating Habit in Your Kids
- Prepare colorful chapati/shapes of any cartoon.
- Make rice colorful by adding chana/peas or cauliflower in it (to attract them create a story).
- Make homemade health powder (use soaked and dried mixed pulses like green gram, chana, black gram and horse gram and grind it as fine powder).
- Keep using different fruit and vegetables and educate him on what he is eating and who likes it, for example- carrot is liked by rabbit.
- Offer all soft food (rice/cereals/kheer/halwa).
- Offer dalia in 1 small bowl.
- Give him roti ( 1or 2 in number and of the size of your palm)
- Offer him bread (1 or 2).
- Cheer him up with milk shake/juice (1 small cup-150 ml).
- Even you can interchange the items according to your timings.
Kids are just like soft clays, ready to take up any shape you give. And once they get this shape, they are on their own- very proud of what they are. Hence, teach them the importance of healthy eating and let them know how good foods can help them fulfill their future dreams. And yes, just pour in some amounts of your endurance since patience and parenthood sometimes become synonyms.
