Children and Nutrition

Importance of nutrition in children

Nutrition is a fore runner essential in keeping the child’s health on check. It is the duty of every parent and caretaker to ensure that the child does not indulge himself or herself into bad eating habits. Some of the unhealthy habits can be acquired from peers and the wide range of media influences like televisions, ratios and magazines.

For proper growth and development, children need good nutrition to see them healthily through the process. These should be provided in adequate proportions always.

Understand your child’s allergic reactions to certain foods and either do not include them or force them to eat. You should keep proper track of the food you give to the child so as to be

sure incase a reaction occurs.

A medical check-up can clear up your suspicions and help you to deal with the subsequent allergic reaction. Some of the symptoms of food reactions are rashes, nausea and vomiting.

Involving the child while you are preparing meals increases their enthusiasm to eat the food while it is cooked as it gives them a sense of attachment to the whole process which has to be completed by consuming the food.

Create family menus and let the child come up with new ideas for recipes which you can try out together and enjoy the outcome as long as the suggestions fall within the right nutrition requirements for all involved.

The whole family’s eating culture should be defined to create togetherness and sharing of the meals. Sitting as a family and having the meal at the same time increases the enjoyment of mealtimes other than secluding the child to have his or her meals alone.

Ensure regular meals throughout the day. This gives the body enough room for proper digestion. You can make a three meal per day program. Some snack can be taken in between meals especially in the morning and in the afternoon. All he foods should be made with the child’s nutrition needs in mind.

Serve food in small portions to boost appetite and allow for second helpings incase the child is still in need for more.Maintaining good nutritional practices protects your child from illnesses that come as a result of nutritional deficiencies.

Sweets and sugary foods should not be given to the child before meals as they result into loss of appetite.

Physical activities are good and should always be encouraged. The child should be allowed to engage in activities such as cycling, dancing, football and swimming.

Teach the child to practice good hygienic habits like washing of hands after visiting the toilet and after meals. This reduces the risk of infection and keeps the child healthy.

Balanced Diet for the Child

It is important to know that the feeding habit you provide your child with will greatly affect their eating habits in the future.

You should therefore structure the meals around a nutritional circle (balanced diet) so as to influence the child’s understanding of eating healthily in later days. Provide food that is nutritionally rich. That is, proteins (poultry, fish, milk, beans, liver), carbohydrates (bread, maize, rice, chapatti, potatoes), vitamins (fruits – mangoes, oranges, plums, apples and vegetables – broccoli, spinach, cabbage, pawpaw and carrots.) and mineral salts.

Teach the child about the various foods and nutrition groups that we have and help them to understand the importance of including all of them in the meals they take. This aids their acceptance of the food you provide and makes them able to make healthy choices.

Avoid processed foods like canned beans and food additions like processed thickenings and seasonings as they are not good for the child’s health.

Foods rich in protein facilitate growth and repairs making it very important to provide your growing child with food from this group.

Fruits contain numerous health benefiting nutrients and should often be included to the Child’s meals at about three portions everyday. Fruitsshould be used as substitutes to snacks so as to reduce excess intake of sugary foods.

Starch rich foods should be adequately included in the child’s meals to provide for the energy which they direly need in the process of growth and to facilitate play. These can be found from rye, maize, millet, barley, rice and wheat among others. Calorie content should however be checked not to go beyond the required level.

Recommended foods

-         Due to the bacteria (probiotics) contained in yoghurt, it is found to be nutritiously essential as this helps the digestive system. You can make your own fruit flavored choice for the chilled to avoid those with added sugars.

-         Milk and most milk products are good as they contain calcium nutrients.

-         Fish, meat, poultry, pulses like Soya bean, fish, eggs, fruits

-         Encourage the child to drink plenty of boiled water. This helps in digestion and also cleanses the body system

Unsuitable Foods

-         Avoid low fat milk due to its low energy content and small content of fat soluble vitamins.

-         To avoid iron deficiency, coffee and tea should be excluded from the child’s meals.

-         Exclude foods that contain too much unsaturated fats and sugars such as cakes biscuits, chocolates pies and pastries. Too much sugar poses great dental problems to the child’s teeth.

-    Reduce soft and carbonated drinks intake

-         Avoid chips, pepper deep fried foods

Mineral Requirement

Minerals are mostly responsible for strong bone and teeth formation. It is therefore very essential to ensure that the food the child eats contain adequate minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium and phosphorous. They also help in healing and repair of cells, bodily chemical reactions, and stabilizing the child’s immune system.

Calcium

A mineral like calcium not only aid in bone and tooth formation but also helps to regulate muscle contractions like the heartbeat and ensures proper blood clotting as well.

Calcium nutrients can be found from milk, fish like sardines, Soya, almonds, green leafy vegetables, sesame seeds and dry fruits.

The deficiency of calcium nutrients causes brittle bones and is further associated with osteoporosis in old age whereby any calcium stored in the bones is depleted making the bones easily breakable.

You can use sesame seeds as toppings for salads, desserts and cereals. Also green leafy vegetables like broccoli, spinach and watercress can be good alternative sources of calcium nutrients for those children who either are lacto sensitive or vegetarians. Soya milk can also come very handy for such conditions.

Iron

Iron is important for oxygen exchange in blood, skeletal development and its deficiency could lead to anemia. Its deficiency could also lead to impaired psychomotor and slow mental development. This could further bring about behavioral problems and slow developmental issues.

It can be found in red meat, liver, kidney, egg yolk, turkey, potatoes, tomato juice, green leafy vegetables fortified cereals, and pulses like beans, peas and lentils.

Encourage intake of vitamin C rich foods like fruits as the vitamin C helps in the absorption of iron. Too much intake of foods rich in calcium nutrients like milk can lead to iron deficiency as it hinders iron absorption into the body

Zinc

It is important to the immune functioning. Its deficiency weakens the immune system, slows down growth rate and could lead to dwarfism. Some of the sources for zinc are liver, beef, pork sea foods, peanuts, and legumes, green leafy vegetables milk, whole, grains, eggs, yoghurt and peanuts.

Magnesium

Magnesium deficiency can lead to muscle weakness, cardiac problem, neuromuscular dysfunctions and could lead to retardation in growth. Some of the sources of magnesium nutrients are:

unpeeled baked potatoes, seafood, bananas, milk, dates, green leafy vegetables, whole grains and legumes.

In conclusion, it is important to note with keen interest that the provision of these vital nutrients is very essential for the proper development of the child. The biological requirements of the child should never be overlooked at any time. That is why care should be taken to have them in the mood of eating as that is the only way to get the nutritious food into their bodies, to facilitate better growth.