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From an early age, we begin to teach our children about right or wrong; we teach them good habits and moral values. Yet, we neglect to teach them about healthy food choices and eating habits. We make attempts to force-feed them so that they receive good nutrition. However, this is not right. When infants and children are overfed, the number of fat cells increases. An overweight child will grow up to be an obese adult and will face extreme difficulties in losing weight, much more than a normal-weight child, because he /she has more fat cells. Kids, who stop eating when they feel full, are less likely to become overweight. So help your children to listen to their bodies as they grow up. Understanding your body is a major step towards long-term health management.
Children between six and 18 years spend most part of their day at school. This is the time when they begin to participate in sports and recreational activities. The influence of peers and significant adults such as teachers, coaches or sports idol increases. Moreover, children are bombarded with mouth-watering messages about food through visits to fast-food restaurants, watching food advertisements on TV. These messages make it difficult for children to understand what is good for them. So, educating children about food and nutrition is very important and we should do this often. Parents and teachers should try to encourage children to make wiser food choices and be more physically active. A few helping tips: Be role models: Your children pick-up your attitude and behaviour, including food habits. Try to be their role model by having balanced meals, trying a variety of foods, showing them willingness to try new foods. Encourage them to exercise. Follow a meal-and-snack schedule: Teach children to have three wholesome meals and healthy snacks when required. Plan meals to offer them healthy choices. Encourage them to have a healthy breakfast. Children, who skip breakfast, have shown to have poor activity and academic performance. Encourage them to understand hunger and thirst: Teach children the importance of food and water. Motivate them to drink water not soft drinks. A sufficient water intake helps in removing the toxins from their body. Reward with praise, not food: Show affection to children through praise, rather than offering sweets/chocolates. It may make them think that sweets are better than other foods. Do not restrict specific foods: When children are restricted to specific foods as a part of punishment or otherwise, they tend to overeat when these foods are offered. Make junk food healthy: Children love variety in their food as everyone. Make their favourite dishes nutritious. In case child wants to eat a burger, make the patty from chicken or chickpeas or paneer and use a multigrain or whole wheat bun. In pasta, add many vegetables, chicken or sprouts to have a protein-rich ingredient in their dish. Take children for grocery shopping: Let children choose fruits and vegetables. Encourage them to buy a new vegetable to be added to the salad or their meals. We should educate children about healthy eating habits and making good food choices. We should help our children make right decisions and build themselves to live a long, healthy life, in which, they develop normally, physically and emotionally and feel great about themselves. — The writer is a senior nutritionist, AktivOrtho, New Delhi
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