Food and Nutrition for Kids
I have a 13 year old son who has just become a brand new teen! So my husband and I are extremely interested in food and nutrition for kids, but especially older ones.
But before I start here’s the link to a fantastic new site by Michael Greger M.D. who is a physician, author, and speaker . He will tell you about the world's nutrition research and his aim is to deliver to us free daily videos and articles. He really knows his stuff and is well worth listening to. All proceeds from his books, DVDs, and speaking goes to charity.
But first please have a look at this article :
There are other interesting things here if you're looking for ways to improve the nutritional value of the food your children eat.
We have been fretting over our son's diet since it was first confirmed that we were going to be parents! We have some advice about food and nutrition for kids based one our personal experience and on our experience of working with kids for many years.
We make fresh green juice for our family every day and with very positive results, so if you're interested in this then Click Here and you will be taken to another article.
This page is not about babies, but about making our children fitter and maintaining our efforts right through their teenage years. I have some really good tips here, but I really would love it if you could add to this page with your tips and advice, so please do leave a comment or get in touch in the comments box below.
Do you have concerns about your child's eating habits?
Nutrition for Kids and Teenagers - An excellent video with a nutrition expert and teens talking at the end
Alcohol and Teens
They don't mix well - they shouldn't mix at all. Here's a very interesting article called : Why Alcohol Attracts Teenagers. It's a little scary to read but if you've got a teen then you should know this.
Kids who buy energy drinks and mix them with alcohol. This is a potentially lethal combination. The alcohol will make them reckless and the energy drink will make them feel like doing dangerous things - especially boys
Kids Healthy Eating Plates - These plates are excellent to help you think about the correct portion sizes and the balance of food.
There are more of these clever plates on the Amazon.com site. Just click on one of these and you'll be taken there.
Great reviews, this plate is good because it teaches about the health benefits while saving a little spot on the very top for a treat! Great idea. When you've eaten the whole plate, there's a treat waiting for you. It might be better to put the treat in after the meal has been eaten though!
Some Food Coloring Connected with ADHD
Sunset yellow (E110)
Quinoline yellow (E104)
Carmoisine (E122)
Allura red (E129)
Tartrazine (E102)
Ponceau 4R (E124)
Sodium benzonate (E211) (not a food coloring but a preservative)
Food and Nutrition in More Detail
- Dangers of Artificial Food Coloring
If you want to learn more about artificial food coloring and ADHD then this article will direct you - Article Kids and Sugar Consumption by the National Center for Health Statistics
This article explains that kids in the US are still consuming too much added sugar. This come from food and soft drinks. It tells you exactly how much this should be reduced to prevent your child from the dangers of becoming obese without compromisin - Cows Milk is Not A Good Idea!
This article outlines the results of many years of testing. There is a link between cows milk in childhood and prostate cancer in later life. - Why are kids Obese
A very interesting article about how we cannot trust the government or food industries with our kid's health - their interests are tied up with money making. We have to take the responsibility of the health of our kids on as parents.
The Secret Snack
When my son was 4 years old and at nursery, I always had a snack ready for him when I picked him up in the afternoons. I wasn't the only one, but mine was very different to everyone else.
I would stand outside waiting for the children to be released, and one by one each parent or child minder would greet their child with 'treats' like pop and crisps, candy bars, or sweets.
Instead my son looked forward to to munching his way through a delicious bread roll and a fresh bottle of water!
I made a point of buying him his favorite bread or bread rolls, some with poppy seeds, some just brown, sometimes they had mixed seeds. He was very happy and never disappointed.
But I had to hide our snack from everyone because I was worried that they would think that I was being unkind or OTT. I was concerned that they'd think I was judging them too. In the end we called it the Secret Snack! We also had the Magic Green Juice, but that's a different story!
One day someone gave my son a sweet but he didn't know what do to with it! He was about 5 years old and had no idea what this thing was. I told him it was a sweetie that tasted of sweet sugar and blackberries, he watched me unwrap it for him and I popped it in his mouth. The response was very funny, it wasn't long before he spat it out complaining that it was not nice, and too sticky!
He always loved chocolate, and all the cakes we had on special occasions - but we never gave him sweets to eat or pop to drink.
He is now 13 years old and doesn't crave sweets and very rarely asks for them, and when he does he makes a point of choosing the chocolate ones and not the sticky things that are full of colorings and stick fast to your teeth.
Eat with Your Kids
This is social time, a time for you to sit and relax and chat with older kids and especially teens. What better time to monitor what they eat and what they have been doing?
The sweets are created in the same colors as fruits and vegetables. Bright and very eyecatching. It's very hard to fight this type of marketing.
Forbidden Fruit!
Health & Nutrition for Kids
- EasyLunchboxes Website
Here are some great healthy ideas for kid's lunchboxes
Teach Your Kids How to Cook
My son who has just started to take a real interest in cooking and how things are prepared. We take full advantage of this and encourage him to help us choose what we eat and to cook it too.
We take the opportunity to teach him about the horrors of eating 'junk food' while we're at it.
We have also dug a small vegetable patch for him, which he tends for very carefully ( sometimes!) but if he doesn't then I do! He always enjoys reaping the fruits of my labour! We're hoping this will encourage him to eat more vegetables.
We also give him vegetable juice to drink everyday, this was a problem at first, but now he drinks them down willingly. This will do him the world of good. Here's a link to our Hub about juicing, which you may find interesting.
Eureeka!
My son came home from school yesterday after his cookery lesson, with a delicious dish of Macaroni cheese with vegetables. We sat down to supper and he ate it all up! This is the boy who hates cooked carrots and courgettes!
It was a special moment!
EasyLunchboxes
Do you cook different dishes for your kids than for yourself?
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2013 Giovanna
