A Healthy and Fun Diet for Children
It is necessary for children to maintain a healthy and well balanced diet. However, children should not follow stringent diet plans to shed weight. Instead, they should be encouraged to play as much as possible so that they are able to get rid of calories naturally.
One should give them healthy and nutritious food items and encourage them to inculcate good fooding habits right from birth. There are numerous ways in which you can teach your children to eat right and stay fit.
How to Start?
Begin at the breakfast table:
This is one of the first meals of the day, and you can teach your children to select healthy food items during breakfast.
Cereal is one of the common breakfast items, but not all of them are free of sugar. If your child is already obese, then make sure that at the time of purchasing any food product for your child, you glance through the label.
Hence, the key is to purchase products that have high fiber content and low quantity of sugar. You can also replace cereals with corn flakes that have low sugar content, and oatmeal.
Fruits are your kid's best friend:
You can also prepare a nice fruit salad and include fruits such as apple, banana and pear to the cereals. This way, you will be able to avoid sugar, and the cereals would still taste sweet.
Fruits are also good as snacks. Always keep a basket of fresh fruits at home and encourage your child to have some whenever they are hungry.
Vegetable is the name of the game:
Include vegetables in your children's diet. It is important to have vegetables with every meal. Since, children don't love vegetables too much, it is important that you cook the vegetables in such a way that your child is tempted to have some.
For this, you can use different flavours, dressings and seasonings to make the dish exciting. Remember not to overcook vegetables since that kills the nutrients.
You can also encourage your child to have carrots (raw) and peas or even mashed/baked potato. Every time you serve your child with a meal, add some raw vegetables such as tomatoes, carrots and cabbage.
Protein Power, Go Get It:
Protein is extremely important for a healthy body. You can encourage your child to have protein related food products such as eggs, chicken, fish, sprouts and meat.
If you want that your child should remain active throughout the day, you can also consider giving them protein supplements, but consult a doctor before you do that.
Include Vitamins and Minerals in their Diet:
Your child needs minerals and vitamins to stay fit. While Vitamin A helps in avoiding infection, Vitamin D helps in absorbing calcium. On the other hand, Vitamin B and Vitamin C are good for the development of the brain.
Zinc based food items will help your child grow faster and stronger. You can also give them multivitamin tablets that include magnesium, selenium, manganese and chromium.
Conclusion:
As parents, you need to have a lot of patience, if you want to teach your child to select healthy food and shed weight.
Instead of sitting and relaxing after meals, go on a walk or engage in some physical activities. This way your child won't gain extra weight. Help your child maintain a healthy lifestyle, plan a diet now!
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