Child & Nutrition: Ways to keep your Child healthy

The King of Pop, Michael Jackson quoted, "When I see children, I see the face of God. That's why I love them so much. That's what I see".

Children are truly the face of god and parents are their guarding angels. It is the parents' responsibility to teach good manners, provide education and healthy lifestyle to their child. Nutrition plays a very important role, especially when your child is in developing phase. Correct nutrition will make your child stronger, increase their immunity and helps in proper growth and development, both physically and mentally.

I know that my today's topic is different from the previous one's, but I feel it is important that we talk about child nutrition, as the parents' often make mistakes while preparing a diet chart for their child. Today, we are going to talk about some of the things that the parents' must follow, in order to keep their child healthy.

1. Fruits & Vegetables- Your child's best friend!

We all know the importance of fruits and leafy green vegetables. The fruits like apricots, apple, banana, berries, orange, mango and pineapple are a great source of Vitamins. Vitamins are very important micronutrient that helps in growth and development, tissue and bone repair, healthy eyes, skin and immune your child from diseases. If your child do not like fruits, then convert them into juices or milk shakes, but remember avoid the use of sugar as much as you can or use in moderation.

Now getting on to the most difficult part, the vegetables. It is a very well known fact that most of the children hate vegetables. The vegetables like carrots, broccoli, french beans, cauliflower, spinach are not only good source of vitamins, but they are also rich in minerals. The best thing you can do here is add them to things they love to eat, but not too much! Have patience.

2. Do you ever read the label?

This is one of the most common mistake make by the parents, they never check the ingredient list and nutritional facts of the food products before buying. This is how the big companies fool you by taking advantage of your negligence and sell you the most unhealthy products. There is one Indian company who claims to sell "Atta Noodles" (whole wheat noodles), enriched with herbs. The wheat is an healthier option to all-purpose flour, but do you know that one of it's ingredient is Refined Wheat Flour (Maida) (It's written on the pack under Ingredients). I can't name that brand due to certain policies, but I can tell you that the brand is one of the most reputed brand whose brand ambassador is a well-known yoga guru. 

The point is, as a parent it is your responsibility to provide your child with good nutrition. Make it a point to always check the nutritional facts and ingredient label. Make sure that you always check the amount of sugar, sodium (salt), saturated fatty acids, trans fat and cholesterol available in the products before buying.

3. Malted 'sugar' drinks? Really?!

The malt drinks that claims to make your child grow taller or make them sharper are also full of sugars. In one of my previous post- 7 Facts about Whey Protein, I have mentioned that kids too can have Whey protein (not the professional one!) and how the companies and retailers or chemists sell malt drinks to parents. These drinks are a good source of Vitamins and Minerals, but they are also very high on sugar. Sugar can be potential harmful for your child's health in the long-run. Sugar will increase your child's weight and lead to obesity. There are good chances that your child might suffer from condition like Diabetes in the future.
Remember, I'm not only against the malt drinks but I'm actually against the sugar content in them. You must avoid everything that contains high-levels of sugar like desserts, chocolates, cakes, ice-cream, candies, etc on a regular basis. Always check the ingredient label and nutritional facts before buying!

4. Role models can help!

When your child is growing up, then you are his/her role-model. Whatever you do, your child will follow. If your child hate some vegetable or fruit, then there are chances that you hate them too. Try and follow a healthy lifestyle and eat nutritious food, every time! 

The siblings can also help you for that matter. The child psychology says that, if you have more than one child, then chances are that the younger one follows the older one. They can also be the role model for them. If your older child likes milk, then chances are that your younger one likes it too.

This might sound lame but your child sometimes learn from the cartoon characters too. Remember the cartoon character, Popeye? Remember how his muscles gets pumped up after he eats spinach? As a kid, I used to love that character and I remember how I started to like spinach after watching Popeye. 

5. Balanced Diet is the key!

It doesn't matter whether you are an adult or a child, the balanced diet is the key to good health. It becomes even more important for your child to consume all the nutrients in all the meals, as he/she is still growing. I have seen people using just plain cereals and chocolate coated cereals for breakfast, they are only high in carbohydrate and the later is also high in sugar. Instead, you can replace them with healthier options like oats (plain, not flavoured), whole wheat brown bread with 100% peanut butter and a glass of milk and eggs/cottage cheese (paneer)/soy cheese (tofu). 

Make sure that in every meal you serve must contain all kinds of macronutrients-Protein, Carbohydrate and Dietary fats. Make sure that your child also consumes at least 2-3 litres of water everyday. I know that healthy food is not likely to be tasty, but you can search on google and I'm sure you are going to find tons of recipes to make the food healthy and tasty for your kid. 

6. The 'Junk' food and Caffeine

We all know that Junk food is not good for the health. For kids, it is even more harmful because it is high on sugar, saturated fats, trans fat, cholesterol and consists mainly of all-purpose flour (maida). These food items are also known for low nutritional values and can lead to problems like Diabetes, heart-disease, kidney problem, liver problems, obesity etc. These things are not only bad for kids, but they are also not good for adults. Eat Healthy, Stay Healthy!

Nowadays, I'm noticing that the parents are themselves promoting the use of caffeinated drinks like soft-drinks (carbonated sodas), coffee and tea. The children, nowadays are also consuming high amount of caffeine and that could lead to problems like hypertension and heart problems in the future. These drinks are not only high in sugar, but Caffeine content in them is also very high. I have written an article on Caffeine, so if you not checked it out yet, please go and have a look! 

The aim of this article is not to right against any company, but just to educate the importance of nutrition for children. I hope that you have learned something from this post and you will surely gonna imply this in your daily life! 

There is one more thing I would like to add here. By the medium of my blogs, I will try and support the NGOs who are working towards the betterment of the society. I would like to dedicate this post to one such NGO who is working brilliantly towards Child Rights- Save the Children. 

This is one of the world's oldest NGO and the best thing about them is their transparency in operation. You can visit their website by clicking on the link- Save the Children, to know more about them or to contribute. Support them to spread smiles on little faces! 

If you have suggestions or doubts, please feel free to reach out to me- Yash Gupta. If you like this article, then please don't forget to like the official page of Tech & Nutrition on Facebook. You can also download the T.A.N app on your Android smartphones.