Healthier Kids - Top Tips 2
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It will be a while before your baby realises that her hands are part of her or that she has any control over them.
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Smart Snacking Do not allow grazing between meals on unhealthy snacks. And beware many so called healthy snacks . With some schools banning chocolate from packed lunchboxes cereal bars are often substituted for confectionery or biscuits. Around a quarter of mothers include cereal bars in their childs lunchbox. However not all cereal bars are healthy. Many contain over 40% sugar and over 30% fat. Children’s yogurts generally contain lots of sugar and often come with separate portion of sweets to stir in. Juice drinks are often 90% sugar and water and only 10% juice. Children generally arrive home starving so cut up fresh fruit or raw vegetables and serve with a dip like hummus .. Pitta pockets or tortilla wraps filled with tuna or chicken and salad are also good and its quick and easy to make salads with tasty dressings. Cook with your children
Most children love to cook and a good way to get them to try new foods is to encourage them to have a hand in preparing it. Its also a great way of bonding with your child and they are learning lots of skills like weighing and measuring and telling the time .
Set a good example
You can’t expect your child to eat well if you graze in front of the TV and live off junk food and takeaways. It only takes about 15 minutes to make a delicious meal for the whole family.
Stop buying sweets
Have you seen packets of sweets boasting that they are ‘fat-free’. Have you ever wondered what this means ? Most sweets don’t contain any fat but what they do contain is loads of sugar
Ban soft drinks
A 330ml bottle of Coca Cola contains 35g sugar equivalent to one and a half quarter packs of Rowntrees Fruit Gums. Soft drinks do more than quench thirst. They add hugely to a child’s daily sugar intake. Many soft drinks provide the equivalent to several lollipops or a pack or two of sweets in every bottle or can sold. Fresh squeezed orange juice is good or how about encouraging your child to drink more water…
Long lasting energy
Give more complex carbohydrates like baked potato, pasta, wholemeal bread and vegetables. These are absorbed more slowly into the bloodstream than simple carbohydrates like white rice, sugary refined breakfast cereals, cakes and biscuits, providing a more constant supply of energy so that your child doesn’t feel so hungry.
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