Healthy Eating For Children
Healthy eating for children should be treated as top priority by
all parents because as a parent we all have a responsibility to
give our children the best possible start in life. Feeding them
a healthy diet when young helps them to grow into fit adults who
suffer from fewer ailments and can look forward to longevity. Is
there any parent who doesn't wish this for their children?
The obvious question now is what constitutes and good diet for
children? I will give a link to a very good website at the end
of this article that will deal with all the technical aspects of
a healthy diet. For now accept that the food pyramid that was
instigated by the US Department of Agriculture is a very good
starting point.
http
://www.recipesmania.com/article-food-pyramid-1.html
I know that everybody has a problem in persuading children to
eat what is healthy rather than what is fun; the secret is to
make healthy food fun too. For instance I recently watched a
British made TV program that subjected an obese family to eight
weeks under the control of a dietician. Initially the children
claimed that they would only eat burgers - meaning McDonalds.
The dietician made 50 lentil burgers for the cost of buying
three Big Macs and presented three lentil burgers to the three
children for dinner, freezing the remaining 47 for use later.
The only thing she told them was that she insisted that burger
buns be replaced with whole grain rolls. Result: The children
ate the lentil burgers without comment. Not only did they eat
them they asked for more. OK, more can be bad too but the point
is what they really wanted to eat was something that resembled a
Big Mac, what it tasted like wasn't that important.
Now here is the BIG point: When the dietician told the mother
what she was about to do to encourage her children to eat
healthy foods the mother's response was. 'You have no chance, my
children will insist upon eating McDonalds.' - I think this is a
case of a mother who thought she was being kind to her children
by giving them what they wanted; so much so that she actually
started believing it herself.
The family spent 80 pounds sterling each week on take home food
and their grocery bill was 140 pounds sterling each week. When
the healthy diet was started the weekly grocery bill dropped to
85 pounds sterling each week and zero on take-out food. A total
weekly saving 135 pounds sterling each week (That equates to
around US$240 each week.) just by cutting out unhealthy
convenience foods.
At the end of eight weeks the mother had lost 21 pounds, the
father 18 pounds and each child 14 pounds. For the first time in
their young lives the children were playing team sports at
school and with friends after school.
We are what we eat and healthy eating for children is the
greatest gift you can give to your offspring.
Try this link for more detailed information on childrens diets:
htt
p://kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/food/pyramid.html
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