|
Start with plenty of breads, cereals, rice, pasta, vegetables, and
fruits. Add 2-3 servings from the milk group and 2-3 servings from the meat
group. Remember to go easy on fats, oils, and sweets, the foods in the uppermost
tip of the Pyramid.
Be sure to eat at least the lowest number of servings from the five major food
groups listed below. You need them for the vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates,
and protein they provide. Just try to pick the lowest fat choices from the food
groups. Fats, oils, and sweets must be used as sparingly as possible to decrease
disease risks such as dental caries, diabetes, and heart disease. However, some
fat should be taken daily for normal growth and health.
Milk, Yogurt, and Cheese:1 cup
Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs, and Nuts: 90 grams of cooked lean
meat; 1/2 cup of cooked dry beans;
1 egg (= 31 grams of lean meat)
Vegetable: 1 cup of raw leafy vegetables; 1/2 cup of other vegetables (raw
or cooked); 3/4 cup of vegetable juice Fruit:
1 medium apple, banana, orange; 1 cup of fruit juice
Bread, Cereal, Rice, and Pasta: 1 bread slice; 31 grams of ready-to-eat
cereal; 1/2 cup of cooked cereal, rice, or pasta.
The shape of the Food Guide Pyramid shows proportions--more servings of
breads and cereals are needed than other food groups. Children need the same
numbers of servings as adults.
Some Pointers for Parents
Providing the right foods results in nutritious food choices by the child, even
if the child is a fussy eater. The trick is to provide a variety of nutritious
choices from the Food Guide Pyramid. Do not keep high fat or high sweet foods
around for the child when he's hungry or to reward him for good behaviour. Foods
used as rewards, celebrations, and treats are usually high in fat, sugar, and
salt. Avoid the promise of a chocolate bar to your son if he finishes homework
on time.
Children eat what they see others eating at meals and snacks and what they
experience. If you drink milk, they drink milk. If you eat vegetables, they eat
vegetables. If you fill up on junk food, the child fills up on junk food. Be the
child's model.
And, finally, stay active. And encourage your children to do so, too.
So get on the track to eating right. This diet, combined with some exercise, is
a good way of ensuring you stay fit and healthy.
The first three years of a child's life are a window of opportunity for
forming lifelong, healthy eating habits. Just as you teach proper behavior to a
child, you also want to teach a child what good food is supposed to taste like.
If a baby begins solid food life from the can or jar, baby concludes that this
is what food is supposed to taste like. The taste and intestinal feel of this
food becomes the child's norm. And, for better or worse, the child's eating
habits and desire for packaged and fast foods becomes the norm.
To get your child off on the right track, teach him to enjoy the flavor of fresh
foods before he gets hooked on canned, artificial tastes. If your baby and
toddler eats only homemade, freshly-prepared, unsalted, unsweetened foods, this
becomes the standard that other foods are compared to. The canned and packaged
stuff then tastes foreign to his selective tastebuds. While babies are born with
a natural preference for sweets (breastmilk is very sweet), the rest of their
taste preferences are learned.
Let's start with the infancy of your child. Did you know that from her birth
to the time she's two years old, she's going through a period characterized by
rapid growth? During this time gains in weight and height are the primary
indices of the child's nutritional status. Breast-feeding is encouraged for at
least the first four-to-six months of life for nutritional as well as
immunological benefits to the infant.
Nutrition recommendations for children over the age of two are not very
different from those for adults. A wide variety of foods, rich in essential
nutrients necessary for growing bodies, could be fed to children. Such foods
include carbohydrate-rich grain foods and fruits and vegetables necessary to
supply vitamins, minerals, fiber and energy vital to growing children. These
could be supplemented by dairy products, lean meats, fish, poultry, eggs, dry
beans and nuts which provide nutrients that contribute to proper growth and
development. Most children will grow about two inches and gain about two to four
kg. per year. Between the ages of six to 12, youngsters will grow an average of
one to two feet and almost double in weight. Encourage him to taste new foods in
small quantities. That way, your child will come to accept and like new foods.
Adolescents need extra nutrients to support the adolescent growth spurt, which
begins in girls at ages 10 or 11, reaches its peak at age 12 and is completed at
about 15. In boys, it begins at 12 or 13 years of age, peaks at 14 and ends at
about 19.
In addition to other nutrients, adequate amounts of iron and calcium are
extremely important as the body goes through an intensive growth period. From
ages 11 to 24 years, both males and females are encouraged to consume a
calcium-rich diet. It's supposed to help ensure adequate calcium deposition in
the bones which may help reduce the incidence of osteoporosis in later years. A
diet that includes a fair amount of milk, cheese and yoghurt will provide them
with the much-needed calcium.
|
