Children And Healthy Eating


It is very important to inculcate the need for eating habit in your children because as important as food is, if eaten wrongly can create a negative impact on your child or children. Food is one of the basic needs for living things and it consists of classes of food like: carbohydrates, protein, fat and oil, minerals and water. In other for these foods to be beneficial it must be eaten in correct quantities. So children and healthy eating habits are different nutritional requirements suitable for children enough to provide the needed advantage required in their body. Depending on the age of your child, that is if they have not attained adulthood, the responsibility of ensuring that children eat the right kind of food falls on you the parent because one; they have no control of the kitchen; and secondly they are ignorant of what makes up healthy food. So the question goes what really makes up healthy nutrition? Some parents unfortunately do not know the answers to this question, and as a result stuff children with unhealthy foods that could lead to serious consequences. What are the children and healthy eating requirements, and the possible side effects?

 

Classes of food and their relevance

Adequately providing children with healthy eating habits will go a long way in ensuring good health for your children. A lot of lifestyle diseases are mostly due to wrong eating habits therefore starting you children early with the right eating culture will incorporate nutritional discipline and good health for them in the present and the future, and you will be the better for it. Without knowing what these food consists of, it will not be possible to pass on any information, for instance do you know what a balance diet is? Or the importance of the various classes of food and the type of food they fall into? Want to know?

 

Classes of food are the different types of foods and the groupd they fall into, they are:

 

1.                  Carbohydrate: This is basically known as energy given food. It is thus described because it breaks down in the body to provide the required energy your children need to work, play, read, go to school etc. As you can see it is very important, the body breaks carbohydrate into usable components call glucose. Examples of carbohydrates are corn, bread, wheat, etc.

2.                  Protein. Protein is a body building food. It helps build up body muscle, and enhances growth in the body. As children, protein is very essential because they are still growing and if not given sufficient protein, growth will become retarded or stunted. When protein is ingested and digested it is used up in form of amino acids. Examples of foods that belong to this class of food are: milk, meat, fish, crabs, chicken, etc.

3.                  Fat and oil: This class of food provides heat and also protects tissues. Example of fat and oils is: butter

4.                  Vitamins and minerals: This is a major children and healthy eating requirement as it contain elements to protect children from diseases, enhances growth, induce proper functioning of cells and generally enables the body to work properly. It is contained in all classes of food, though in minor quantities, but they can be obtained in large quantities in fruits and vegetables like: orange, apples, carrots, mangoes, cucumbers etc, and example of minerals are: calcium which helps to build strong bone etc.

5.                  Another wonder major class of food, though some will disagree is water. Water is very essential to the body; its function is so wide and highly needed to achieve wellbeing. It is often said by professionals that the human’s body is made up of 75% of the water. It therefore goes without saying that the body must be replenished with water at all times because it thrives on liquids. Water help to flush out impurities from the body, professional advice that at-least 4 to six cups of water must be taken daily to maintain general wellbeing.

 

Consequences of bad eating habits

Growing children needs good diet that must be taken in its right proportion. What constitutes right portion or balance diet are food consisting of different classes of food, taken in its right proportion. Eating imbalance food can lead to unhealthy conditions like:

 

Obesity

This is defined as excess fat. When the body is stored excessively with carbohydrates and fats without a corresponding and deliberate attempt at losing the excess intake of food, leads to fat been deposited at odd places in the body like: the arms, thighs, stomach, neck region etc, manifesting in large body like: big stomach, thighs and so on. The sight can be very ugly. Obesity makes one, susceptible to sickness and diseases like: hypertension, juvenile diabetes, stigma, heart attack, etc. According to professionals the life span of an obese is shorten a great deal. So children and healthy eating habit must be balance; right amount of carbohydrate, with protein alongside vitamins and minerals and yes, washed down with water.

 

Children and healthy eating habits much be encouraged by parents, obesity is just one among other numerous defects of wrong eating habits. Parents learn all you can about the food combination for your children and importantly never pay lip service to health, you might end up been the worst for it.



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