Healthy Eating for Children

Farah Diba Khan
Dietician
Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre
Kuala Lumpur

Proper nutrition begins at home with the foods you buy and prepare. Giving your child a healthy start with good eating habits is worth the effort. A nutritionally well balanced diet promotes growth and well being. It also reduces the risk of developing diseases such as heart disease and some types of cancer.

So, along with providing a loving environment, preparing the right food and teaching good food habits should be a priority in your long list of parental tasks. It is during childhood that our attitudes towards food are established. These attitudes will change with age and new experiences, but they will reflect those of the family in which a child grows up.

How do you know what you should be giving you toddler or young child to eat? Is there a nutrition guide that is not a diet fad? How can you sift through all the advice and advertisements to chose the right food for you kids?

The Healthy Diet Pyramid - Your guide to good nutrition

The Healthy Diet Pyramid is a guide that helps you chose what to eat each day. It is made up of four food groups and a pyramid tip. Foods eaten daily should come most from the base and least from the tip.

Each food group makes a special nutrient contribution and each nutrient has certain jobs to do in the body. Foods from all the food groups work together to supply the nutrients for health and growth. No one food group is more important that another – for good health, you need them all.

The Pyramid Food groups are:

Rice and Alternatives Group

Placed at the base of the Pyramid, this group is made up of rice, noodles, bread, pasta, cereal, lontong, chapathi and biscuits. These foods provide energy, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and fibre. Your daily meals should include the largest servings from this food group.

Remember to choose:

Whole grains maximize the nutrient contribution content of these foods.
Chose more often foods prepared with less or little fat.
Go easy on spread, seasonings and toppings.

Vegetables and Fruit Groups

Placed at the second level of the Pyramid, are two food groups - fruits and vegetables, add colour, flavour and crunch to meals and snacks. Fresh dried canned, frozen or as juices, these foods enrich your daily diet with vitamins and fibre as well as certain minerals.

For great nutrition value, select:

One serving of citrus fruit each day
Include one deep green, yellow or orange fruit or vegetable
Eat fruit whole, if skin is edible
Prepare vegetables with little added fat
Do not overcook fruit or vegetables

Meat and Alternatives

Placed at the third level of the Pyramid, this group includes meat, fish, seafood, eggs, poultry, beans, nuts, milk and milk products. These foods are excellent sources of protein, calcium, B-vitamins, iron and zinc. However, animal foods, nuts and seeds also contain moderate to high proportions of fat.

For the best choice, include:

Lean meat, skinless poultry and low fat milk products
Reduce intake of preserved and barbecued meats
Alternate meat dishes with bean products

Pyramid Tip

The Pyramid tip includes ingredients fat, oil, sugar and salt. Used in a healthy diet, these foods enhance the flavour of foods and make eating fun and enjoyable.

Putting it all together again

Nutrition is not just about numbers and a long list of "no’s". Food provides the nutrients that young children need to build strong bodies. It also supplies the energy required tog grow normally and play, learn and stay active and healthy. No single food supplies all the nutrients your child needs for optimal physical and mental growth. Every food can fit into a varied, moderate, balanced and healthy diet. There is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ food for your child. It’s the whole diet for the day that counts. Therefore it is not necessary to eliminate any one food or ingredient for the diet. Offer a variety of foods from each of these groups every day to supply the nutrients your growing child needs.

The Eating Right Chart

Mix and match foods from each food group and within a food group for variety. There is no need to take a whole serving at any one time. Half a serving of one food can be matched with another half serving at another meal to make the total for the day.

Build your child’s food allowance around main meals and snacks. Many parents worry about whether snacking will spoil appetite for main meals. Most children are not able to eat large meals. Snacking goes a long way to add valuable nutrients to your growing child’s daily diet.

Make sure there is at least an hour and a half between the last snack and the next main meal. Otherwise, your child will be too full to enjoy his meal. At the same time, do not force your child to eat, eat, eat. You may have the most nutritious snack and meal plans for your children, but if you overfeed them, they will become overweight.

Healthy snacks

Wholemeal sandwiches

Cheese and crackers

Fresh fruits

Soft bean curd dessert

Custard and other milky desserts

Cheese on toast

Yogurt with fresh fruits

Red or green bean soup

Healthy Snack Recipe

Pudding Bread

Ingredients

Wholemeal toast 2 slices

Raisins 1 Tbsp

Egg 1

Milk, low fat 2 Tbsp

Sugar 1 tsp

Margarine 1/2 tsp

Method

Spread margarine thinly on toast

Cut the toast diagonally into four pieces.

Soak raisins in 1 Tbsp water.

In a separate bowl, mix egg, milk and sugar well.

Put the toast into a large bowl.

Pour egg-milk mixture over it. Let the toast absorb the liquid.

Sprinkle raisins over the soaked toast.

Bake at 200 degrees C for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Cut into pieces and serve warm.

What about salt, sugar and oil?

Used in moderation, salt, sugar and oil can be part of a healthy diet for children. The growing problem of obesity in kids has often been blamed on excessive fat and sugar intake. To grow trim and fit kids, encourage your children to be active each day and provide healthy, balanced meals and snacks. Keep fat intake in check and encourage smaller portions. Sugars do not cause hyperactivity in children and taken in moderation, they do not cause weight gain.

In the modern world, your child is faced with a multitude of foods. If your child’s favourite foods are high in fat or contain sugar, teach him to eat small portions and to balance the rest of the day’s food choices with lower fat and sugar items.

SAMPLE MENU FOR AN EIGHT YEAR OLD

Breakfast Orange juice 1/2 cup Egg, scrambled 1 Bread, wholemeal, toasted 1/2 slice Margarine thin spread Milk, low fat 1/2 cup	Lunch Beef with pasta and peas in tomato sauce (Minced beef 3 Tbsp, Pasta 1 cup, Peas 1/4 cup) Pear, sliced 1	Dinner Vegetable soup 1 bowl Rice, steamed 1/2 cup Broccoli and mushrooms in sauce 1/2 cup Chicken drumstick (skinless) roasted 1 Apple, sliced 1
Mid Morning Snack Peanut butter sandwich 1 Milk, low fat 1/2 cup	Mid-Afternoon Snack Graham crackers 2 pieces Yogurt, low fat 1 cup	Supper Milk, low fat 1 cup

Tips to Healthy Eating and Physical Activity for your Child

Food habits begin early in life. So, work on them early.
Focus on variety.
Give foods suitable in texture and portion size to suit your child’s age.
Serve foods in interesting and colourful ways.
Avoid overfeeding.
Try not to offer food as a bribe or reward.
Teach them to snack carefully.
Encourage your child to join friends and family members for physically active events.

EATING RIGHT

Food group	Number of servings per day
Rice and Alternatives	2 - 3
Fruit	2 - 3
Vegetables	2 - 3
Meat and Alternatives	4 – 6 (of this 2 –3 servings are to come from milk and milk products)

WHAT MAKES A SERVING?

Rice and Alternatives		Fruit
Rice Noodles Bread Chapathi Thosai Potatoes Breakfast cereal	1 rice bowl 1 rice bowl 2 slices 3 small 3 small 2 large 1 cup	Apple Banana Orange Papaya Watermelon Rambutan Longan			1 whole 1 whole 1 whole 1 wedge 1 wedge 6 pieces 6 pieces
Vegetables			Meat and Alternatives
Leafy vegetables, cooked Non-leafy vegetables, cooked	1 cup 1 cup		Chicken Lean meat Fish Prawns Cuttlefish Dried beans and peas, cooked Bean curd	90g 90g 6 Tbsp. 6 Tbsp. 6 Tbsp. 4 Tbsp. 6 Tbsp.