Nutrition For Children – Child Nutrition Tips & Guidelines
India is a land of many contradictions – among them the fact that many children here either fall into the malnourished or overweight category. This indicates a resounding lack of suitable nutrition for them. The mind boggling array of junk foods has certainly been a contributing factor.
After all, it’s hard to find a child who would rather munch on carrot sticks over one of the numerous munchies lining store shelves. Nevertheless, ensuring a healthy diet for your child is no rocket science.
It’s a well known fact that appropriate diet is quintessential for maintaining the health of a child. Consultant pediatrician and neonatologist Vipul Mehrotra provides some easy to follow nutrition tips for ensuring your child’s well being.
Here are some handy tips on getting your tot to eat right.
Variety is the spice of life:
Treat your child to different foods to discover his likes and dislikes. Variety can also be introduced by serving food in different bowls or plates.
No Force Feeding:
Let the child decide how much he wants to eat. Don’t make it a cumbersome routine.
Handheld Food:
Children should be given food that they can comfortably manage. Hence, he should be given foods that are rich is calories. For instance a bowl of rice contains 150 calories, by adding some butter or ghee one can increase the calorie count to 200-250.
Home Made Food:
It’s important for the child to get used to the kind of food cooked at home. As such, they should be given foods like rice, dal and chapatti that are cooked at home. The foof can be mashed to suit the child.
Number of Meals:
It is recommended for children to be given four meals during the course of the day.
Avoidable Food:
Food that contains high amount of preservatives, artificial coloring or that is cooked in repeatedly used oil should be avoided. Theories have suggested that such foods make children hyperactive and lead to poor concentration.
Cherish Childhood. HAPPY CHILDREN’S DAY.