A Balanced Diet For Your Kids

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By Willie Reynolds

As a parent, one issue that is constantly on my mind is that of
ensuring my children are properly nourished. Fortunately, my
children have the eating habits of J.R.R. Tolkien’s hobbits-
they eat at least three breakfasts before lunch. This gives me
ample opportunity to ensure that their nutrition intake is set
for the rest of the day.

I am sure that other parents have the same concerns, though
possibly not the easy time I have with feeding my kids. I would
like to share some of the nutrition “secrets” I have encountered
in my seemingly endless trips to the refrigerator to keep my
little hollowed out munchers happy.

The first secret is that nutrition is not a secret at all.
Every container of food you buy has nutritional values listed
on a label on the side. These values are very important in
determining whether or not the charges of the stay-at-home
parent are receiving all the vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein
and the hundred other nutritional necessities that keep the mind
of the stay-at-home parent occupied.

The second important secret is milk. Milk is the nectar of the
gods. By making sure your kids drink just one cup of milk with
each meal, you will have taken care of their body’s needs for
vitamins A, D and B12, as well as calcium, some iron content
and even protein. Other dairy products also help fill these
needs, so cheese and yogurt are also good add-ons for snacks or
to meals.

Breakfast foods such as oatmeal and most cereals are also
chock-full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Sugar cereals
should be used sparingly, as a treat. There are lots of other
ways to add some zing to a cereal that kids may otherwise think
of as bland. Breakfast can also include fruit (bananas are an
especially good power food) and juice, although too much juice
in a day is bad both for a child’s sugar intake and their
teeth. Kids should be allowed some juice, though, and the new
style fruit and veggie juice is ideal as it tastes just like
regular juice but contains vegetable content as well (such as
spinach and carrots), and thus is a good equalizer for a child
who is finicky about their vegetables.

Whole wheat bread is also very important to a child’s diet.
They will only think it is undesirable if a parent or
schoolmate points it out to them. Whole wheat bread,
specifically Dempster’s brand, is brimming with nutritional
goodness.

Recent studies have suggested that vegetables bought frozen may
actually be healthier than those cooked fresh. The freezing
locks the nutrients into the vegetable immediately, and does
not allow the leeching out that otherwise begins as soon as the
vegetable is picked from the ground.

There are some foods that may seem like a good idea for a snack
or supplement to a meal, but in fact they need to be avoided.
Uppermost among these are dried banana chips. These little
nuggets are actually deep fried, and just a handful contain
more fat than a Big Mac! Make sure that you know how the food
you are feeding your kids is processed before considering it a
healthy choice.

About the Author: Willie Reynolds maintains a website full ofadvice for parents. Visit his site at:http://parentingstation.comSource: http://www.isnare.com