Parents need to understand and educate themselves on the importance of nutrition and exercise in children. Research has proven that children in the age group of 2-5 years develop new layers in the brain. Whatever the child experiences in this age reflects in their adulthood. So, right from infancy ensure that they are ingrained with healthy habits.
Here’s how parents can inculcate healthy habits in their children from childhood.
Go slow on sweets
Another thing that parents have to be very firm about is sugar intake. Children like sweeter things. The problem with refined carbohydrates is that it doesn’t let your system function well. Loads of sugar, strains your pancreas which is forced to produce large amounts of insulin, leading to diabetes.
Good carbs like starch, wheat, corn, brown rice, millets should be encouraged. Just like how parents don’t expose their children to swear words, bad films, the same principle should apply to sugary foods. Educate your children, explain to them the long-term damage that these food cause.
Chocolates, once in a while are fine, but teach the child to relish them. If you take one piece, put it in your mouth and savour its taste, you end up eating little as you are already satisfied.
Don’t gulp
Once you have kick-started the day by preparing a nutritious meal, ensure that your children chew their food. Many just gulp it, and this is terrible. Apart from putting immense pressure on the stomach to digest this food, people who gulp their meals, eat more and end up with pot bellies.Always ensure that your kids don’t rush out of the door without eating their breakfast as sometimes, this is what leads children to faint during morning assembly as they are malnourished. A child needs nutrition, this is a basic principle for any parent who wants to have a child or is rearing a child.
Avoid re-heating food
Re-heating leftovers or food prepared the previous day is also not healthy because by doing this, a lot of water soluble vitamins are lost. Folic acid, B6 vitamin and thiamine, which is good for the brain are lost.
No instant food
Two-minute noodles and packaged foods should not be on the menu because they contain preservatives which are unhealthy. Ideally, a freshly prepared, warm Indian meal is best. Relatively simple dishes like idli-sambar, dosa, a chapati roll are great breakfast options. Egg whites too are good. Educate your children on the benefits of eggs. Add vegetables in the omelets.
The sad story here is that we hardly have any options when we want to cook different vegetables. The variety of vegetables in most supermarkets is what 10? When I was touring China, there were 40-50 different kinds of vegetables available.
A nice way to make food appealing for children is to discuss the menu with them before hand and also constantly keep innovating with new dishes.
— The writer is the director of Prasad Hospital
