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- NEW Top Tips: Top Tips for a Healthy BBQ!
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- NEW and delicious recipes include: Yoghurt on the Go, Simple Cous Cous Salads, Summer Pasta dishes and Fruit Crumble Bites!
Practical Considerations
Breakfast | Snacking | School meals | Packed lunches | Weight issues
Breakfast
Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day particularly for our children. Not only does it break the overnight "fast" but it can also provide essential nutrients.
This is a great opportunity to get your first portion of fruit in by giving them a glass of fruit smoothie or a banana with their breakfast. Breakfast cereals always go down well with children and they are an important source of starchy carbohydrate for energy.
Make sure you choose one that is also fortified with iron. Having cereal means that your child will also get their first calcium hit via the milk they add. All in all breakfast can provide your child with a great mix of carbohydrate, calcium, vitamins and minerals, iron and protein.
Snacking
It is important that you provide your child with small snacks throughout the day. Good snacks include fruit, vegetable sticks, muffins, toast or muesli bars.
Other snack foods such as cakes, biscuits, crisps, chocolates and sweets are very high in fats and sugars so if your child does eat these types of foods you should make sure that they are kept to a minimum.
Try and to make sure they only eat them occasionally and in small amounts. It is also important to try not to use them as treats or rewards for good behaviour as research has shown that this simply makes these foods more attractive to kids.
School meals
There has been so much media coverage lately concerning school meals that it´s difficult to know where to start! Strict regulations governing school meals were abolished in the 1980´s. However moves are being made to re-introduce guidelines due to the concern expressed over the nutritional adequacy of our children´s diets.In the mean time it is important that you encourage your child to chose a variety of foods for their lunch and not stick to just chips every day. Kids should be trying to eat at least one protein food, such as chicken, one vegetable dish and one portion of potatoes, rice or pasta if available.
Packed lunches
Many children take packed lunches to school instead of opting for school dinners. These can be a healthy option if they are planned carefully.
Try and get your child involved in what goes into their lunch box and how it´s prepared. Sandwiches are generally a staple for lunch boxes but these don´t have to be as boring as they sound! There are so many different types of bread on the market including pitta bread, rolls and wraps.
Try and be inventive with your fillings and always include some kind of vegetable in the sandwich. Good choices include:
Salmon and cucumber
Egg, cress and cucumber
Peanut butter and banana
Tsatizki, feta cheese and green pepper
Tuna and sweetcorn mayonnaise
Chicken salad and salad cream
But the lunch box shouldn´t just be inventive with the sandwich. Traditionally they are padded out with crisps, chocolate bars and sugary drinks.
But other options include vegetables sticks (carrots and pepper) with a hummus dip, cubes of cheese, breadsticks and dips, potato salad, coleslaw, pasta salad, fruit (fresh, dried or canned) and yoghurts or a fromage frais.
Plain water is the best drink for your child throughout the day. Otherwise try a pure fruit juice in a carton with the meal. For more innovative lunch box ideas why not visit our top tips and activities section of the site.
Weight issues
The diet of school children needs to provide enough energy for growth and development and most of this energy should come from the starchy foods group (bread, other cereals and potatoes).
Unfortunately this is not usually the case and far too much energy is derived from high fat foods. Sugar intake is also generally higher than recommended.
The energy provided by sugary foods is a short-term energy only and provides no other useful nutrients.
A diet high in fat and sugar will almost certainly cause too much weight gain, but for most school-aged children it is the combination of a high fat diet and reduced levels of physical activity that is the problem. Weight gain above that associated with normal growth in childhood is bad news as many overweight children become overweight adults.
If your child is overweight it is important that you don´t make too much of an issue of it in front of them. You don´t want them to be hung up on their weight through their teenage years.
Instead try to encourage plenty of physical activity why not do more exercise as a family and make it fun by visiting our top tips and activities section of the site! You can also make sure that your child´s snacks are low in fat and sugar and that they´re not eating too many cakes, biscuits, crisps, chocolates and sugary drinks. If they are cut these down steadily and start to replace them with more nutrientrich snacks such as fruits, vegetables, small amounts of cheese and yoghurts.
You could start to introduce lower fat dairy products which will still provide your child with calcium and protein.
If you are particularly concerned about your child´s weight you should seek advice from your GP.