You sowed a few seeds in the ground but did not care about their development, what do you expect?
If your answer is a big healthy tree, you may be disappointed, as seeding is not just enough, although the seed may sprout into a plant in its natural course of growth if you are ambitious about its development you need to nourish the seed.
Now just replace this scenario with a kid at your home, YES! he will grow in age, height and weight but if he is taken care of at the dietary level, he may outgrow the others of his age.
Good nutrition supports your child’s health, growth, and development, A healthy diet stabilizes your child’s energy, keeps their bones strong, supports their mental health, promotes a healthy weight, and prevents chronic diseases.
Nutrishilp advocates saying Hi Five to your child. Saying it literally and loudly will make their day and applying it to their diet will make them healthier and less prone to disease.
The HI Five are five food groups –
1.Grain (cereal) foods
Always choose wholegrain and/or high-fibre varieties of bread, cereals, rice, pasta, noodles, etc. Refined grain products (such as cakes or biscuits) can be high in added sugar, fat and sodium.
The less processed the grains, the better.
2.Pulses and legumes
All pulses share an important characteristic: they contain a similar amount of proteins to meat, although their nutritional quality is lower than proteins from animal sources (provided by eggs, meat, fish and dairy products), as they do not contain certain amino acids that the body needs. In any case, this is not a problem. In particular, pulses lack methionine and cysteine, substances that are found in cereal-based proteins. These, in turn, lack an essential amino acid, lysine, which is present in legumes. Consequently, all you have to do is combine pulses with cereals for them to complement each other, resulting in a highly nutritious mixture.
To ensure a perfect combination, half of the proteins should come from pulses and the other half from cereals. In practice, you can prepare a combination consisting of two-thirds cereals and one-third pulses, which are more or less the proportions recommended for preparing many dishes, such as pasta with chickpeas, beans, rice or peas.
3.Nuts and oil seeds
Our bodies use the protein we eat to make specialised chemicals such as haemoglobin and adrenalin. Protein also builds, maintains, and repairs the tissues in our body. Muscles and organs (such as your heart) are primarily made of protein.
Nuts and oilseeds are dense in nutrition with excellent flavour.
Crunchy, filling, and nutritious, nuts are fantastic food to have on hand.
They’re a good source of fibre, healthy fats, and plant protein. Plus, they’re great on their own, paired with fruit, or added to dishes like salads, desserts, and grains.
Due to the dense nutrition profile of nuts and oilseeds such as garden cress seeds, gingelly seeds etc., they provide several health benefits- lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, help in weight management, lower the risk of diabetes, prevent cancer and osteoporosis.
4.Fruits and Vegetables
Fruit: Fruit provides vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and many phytonutrients (nutrients naturally present in plants), that help the body stay healthy.
Eat plenty of fruits of all colours.
Choose whole fruits or sliced fruits (rather than fruit juices; limit fruit juice to one small glass per day).
Vegetables – Vegetables should make up a large part of your daily food intake and should be encouraged at every meal (including snack times). They provide vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and phytonutrients (nutrients naturally present in plants) to help your body stay healthy.
A balanced diet for kids contains plenty of fruits and vegetables, along with whole grains and protein.
The more veggies – and the greater the variety – the better.
Potatoes and French fries don’t count as vegetables because of their negative impact on blood sugar.
5.Dairy /Poultry / Meat
The foods in this group are excellent sources of calcium, which is essential for strong and healthy bones. Not many other foods in our diet contain as much calcium as these foods.
Choose unflavoured milk, plain yogurt, small amounts of cheese, and other unsweetened dairy foods.
Additionally, fish, eggs, and poultry can also serve as a good source of protein for kids. Also, meat can be a rich source of vitamins, minerals, protein and healthy fat.
It’s also important to remember that fat is a necessary part of our diet, and what matters most is the type of fat we eat. We should regularly choose foods with healthy unsaturated fats (such as fish, nuts, seeds, and healthy oils from plants), limit foods high in saturated fat (especially red meat), and avoid unhealthy trans fats (from partially hydrogenated oils):
Use healthy oils from plants like extra virgin olive, canola, corn, sunflower, and peanut oil in cooking, on salads and vegetables, and at the table. Limit butter to occasional use.
6.Water
It’s always important for kids to meet their daily fluid needs. Water is abundant in the brain, heart, lungs, skin, and even bones. The vital nutrient helps control body temperature, supports healthy digestion, brings wastes out of the body, prevents constipation, and much more. Keep reading to learn how much water your kid should drink, with tips for staying hydrated throughout the day.
7.EAT A RAINBOW
Why are there so many songs about rainbows? Because they’re amazing and beautiful—not just in the sky, but also on the dining table! “Eating a rainbow” helps your body get a complete range of nutrien
What does it mean to eat a rainbow?
Choosing a variety of different coloured whole foods throughout the day and week.
The more naturally occurring colours on your plate at each meal or snack, the better.
It does not mean making a rainbow with artificially coloured foods (gummy snacks, soda, popsicles, etc.) but natural food.
Nutrishilp recommends a plate that’s half-full of colourful veggies with the other half split between lean protein and whole grains (like whole wheat pasta or brown rice).
What to avoid –
Parents should aim to limit their child’s calories from:
Added sugar. Naturally occurring sugars, such as those in fruit and milk, aren’t added sugars. Examples of added sugars include brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup and honey. To avoid added sugar, check nutrition labels. Choose cereals with minimal added sugars. Avoid sodas and other drinks with added sugars. Limit juice servings. If your child drinks juice, make sure it’s 100% juice without added sugars.
Saturated fats. Saturated fats mainly come from animal sources of food, such as red meat, hot dogs, poultry, butter and other full-fat dairy products. Pizza, sandwiches, burgers and burritos are common sources of saturated fat. Desserts such as cakes and ice cream are another common source of saturated fat. When cooking, look for ways to replace saturated fats with vegetable and nut oils, which provide essential fatty acids and vitamin E.
Salt. Another name for salt is sodium. Salt can hide in sandwiches, where the sodium in bread, meat, condiments and toppings adds up. Processed foods, such as pizza, pasta dishes and soup, often have high amounts of salt. Encourage snacking on fruits and vegetables instead of chips and cookies. Check nutrition labels and look for products low in sodium.
Additional tips for Parents –
It’s no surprise that parents might need some help understanding what it means to eat healthily., it can be confusing.
The good news is that you don’t need a degree in nutrition to raise healthy kids. Following some basic guidelines from Nutrishilp can help you encourage your kids to eat right and maintain a healthy weight.
Here are 8 key rules to live by:
Parents control the supply lines. You decide which foods to buy and when to serve them. Though kids will pester their parents for less nutritious foods, adults should be in charge when deciding which foods are regularly stocked in the house. Kids won’t go hungry. They’ll eat what’s available in the cupboard and fridge at home. If their favourite snack isn’t all that nutritious, you can still buy it once in a while so they don’t feel deprived.
Quit the “clean-plate club.” Let kids stop eating when they feel they’ve had enough. Lots of parents grew up under the clean-plate rule, but that approach doesn’t help kids listen to their bodies when they feel full. When kids notice and respond to feelings of fullness, they’re less likely to overeat.
Start them young. Food preferences are developed early in life, so offer variety. Likes and dislikes begin forming even when kids are babies. You may need to serve a new food a few different times for a child to accept it. Don’t force a child to eat, but offer a few bites. With older kids, ask them to try one bite.
Rewrite the kids’ menu. Who says kids only want to eat hot dogs, pizza, burgers, and macaroni and cheese? When eating out, let your kids try new foods and they might surprise you with their willingness to experiment. You can start by letting them try a little of whatever you ordered or ordering an appetizer for them to try.
Drink calories count. Soda and other sweetened drinks add extra calories and get in the way of good nutrition. Water and milk are the best drinks for kids. Juice is fine when it’s 100%, but kids don’t need much of it — 4 to 6 ounces a day is enough for pre-schoolers.
Put sweets in their place. Occasional sweets are fine but don’t turn dessert into the main reason for eating dinner. When dessert is the prize for eating dinner, kids naturally place more value on the cupcake than the broccoli. Try to stay neutral about foods.
Food is not love. Find better ways to say “I love you.” When foods are used to reward kids and show affection, they may start using food to cope with stress or other emotions. Offer hugs, praise, and attention instead of food treats.
Limit screen time. When you do, you’ll avoid mindless snacking and encourage activity. Research has shown that kids who cut down on TV watching also reduced their percentage of body fat. When TV and computer time are limited, they’ll find more active things to do. And limiting “screen time” means you’ll have more time to be active together.
“As they say Example is better than precept; before and after all the suggestions and tips it’s equally important to be the perfect Role model for your child, be strict with yourself along with designing the dietary chart for the kid.”
Shilpi Goel, Dietician and Wellness Expert, Founder Nutrishilp
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