Good nutrition doesn't have to be complicated – for
most children, and parents too! it boils down to eating more fruit & veg
and eating less junk food.
By encouraging good eating habits in our children
from an early age we can help to prevent health problems in later life, such
as:
- Overweight and obesity
- Heart disease & stroke
- Type 2 diabetes
- Certain cancers
You might think that these illnesses strike later
in life – and you’d be right – but they take a lifetime to develop and have
their roots in childhood. By helping our kids to eat right from an early age,
we can help them to avoid these illnesses in the future. It is up to you as a parent
to help your children get the healthy
diet, as they don't have the capability of making the correct decision when it
comes to health eating. Children follow trends and what their friends are
having, so start your children trending fresh fruit and vegetables now!
Eat More Fruit & Veg
Eating fruit and vegetables every day is vital for
good health. Worryingly, most children (and most adults!) do not eat enough of
these essential foods.
Reports from the World Health Organisation (WHO)
reckon that up to 2.7 million lives worldwide could be saved every year if we
simply ate more fruit and vegetables.
Experts recommend that we eat 5-10 portions of
fruit and vegetables per day – where a portion is roughly a handful. So in the
case of a small child, a small apple or a handful of chopped carrots would
count as a single portion.
Remember that the recommendation “eat 5 servings of
fruit or vegetables every day” is a minimum – 5 pieces per day is not the
target, it is the minimum that you need for long term health!
So start getting the health eating habit into your
child from as early an age as possible. And encourage cooking and baking with
your children; this will help them gain more knowledge of foods and health, and
will help them try more variety of foods. Healthy foods can be tasty foods!
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