As a Nutritionist, I often come across new moms  worrrying whether their babies are getting enough to eat?

What is most important to remember is that your baby’s first introduction  with  various types of foods  is more about the “experiment” and less about the food. The bulk of your child’s nutritional needs for the first year are still going to be met by breast milk .Here are few tips that will reduce your worry and help you in feeding your lo better:

Right Time: While some moms do start feeding ‘top’ foods by 4 months, medically it is found that your baby’s stomach is still weak to take in foods other than breast milk at this stage. Delaying introduction of ‘top’ foods is also not recommended  as they need added nutrients after 6 months of age.

Thus, starting on solids at the age of 5- 6 months is optimum. This journey is also broken up month wise below so your lil one progresses from purees to whole foods in this period.

 

Baby weight : The second most important thing – do not worry about their weight (unless there’s a weight reduction)!Each baby is unique. Some are fast gainers. Some are slow gainers. As babies slow down their growth, they’ll be less hungry on average (although 60% of their intake is feeding their brains rather than the rest of their developing bodies). Appetite also varies from day to day. Some days, babies will be ravenous all-consuming beasts. Other days, there’s not a mashed banana in the world that’ll interest them.

Expose them to as many as different foods as possible: The first couple of years of a child’s life can establish life-long taste preferences and their metabolic environment.Introduce them to a variety of whole foods,fresh fruits and veggies avoiding the packaged food as far as possible.

Schedule meals:Have regular meals and snacks scheduled, rather than letting kids graze all day. Only offer water in between meals.

Do not force feed:Babies are best at knowing how much food to eat, and show satisfaction or fullness by turning away, shaking their head “no” or showing general disinterest. Encouraging your baby to eat more may undermine his natural ability to self-regulate his eating and may even teach him to overeat. Buy baby sized bowls and containers to judge if she has eaten enough.

Include baby at family meal time:Separating your baby from the family meal experience may seem efficient, but your baby learns by watching others eat. She learns about food variety and texture, and experiences eating as a family. Include baby at mealtime as soon and as much as possible.

Don’t distract : Avoid distracting your baby with phones, tv, books or toys while she’s eating from the very beginning. Let her experience food uninterrupted.

 

How to introduce various foods- Baby’s first solid foods can be served cold, slightly warm or at room temperature.

Step 1: Cereals

Cereals are often introduced in form of porridges. Don’t restrict to rice or suji. Introduce millets and other grains as well. Not only they will provide more variety but also host of essential nutrients. Ragi porridge, makhana porridge, daliya porridge, jawar porridge, barley porridge can be introduced.Use your own breast milk for preparing the porridges. Don’t sweeten the taste by adding things like mashed bananas, applesauce or sugar — first, because it’s best to introduce only one food at a time, and second, because it’s better for baby to acquire a taste for plain before you sweeten it up.

Step 2: Vegetables

Vegetables are full of nutrients and not as sweet as fruits. Start with easily digestible milder  white, yellow or orange options such as potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots before moving on to the green team, like capsicum, broccoli which have slightly stronger flavours and comparatively difficult to digest.

Step 3: Fruit

Introduce fruit after vegetables. You can try things like mashed banana, mango or papaya as such or with breast milk or cooked and puréed fruit (such as pears, peaches, or apples). For something completely different, start with smoothed-down mashed or pureed ripe avocado — it’s creamy, yummy and loaded with healthy fats.

 Step 4: Higher-protein foods like pulses, beans, legumes ,chicken, meat

Once baby has already adapted well with cereals, vegetables and fruits, start with mashed dals, beans ,chicken soup or mashed chicken breast. Soak the pulses and beans before cooking to make them easily digestible. Preferably use organic chicken for babies.

 

A month wise guide for food introduction
Age	Cereals	Veggies	Fruit
6 – 7 months	Dal paani Rice paani Barley water	Carrot-beet soup Pumpkin  puree Potato puree	Apple puree Banana puree Pear puree
7 – 8 months	Ragi porridge Daliya porridge Makhana porridge Sabudana kheer Wheat halwa	Doodhi puree Beet-potato puree French bean puree Sweet potato puree Beet Halwa	Avocado puree Apple-cinnamon puree Papaya – banana puree Kiwi mashed
9 – 10 months	Carrot khichdi/tomato khichdi/lauki khichdi/palak khichdi/pumpkin khichdi Pancakes Uttapa Besan Chilla/Ragi Dosa Yogurt Carrot sticks/Apple or cucumber slices Mini idli Dosa Barley porridge Almond Halwa Rice with Sambar/Dal/Rasam
11 – 12 months	Introduce everything that is prepared at home. Stop cooking separately.

 

My favourite recipes to get you started

Barley and Sweet Potato Balls

Ingredients:

• 1 cup soft cooked pearled barley (not pureed)
• 1 cup cooked sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup apple or peach puree
• pinch of cinnamon or ginger powder

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.

Shape into small bite sized “balls” or plops for your lil one.

 

Ragi Porridge

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons ragi Flour (Finger Millet)

1/2 Cup water

50 ml breast milk Or formula

Directions:

In a small pan, add 1/2 cup water and 2 tablespoons of ragi powder. Stir well to combine before placing it on heat.

Once combined, place it on heat and keep stirring the baby ragi porridge continuously until it thickens.

Once done, turn off the heat and allow it to cool completely.

Add in the breast milk or formula and stir until all combines well.

 

Apple & Avocado Mash

Ingredients

Ingredients:

Half an avocado, mashed with fork

1/2 cup of steamed and blended apples

2-3 drops of fresh lime juice

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together. Scoop onto a tray or into a baby bowl for your little one!

 

Banana Spinach Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 ripe banana

1 C spinach

1 egg

1/2 C whole wheat flour

1/2 C milk of choice

1 tsp butter

Instructions

Add all the ingredients except butter to a blender and blend until a smooth batter is formed.

Heat the  butter in a frying pan over a medium  heat.

Once hot add two tablespoon of the mixture to the pan to form  pancake.

Heat for 1 to 2 minutes until bubbles form on the surface of the pancake. Flip and cook for a further minute.

Serve as it is or with  yoghurt.

 

Baked Pumpkin Sticks

Ingredients

Pumpkin peeled and cut into sticks

Coconut oil

Seasonings of your choice

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place the pumpkin on a wire rack or pan and drizzle with oil. Bake for 40 minutes with 20 minutes for each side till they become golden brown. Season it as per your choice.

 

Makhana Kheer

Ingredients

1/2  cup makhana

1½ cup  milk

Jaggery to taste

1/2 tsp almond powder

A pinch of cardamom powder

1 tsp ghee

Directions

Heat ghee in a pan and add makhana to it. Roast them on low flame for 5-7 minutes  until they become crisp . Take care not to burn them by stirring.

Remove the roasted makhana and allow them to cool down and then grind in a grinder.

Meanwhile to the same pan add milk and heat. Add jaggery ,almond powder and cardamom powder to it and cook until the milk reduces and thickens.

Add powdered makhana to the reduced sweetened milk. Stir well and cook the kheer for another 2-3 minutes.

 

Uma Narula is an award winning practising Nutritionist since 12 years.If you have any queries regarding your baby’s health or your own weight loss and nutrition you can email at uma@nutriguide.co.in or call  on +91 99676 35556 / +32 468 29 79 49.

Visit us @ www.umanarula.com.

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As a  Nutritionist, I am in agony to plan healthy eating routine for a teen weighing more than a 100kg or suffering from Type II diabetes or  diagnosed with high cholesterol. It’s a scary future we are heading towards. It disturbs me even more because all these conditions are highly preventable and reversible.

In most health surveys done worldwide, it is found that children are consuming far too much saturated fat, sugar and salt and not enough fruit and vegetables.

“Teenage girls are facing the risk of illnesses like cancer, heart disease, strokes and diabetes in later life by eating fewer than three servings of fruit and vegetables every day” – as per the Hindustan Times.

A recent  diet survey in Beijing found that nearly two-thirds of students favoured sugary beverages and weren’t drinking enough water.

A UK Health report has equally bad findings stating children eat 50 per cent more added sugars than the recommended maximum and 25 per cent more saturated fat.

80% of US teens have an unhealthy diet.

1 in 3 Australian kid buys unhealthy takeaway meal daily.

Modern day  couch potato lifestyle has adversely affected our kids. Chronic diseases and mental health problems have started  to hamper the health of much younger groups- younger than we can imagine!

All one needs to control this scary scenario is to Eat Healthy ,Eat Natural and Eat Real. We as parents have to ensure to guide our kids right from the early years. The importance of eating right and worth of healthy body.

 

What is a well-balanced diet?

A well-balanced diet is one that contains enough (neither less nor more) of all food groups and hence nutrients. It is a perfect blend of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. All from natural food and not out of a packet.

Where do we go wrong?

One main indicator is the changing patterns in food availability- more packaged than real and the increase in convenient easy to source food.

This becomes a bigger problem because parents are not aware of all the harmful effects of the entire bag of chips or packet of biscuits, colas and instant noodles their kids consume.

Popular advertisements showcase teens preparing their own pasta and noodles but these processed foods are extremely harmful in the long run.

The result from such a lifestyle is that we are taking in chemicals, hazardous trans fat, high saturated fat,  excessive salt, artificial colouring and harmful preservatives. It’s not just about your child’s weight or  waistline, but an unbalanced diet  breaks almost every aspect of the body. What goes on your child’s plate, has an impact on everything: his productivity, memory, growth, and his overall health in later years of life.

If your child regularly feel gassy, constipated, always hungry, depressed, frequent bad moods, fatigued, cold, break out into rashes, have low immunity and avoid entire food group all together – then he is a candidate for an unbalanced diet.

 

Why are teens more subject to unbalanced diets?

 Do you see your child opening the fridge or food cupboard once in two hours? Do they crave pizza or chips or ice-cream?

As teenagers grow and develop, it’s normal for them to feel hungry frequently. Your child’s body is going through a major growth spurt and extra food provides extra energy and nutrients to support this. The more instant-energy processed carbs they eat, the more unbalanced their diet will be.

What to feed? Refer to our blog Easy Healthy Snack ideas for Kids for details.(http://umanarula.com/blog/2018/06/10/easy-to-prepare-healthy-snack-ideas-for-kids/)

 

How frequently your child eats outside food?

 Today’s trend veers more towards eating or ordering from out versus preparing at home – by this we cede our control over the quality of ingredients in the food that we are consuming to nourish our body. Also, not practicing proper meal times has become a part of our modern lifestyle today. But whatever you prepare at home even if its pizza or cheese fondue will be healthier than what you get outside.

Try and cook more at home – cook in batches if required – pre-prep ingredients – make it a family activity – but cook at home!

Planning and doing same may seem a little daunting at first, but is easily do-able once you get the hang of it. Well-planned meals will then become second nature to you.

How is your teen affected by social media and peers?

Social media, celebrities, peer pressure all lead our kids towards fad diets. Keto, Paleo, Lemon Detox, General Motors, Atkins…all contribute towards no balance. While they work short-term, over time they deplete the body of vital nutrients.

I find many teenage girls lacking in iron, calcium and other essential vitamins and minerals, irrespective of their age.

Your child need to know how every  bite that they put into their bodies affects them. Educating your child about  wholesome meal habits is an ongoing continuous process.

 

Tips to educate your child

• Show kids what “eating right” looks like: If eating healthy is routine for you, it will be for your child as well. You are your child’s best role model.
• Help them choose healthy: Visit a local farmer’s market over a supermarket. Processed options automatically get cut down.
• Create a healthy food environment: Involve your kids in meal planning,grocery shopping ,chopping the veggies, finding out a new recipe. These tasks are great bonding activities. Help your kids gain ownership and eat better.
• Avoid calling foods “good” or “bad”: All foods have a place in your plate. Instead of saying this is good or bad for you, make it fun to differentiate. Good foods such as whole foods can be green lighted, lesser healthy foods like vada pau can be orange and biscuits and French fries need not be off limits but are red-lighted in their minds. How? Read Further.
• Discuss how food affects the body: Discuss all good things about healthy eating and how it affects their body rather than just telling them to eat this not that. Explanation matters and clicks them.
• Make meals fun: You don’t need to lecture on good food during meal times. If pav-bhaji is on the menu today, add your hidden veggies inside. If pizza is demanded, add a salad as well. Make meal times happy, satisfying and a time to bond.
• Talk about portion size. It’s not just what kids eat that matter.Right Portions and timings matter too.
• Limit sweets.Explain why excess sweets can make them feel yucky from inside! Offer fresh fruit for desserts and limit treats to two or three times a week to keep cravings for sweets in check.
• Help kids stay in touch with their “hunger cues.”: Help your kid determine their own appetite and understand how much is enough. Chewing slowly, banning screens, portion control, tasting what they eat are all pointers to help them pay attention to how much they’re eating and when they’ve had enough.
• Change their meeting place: Rather than meeting up with their friends at the local cafe, suggest a food outlet that serves healthier foods or at swimming pool or basketball club or may be just a garden for a walk.

If you still think your child needs to lose or gain weight, do not self-diet. Speak to a nutritionist – this will help you chart out the best healthy eating routine  for your child as per his specific requirements.

 

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The Nutritionist in me cannot deny the significance of snacking for kids. Snacks often get a bad reputation but if chosen wisely they are integral fillers in between big meals. Kids grow fast and need frequent refuelling. Snacks are saviours to meet the daily nutrient requirements of our kids.

Being a mommy , I can relate well to one of our pet peeves as moms ‘kitna variety banao?’. Breakfast, Tiffins, lunch, after-school snacks and dinner….

That’s a bit too much to take in everyday…especially since most moms are working now and our kids have an equally packed schedule post-school with their classes, tuitions,sports etc.

So how do we solve this conundrum without having to resort to sugary, fatty and junk. To keep them from grabbing chips or cola, let’s  get savvy with snacks for kids.

First things first!

Always Have A Plan

We take out time once a week and plan our family’s menu- Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner,right? Include after school snacks too in the planning. You might need to make an energy dense heavy snack for the day your child goes for basket ball straight after school while a bowl of fruits will do on days when it’s an art activity.

Once you know what kind of snack you need to prepare, it sorts out your mental clutter drastically.

 

Have Your Ingredients Ready

Shop for the week once your meal and snack timetable is ready. It will save you grocery runs in the middle of  week. And will also help avoid those impulse chips, cake and cookie buys too.

 

Keep Your fridge and Snack Cupboard Stocked

Teens and even younger kids have mood swings and get bored easily. You may plan to make the favourite and yummiest sandwich or wrap, and your kid will be like ‘not this today, please give me something else!’

Have stuff that you can fall back on. It may be peanut butter, hummus, dips, fruits, rawa, yoghurt, rice flour, oats, besan, green chutney, khajoor chutney, corn kernels, boiled potato or sweet potato anything that your family likes and eats readily.

Now, you can offer your young one something that’s handy and they like .It avoids the fights and the power matches. You may also consider involving your little one while planning the menu to avoid such situation frequently.

Beware: You will feed what you stock , so choose wisely and stock healthy!

 

Involve the Kids and Have fun

As moms, we are always in search of that new recipe – be it online, on what’s app, from the colleague’s tiffin or something your friend made at home…’kaise banaya?’ becomes our favourite question 😊.

Listen and learn, but adapt it to your family taste and likes. Don’t be afraid to experiment and include your children in your experiments…they might just get hooked on to.

Talk to your child about the new recipe you came across or ask him to youtube an easier version of same recipe. Involve them in meal planning, simple pre preparations like stirring the batter or packing their own tiffin. Not only will they eat better but they are nice bonding activities too!

Include junk in limits

Totally cutting off their favourite treats is going to result in one sulky kid! Include their favourite treats but as part of a snack – never make that the full meal. Include a cookie along with bowl of fruits or a some chips along with dosa. This  not only cut downs the junk but  also ensures more healthy intake.Special junk treats can be reserved for special occasions.

 

 

Make the food look interesting

Always remember, kids eat with their eyes. The way you present snacks makes a lot of difference.Try experimenting with interesting shapes, bright colours,contrasting textures to make the food look more appealing. Time pressed? Buy a new  tiffin or a nice colourful plate. See the difference this simple change brings in the way,your child eats the same old snack. For a child going to a class straight after class, you might want to provide a mini hamper of one heavy snack, a drink and a small sweet. You can even include a nice note if your driver or maid is assisting them to and fro. It makes them feel special and they will happily eat what you’ve sent.

Cute cherry tomato case I bought to make plain cherry tomatoes look interesting!

 

Now for some quick, healthy and yummy snack ideas!

Here’s a list of easy to prepare snack ideas and some tips that you can use as a reference for your meal-planning.

Fruit Smoothies & Sorbets

Don’t give up on a chance to serve those fruits and veggies! Combine interesting combinations into smoothies or shakes adding a little nuts or dry fruits or freeze them as sorbets for later.

Veggie Sticks & Dips

Cut veggie sticks with dips is another quick pick me up. Experiment as much as you like with yogurt based dips, hummus, guacamole or salsas.

Ready to eat Fruits & Veggies

Fruits or veggies of choice can be kept ready and chilled before your kid comes home. Let them eat them as soon as they come. They can have them plain or with  tangy chaat masala.

PS: Let the child pick fruits and veggies of their choice, take them for grocery shopping,let them experiment with different flavours and textures. Don’t force for a particular fruit or veggie.

Experiment with bread – go beyond a sandwich

Use whole-wheat bread, tacos, pita bread, pizza bases, mini burger buns, large subway rolls for more variety. Can be fashioned into mini sandwiches and roll ups as well.

Make your fillings in advance with healthy ingredients, say paneer or crushed chickpeas or mixed veggies or oiled potato or unprocessed cheese . That way you only need to take out your filling and use it on a wrap or sandwich.

Roti ,wraps or rolls

Here’s one space to get experimental with ingredients.

• You can mix flours (soya, wheat, corn or some local millets) to make your roti base. Spinach /beetroot/pumpkin can be blanched and added to the flour to make it more healthy and interesting.
• Toppings can be Indianised, Chinese, Lebanese whatever you prefer, will bring a twist.
• You may use finely cut veggies, corn kernels or separate some boiled beans or chickpeas or potatoes which you plan to prepare for dinner.

Dosas/Chillas

Doss can be of traditional rice and pulse, multi-grain, semolina(rawa), local millets(Jawar,bajra,nachni) and even oats. An interesting instant combination can be semolina(rawa), besan(gram flour). Moong dal chillas are a great way to get those sprouts in.

 Pancakes

• Pancakes again can be sweet or savoury. Use  whole wheat flour instead of refined flour.Can include some home-made almond flour in them if your kid is not a fan of whole dry fruits.
• You may even add beetroot for a fun pink pancake or pumpkin for golden yellow.

Left-over magic

How to reuse food is an art and a necessity for all of us.

• Left-over rotis: can be made into a khakra, can be torn into strips and made into a bhel, can be cut into small pieces, topped and served as quesedillas.
• Left over idli: simply break into pieces, temper and serve.
• Left-over dal/pulses: Knead them in a dough and prepare base for the roll or wrap.
• Left-over veggies: can be fashioned into rolls or sandwiches.

Bhel Varieties

We Indians love our chaat! Instead of just sev puri or alu tikki, try these ideas as well. Try sweet potato or sprouted green moong chaat or corn bhel or chana chaat. They are simpler to prepare and light on tummy too.

Traditional snacks

Stay in touch with your roots. Be it thepla, moong dal vade, ragda pattice, sabudana vada, uttapams, dahi vada, rasam vada – let your children enjoy the taste of their heritage. Try healthier cooking methods. Like baking the potatoes for ragda pattice or roasting the vada in rasam vada makes the unhealthy, super healthy.

Baked Falafel with veggies!

 

Stay Tuned! Our next write up on Ensure Balanced Diet for Kids -Coming soon.

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It’s that time of the year again! Twitching nerves,tantrums,late night memorising, mock tests and revisions. Mommies not only worry about syllabus and marks. But bother more about feeding the right foods to their precious children during this stressful period.  Can  food choices make a difference on how  your child cope with exam stress and perform better? The answer is YES.

Almost all of us growing up had  soaked almonds every morning for memory retention, some of us were fed sprouts and our moms made sure we had midnight snacks to munch on…

What you feed not only affects your child’s mood, alter (exam induced) stress levels and promote calmness but also has power to improve concentration and memory. Nutrients such as vitamin C, B6, Zinc, Magnesium, Potassium, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) and amino acid tyrosine are required for synthesis and proper functioning of adrenal hormones- the most important stress fighting hormone. Brain needs 20% of all glucose, 35% of all vitamins and minerals, 40% of all water, and a fat 50% of fats in our bodies. Though everyone’s capacity for learning is different – but there is one way to ensure your brain is ready to absorb all the information -the right diet, packed with brain-boosting foods.

So here we have top tips about how the perfect balance of foods  will keep kids  focused and energized, alert yet calm:           

Provide small frequent meals: Small, frequent and nutritious meals make sure that children have a constant flow of steady nourishment keeping them alert and awake.

Ensure a fresh prepared protein rich breakfast: Oats, Upma, Pongal, Moong Dal Dosa,Besan Cheela,adai dosa,Sprouts etc are great options with a low glycemic index which provide a constant and steady supply of glucose.

Avoid sugar, cakes, cookies, caffeine: Minimise intake of white flour, sweetened beverages and sugar. Avoid packaged and junk food as they are packed with chemicals, preservatives, pesticide residues, and possibly unknown GMOs.  Body has to fight these and that means less energy for your brain.

Prepare light dinners: Heavy dinners like rich gravies,biryani etc are difficult to digest. Serve light dinners including fresh veggie soups or salads to help kids to wake up with a more active mind and body.

Be well-organised in meal planning: Pre-planning snacks and meals ensure that food is ready whenever your child has an urge thus negating the need to reach out to packaged ready to eat foods. Also, it reduces your stress on what to feed next!

Smart snacking can enhance studying: Provide smart snacks like fresh fruits and peanut butter, dry fruits, soaked nuts,roasted seeds, roasted whole grains, soups, salads, almond milk or yogurt, to prevent swings in blood sugars and cravings. Try to get two food groups into your snacks to balance the nutrients.

Get Enough Sleep:Not getting enough sleep may negatively affect your memory and slow your responses. Small snacks such as  cup of Almond Milk, yogurt or some fruit may help you sleep better.

Include these Brain Boosting Foods:

By including brain-rich foods in your child’s diet, you can give your child a fresh start in the mornings and keep fatigue at bay. At the same time respect your child’s choices and do not force for something in particular . Let him pick his favourite from the food groups mentioned.

 Nuts & Seeds: Packed with healthy fats(the much needed omega 3),proteins and bunch of vitamins and minerals nuts and seeds top the list of brain foods.They are easy to eat, easy to incorporate into other healthy foods, and easily portable. Almonds,cashew,pistacho,walnut,hazelnut -let your child pick their favourite. Flax seeds ,pumpkin, sunflower -let them lie roasted on your kid’s study table.

Fresh fruits : Choose adequate amount of fresh fruits  as power packed snacks in between big meals.

Green Leafy Veggies:Vegetables especially  green leafy vegetables, broccoli are known to enhance cognitive function and brain power. Being rich in folic acid they help in clearing homocysteine an amino acid that causes cognitive decline and preserves cellular health.

Water: Give your child plenty of fluids(buttermilk,coconut water,turmeric tea,ginger tea,lemon water) to remain well hydrated as lack of water can lead to tiredness, headaches, reduced alertness and diminished concentration.

Well enough of  “gyan”! Now how to put all this to practice?

To ensure practical application of the above tips talk to your child, let him know the importance of correct eating pattern and picking up right foods. Make him understand how it will help him stay calm and improve cognition.The more you explain the reason behind inclusion or exclusion of any particular food, more likely they will follow.

Good Luck!!

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Childhood Obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21^st century. As per WHO going by current trends 70 million children will be obese by 2025.Overweight and obese children are likely to stay obese in adulthood and more likely to develop lifestyle disorders like Diabetes.

 

India has the second highest number of obese children in the world after China as per the Huffington Post dated June 2017. A three-year long pan-India study by Fortis Hospital’s SRL Laboratories on 17,000 school going children, found that 66 per cent of children in India have abnormally high blood sugar levels causing the cases of type-2 diabetes to spike ten times.

 

With such serious health issues at such an early stage, most of these children could potentially face irreversible damage to growth, heart, kidney and other vital organs. This is happening primarily because we are feeding our kids the food they shouldn’t be touching and encouraging them to be more sedentary. The two factors combined are a ticking time bomb.

 

Let’s all consider with an open heart and mind that we have everything at our fingertips to restore our health. It’s all right under our nose. It’s our mouth, and what we put into it! From today forward let’s do some new things. Let’s make some better decisions. Let’s become informed and take our power back. Let’s come to a place where we know that we can live healthy and disease free for many more years. We can fight this together:  small changes are the recipe for success!

 

Learn to disassociate food with emotions

Children often associate hunger with mood swings. If they are feeling low, they eat an ice cream or bite into a chocolate. Parents must  talk to their children about their feelings, they should teach them that negative feelings cannot be overcome by eating high-calorie foods.

 

Reduce Portion Size

Junk food joints like pizza and burger stops have become a hot spot for all children and is a treat or weekend food. Unfortunately, we don’t realise the rate of development of mind and body in children decreases with junk food due to the empty calories it provides. Above all portion sizes at quick service restaurants have grown throughout the years.

Behavioral research shows that environmental cues — such as large plates and big cups — encourage us to eat and drink more than if plates and cups were smaller, so consider scaling back on plate and cup size for everyone in the family.

Provide Small Frequent Meals

Eating frequently can also help keep hunger at bay. Active children may need to eat two or three nutritious snacks in addition to three meals a day. Snacking, like eating frequency, may not be related to obesity. Kids like to snack, and it can be a good way to increase nutrient intake. Just keep the snacks healthy (fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts and low-fat dairy foods) and keep portion sizes small. Remember, snacks should not be meal replacements.

Make favourite dishes healthier

Some of your favourite recipes can be healthier with a few changes. Add plenty of vegetables, fruits and whole-grain products wherever possible. Use low-fat or non-fat milk or dairy products. Choose lean meats, poultry, fish, lentils and beans for protein. Replace sugar with dates,raisins,figs. Changing the cooking method also helps.

 

Remove Packaged Food temptations

Do not reward completion of meals with sweet desserts.Treats are okay in moderation, but limiting high-fat and high-sugar or salty food packets which are often addictive,  also help your children develop healthy eating habits. Packed cereals, cookies, cakes, chips are fat laden, full of refined sugar and rich in countless chemicals which not only harms the body but also stimulates the brain causing  hyperactivity and attention deficit.

Say No to Diet Food or Sweets

Diet foods or sweets often have sugar alcohols( which are low in calories but have adverse side effects on different body parts. Its better to feed normal sweets in limited portions than falling prey  to such marketing gimmicks.

Involve Whole Family

Whole family should stay focussed and work as a team to help the child. Parent  actions as role models have greater impact on kids rather than just being asked to follow instructions.

 

Help your kids understand the benefits of being physically active

 

Help kids stay active
Children and teens should participate in at least 60 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity most days of the week, and every day if possible. You can set a great example! Start adding physical activity to your own daily routine and encourage your child to join you. Dance, Tag team, Play soccer, skip rope…make it a family routine.

 

Reduce sedentary time. Although quiet time for reading and homework is fine, limit “screen time” (TV, video games, Internet) to no more than an hour a day.

 

 

What to do if your child has diabetes?

 

Kids who have diabetes don’t need to be on strict diets, but they do need to pay attention to when they eat and what’s on their plates. Why? Because it helps them keep their blood sugar levels in check.

Ideally your child should consume plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Carbohydrate intake should be consistent. Their diet need not be ‘boring bland food’ and with a few changes, the entire family can move towards a more well-balanced diet.

 

Keep Track

Keep a record of your child’s carb intake, insulin doses, and blood sugar readings. These numbers can help you to understand if his meal plan is working.

 

At times understanding what and how much to feed to a diabetic child can be a challenge. Unfortunately, there’s no set formula to tell you how your child’s body will process different foods. But, as time passes, you’ll learn more about how your child’s favourites affect his or her blood sugar, and then you can learn to make up for them. A Nutritionist  can help you create a meal plan that fits your child’s health goals, food preferences and lifestyle.We at Nutriguide help parents and the community become more knowledgeable about holistic nutrition.We enable children make healthier choices everyday.Preventing or reversing Childhood Obesity, Diabetes and shaping positive eating behaviour in your fussy toddler or picky teenager.

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Uma Narula is an award winning practising Nutritionist since 10 years.If you have any queries you can email  on uma@nutriguide.co.in or call  on +91 99676 35556/+32 468 29 79 49.