The topic of food is always relevant, since healthy food for children is a pledge of overall health, activity of a good mood of the baby. Nutritional habits are formed in childhood, therefore it is extremely important to formulate and inoculate norms of healthy nutrition for children in the family from the very beginning of acquaintance with adult food. Children early begin to show interest in adult food, so what parents eat will depend on how the child's instruction to the adult table begins. Of course, it is better if it is the right, healthy food, and not gastronomy and fast food.
The rules of healthy eating for children consist of many basic principles, the basic ones of which are simple:
- soups without broths and fries;
- simple food is preferable to heavy multicomponent dishes;
- methods of cooking - cooking, baking, steaming;
- absence of a large number of bakery products on the table;
- minimizing the use of sugar;
- Exclusion of harmful foods, such as shop confectionery, soda, chips and other food, full of dyes and preservatives.
The key to success in shaping the habits of healthy eating for preschool children is that these principles should be the same for all members of the family, but often this is where difficulties arise. If the parents of the child relatively easily rearrange their diet in favor of the principles of correctness, then grandparents, brought up on cardinally other eating habits, often create contradictions. So, the child is given what it is easier to feed - a fried cutlet or sausage instead of a piece of baked oil without meat or meatballs . Necessary and useful products for children are replaced by unnecessary "goodies", which leads to the fact that after a while the child refuses normal food in favor of the harmful.
Pyramid of healthy food for children
In order to adequately form a diet and include in it a maximum of useful food for children, you can take advantage of the pyramid of healthy food. Its principle is the correlation of the lifestyle, activity and age of a person with the amount of consumption of a certain meal. The pyramid itself exists in two versions, old and updated. Since due to the fact that people began to spend significantly less calories than to take with food, the old rules of nutrition are outdated, it is better to focus on the updated version. Such a pyramid consists of wedge-shaped segments of different colors, each of which implies a group of products. The widest segments include the most useful products for children, the narrower ones are those products that are also necessary, but should not be the basis of the diet.
So, the food pyramid consists of the following color groups:
- Orange color is cereals. This group of foods high in carbohydrates, vitamins, fiber and low-fat. This includes cereals, bread, pasta.
- Green color is vegetables. This is an invaluable source of nutrients that are best preserved if cooked in raw form or with a minimum of heat treatment. Especially it is necessary to lean on vegetables of green and dark orange colors.
- Red color is fruits and berries. Whole fruits are preferable to sliced, mashed potatoes and juices.
- Yellow color - fats, occupies a small segment. And the main amount of fat is recommended to receive from plant foods.
- Blue color is dairy products. In addition to milk, this includes lactic acid products, cottage cheese , cheeses.
- Violet color combines legumes, eggs, fish and meat - foods with high protein content and essential amino acids.