Incorporating more fruits and vegetables into your child's diet:
Adding fruits and vegetables is
another great and simple way to start improving your child's nutrition.
Fruits and veggies come in their own handy packages, are easy to prepare, and full of important nutrients that growing bodies need. Remember, whole fruit is best, e.g. apple with skin on, - this way they will be getting the most nutrients which often lie just beneath the skin, the right amount of soluble fibre (increase bulk) and insoluble fibre (move it along the colon)
meaning fuller for longer and better balanced blood sugar (unlike the skyrocketing effect fruit juices have).
Of course, not all children will love all fruits and veggies right away, so here are some tips to address common problems:
Problem: Children don’t like the taste
of vegetables.
Solution: Prepare vegetables differently. Try roasting, making into a soup, sneaking veggies into a shake with fruit, or serving them raw as crudites or different shapes. And remember, it might require ten or more tries and plenty of encouragement (hide the frustration/anger) before a child embraces a new food. So give it time. Keep trying new options and remember organic often tastes so much better than non,
so grab the specials where you can if price is an issue. And keep looking for ways to incorporate veggies into meals.
Problem: Preparation seems inconvenient or difficult.
Solution: Keep prepared vegetables such as pre-washed baby veggies handy (I prepare a cup full of vege crudités for the day and leave it in
the fridge for our little sticky fingers). Involve children in vegetable and fruit prep — even young children can do things like snap the ends off green beans, mash avocados, or tear up lettuce for salad. The more involved children are, the more likely they are to try new foods.
Problem: No access
Solution: Keep vegetables at home and at school. Rearrange the fridge to make prepared vegetables accessible and less healthy alternatives harder to reach.
Problem: Fruits and vegetables aren’t cool because they don’t have their own tv ad.
Solution: Don’t rely on advertising to
make food choices. Teach kids to be media-savvy. Help them understand that advertising is designed to sell stuff – not necessarily with their well-being in mind. Let them know how real food makes them feel happy, grow taller and stronger, run faster – anything that your kid likes to do better (because it can!) And take them shopping with you. Let them explore the produce section and choose some things they’d like to try.
Problem: Peer pressure to eat non-nutritious foods
Solution: What happens around peers stays around peers. Some things you can't change. Focus on eating better at home.
Problem: Parents aren’t eating veggies.
Solution: Parents eat veggies! :o)
Note, also, that raw veggies can be risky for young kids as they can pose a choking risk. (Then again, so do hard candies, nuts, nut butters, hot dogs, and popcorn).
And all about:
Vitamins and minerals
Nutrient-poor foods consumed in place of nutrient-rich foods can lead to nutrient deficiencies.
If a child isn’t getting enough nutrients from his diet, supplementing with vitamins, minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids might be useful for cognition and behavioural health. Talk to us about this if you
are concerned.
The following are nutrients most often lacking in children’s diets, along with some good whole-food sources of those nutrients:
- Calcium – beans, greens, nuts, seeds (sesame seeds, tahini). Houmous is great as is mashed salmon (bones in),
- Iron – beans, meat, whole grains, greens (calcium can interfere with iron absorption in
littlies especially with opting for a meal of milk over food too often. Have some raw vitamin C rich foods with iron foods to help with absorption- we like squeezing some satsumas on salad with pumpkin seeds).
- Zinc – beans, meat, whole grains, fish, (oysters are best but good luck with these!)
- Vitamin A – fruits, vegetables (orange, yellow and reds especially e.g. peppers, carrots and
sweet potatoes).
- Vitamin C – fruits, vegetables (vitamin C promotes iron absorption). Raw is best as heat destroys some vitamin C.
- Folic acid – whole grains, beans, fruits, vegetables (dark leafies especially)
- Vitamin B6 – whole grains, beans, fruits, vegetables, meats
- Vitamin D
– fish, eggs (yolk), dairy, mushrooms, and fortified foods
- Vitamin B12 – animal foods and mushrooms (children eating a vegan diet will need a vitamin B12 supplement)
- Iodine – iodized salt, sea vegetables, fish (our children love a sheet of seaweed (nori) to make their own sushi every now and then).
Send the kids out to
play in the sunshine as often as possible to help them get enough vitamin D, which is crucial for growing muscle and bone development. This is especially true living in the UK where sunshine is so limited anyway. Also, in summer, leave it 10-15 minutes before putting sunscreen on as this also inhibits vitamin D generation.
Hydration
Water, infused water, unsweetened teas are the best thirst-quenchers around. They promote good hydration. And when children get used to the flavour, will prefer these to sugary drinks.
Unfortunately, as things stand, more than 30% of the fructose young children consume comes from sugar-sweetened drinks.
And while cow’s milk is a staple of most children's’ diets, it isn’t mandatory.
Using cow’s milk as a “meal replacement” can result in anemia (calcium blocks iron absorption).
Consider eliminating fruit juices in favour of whole fruit and trying some alternatives to cow’s milk (oat/coconut milk?). Then using primarily water for your children’s drinks.
Food Sensitivities in Children
If your child is sensitive to a particular food and needs to eliminate it, that’s okay. Just establish what nutrients the food would provide and include other foods that will make up for it (or use a supplement). Your doctor will usually try an elimination diet first and hopefully give you a list of substitutes (if not, we can).
If you think your child has a true allergy, get him or her tested. Allergies can be
measured. Up to 5% of kids experience cow’s milk protein allergy - usually indicated by constipation (lactose intolerant would likely be more the diarrhoea end). If a child has an allergy to cow’s milk, use a non-allergenic beverage in its place- more often than not, goat's milk or sheep milk is fine given the smaller sized casein (milk protein) molecules.
Foods that commonly cause sensitivities are:
- eggs
- cow’s milk
- soy
- wheat
- peanuts
- tree nuts
- shellfish
Hope this has been helpful. Feel free to come back with any questions
:)
Last day of Back to School - Nutrition for Children series tomorrow:
- Helping children to eat the right amount
- Taking the lead
- How to deal with a fussy eater and making sure they are getting
enough nutrients
Have a great day out there everyone!
Kim
