The Food Pyramid and Your Child

Parents have the responsibility of introducing their child or children to healthy eating patterns right from the time when choices and tastes are formed. Using the healthy food pyramid, choices of children’s tastes can be steered into the right channels (with a bit of creativity of course), in such a manner that they eat right all their lives. This has manifold benefits. First of all, eating healthy will not be a stressful decision taking process when the child enters adulthood and is free of parent’s kitchen preferences, because choices will automatically follow. Secondly, starting with a healthy childhood, chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity and heart problems will be delayed or even absent in later life. These are just a few of the benefits that follow.

However, parents have to make an effort to ensure that the healthy eating doesn’t fall into the trap of wilted spinach and boiled carrots simply because they are nutritious veggies. Food which is healthy has to be visually appealing to; to ensure that eating it doesn’t become a task, but remains an enjoyment. The point is, bad looking food, unattractively presented or bad menus simply will not work as healthy food. So think out of the box, make sure healthy food comes in attractive menus and tasty packages.

One of the first things to be done to plan out a healthy eating pattern for a child is to involve him or her in the decision making process. No one appreciates orders coming from the top - least of all, children. Running the kitchen like a concentration camp post doesn’t help, because the child will simply NOT eat what he or she doesn’t find interesting. So, make it interesting, make it appear as the child’s decision, ensure her or his full acceptance. Besides, taking time to check out the ingredients list and nutritional information on food packages along with the child makes sure he or she gets to feel like a very important part of the deciding powers...and makes sure that the new food diet is followed, since it becomes a matter of honor. Another thing to remember is that any food by itself is not good or bad, its preparation may be. Children should grow to learn how each foodstuff fits into the pyramid, and helps them in staying healthy. This is the beginning of awareness and a lifelong ability to discern. For this just knowing what to eat is not enough, the `why’ is as important. The child should be told about what nutrient is provided by each food.

The importance of food grains is more in a child’s diet since they provide the complex carbohydrates the young bodies need to build a strong base. Vitamins, fibers and the all important iron are also abundant in healthy, unpolished rice, whole wheat and cereals like oatmeal. Accordingly, make sure white bread and flour gets lowest priority on the table. Replace it with whole wheat bread, corn bred and wheat pasta. Change the cooking medium, salad drizzles and brushing on baked meats to oils like olive, sunflower, canola or even safflower oil, so the child develops a taste for these. These are healthy oils and butter and margarine are extremely bad for the child.

While meat forms a very major part of our diet and cannot be done away with. A large of number of people still believe that meat is the healthiest food known to man. Of course, researches and scientific studies have proved otherwise, but if meats are to be a regular part of the diet, make sure it is chicken or turkey, braised or baked. Coked with minimal fat, these lean meats actually provide nutrition. Red meat is bad news, even for growing children.

On the other hand, a child cannot have enough of fresh fruits and vegetables. Just –about- cooked veggies are a far better portion than any other and fruits really have no replacement. Dairy products may not always be a great idea, contrary to what our last generation believed or thought. In fact a very large number of children today are born with lactose intolerance and juices of vegetables and fruits do much better what milk is (or was) supposed to do to the body. Yoghurt or cottage cheese is even better for a child.

Fish is a good option for specially the growing child, specially because in addition to easily digestible proteins, it contains folic acids and other nutrients in their most easily absorbable form. Dried and sprouted nuts are another great source of nutrients, and make great snacks too. Some varieties of dried nuts are actually far more nutritious than meats, black beans, soy and their derivatives, to name a few.

The new Food Pyramid gives this information, but most of this is in its generic form. To make it more children – specific, the food, the same food stuff that adults go for, will need to be packaged in a more attractive, leading manner. For instance, spinach is not half as green without Popeye's endorsement ...and carrot owes all its glamour to Bugs. It will be very difficult to catch a child polishing off a plate of mashed carrots, but the same little orange-red discs tossed in olive oil with a smattering of rosemary and crushed black pepper is another thing altogether. The same goes for almost all foods that adults want to lead children to. So the secret behind the successful interpretation of the good food pyramid for kids is not the food itself, but how it is presented to the kids. Only when it looks and tastes good can adults expect the idea of differentiation between healthy and unhealthy foods for children to be understood by them.