What should your children be eating?

What children eat now has a big impact on their health, their fitness and – importantly – what they will be eating in years to come.

Children need to eat a balanced diet to grow properly, keep healthy and fight off illnesses. Eating a balanced diet means they will have plenty of energy, feel bright and alert, concentrate better at school and suffer fewer illnesses.

In a nutshell, here’s how to get your children to eat well:

1. Teach by example - children are more likely to do as you do, not     what you say. If they see you enjoying healthy meals and staying     active, they are more likely to do the same.

2. Keep to the 80/ 20 rule – if children eat a balanced diet around 80%     of the time, then they are free to enjoy other foods they want the     other 20% of the time.

3. Be consistent – decide on your ground rules (what is and isn’t      allowed) and stick to them.

4. Be persistent – children’s tastes change and they will eventually learn     to like what they are given.

5. Involve them – include your children with menu planning, shopping     and cooking as early as possible.

6. Share mealtimes as often as possible and feed your children the      same food as you eat yourself.

7. Make children feel valued – they will then be more likely to make      healthier food and activity choices

8. Don’t ban any food – it will only increase your child’s desire for it      –nor use food as a reward.

9. Make meals as attractive, varied and imaginative as you can.

10. Keep treat foods as treats and bring them into the house only on       occasions when they are to be eaten.

11. Each day children should aim to have 5 portions of fruit and       vegetables; 4 – 6 portions of cereals and potatoes, 2 portions of       protein-rich foods, 2 portions of calcium-rich foods and 1 portions of       healthy fats.

12. Keep an eye on how much salt your child is having – limit to 3g       (under 7s) – 5 g (under 11 s) daily.

13. Limit foods and drinks containing sugar to 40 – 50 g daily - they can      contribute to tooth decay and obesity and displace other nutrients in      the diet.

14. Water, milk or diluted fruit juice are the ‘safest’ drinks for teeth

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Let them eat fruit ….and other healthy snacks

* Fresh fruit e.g. apple slices, satsumas, clementines, grapes,   strawberries
* Wholemeal toast with Marmite
* Grilled tomatoes on wholemeal toast
* Low fat yoghurt
* Low fat milk
* Nuts e.g. cashews, peanuts, almonds, brazils
* Wholegrain breakfast cereal with milk
* Plain popcorn
* Vegetable crudités (carrot, pepper and cucumber sticks)
* Rice cake with sliced bananas or cottage cheese

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Big kids

Although chubbiness in babies and toddlers is regarded as normal - desirable even – as a child gets older, being overweight can put his or her health at risk.

According to the government’s Health Survey for England, as many as one in three children are overweight and one in ten are obese. That’s three times more than 10 years ago.

Being chubby is no fun. Apart from teasing, bullying and low self-esteem, overweight children are more likely to develop:

* Bone and joint problems (due to excess weight)
* Breathing problems and asthma
* High blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and   artery damage during their teens and early adulthood
* Heart disease and stroke in later life

Most seriously, overweight children are likely to grow up into fat adults.

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The Big Question: What makes children put on weight?

1. These days there is an abundance of foods laden with fat, sugar     and salt.

2. Snacks are now staple parts of many children’s diets. Grazing and     snacking rather than balanced meals tend to be the norm.

3. Bigger portions and supersize marketing – especially for     snacks and fast foods – means that large has become the norm and     many children have lost track of normal portion sizes.

4. Marketing and advertising to children contradict the health     messages.  These influence what children choose to eat.

5. Children spend more time in front of the television and computer     nowadays. This means they are less active, watch more adverts for     unhealthy foods, and are more likely to snack and overeat.

6. Parents lead busier lives and so have less time to cook. Many find     it easier to feed children ready meals and fast foods.

7. Most children’s menus in restaurants offer foods laden with fat, salt     and sugar.

8. Food and drink in schools is usually poor quality and loaded with     fat, sugar and salt. Most children choose fast food and chips. Many     schools have vending machines selling calorie-laden snacks and     drinks.

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Children and exercise

1. Changes in family meal patterns mean that children are more     likely to eat in front of the television or on the run. Children lead     inactive lives, and spend too much time sitting. The Health Survey of     England found that half of all children do not meet their minimum     physical activity target (1 hour on at least 5 days each week).

2. Schools have reduced the time spent on PE – Sport England found     that only one in three primary school children receive the     recommended 2 hours of PE per week.

3. Children are more likely to get driven to school - twenty years ago,     80 per cent of children walked or cycled to school. Now only 5 per     cent do.

The average child spends almost 5 hours a day glued to a screen – 2 hours and 5 minutes on the computer and 2 hours and 40 minutes watching television.

A third of all new cases of obesity could be prevented by taking a half-hour walk every day.

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The healthy way to fight obesity

The best thing you can do is to encourage a balanced diet and regular physical activity. Talk to your child about healthy eating and exercise, teach by example and let your child make his or her own decisions about food.

Build self-esteem
If you can build your child’s self-esteem and help them feel more positive about themselves they are more likely to make healthier food choices. Let them know that its what’s inside that matters and you love them for who they are. Play down your concerns about their weight - or even your own weight.

Don’t put a child on a diet
You shouldn’t restrict your child’s calorie intake without the advice of a dietitian. Nutritional needs during childhood are high and important nutrients essential to a child’s health could be missed out. Instead make healthy changes to what they eat. If you think your child is obese, see your GP, who may advice gradual weight loss under the guidance of a dietitian.

Set a good example
Children are more likely to copy what you do than what you say. They learn a lot about food and activity by watching their parents. They should see that you exercise and eat a balanced diet. Share mealtimes as often as possible and eat the same meals.

Don’t use food as a reward
Rewarding good behaviour with sweets only reinforces the idea that they are a special treat and makes children crave them more. Allow them in moderation, say, on one day of the week and at the end of a meal.

Don’t ban any foods
Allow all foods but explain that certain ones should be eaten only occasionally or kept as occasional treats. Banning a food increases children’s desire for it and makes it more likely that they will eat it in secret.

Provide healthy snacks
Instead of biscuits, crisps and chocolate, make sure there are healthier alternatives to hand. Fresh fruit, low fat yoghurt, wholemeal toast, and wholegrain breakfast cereals are good choices Keep them in a place where your child can easily get them, for example, a fruit bowl on the table, yoghurts at the front of the fridge.

Get them moving
Look for ways to incorporate activity into everything you do, and make this as much fun as possible. Walk or cycle with them to and from school. Try to increase the amount of exercise you do together as a family – swimming, playing football, a family walk or bike ride.

Limit time spent watching television
Plan and agree exactly what your children will watch on television and agree on a defined time period. Once the programmes have finished, switch off the television, no matter how much they protest. Don’t place a television in your children’s bedrooms.

Balance activity and viewing time
Let the number of hours they have exercised equal the number of hours they are allowed to watch television. If they have done an hour’s physical activity during the day, you could allocate an hour’s television watching.

Don’t snack and view
Discourage eating meals or unhealthy snacks while watching television. Because their mind will be on the television and not on the food, they won’t notice when they are full up or not hungry any more.

Make exercise fun
They should pick activities that they enjoy — having fun is the key to exercising for life.

Provide plenty of play equipment at home — hoppers, balls, trampolines, basketball rings, scooters, bikes and skipping ropes. Encourage them to enjoy a wide range of sports — football, informal racket games, gymnastics, dance lessons, trampolining and swimming. For older children, athletics, roller-skating, hockey, tennis, badminton, netball, jogging, sailing are also suitable.

How much exercise should children get?
6–10 year-olds - 60 minutes of moderate intensity activity as part of their lifestyle every day. It doesn’t have to be done in one go.

11–15 year-olds - 30–60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity every day as part of their lifestyle. Plus three sessions per week of continuous vigorous activity lasting at least 20 minutes, e.g. jogging, swimming, cycling, dancing or football.

For both age groups, this recommendation can include everyday activities like walking, unstructured play like ball games, ‘chase’, and hide and seek, sports activities, and PE

What can I do when my child insists on unhealthy snacks?
The solution is not to have unhealthy snacks in the house. Try to make sure that the food in the house is the kind of food you wish your child to eat. It is much harder for a child to fight over a food if it’s not there. The trick is to keep treat foods as treats and bring them into the house only on occasions when they are to be eaten.


My child has a big appetite – should I restrict the amount she eats?
At mealtimes, let her fill up with nutritious foods that contain lots of fibre and water – vegetable dishes, salads, jacket potatoes, wholemeal pasta, fresh fruit and baked apples. If your child is still hungry after the meal, offer her more food, but only the healthy kind – fresh fruit, vegetables, and yoghurt, for example. Resist giving in to demands for unhealthy snacks. Contrary to popular belief, sugary and salty snacks don’t fill children up or satisfy their appetite – they can even the opposite effect, stimulating their taste buds to want more and increasing their thirst for more sugary drinks. Like adults, it takes time for a child to get used to eating different types and amounts of food.

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Tricky little customers (Easy ways to feed fussy eaters)

It can be very frustrating trying to feed children who refuse to eat proper meals. You worry about them not getting enough calories, becoming malnourished and becoming more vulnerable to illness and infection.

   * The first thing to remember is that children do not voluntarily starve    themselves: they are programmed for survival! As long as there is    food available, children will make sure they get enough.

   * Secondly, some children are very good at using food to wind up    their parents. The more firmly they refuse to finish their plate at    mealtimes, the more attention they get. They know that food refusal    results in attention (albeit unfavourable) and so a vicious cycle sets    up.

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Children need to be trained to eat proper meals and nutritious food. A clear strategy at mealtimes will help to persuade your child that food is enjoyable and fun. Ultimately, it will help your child to develop greater confidence around food.

Try these solutions for fussy eaters

Get them in the kitchen
Encourage your children to help with the shopping and the meal preparation. This will increase their interest in the food, and they will be more likely to eat the meal if they have been involved in making it.

Be a good role model
Children learn by example so let your children see that you enjoy eating healthy meals. They are more likely to eat foods that they have seen you eat. Have meals together whenever possible – ideally once a day, otherwise at least once a week - and show them you enjoy trying new foods. Serve children the same food as everyone else.

Make sure they are hungry
Make sure your child is hungry before mealtimes – plenty of fresh air and exercise do wonders for the appetite. It’s amazing how less fussy children become if they are really hungry!

Let children serve themselves
Put the food in dishes in the centre of the table so everyone can serve themselves. By the age of four most children can judge how much they can eat. You’ll also be helping them become more socially aware and independent, allowing them to make their own choices and take responsibility for their actions.

Think small
Even if the portion seems ridiculously tiny to you, it’s better that your child eats a small amount of everything than nothing at all. A big pile of food on the plate can be off-putting for young children. As a rule of thumb, the younger the child, the smaller the pieces of food – try tiny broccoli florets, small squares of toast, super-thin apple slices.

Keep mealtimes happy
Meals should be enjoyable. Do not discuss eating behaviour, negative food or family issues at mealtimes. Try to achieve a relaxed atmosphere – keep conversation topics light and interesting.

Play with food
You can encourage fussy eaters, especially younger children, to eat good food by presenting it imaginatively. Arrange food in simple shapes, say a circle, a star, or a train. Get them to make smiley faces – say potatoes eyes, a carrot nose, a red pepper smile, and grated cheese hair – the possibilities are endless.

Don’t get cross
If your child refuses the meal or certain foods, do not get cross. Explain that you expect them to try it and do not offer an alternative. You need to be patient but persistent – not easy, I know, especially when everyone is tired and you have just spent time preparing a meal. Refusing food loses its appeal if you don’t react.

Don’t force feed
You cannot make a child eat – he or she will react to your concern and will be even less likely to eat the food now or later on. Most adults have bad memories of being made to eat a particular food as a child – remember school dinners? - and then hating it ever since!

Don’t bargain with food
It’s tempting to say it - ‘no pudding unless you’ve eaten your vegetables’. Don’t promise a favourite food or dessert only when they have finished their main course - this will only reinforce the dislike of the refused food and make the other food seem more special. It is reasonable to expect them to try everything so you could ask them to have, say, two sprouts, as a compromise. This will seem less daunting.

Serve a new food with a food they like
Mix an unfamiliar food, like peppers, into pasta sauce, soup, or curry – but don’t try and hide them under other foods otherwise you risk the whole meal being rejected.

Keep trying!
If a food is rejected, it doesn’t mean they will never eat it. Children’s tastes do change over time. Keep re-introducing those foods they reject, say once a fortnight once a month, and don’t make a fuss. It can take up to 8–10 attempts to get a child to eat a new food. Don’t reinforce their dislike of a particular food by telling everyone else that your child won’t eat, say, tomatoes, or whatever. He will be even less likely to try it again.

Offer a guided choice
Encourage them to select their own food but from within a limited choice, e.g. ‘would you like beans or peas with that?’ rather than ‘would you like vegetables?’

Set a time limit
If they refuse to eat the meal within a sensible time limit, say, 30 minutes, remove it without fuss and do not offer any other food until next mealtime. Take away any uneaten food without a fuss. Be consistent and rest assured that they won’t become malnourished straight away. This won’t be easy but, in my case, my youngest daughter did realise eventually that she only got food at mealtimes.

Don’t allow snacks later
If they don’t eat their meal, do not give extra food or snacks between meals, no matter how much they protest. Eating these foods between meals will simply take away their appetites for more nutritious foods at mealtimes, and perpetuate their taste for those salty, sugary processed foods. If they are genuinely hungry, offer only nutritious food - such as fruit, cheese, yoghurt or nuts.

Eating on the move
It’s all too easy to get into the habit of feeding your children on the go – in the car or on other transport - or in front of the television. The problem is children won’t learn how to eat proper meals and will miss out on the social benefits of eating together. It will be harder to break the habit later on. Try to organise the family routine so that children eat at the meal table most of the time and try to share your meal with them whenever possible.

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