Eating Habits
Your Children's Health is Important
Obesity is a Problem
- Foods with high sugars should be avoided in order to help prevent obesity.
- Over 42 million children are obese
- There was a study done by Sara E. Benjamin Neelon • Elsie M. Taveras •Truls Østbye • Matthew W. Gillman that expressed a few target focuses that would help prevent obesity early with infants and toddlers. Below is what they had to offer from the Journal Mattern Children Health. The title is "Preventing Obesity in Infants and Toddlers in Child Care: Results from a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial"
- Meals and snacks served on a schedule, but flexible for individual
- child needs/hunger and satiety cues are respected
- Nutrition environment
- Juice (100 %) limited Beverages
- Sugar-sweetened beverages not provided Beverages
- High sugar and high salt foods limited High sugar/salt/fat food
- Variety of fruits and vegetables provided daily Fruits and vegetables
- Fried foods not provided High sugar, salt, fat food
- High fat meats limited High sugar, salt, fat food
- Whole grains provided daily Grains
- Providers make positive comments about healthy eating Nutrition staff behaviors
- Water available for self-serve
At the end of this flyer, there is more information about obesity.
Nutrition
- Children's eating habits can become picky. When they become preschoolers, their eating declines because their growth has also declined and slowed down.
- You should not worry about a child not eating a lot for one meal, because they will satisfy their appetite with their next meal. However, they need to have a high-quality diet such as the same foods as adults.
- Children are highly influenced by foods of their parents because their parents are people they generally highly admire and look up to.
Broccoli (Good Choice)
- Serving this to children will increase how much they like this food and also encourage other healthy foods.
- Broccoli prevents high cholesterol
- Reduces allergy reaction
- One of the most concentrated sources of vitamin C
- Can help not damage blood vessels in your child's heart which can be caused by inflammation from blood sugar problems.
Sweet Fruits (Not the Best Choice)
- Offering sweet fruits such as oranges, grapes, apples, and cherries can be a bad choice for your child.
- The reason behind this is because sweet fruits can drive your child away from milk, which is not sweet.
- Milk is an important source for a child's nutrition because it offers calcium, potassium, and most importantly vitamin D.
Tofu (Good Choice)
- Tofu is a great food choice for your child to eat. Tofu offers you a great source of calcium and vitamin E.
- It can even help prevent bad cholesterol as your child grows older.
- There have even been some studies presenting a theory that it can help prevent cancer.
Other Great Health Choices for your Children
- Nuts
- Peanut butter
- Fish
- Water & Tea
- Beans
- Popcorn
Below there is a video with tips on helping a child struggling with obesity
Here, there is a link for more help with obesity and also my number/email if you have any questions.
Email: joseph.ray@my.lr.edu
Website: http://www.obesityaction.org/
Phone: 5556743212
Vital Tips to Help an Obese Child. (important)