By Sindhu Nathan : Today when junk food is so popular, whether your kid is getting proper nutrition is a very big question. There are five food items that must be included in their daily routine to ensure their proper growth and health. The five items in food that your kid must have are:
Milk is a very important source of calcium and should be an integral part of daily diet. Kids are normally fussy for milk but flavoured milk or milk shakes can be a good substitute to it. Apart from milk, other products such as curd, cottage cheese and other dairy products are also needed for good nutrition.
Wholegrain Products:
Whole grain cereals are nutritionally higher-up to refined grains, more plenteous in dietary fiber, antioxidants, protein, dietary minerals and vitamins. To be more specific, whole grain foods include breads and cereals that contain 100% whole grain foods and not processed flours. Some examples of whole grain food products are cornflakes, brown bread, brown rice, and even popcorn. Making well presented recipes with wholegrain products may help you make it your kid’s favorite.
Coloured Vegetables:
To make your kid eat vegetables is a difficult task, but as we all know, vegetables are very important for a balanced diet. Fighting with your kid to make him eat may not be a good option. Rather, you can use your creative mind to play and add up vegetables in things which your kid likes and make it more presentable. Putting more veggies in noodles, fried rice, pan-fried cutlets, vegetable stuffed parathas, or pizza may work as a better option.
Egg and Meat:
Protein is very essential for the body and eggs and meat are a good source of protein and vitamin A. There are various ways of making eggs and meat which will suit your kid’s palate. Meat is known to have high biological value and is rich in protein and several other nutrients. Meat like any other food should not be fried as it loses its nutritional content and with the extra fat it becomes unhealthy. The best way of cooking the meat is stir frying, grilling, broiling and cooking in a pressure cooker.
Fruits:
Fruits should be an important part of your child’s diet. Fruits are rich in many nutrients and daily intake of the same reduces risk factors of some serious diseases in the long term. Providing your child with adequate amount of fruits is the best thing you can do to ensure your child’s good health. Fruits are best to eat in fresh.
Do not cut them and store them in the refrigerator for long time. If your child is not specifically a fruit lover, then you can prepare scrumptious fruit chaats for him. Also, you can replace sodas and other soft drinks with fruit juice at your home. Though it is advised that fresh juice is best for health, substituting it with packed fruit juice available in box packing is better than a glass of cola drink. Moreover, kids would love sipping the fruit with a straw.