Nutrition for Kids Tips
Read these 8 Nutrition for Kids Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Nutrition tips and hundreds of other topics.
Same Food Requests
Don't worry if your child requests the same food day after day. Peanut butter and jelly is a common favorite. This is normal, and they'll usually move on in a matter of weeks. Provide different snack foods for variety.
Healthy Snacks
Pack a healthful snack to supplement lunch. If children get hungry in school, they'll be tempted to buy chips, soda or candy. Give them fruit, vegetable sticks, low-fat granola bars or yogurt to tide them over.
Children's Lunches
Let children help prepare lunches and choose their own healthful snacks. To keep kids from trading lunches they don't like, maintain lines of communication by asking them what they'd like to eat. Nancy Evans, a working mom from New Jersey, takes an extra step to make sure her kids' lunches don't get swapped. She writes napkin notes that say, "I love you," or tell a joke. "This makes it harder for them to trade the lunch," she says.
Advance Planning Lunches
Advance planning with your children will help them eat a balanced diet, with fast foods as an occasional treat, not an every day habit. Some schools have let fast food restaurant concessions into cafeterias. This means children will be even more tempted to eat high-fat foods from Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and McDonald's.
Fruit Juices in Lunchboxes
Add fruit juice to your children's lunch. Freeze juice boxes before adding to lunchboxes. This not only keeps the drink cold, but acts like a cold pack for the rest of the lunch.
Set a Good Example
If you want your children to have good eating habits, it is important to set a good example for them. Try to eat well balanced meals with your children and encourage them to try new foods. However, do not force them or they will view the food as punishment. Rather introduce the food while you are eating it. If your child sees you eating something, they will be more likely to try it.
Choking Foods for Toddlers
The most common foods that toddlers choke on are whole grapes, nuts, hot dogs, raw carrots and celery, spoonfuls of peanut butter, raw cherries with pits, and round hard candies. To prevent choking, make sure that grapes and hot dogs are cut up into small bite-sized pieces. Avoid giving nuts, raw carrots and celery to toddlers under 2 and supervise older toddlers when they eat these foods. Avoid hard candies with young children. If you want to give a treat, a lollipop may be a better choice, but only with supervision.
School Lunches
Review school lunch menus. According the American Dietetic Association, most schools now meet or exceed guidelines that call for no more than 30 percent of total calories from fat. Menus are posted in advance in the school, printed in newspapers or sent home with students. Allow children to participate in planning which days they'd like to buy lunch, and help them pick items with the greatest nutritional value.
| Guru Spotlight |
| Jolyn Wells-Moran |
