Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Nutrition for Your Kids



As a parent, one of your biggest responsibilities is providing proper nutrition for your kids. A balanced diet containing the right vitamins and minerals is key to your child's development. You need to be sure you are giving your children healthy meals that are nutritionally-sound. IN most cases, small portions of lean protein are allowed, as are vegetables, nuts, cheese and eggs. Nutrition labels are the best guide to calorie content but are at best rough estimates. Most children are being driven to school, they spend hours sitting at computers and do not get enough exercise. Simple truths about nutrition for kids are hard to accept. You can feed them healthier meals by replacing junk food with these fresh vegetables and salads.

Healthy foods for children are not necessarily more expensive than their unhealthy alternatives. No matter what nutrition plan you choose you need to be aware of the calorie count of every food your children eat. Not only are fruits and vegetables packed with fiber, vitamins and minerals, they are loaded with lots of other important compounds. The ideal daily calorie intake depends upon various factors such as their age, activity level and whether they are trying to lose, gain or maintain weight. Nutrition for kids doesn't have to be difficult.

Children should be exercising daily, because of the other cardiovascular health and brain chemistry benefits that are derived from frequent exercise. More than a dozen studies have found that children are more likely to be fat if their parents are also fat. However, the consumption of most vegetables is encouraged and you are allowed to prepare them in generous amounts. A healthy diet should take approximately 30% of its total calories from fat. Women might be able to learn a thing or two from men when it comes to weight loss, but whether a person is male or female they still have to count calories and do more exercise to lose weight. The problem has been finding a nutrition chart for kids that really works.

Watch your children's portion sizes. Along with a regular exercise program and drinking at least six to eight glasses of water daily, you can help your kids eat better by incorporating some or all of these foods into their diet. The responsibility for making sure that nutrition is both safe and effective for kids is your responsibility. Mothers who are less able to cope with stress tend to feed their kids twice as many fatty snacks as stress-resistant women do. Pay attention to food labels and learn as much about child nutrition as you can.