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Raising Healthy Kids One Family at a Time
By Faye Elahi, M.S. “ the Gluten-free Guru”
In October of 2004, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) issued a troubling report that: “Not only are adults struggling with overweight and inactivity, but children are becoming inactive as well.” Perhaps the most helpful habit a parent can teach a child is basic nutrition survival skills.
That includes portion control, hunger awareness, eating out skills, etc…. Here are some basic nutrition survival tips for parents and kids:
· Eat at a designated place with the family
· Teach your children portion control (serving size awareness)
· Reward kids with action (praise) not food or sweets
· Tell your children about diseases caused by overeating
· Breast-feed your children a minimum of 4-6 months to strengthen immunity
· Avoid the allergenic foods before 1 year including soy, shellfish, gluten (wheat, rye, barley) egg, corn, bovine dairy, peanut and honey.
· Teach chewing each mouthful 20-25 times
· Choose foods that are beautiful and naturally tasty (colorful peppers…)
· Expect rejection of some new foods (it takes at least 5-10 repetitions for children to accept a new food)
· Research shows that children are more apt to accept new fruits and vegetables at home than at school or in other settings so offer it daily!
· Eat as much organic foods as possible
· As soon as baby is weaned from breast milk, they should be taking a fatty acid (fish oil) supplement to replace the nutrients in mother’s milk.
Resources for Organic Foods/Products:
www.usda.gov
