Healthy nutrition

Strategies to achieve good habits

How to achieve a healthy diet in children?

Food is a process that accompanies us throughout life and helps us meet all the needs of the body.

Eating as a conscious act must provide the necessary nutrients for each stage and thus ensure that both physical and mental growth and development occur properly. The choice of food must be correct to acquire good habits. These form what is called eating behavior and the health status of each person will depend on them.

Food environment there are many factors that influence the choice of food.

These connotations can be affective, religious, of social identification ... Strategies to achieve good habits 1 Involve the children

• Most children like to be involved in choosing, buying, and cooking food.
• Developing family menus together is great learning for the child.
• It can be taught in a fun and didactic way. From the purchase in the market, the child can be helped to learn about natural foods.
• In the kitchen you can participate in the preparation of the dish.
• The child must be educated to learn to take responsibility for the food he eats.

2 Set a good example

The best way to encourage your child to eat healthy is by setting an example. Children imitate adults they see every day. The message that is sent to children about eating will depend on the eating behaviors of their parents. Habits are behaviors that are learned, therefore, parents should strive to maintain a healthy diet.

• Eat a variety of foods and use healthy forms of cooking such as iron, oven, papillote, steam, boiled, stewed and not overuse fried or battered.
• Prepare dishes with an attractive presentation. Variety of color is recommended for best acceptance.
• Limit the consumption of fast foods or precooked dishes and eat fresh foods.
• Limit portion sizes and avoid overeating. It is important from children to teach to regulate satiety and avoid pecking.
• Maintain a positive attitude towards food and avoid negative feelings promoted by fashions such as the aesthetics of the perfect body.
• Do not bribe or reward children with food. Avoid using dessert as a reward for having eaten the meal.

3 Include a variety of foods in the menu

To achieve a complete diet, you should eat foods from all the basic groups (dairy, cereals and farinaceous, fruit, dried fruit, vegetables, legumes, meat, fish, eggs, olive oil, etc.).

Family dining offers the opportunity to meet new foods and individual tastes with their likes and dislikes.

In a family menu, the following should be promoted:

• Fresh fruit for dessert and as a complement to breakfast and a snack.
• The consumption of vegetables as a first course or as a garnish for the second course.
• The consumption of legumes and dried fruit. Dried fruit is an ideal very nutritious alternative to candies or gummies.
• Consuming dairy in the form of milk, yogurt, and cheese. Chocolate creams and mousses should be reduced as a usual dessert in meals.
• Consumption of fish.
• The consumption of bread in all intakes. The sandwich should be given priority over the pastries and pastries since it is a very complete and nutritious food.
• Use virgin olive oil.
• The consumption of water as a drink in the main intakes. Fruit juices and water should be enhanced and are the ideal alternative to refreshing and sugary drinks such as colas, lemonades and orangeade.

4 Respect a schedule for meals

Spreading the intakes throughout the day between 5 or 6 servings helps to balance the diet and avoids pecking or taking very large intakes. It is recommended: a first breakfast at home, a second breakfast at school, lunch, snack, dinner and sometimes consume a dairy before going to sleep. A healthy eating pattern in the child

A varied diet should be maintained by distributing the different food groups in the daily intakes.

Breakfast:

• Breakfast is the first meal of the day. Eating breakfast correctly helps distribute energy throughout the day and improves intellectual and physical performance.
• Breakfast in children can be divided into two portions; a first one at home and another in the middle of the morning at school. A complete breakfast should be composed of:
• Dairy: milk, cheese or yogurt
• Farinaceous: bread, toast, cereals, cookies type maría
• Fruit: fresh (whole, chopped or juiced)
• You can also use protein foods such as (York ham, Serrano ham, tuna).

In the middle of the morning you should consume a farinaceous (bread, cookies, cereals) and a dairy (yogurt or cheese).

Meal:

• Food is the intake of the day with the greatest variety of foods
• Farinaceous: pasta, rice, potatoes and legumes, Vegetables and vegetables
• Protein foods: meat, eggs, poultry and fish
• Fruit and / or dairy

Afternoon snack:

• Farinaceous (cookies, bread), dairy (yogurt, milk or cheese) and / or fruit (whole or in natural juice) are recommended.

Dinner:

• The same basic food groups should be present as in the lunch but dinner should be lighter and with easily digestible preparations.