Healthy eating for kids: What to skip, what to include

A healthy and well balanced diet and proper exercise is essential to ensure the mental and physical fitness of kids. However, as if do not indulge in exercise or games, kids might get bored and resort to snacking. Over eating may lead to obesity and other health problems.

Usually, kids like eating snacks, junk food, synthetic juices or sugary treats likes cakes and pastries. If they munch on these unhealthy snacks then they wouldn’t be hungry to eat the main meals. So, regular snacking should be avoided as the main meals provide the vitamins and other essential nutrients that are required for growth.

Kids should be encouraged to eat the main meals at the right time in right proportion. Besides, they should drink up to 8-10 glasses of water. Unsweetened apple, orange and grape fruit juices are some healthy refrreshment options for kids. Moderately sweet lemon juice too is excellent.

The kids’ diet should mostly include fruits and veggies. However, you could try cooking them creatively to make the food look appetizing. Oil and sugar should be added in foods in limited quantities. Try to replace store-brought snacks with healthy and tasty homemade snacks. Avoid stocking up on packeted snacks at home which the kids have easy access to.

Mixed fruits drizzled with some honey, omelet sandwich, green chutney sandwich and salads with sprouts and veggies are some healthy snacks that taste amazing too. However, make sure that kids do not over consume milk and nuts.