Keeping a Balanced Diet for your Child

Keeping
Our Children

Healthy

Making the right choices can be a habit children pick up in infancy into toddler hood, then to adolescence and later adult decisions for food. Obviously parents are the major influence because they are the provider for their children.

The best way to keep your child healthy and full of energy is to offer healthy, smart meal options. The image above explains what is recommended for ages 2-6 yrs old: very little sugar/sweets, 2 Milk group, 2 Meat group, 2 Fruit group, 3 Vegetable group, & 6 grain group.

As children get older they can increase food by following the recommend food pyramid for adults:

This chart is estimated on daily serving sizes and given examples on what a serving equals.

Another important factor of childhood and adolescence is learning how to keep a fit body. Exercise can be fun and entertaining; they can work-out without even knowing it. Relating with the child by find out what interest them can get you started, then help them find a friend with the same interest so they have a partner.

It is so important to have a routine of fitness for yourself and share that with your children. Personally, I get busy and slack on working out at a gym, but I do try to get the walk around the neighborhood a few nights a week and enjoy riding bikes.

My son will be 3 in October and when he is ready for all the little league type sports, and if he wants to play, we will encourage him to be the best at whatever he wants to accomplish.

The USDA has recently updated the new food pyramids; giving 11 different options to build a customized food pyramid based on a certain number of daily calories. See this informative YouTube video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJnGFacO3Vs&feature=related

To get more information on the customized food pyramid, I visited www.mypyramid.gov

It gave me a ton of information about how to gradually change a diet to lose weight, it also gives an option to maintain my current weight.

I found this very helpful and a great resource for anyone who just wants to stay healthy. The website is also loaded with recipes and exercise tips.