Childrens nutrition and healthy meals

The importance of childrens nutrition and healthy meals, is as simple as what you put in their lunchbox daily; which in turn can define behavioural patterns guided by the healthy antioxidant rich diet; you chose for them in life.

The importance of the healthy school meals means that childrens nutrition can not be stressed enough. Lunch boxes packed with healthy antioxidant rich foods and fruits, juices or water keep young bodies primed and minds alert.

Although the home environment is where childrens nutrition and dietary habits start, it is the essential nutrition in the lunchbox that becomes the blueprint; for the rest of a child’s life. For it is here with healthy meals, that the child’s food and diet memory is implanted for life?

Just as an elite athletes body performs by muscle memory, so too are the childs memory of those early eating years. Memories which go on to program us in the most basic fashion, forever !!

Childrens Nutrition versus junk food

Put bluntly, junk food supplies junk nutrition and therefore no lasting nutrients are supplied throughout the day; after the first sugar hit.

However dried fruit and nuts, a piece of fruit, a multigrain salad roll or natural juices work on thru the day to convert to the Essential natural sugars that are so essential, for growing children and the nutrients that their young minds and bodies need. These Natural sugars are so important for sustaining stable blood sugar levels in a young, fast growing metabolism.

A young body can gain maximum nourishment to support growth and Neuro muscular activity with the correct diet. A proper diet supports healthy internal organs, with nutrients that are the main source of power to help keep the minds concentration on study; or on the tasks at hand.

Childrens nutrition and its relationship to fitness, a healthy weight and self esteem

Today’s society encourages children with so many tempting treats on TV, with promotions of all types; which inevitably leads to many children with body mass indexes (BMI), high into the 30s and even the 40s, which results in poor self esteem conditions.

Common sense tells us therefore that there are only two ways to remedy a childs fitness and nutritional deficiencies.

The first is obvious, eat correctly with properly planned meals.

The second is simply what we did as children and that is to run around and play and exercise sufficiently.

The sad reality of our lifestyle now, is that far too much of kids time is spent indoors for varying reasons; ranging from TV, computer games, study, personal safety or even health and emotional issues.

Health and emotional issues are generally intertwined with the unhealthy preoccupation of sitting in front of a computer or touch screen, where interaction with trolls can leave lasting impressions on fragile minds. While that is occurring, there is a tendency towards binge or bad eating habits.

Those interactions with trolls can also leave emotional upheaval, so that those kids then may tend to seek solace in such extreme actions such as binge eating and/or purging, excess lollies and fizzy drinks or constant junk food eating.

The Answer

There is a time worn and reliable and easy answer here.

Limit time spent on the Internet and increase the time spent running in parks or charging up hills.

In the 4 by 3 exercise and eating plan section, there are a series of simple exercises which involve short sharp bursts of energy in 20 second bursts of exercise. Repeated three or four times with a warm down break in between. It is all the exercise a child who is overweight, will need to modify and regulate their BMI levels.

All for the price of one discarded whopper, fries and Cola at the drive thru..

That is the “Message” for parents, that might not have yet got it!!

If you are “Fast Fooding” you are “Fast Tracking” your children to a “Shortened Life” ???

That is too too sad, but the Alternative is so “Easy”!!

Antioxidant Foods and short bursts of exercise !!

This may sound too simple, but it’s a proven science that is being uncovered at present and it takes the tedious hours of running and stretching out of the equation and frees a child’s mind for other things.

A gradual loss of weight becomes a gradual increase in self-esteem and happiness. Salads, nuts, fruit and vegetables become a normal way of life.

End of story. Start their habit early in life and the kids only know that way of life. Healthy meals and Healthy exercise equals a Healthy lifestyle.

Good cooking and good eating habits Equals childrens nutrition!!

Most caring mum and dad’s are likely to see that the kids can be helping whenever possible in the kitchen with the prepping of the evening or weekend meals for life’s cooking lessons that lie ahead. This is where kids can be taught life’s simple things.

Simple things such as, you do not need to add salt to a meal; not unless it is the amount suitable for the youngest and most fragile body at the dinner table.

Salt is required in different amounts from zero in a baby, to larger quantities for an active worker sweating in the noonday sun. Excessive salt in the formative years, can be a danger to the arteries and organs in the young body and can cause lifelong problems.

Refined Sugar is not a necessity for life and natural sugars can be gained from fruits and wholegrain foods, by the breaking down of carbohydrates in the diet.

Artificially manufactured sugar and chemical sweeteners, are just as damaging as nicotine and alcohol to the body’s well-being. (especially to the young) These are now responsible for a large proportion of the death, disease and illness in our world.

This is a direct result of the fast food Western diet, with all the preservatives, additives, colourings, deep frying of most ingredients, fatty recipes and all the sweet additives that come with it.

Our Aussie Kids who are encouraged to cook by helping out in the kitchen and who are learning to use healthy greens and better ingredients, are bettering themselves in more ways than one.

These ingredients are much healthier, than fast food alternatives and they supply essential nutrients to internal organs.

Secondly, good eating becomes a good habit. The Kids learn what ingredients go with what, to make something yummy and healthy. These kids will quickly figure out that what goes into their mouths, is going to create the healthy lifestyle that will stay with them forever.

Lastly and most importantly, when they are away on vacations or school camps, family holidays or when they are taking the first steps out to living away from home; they are naturally equipped.

Equipped to cook and provide for themselves and probably their less family trained friends.. Friends, that just may have had lazy folks who ignored the mounting evidence of the importance of Antioxidant rich ingredients; over that lazy fast food burger and fries.

In short, the kids that have been prepared by good parents; to be an “efficient urbanised survivor,” are well ahead of their friends, that did not have the benefit of that comfort and care from parents so unaware.

You are what you eat

In the following chapters we will talk about different foods, different ingredients and more specifically; the best foods that supply the best nutrients. Foods with the most cleansing antioxidant rich vitamin and minerals, so essential for a healthy lifestyle.

Young people taking the time to learn these easy simple lessons about the correct rich nutrition, will soon come to understand that:

“you are what you eat”!!