Healthy Eating
Children and young people should eat a healthy, balanced diet to maintain good health and help them to feel their best.
This means eating a wide variety of foods in the right proportions and consuming the right amount of food and drink to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.
According to the NHS Eat Well Guide a healthy, balanced diet should include:
- five portions of fruit and vegetables every day
- meals based on starchy foods like potatoes, bread, rice, or pasta.
- some dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soya drinks)
- some beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat, and other protein
- unsaturated oils and spreads, eaten in small amounts.
- plenty of fluids.
Foods and drinks that are high in fat, salt, and sugar – such as fizzy drinks, crisps, and chocolate – should be consumed less often and in small amounts.
Forming healthy eating and drinking habits early on will help your child live a long, healthy life. This Children’s Partnership resource provides valuable information about the importance of nutrition and helpful tips for making healthy eating and drinking choices. It also contains useful information about programs that can help make it easier to access healthy food for your family.
TCP_Brochure_Nutrition-English-.pdf (childrenspartnership.org)
Healthy Weight
Very overweight children tend to grow up to be very overweight adults, which can lead to health problems such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers.
Research shows children who achieve a healthy weight tend to be fitter, healthier, better able to learn, and are more self-confident. They’re also less likely to have low self-esteem and be bullied.
Steps for success:
- Get active– All children need about 60 minutes of physical activity a day for good health, but it doesn’t need to be all at once. Several short 10-minute or even 5-minute bursts of activity throughout the day can be just as good as an hour-long stretch.
- Eat healthy meals– Children, just like adults, should aim to eat five or more portions of fruit and vegetables every day. They’re a great source of fibre and vitamins and minerals.
- Less screen time and more sleep– Try to avoid the amount of time spent sitting down or doing inactive hobbies such as watching TV or playing video games. Sleep is important too. Children who sleep for the recommended amount are less likely to be overweight.
- Try not to reward with food and do not let others either. If others want to offer treats suggest sticker books, reading books or an outing instead.
Mealtimes:
- Make mealtimes a family and social event. Sit together and turn off screens and TV. This encourages slower eating which in turn reduces the amount we eat. We all tend to eat more when distracted by a screen.
- It is important to have regular mealtimes so that your child becomes used to eating at certain times of the day.
- There are many options for healthy snacks in between main meals including vegetable sticks and fruit.
- It is important to encourage your child to feed themselves (finger foods or spoon foods). Children are good at knowing when they are full, but we tend to keep encouraging them to eat more.
- At mealtimes allow older children to serve themselves.
- Avoid drinks which are full of sugar. This includes pure fruit juice and fizzy drinks. These are also not good for teeth. Tooth decayis totally preventable. Water is the best drink for children.
- Don’t let older children get into the habit of helping themselves to food from the cupboards or fridge between meals. This is often a sign of boredom, and the calories soon add up. Make sure they always ask and if you think they have had enough to eat or there is a meal coming up, do not allow it.
- Set boundaries about eating. Children often demand food or insist they are hungry when you know they have had enough to eat. They are often bored or thirsty.
- Remember that being hungry is normal before meals. Otherwise, we would have no appetite. Children need to learn to wait.
Fussy Eating
Do not worry if your toddler refuses something to eat. Adults can create fussy children because we tend to over interpret likes and dislikes. In fact, children cannot make real choices before they reach 4 to 5 years old. Offer them what you expect them to eat. If they choose not to eat it do not be tempted to offer something else. They will eat when they are hungry.
The following things may help:
- Eat together as a family and eat the same meal. Ensure that your child has an appropriately sized portion and that their food does not have any added salt.
- Keep offering new foods and in different ways e.g. offering carrot cooked, uncooked, grated, mixed in a sauce etc.
- Praise your child when they try something new.
- Aim for no more than two snacks a day.
For further information visit the NHS webpage on fussy eaters.
Healthy Lunch Boxes
The Henry website gives some good suggestions for packed lunches.
A balanced packed lunch should contain:
- starchy foods: these are cereals, bread, rice, potatoes, pasta. Starchy foods are a good source of energy and should make up a third of the lunchbox.
- protein foods: including meat, fish, eggs, beans, and tofu/quorn.
- a dairy item: this could be cheese, a yoghurt or milk as a drink.
- vegetables, raw or cooked
- a portion of fruit
- water or milk to drink