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A calorie
(also called a joule) is a unit of energy. We all need energy and
children need a great deal because they are not only naturally very
active, but they are also growing. While a woman of average build,
working at home looking after children and running the house, would
burn up about 2,000 calories a day, her two-year-old son would need
about 1,200 calories. When you consider that he probably weighs
only two stone, perhaps a quarter or less of her weight, you can
see just how many calories he uses up in the vital business of making
extra tissue grow. Children, then, need a great many calories, but
energy alone is not enough for the body to stay healthy and grow.
We also need protein, vitamins and minerals. Some foods, like sweets,
contain lots of calories but nothing else. Others, like meat, fish,
cheese and cereals, provide energy along with protein and other
nutrients. Bread, cereals (particularly the wholemeal varieties),
fruit and vegetables, should make up the major part of the diet.
Feeding the right mixture is called a ‘balanced diet’.
What
is a Balanced Diet?
A
little of everything, but everything in moderation, is probably
the best way to describe a balanced diet. Imagine the body as a
very complicated machine – different types of foods provide different
kinds of nutrients which the body is able to absorb in just the
right amount to provide the perfect fuel. Missing out on one type
of food over a long period means that the body has to try to run
on an incomplete or poor quality fuel. Just like any machine, that
will inevitably mean a strain on the different parts which can finally
show in malfunction or breakdown – in other words, poor health or
illness.
The
bodies of children need the best quality fuel even more than adults
because as well as working in a very complicated way their body
machines are also growing and expanding. A poor diet through childhood
can mean a child’s body never grows properly or has a number of
built-in weaknesses. Children who regularly eat nothing but cakes,
biscuits and sweets will be short of protein, vitamins and minerals.
At the other end of the spectrum, a child who eats nothing but fruit
and vegetables may take in large quantities of vitamins and minerals
but miss out on protein and enough calories.
In
recent years we have become far more conscious of the way in which
our diet affects our health and of diet-related illnesses. The fact
that we Westerners eat far too much sugar and too little fibre,
or roughage, and starch in the form of wholegrain foods, fruit and
vegetables has been said by some experts to be one of the main causes
of illnesses like heart disease, diabetes and even some forms of
cancer.
The
government has recommended that the population as a whole cuts the
amount of fat and sugar it eats and replaces the calorie deficit
with wholegrain cereals, fruit and vegetables. But what some parents
have overlooked is that it has been specifically stated that these
rules should not apply to the under-fives. The reason is that their
metabolism, the rate at which they burn up calories, is quite different
from that of adults. It makes sense to keep down sweet consumption
and the amount of very sugary drinks and foods your child eats because
these are empty calories – they provide energy but little else.
Too many will only give your child the habit of sugar eating which
may make him fat, rot his teeth and deprive him of other nutrients.
However, parents who mistakenly apply adult eating rules too zealously
to their young children could unwittingly end up depriving them
of the large number of calories they need to grow. If growth is
affected during this toddler stage, it can have long-term effects
on development. This is not a reason, however, to become over-anxious
about hunger-striking toddlers who go through phases of refusing
many foods they previously enjoyed.
Types
of foods can be divided into five different groups (see below) for
the nutrients they provide. Include some from each group each day
to ensure that you are eating a balanced diet. Don’t worry if children
seem to go from hamburger and chips to sandwiches and cake on a
day out – just make sure you cut down on fatty and sugary foods
the next day and feed them more in the fruit and vegetable line.
Food
Groups
Milk
and milk products Milk, yoghurt, cheese and cottage cheese provide
protein for body building and repair, calcium for teeth and bones
and vitamin A and some B vitamins for good health.
Meat,
fish, eggs and pulses Beef, pork, lamb, liver, kidney, chicken,
herring, mackerel, white fish, sardines, tuna, shellfish, eggs,
peas, beans, lentils, seeds and nuts all provide protein for body
building and repair – especially muscle and tissue. Liver, kidney
and egg yolk are especially rich in iron for normal blood. Fatty
fish (herring, mackerel and sardines) are especially rich in vitamin
D for strong bones. Vegetarians can use pulses (peas, beans, lentils,
nuts, etc.) to provide protein, iron and vitamins, but do not give
whole nuts to any child under five years because there is a real
danger of choking – peanut butter or ground nuts in cutlets are
fine, though.
Bread
and cereals Wholegrain bread, cereals, rice and pasta are better
than whitegrain products which have been stripped of some of their
nutritional content and also fibre. These are high-energy foods
and contain some vitamins and minerals too. Fibre makes the bowel
work properly and prevents constipation, and eating more fibre in
the form of wholegrains, fruit and vegetables may be important in
preventing certain types of bowel diseases. Most young children
happily accept wholemeal bread, pasta and brown rice if everyone
else eats them, but if your child will eat only white bread this
is still a good basic food and he should certainly carry on eating
this rather than go without bread at all. Bran is not necessary
and should not be fed to young children, except that found naturally
in wholegrain bread and cereals, as it can interfere with the absorption
of important minerals like calcium and zinc. It may also give a
child stomach cramps.
Children
who do not eat sugar have healthier teeth without fillings. Liking
and craving sugar is a habit which can be hard to break – you will
be doing your child a big favour by not adding sugar to drinks and
foods and by teaching him to enjoy dried or fresh fruit as treats,
rather than eating too many sweets. Many sugar foods are high in
calories but low in other nutrients, which increases the risk of
getting fat without providing any of the fuel the body needs to
function.
Fruit
and vegetables All fruits and vegetables contain vitamins which
are very important for our health and growth. Vitamin A, for example,
is important for our eyesight and also for the health of our skin,
hair and nails – like many vitamins it can also increase our resistance
to infection. Carotene is a substance which is converted to vitamin
A in the body and is supplied by carrots, tomatoes and all green
and some yellow vegetables, for example swede or pumpkin. It is
also found in dried apricots and prunes. Vitamin C increases our
resistance to infection and is important for tissue repair and normal
growth. It is found in citrus fruits like lemons and oranges, in
berries, and also in green leafy vegetables. Unfortunately, the
vitamin content of vegetables is easily destroyed by cooking or
processing, so whenever possible let your child eat them raw and
do not store fresh vegetables for a long time before using them.
Remember that frozen vegetables are often as good as fresh ones
and they do not lose their vitamins during the freezing process.
Tinned vegetables will have lost far more of their vitamin content
and may also contain chemical additives. While many children go
through a phase of refusing cooked vegetables, they will often eat
raw vegetables, such as sticks of carrot or celery, and also fresh
fruit.
Fats
and oils Our bodies need some source of fat to protect and insulate
vital organs. Some fats also contain fat-soluble vitamins A, D,
E and K. Fats can be either saturated, mono-unsaturated or polyunsaturated
and recent research suggests that eating too much of the saturated
type of fats, which come mainly from animal sources, can be bad
for us and in the long term may be linked with heart disease. Red
meat, meat fats and dairy products are high in saturated fats, so
replace some of these foods with poultry, rabbit, oily fish such
as mackerel and herring, and use cooking oils from plant sources
such as safflower, sunflower, soya and corn oils rather than lard.
These foods are all higher in polyunsaturated fats. Red meat is
a good source of iron and zinc and should not be cut out completely
though.
For
the under-fives try to avoid feeding too much fried food, but there
is no need to ban them from eating butter. Simply use fat for cooking
sparingly, and replace some of the foods high in saturated fats
with those rich in polyunsaturated fats. It could be positively
harmful to give them skimmed milk rather than whole milk because
the fat-soluble vitamins contained in milk are found mainly in the
cream. Taking away most of the fat from milk not only lowers its
calorie count but reduces the amount of essential fatty acids and
vitamins it has to offer.
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