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One of the most precious wishes for parents is that their children grow up healthy. It may seem a difficult task in our modern times as families today are continuously busy, but it is possible. The solution is probably to make goals as a family and take them on one at a time. Here are some suggestions.

Promote good nutrition by setting a good example. Healthy eating habits and regular exercise should be a regular part of your family’s life. It is much easier if everyone in the house follows the same guidelines, than if your child has to do it alone. Family meals are strongly recommended against the separate, isolated individual meals.

• Let the Food Pyramid guide your choices. The main emphasis of the Food Pyramid is on the five major food groups, all of which are required for good health. It also tells us to eat a large variety of foods. You can find pictures of the Food Pyramid on the Internet.

• Choose a diet with plenty of grain products, vegetables and fruits. Choose whole-grain foods, such as whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, brown rice, and low-fat popcorn.

• Focus on fruits. Eat them at meals and at snack time, too, and go easy on the fruit juice. Make sure that you have an accessible place for children where they can grab a fruit at any time. When you do your food shopping take your children with you and let them choose the fruits that they like.

• Vary your veggies. Go dark green and orange with your vegetables—eat spinach, broccoli, carrots, and a lot of different salads.

• Choose a diet low in fat, especially saturated fat, and cholesterol. It reduces the risk of gaining extra-weight, of diabetes and heart disease.

• Go lean with protein. Eat lean or low-fat meat, chicken, turkey, and fish. Also, change your tune with more dry beans and peas. Add chick peas, nuts, or seeds to a salad; pinto beans to a burrito; or kidney beans to soup.

• Get your calcium-rich foods. To build strong bones serve low-fat and fat-free milk and other milk products several times a day.

• Don’t sugarcoat it. Choose foods and beverages that do not have sugar and caloric sweeteners as one of the first ingredients. Added sugars contribute calories with few, if any, nutrients. Diets low in sugar help prevent tooth decay.

• Choose and prepare foods with less salt. Diets that are moderate in salt help prevent high blood pressure.

• Balance the amount of food with the physical activity.

Some special advice for small children: After the age of two or three years, you can begin using 2% low-fat milk instead of whole milk. Your child’s diet should resemble that of the rest of the families, with 3 meals and 2 nutritious snacks each day. You should limit milk and dairy products to about 16-24oz each day and juice to about 4-6oz each day and offer a variety of foods to encourage good eating habits later. Feeding practices to avoid are continuing to use a bottle, giving large amounts of sweet desserts, soft drinks, artificially-flavored drinks, sugarcoated cereals, chips or candy. Avoid buying high calorie desserts or snacks, such as snack chips, regular soft drinks or regular ice cream.

TO BE CONTINUED . . .

Florin Vlasie, M.D., F.A.A.P.Board Certified Pediatrician

1425 West H Street, Suite 330 • Oakdale, CA 95361, (209) 848-8133