What your child eats and his or her physical activity level both play an important role in determining your child’s health.
1. Start your day with breakfast
Breakfast fills your "empty tank" to get you going after a long night without food. And it can help you do better in school. Easy to prepare breakfasts include cold cereal with fruit and low-fat milk, whole-wheat toast with peanut butter, yogurt with fruit, whole-grain waffles or even last night's pizza!
2. Get Moving!
It's easy to fit physical activities into your daily routine. Walk, bike or jog to see friends. Take a 10-minute activity break every hour while you read, do homework or watch TV. Climb stairs instead of taking an escalator or elevator. Try to do these things for a total of 30 minutes every day.
3. Snack Smart
Snacks are a great way to refuel. Choose snacks from different food groups—a glass of low-fat milk and a few graham crackers, an apple or celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins, or some dry cereal. If you eat smart at other meals, cookies, chips and candy are OK for occasional snacking.
4. Work up a sweat
Vigorous work-outs—when you're breathing hard and sweating—help your heart pump better, give you more energy and help you look and feel your best. Start with a warm-up that stretches your muscles. Include 20 minutes of aerobic activity, such as running, jogging or dancing. Follow-up with activities that help make you stronger such as push-ups or lifting weights.
5. Balance your food choices—don't eat too much of one thing
You don't have to give up foods like hamburgers, French fries and ice cream to eat healthy. You just have to be smart about how often and how much of them you eat. Your body needs nutrients like protein, carbohydrates, fat and many different vitamins and minerals such as vitamins C and A, iron and calcium from a variety of foods. Balancing food choices from the Food Guide Pyramid and checking out the Nutrition Facts Panel on food labels will help you to get all these nutrients.
6. Get fit with friends or family
Being active is much more fun with friends or family. Encourage others to join you and plan one special physical activity event, like a bike ride or hiking, with a group each week.
7. Eat more grains, fruits and vegetables
These foods give you carbohydrates for energy, plus vitamins, minerals and fiber. Besides, they taste good! Try breads such as whole-wheat, bagels and pita. Spaghetti and oatmeal are also in the grain group. Bananas, strawberries and melons are some great tasting fruits. Try vegetables raw, on a sandwich or in a salad.
8. Join in physical activities at school
Whether you take a physical education class or do other physical activities at school, such as intramural sports, structured activities are a sure way to feel good, look good and stay physically fit.
9. Foods aren't good or bad
A healthy eating style is like a puzzle with many parts. Each part—or food—is different. Some foods may have more fat, sugar or salt while others may have more vitamins or fiber. There is a place for all these foods. What makes a diet good or bad is how foods fit together. Balancing your choices is important. Fit in a higher-fat food, like pepperoni pizza, at dinner by choosing lower-fat foods at other meals. And don't forget about moderation. If two pieces of pizza fill you up, don't eat a third.
10.Make healthy eating and physical activities fun!
Take advantage of physical activities you and your friends enjoy doing together and eat the foods you like. Be adventurous—try new sports, games and other activities as well as new foods. You'll grow stronger, play longer, and look and feel better! Set realistic goals—don't try changing too much at once.
Snacks Can Help You Balance Your Meal Plan
With a busy schedule, you may often find yourself eating on the run. That’s where snacks come in. Snacks can help you fill the gaps in your meal plan for more complete nutrition, as long as you choose snack foods with your total meal plan in mind. Your total daily meal plan should include:
6 to 11 servings of breads, cereals, rice and pasta
2 to 4 servings of fruit
3 to 5 servings of vegetables
2 to 3 servings of lean meat, fish or skinless poultry [for a total of 6 ounces] or dry beans and peas, eggs, and nuts
2 to 3 servings [4 if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, child, or teenager]
What should my child eat?
Power up with power foods – green vegetables, red fruits, whole grains, low-fat dairy and lean meats provide a power pack of nutrients in relatively small caloric packages. Snack from a plate, not from the bag, to stay aware of how much you are eating.
You are in control of what you eat
One way to be sure you get the nutrients you need is to learn to balance your meal plan by choosing a variety of foods from each food group on a regular basis. Not every food you choose—or even every meal—needs to do it all; learn to make trade-offs over a period of two to three days.
Learn to be “Supermarket Smart” - Read Food Labels
When you go grocery shopping, learn to read food labels to compare the nutrient content of similar foods. Make healthier trade-offs by choosing cereals that list whole grains among the first ingredients rather than sugar.
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Snacks to Choose More Often
It is hard for any parent to accept that he or she has an overweight child. As parents, we all want to believe that we have done our best to raise healthy children. Certainly you have. We have to recognize that children develop at different rates and it’s important to establish healthy lifestyle habits early in life. This means adopting healthful eating and physical activity patterns for the entire family! Just consider how many energy-saving devices we take advantage of and how much more television we watch. It’s no wonder more of us—and more of our children—are less active and likely to battle excess pounds. The important thing to realize is that you can do something about your children’s excess weight .
What Causes Children to Become Overweight?
Lifestyle factors, such as too little physical activity and unhealthy eating patterns, and usually a combination of these factors are commonly associated with overweight in children. Genetics may also increase the tendency for children to become overweight, but only if such children overeat and/or are inactive. In rare cases, a medical problem with hormones may cause a child to become overweight.
What is the Most Important Action I Can Take?
There are two important things you must do. First, come to terms with the fact that your child has a weight problem—recognize that your child needs your help. It is best to check with a pediatrician to assess your child’s weight. Secondly, plan positive strategies that do not single out the child or children in your family who are overweight. Make it a family affair to simply eat healthier and live a more active family lifestyle.
Get the whole family involved in planning a healthier living style
*Simple Snack Suggestions:
*Children of preschool age can easily choke on foods that are hard to chew, small and round or sticky, such as hard vegetables, whole grapes, hard chunks of cheese, raisins, nuts and seeds, and popcorn. It is important to carefully select snacks for children in this age group.
Choking is the leading cause of accidental death among children under one year of age. Of the 2800 choking deaths annually, the majority of cases are children aged 4 or younger. Young children are especially vulnerable to choking because they have small airways. Prevention is clearly the best strategy.
Kids will put just about anything in their mouths, and fast, without anyone even noticing. Remember, everything on the floor is fair game for a child’s mouth!
Warning Signs of Choking:
If you see your child swallowing a foreign object before you can intervene and any of these signs and symptoms occur, take action right away:
Common Choking Items:
Apples - raw, unpeeled Apricots Buttons Caramels Cheese cubes Cherries with pits Cherry tomatoes Chunky meat or poultry - whole or cubed Coins |
Cough drops Damaged or loose nipples Deflated latex balloons Grapes - whole Holiday decorations Jellybeans Lollipops Marshmallows Nails |
Nuts Olives Pears - raw, unpeeled Peas Pencils Popcorn Pumpkin seeds Raisins |
Raw carrots Raw celery Rings Small rocks Small toys Snack chips Spoonfuls of peanut butter Sunflower seeds Taffy |
For more resource information, contact the following agencies:
Early detection of developmental problems in children |
Child development for the first three years |