Talking Nutrition with Children

Kids need great nutrition. This is because the food they eat must fuel their activity and provide for healthy growth and development. Kids will naturally vary their intake based on their growth and development needs. Their intake will increase with age because they are laying down stores needed to fuel growth spurts. If your children are eating appropriately for their age, their growth and development will reflect this.

The Australian Dietary Guidelines for Children recommend:

1. Sufficient physical activity.
2. Daily intake of vegetables, fruit, wholegrain and high fibre breads and cereals, lean meats and poultry, seafood and vegetable proteins as well as milk, yoghurt and cheese.
3. Occasional intake of highly processed foods that are high in fat, salt and added sugars like biscuits, cakes, pies, processed meats, pizza, potato chips, sugar sweetened soft drinks, vitamin waters and energy drinks.

Sound Challenging?

Here are some tips on how to encourage your children to choose healthy foods and to be more active more often.

• Make enjoying healthy meals part of your family ritual. It’s really hard for children to develop unhealthy eating habits all on their own. They are largely dependent on what is available to them so reviewing the household food stores and weekly menu can be a good starting point.
• Talk to your family about the importance of healthy eating and activity. Despite 1 in 4 Australian children now being overweight or obese, don’t focus on weight, size or “diets”. Chat about the things that are important to them like having heaps of energy for sport or other fun activities and building strong bodies. Increasing family based activities can provide quality time together when life is busy and also reduce screen time.
• Involve your children in the shopping and food preparation. This will increase their interest in the food they are eating. Kids like to eat food that they have chosen and help to prepare.
• Regular eating patterns are important too. Encourage starting the day with a healthy breakfast. Support your school’s focus on healthy nutrition by sticking to their healthy lunchbox guidelines.
• Keep dinners varied as no single food is essential and young palates can tire of the same taste quickly. Don’t give up on including foods that are not enjoyed at first. Foods can be offered up to 15-20 times before being accepted.
• A “good effort” is a good rule of thumb at dinner time. Kids are really good at responding to their appetite and it’s ok to leave some food on the plate! Avoid offering alternative choices to unfinished meals or rewarding eating a healthy dinner with high sugar rewards. This will only teach them that these treats are more desirable than healthy foods.
• Although highly processed foods are generally higher high in calories, fat, added sugars and salt, complete restriction can lead to these foods being viewed as “forbidden fruit”. It’s a good idea to include these sometimes and in small amounts.
• Keep in mind that childhood is the time when children learn. Providing your children with the opportunity to enjoy a variety of nutritious foods balanced with healthy and fun activity will increase the likelihood that they will have the skills to make healthy choices as adults.