Healthy Kids Foods
After understanding the kids food pyramid and how it’s designed to help parents choose food wisely for their children, it’s time to look at a list of healthy kids foods. Following the pyramid, here are specific examples of food you can buy for your children according to the chart, and explanations of how this is a healthier option of your usual alternative!
Grains
Grains are one of the most important parts of our children’s diet. If you look back at the kids food pyramid or the chart, you will see that grains has the most number of servings per day. This is because grains are rich in carbohydrates, the stuff our brains and body run on! Grains are our main form of fuel, and we should be wary about the quality of the fuel we use.
Like choosing bio-diesel over regular diesel, we should choose whole grains for our diet at least half the time. Whole grains have great healthy effects like reducing heart disease, chronic illness, and better bowel movement. Whole grains are more filling than refined grains, and you will know you’re eating whole grains when it says so on the packaging!
There are many examples of grains: any form of bread, pasta, cereal, rice, oatmeal, tortilla, bagels, crackers, and much more! All these products can be bought in whole grain form. You can choose whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bagels, brown rice, and the like. If your child needs 5 servings of grains a day, make at least 3 of those servings whole grain. One serving would be equal to: half a cup of oatmeal, rice, or pasta, or a slice of bread.
Protein
What is usually seen as the main dish on most dinner tables is the protein source of our food. It is the food group that requires the second largest number of servings a day. Our bodies use protein to help our blood, muscles, skin, and maintain our immune system. Just like grains, you want to make sure that your children are eating the better forms of protein!
There are many forms of protein, and there are always healthier alternatives to the product itself, and to how the dish can be cooked. The healthy protein group includes: lean meats, fish, shellfish, beans, poultry, eggs, and unsalted nuts. Depending on the amount of servings your child needs, a protein serving can be any of the following: one egg, one fourth a cup of beans, half an ounce of unsalted nuts, and an ounce of lean meats, fish, shellfish, or poultry.
Dairy Products
While liquid milks are more commonly consumed by younger children, there are many alternatives to liquid milk in this food group. Dairy products function as bone building blocks in our body, and it’s fortified with calcium and nutrients that our children need to grow, regulate their heartbeats and blood flow, and to stay strong!
Healthier forms of milk are skim and 2% fat. You can also opt to serve your children soy milk, which now comes in many flavors. If your children don’t like the taste of milk, you can give them yogurt, calcium enriched orange juice, or cheese. Your child will need anywhere from two to three cups of dairy per day. If you’re serving them cheese, look on the back label for what the serving size is, and you can count that in as one serving from this food group. For a healthier dessert, choose frozen yogurt over ice cream.
Vegetables
Ah… the dreaded food group. It always seems like a constant battle between parent and child when it comes to vegetables. It shouldn’t be this way if you start them young enough. Having your children eat vegetables and introducing them to vegetables at a very young age is the best way to get them to eat it. Frequency is also a factor, the more they see a vegetable at your table and see everyone else eating it, the more inclined they will be to eating it as well.
Vegetables are filled with nutrients and vitamins, things your children need. While children can eat any vegetable they choose to, try starting with some of the yummier ones to open their eyes and get them accustomed to vegetable eating. Carrots, squash, potatoes, beans, and celery are great starts to getting them used to vegetables. Try introducing a new vegetable once a week, and serve celery or carrot sticks at snack time. Remember that your child will need anywhere from one to three cups a day, which is very doable when you think about it!
Fruits
Easier than vegetables, the sweetness of fruit is always appealing to a child. Fruits do great things for children, they provide Vitamin C and are another source of carbohydrates. Since your child needs about a cup and a half of fruit each day, you can serve fruit for breakfast , dessert, or as a snack. Get your children started on the sweeter fruits like, oranges, pineapples, apples, Asian mangoes, strawberries and cantaloupe. After that, you can begin introducing them to a new fruit once a week, making it a game or an adventure!
Like vegetables, start your kids with fruit at a young age, and get them to appreciate its flavors. An alternative to fruit is drinking 100% fruit juice. Serving your child a scrambled egg on top of a slice of whole wheat bread with a glass of 100% fruit juice already fulfills their eating one serving from three different food groups in the pyramid!
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