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Hey all. Recently I was thinking about right nutrition for children. By the way, I don´t have any. Nevertheless, in rather distant future I have it among other plans (you know- build a house, plant a tree, father son...) and I´m concerned how to lead childern to learn them how to eat properly. But as my own experience as a former child says, its not really easy to build right eating habits. Sweets everywhere, junk food everywhere, don ´t like veggies, I don´t want apple, I want a cholocate bar etc. Honestly I can ´t imagine my children having potato chips with coke for snack every day, but who knows.E.g. Ori Hofmekler suggest his Warrior diet even for children (from age 7-10? or so) and his argument is that the way common society eats (3-5 times a day, lots of carbs...) is forced and children naturally tend to eat more in the evening. But thats just one piece in large mosaic. What I really miss in terms of nutrition is research about nutrition for children or generally sound suggestions on this topic. We all know that shitty food pyramids. I hated them every time I saw them, because there was so little meat and eggs...What I´d like to know is, how you, who have children (or plan children, or those who have any opinion on this), manage this riddle and what is your opinion about learning children how to eat properly and healthy?
Seems I am only one concerned hehe.
I don't have any children, but have thought about this as well. During childhood, the body is primed to grow. So by feeding them proper foods like veggies, fruits, meats, dairy, etc they'll burn this off and can grow. I wouldn't feed my child/children something I wouldn't eat, or feel that is unhealthy. Now a “treat” every once in a while isn't so bad for a child. I mean enjoy life, and by doing so to enjoy foods. (plus other stuff, not the point). Putting a child at a young age on a “diet” that doesn't need it will probably hurt them more than help them. Now if you let your child get obese/overweight then control the type and amount of food they eat. Too many parents don't pay attention or care about their child's nutrition. Thus why there is a problem with obesity among children. But to answer you question in a quick sentence, veggies, fruit, meats, dairy (stuff primed for growth), is probably the best way to go.
I have a 4 year old daughter. She is a very picky eater and very small. She weighs about 30lbs and is very thin. Getting her to eat anything is a chore let alone anything that might be sufficient calories. She loves broccoli and a few other vegetables and loves sugary stuff. Getting any protein in her is a fight. I've actually resorted to adding protein powder to cookie dough just to get more in her. This may not be teaching her good eating habits but at this point the main concern is getting enough food in her at all.
I feel the same with my 6 year old. I just hope to get good fats into him. Thankfully he does good on raw milk and raw cheese. He loves bacon also, and usually steak and salmon. Then some veggies he will eat, but I am happy if he will eat a piece of toast with butter and peanut butter. If we put eggs, heavy cream and parmesan cheese in a ramekin and steam it in a water bath in a frying pan he loves that, so do I.He loves treats, cereal etc. after we get something good in him we deal with those.
In my personal opinion, children should be allowed to eat whenever they want and as much they want as long as it isn't junk food. The sweets can be used as rewards for good behavoir or at special occasions. I really do not like the idea of children being on any sort of diet that tries to prevent them from being overweight. As long they aren't eating junk food, their weight won't be a concern. If they are carrying more fat on them then they would like, they can go on something like Carb Nite when they are adults or maybe even in their later teen years.
Until you have kids, you have the luxury of holding all kinds of idealistic opinions about how (your) kids will eat.When you have kids, you realize how many compromises you have to make and how far from your ideals you can easily end up. Like SkyJeff and maxwkw say, the constraints that you actually end up having to deal with can lead you far outside of where you think you ought to be under ideal conditions. Then you realize there's no such thing as ideal conditions with kids.For my part, I have no idea how my son ended up being such a yogurt-a-tarian. It's not like I ate it during pregnancy (at all!) or encouraged him to eat it in general. Now it's like all he eats. There are worse outcomes in this world...
Until you have kids, you have the luxury of holding all kinds of idealistic opinions about how (your) kids will eat.When you have kids, you realize how many compromises you have to make and how far from your ideals you can easily end up. Like SkyJeff and maxwkw say, the constraints that you actually end up having to deal with can lead you far outside of where you think you ought to be under ideal conditions. Then you realize there's no such thing as ideal conditions with kids.For my part, I have no idea how my son ended up being such a yogurt-a-tarian. It's not like I ate it during pregnancy (at all!) or encouraged him to eat it in general. Now it's like all he eats. There are worse outcomes in this world...
Yea, I know personally I was the pickiest eater in the world when I was a kid. My parents didn't have much luck getting me to eat vegetables. The only thing I wanted to eat were meat, Cheez-Its, and cosmic brownies!
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