For the proper growth of your kid, it is vital that he takes a balanced diet which consists of carbohydrates, fats, and protein. The child must get a variety of food to support their fast-growing bodies, and parents should ensure that their kid is getting what his body is demanding.
What is a balanced diet, and why we should prioritize on it?
A balanced diet is a combination of different food so that your kid’s body is getting all the vital nutrients to grow and develop. However, these days with so many junk foods available, making your kid eat balanced food is getting difficult. Follow a balanced diet chart to get the know what is good for your kid. Another thing that can help you in determining whether the growth of your child is appropriate for his age or not is height and weight calculator. Height and weight calculator show the ideal weight for the particular height of the child.
Foods that are included in a balanced diet:
Protein – You don’t have to stick to a certain kind of food to provide your child with a specific nutrient. For example, protein is available in many food sources like beans, legumes, peanut butter and meat. If your kid doesn’t like beans, you can offer him peanut butter which is too loaded with protein.
You should also serve both sweet and savour course at dinner and lunch so that your kid gets to eat a different combination of food. By offering your kid more variety, and by being creative, you can make eating more enjoyable for him.
Carbohydrates – You can offer starchy food to your kid during mid meal time. There are a lot of options when you are looking for starchy food like cereals, rice, potatoes, yams etc. You need to experiment with your kid to find out what he likes. Don’t be tempted to give your child wholegrain foods as it will be more fulfilling, and he will stop eating before having enough nutrients and calories.
Another good source of carbohydrates is fruits and vegetables as they also contain essential minerals and vitamins. Most of the kids like fruits more than the vegetables because of their sweet and sour taste. You can keep the interest of your kid by offering them unusual fruits and vegetables and by cutting them in different shapes. To decorate the fruit platter, you can use fruits of different colours like banana, kiwi, blueberries and strawberries.
Dairy – Dairy products are full of calcium which is very important to make their bones and teeth strong. It’s important that you add a sufficient portion of dairy in your kid’s diet. Dairy includes – milk, cheese, yoghurt etc. For your kid, always choose a full-fat variety of milk which doesn’t have much sugar in it.
Foods to limit
There are some foods that are high in calories but low in nutrients. You should avoid giving such food to your kid. Such food includes cakes, ice cream, biscuits etc. Your child needs a good number of calories to keep him energized, but these kinds of foods have little nutritional value which can further cause them to become overweight.
