Your child’s diet influences their overall health and well-being. But helping kids get the right nutrients can be frustrating for parents, especially when they have picky eaters in the family.
Fortunately, these healthy eating tips from pediatricians can guide you in building nutritious plates for your child.
Why Childhood Nutrition Is So Important
Poor childhood nutrition, whether overnutrition or malnutrition, can lead to lasting health consequences in your child’s adult life. After all, macronutrients and micronutrients play a big role in helping human bodies to grow and develop. Here are a few of the biggest benefits of adequate nutrition in childhood:
Preventing Chronic Disease
Eating a nutritious diet throughout childhood can help prevent certain chronic health conditions. Getting the right mix of vitamins, minerals, healthy carbs, and fats is essential for a child’s developing immune system.
Certain compounds, like antioxidants and vitamins, found in healthy foods can help build a stronger immune system equipped to fight illnesses. They can also reduce inflammation in the body.
Some chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure might be avoided through a healthy diet in childhood and adolescence.
Encouraging Healthy Growth and Development
From the womb to adulthood, children develop at a fast pace. Your child needs adequate calories, protein, healthy fats, and carbohydrates to fuel this development. Without these nutritional building blocks, they may suffer from stunted growth or impaired development.
Maintaining a Healthy Body Weight
A child’s body mass index (BMI) can be correlated with certain health outcomes. In contrast, a healthy diet full of beneficial nutrients can combat childhood obesity and malnutrition. Teaching your child how to choose healthy options for meals and snacks can equip them to carry positive habits into adulthood.
Building Great Nutrition for Your Child
Once you understand the benefits of nutrition for children, it’s time to turn your attention to positive practices to encourage healthy habits for meals and snacks. Here are a few of our pediatrician-tested tips for great nutrition:
Moderate the Foods You Serve During Meals and Snack Times
Our number one nutrition tip for parents of young children is to incorporate the five food groups at every meal. For snacks, you can aim for two to three food groups that balance each other out.
The five food groups recommended by the USDA are:
- Grains
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Protein
- Dairy
Children should ideally get adequate servings of each food group each day.
This can be challenging for picky eaters. However, offering a variety of foods at mealtimes and snack times can help broaden your child’s palate.
You can also have your child help you prepare their meals and snacks, learning to taste and experiment with different foods they consume. This allows them to explore new healthy food groups and take things at their own pace.
Encourage Mindful and Connected Mealtimes
While nightly sit-down dinners might be tough for the average family on the go, prioritize social connections and mindful eating in your home when you can. This can reinforce mealtimes as positive experiences for your child, helping them to sustain a healthy relationship with food.
Consider establishing a no-screens rule during mealtimes at home. Encourage your child to engage in conversation as they eat. You can also model mindful eating by taking your time as you eat.
Offer Water and Low-Fat Dairy Drinks
Drinking sugary beverages like juice and soda can negatively affect children’s health. Sweetened drinks can lead to dental health problems and weight gain, both of which may follow your child into adulthood.
Instead of keeping sugary drinks bursting with excess calories in the house, offer your child water, low-fat milk, or dairy-free alternatives.
Water is always the best choice to keep a child hydrated and quench their thirst. When they’re ready for something different, try introducing water flavored with fresh fruit, like lemon or lime, to keep things fun and interesting!
Encourage Participation in Grocery Shopping
As you shop, point out healthier alternatives to non-nutritious processed and packaged snacks. We recommend highlighting the benefits of healthy options, teaching your child about where their food comes from, and helping older children learn to look at ingredients in their snacks and food products.
Consider going on a grocery store scavenger hunt to find new fruits or vegetables to try. You can also browse recipes online with your child, inviting their input into which meals will go on the shopping list. By creating an environment of experimentation, you can encourage your child’s curiosity while teaching them basic nutritional principles.
Addressing Picky Eating: Introduce New Textures and Tastes Slowly
Children often feel overwhelmed when introduced to too many new food options at once.
Instead of forcing fruits, vegetables, and whole grains on them all at once, try adding new options slowly. Switch out one comfort food with a healthier option at each meal for a week or two until your child gets used to the change.
Allow them to smell, touch, taste, and manipulate the new food at their own pace. To make this transition easier, you can ask your child to help you wash new fruit, cook a new ingredient, and load servings onto their own plate.
Lastly, give your little ones freedom to choose how much they eat, even if you ask them to try at least a bite of each thing on their plate. Forcing them to finish all of the food on their plate can reinforce food anxiety and ramp up picky eating habits.
Get Help With Child Nutrition From the Pediatricians at Newport Children’s Medical Group
At Newport Children’s Medical Group, our pediatricians are here to support you and your child. Whether you come in for pulmonology support, primary care, or nutrition, your family is welcome at Newport Children’s Medical Group. Book an appointment with one of our pediatric specialists today to set your child up for healthy long-term growth!