Healthy Food For Kids

Having kids is such a wonderful thing. However, it always come at a cost. Before you had kids, you probably had planned how you want to raise them, right? Now, this is usually the tricky part - You know those situations where you always want your kids to have anything they want but then they keep on going for the bad things, so as much as you want to give them whatever they like to keep them happy, you’ll have to reprimand them at some point or another. This happens a lot, especially when it comes to the type of food that kids nowadays love to eat.

Anyway, in as much as you wouldn’t like to always force your kids to eat food that they don’t like, instead you can turn to the many available options of healthy food that kids like. Most parents in many occasions will overlook the healthy food and choose what they think kids love the most. These usually include: French fries, pizza, chicken nuggets and hot dogs among others.

It is always not recommended to give your kids those food that are high in fats and calories. Instead, you can let them get used to diet that is low in fat and rich in fiber, iron and calcium among other minerals. With that said, let us look at a few healthy food that are always good for the kids. You can also check this link out to find out more when it comes to kids nutrition. (1)

• Milk

If you can remember when you were still a toddler or during your preschool days, you just couldn’t get enough of milk, right? Well, most of us liked milk as kids but as we continue to grow older, we find ourselves reducing how often we drink milk. This is definitely not because we hate milk, I’m sure most of us still love milk. Rather, it’s because as kids get older, more options start becoming available for them. These include soda, fruit juice among other fruit drinks. Anyway, as a parent, you need to make sure that your kid gets enough milk as it is a good source of protein, calcium and vitamin D. This is why it is always reccommend that kids should have milk included in their diet. Those with milk allergy should be allowed to use other alternatives. Learn more about milk allergy here.

• Apples

Apples can also make awesome snack food just like most of the fruits we have. They are often considered to be among the healthy foods as they are always low in calories, contains vitamin C and are also rich in fiber (for unpeeled whole apples). Well, apples are always known to be quite sweet and juicy but even at this most parents wouldn’t let their kids eat whole apples.

Instead, they will try to modify it and serve it in some way i.e. peel them or make an apple juice or sauce. This will often make the fruit to lose its natural health benefits and therefore your kids wouldn’t be gaining much from it. For instance, peeling an apple usually takes away like half of its fiber already and an apple sauce is often low in fiber and also has much calories and sugar.

This shows that a whole apple is quite beneficial and therefore should not be modified in an way when being served to kids. This allows them to get the most out of it. (2)

• Peanut Butter

Among the few things you couldn’t miss in most kitchens back then includes peanut butter and jelly. However, nowadays this might not be the case. Most parents are now ditching peanut butter because they think it is high in fat and also due to food allergies.

Well, if you do your research, you will find that most of the fats available in peanut butter are usually mono-and-poly-unsaturated fats thus making it a safer option compared to other foods that are high in fats. You can also go for other peanut butter options such as reduced fat peanut butter or a vitamin fortified brand.

Not only is peanut butter a good protein source for your kids, it will also provide the with iron, folic acid, zinc, magnesium, vitamin E, vitamin A and vitamin B6.

• Yogurt

For those kids who have issues with milk, you can try yogurt as it is always one of the closest alternative. It usually makes a great source of calcium. You will however need to watch what kind of yogurt your kids are drinking.

Most yogurt often branded for kids are known to have much sugar and also doesn’t contain any probiotics. This would definitely be unhealthy as your kids will also be missing the health benefits of yogurt.

When choosing yogurt for your kids, make sure to pick something that is low in fats and has no added sugars too. If you can find one that has added probiotics then it would be an added advantage.

• Tuna Fish

Fish is always considered to be one of the healthiest foods one can have and Tuna can often make a delicious healthy meal. However, due to the recent concerns about the mercury contamination, most parents have since reduced how often they would give it to their kids.

Anyway, you need to have in mind that eating tuna fish isn’t a bad thing when done in moderation. Even with all the warnings, you can allow your kids to have up to 2 servings each week of a canned light tuna or just 1 serving of the solid white albacore tuna. You can also go ahead and use some mayonnaise that is low in fat and a few slices of a wheat bread to make a tuna fish sandwich for your kids.