5 minutes food for you

Monday, February 4, 2008

Limit Your Child sugar Intake

Childhood obesity is a serious problem. With diets propelling low fat and no fat diets, some parents inadvertently feed their children large amounts of sugar to compensate for taste. Here are some suggestions for limiting your child’s sugar intake.

Instruction

Step 1:
Limit juice. Commercials and advertising make juice sound like a nutritious and healthy beverage. It is, in moderation. Even 100% all natural juices are full of sugar that is harmful to your children’s teeth and gums. Water down your child’s serving of juice and try and limit it to a few ounces per day. Choose 100% all natural juices that don’t have added sugars. If fructose or sugar is in the ingredients, choose a different option.

Step 2:
Limit candy, cookies and brownies. Don’t put out candy bowls or cookie platters. Make sure you regulate the desserts your child is snacking on throughout the day. If you do pack a dessert with your child’s lunch, opt for a bite size treat or fun size candy bar.

Step 3:
Read ingredient labels. Don’t be fooled into thinking those fruit snacks or granola bars covered in chocolate are healthy. Most snack foods that are touted as healthy treats are nothing of the sort. If you want to pack a healthy treat pack fruit, yogurt, snack size carrots or a mixture of dried fruit and nuts.

Step 4:
Choose healthy cereals rich in fiber. A lot of children’s cereals are now made with whole grain, however their sugar contents are still high. Instead choose cereal that is rich in whole grains with little added sugar. Choose a cereal with dehydrated fruit that sweetens it or make oatmeal with dried cherries or raisins.

Step 5:
Limit soda intake. Soda is chalked full of empty calories and sugar. If you do allow your child to drink soda, only let them drink half a can, or water it down slightly. Make a rule they must drink two glasses of water for each glass of soda. They won’t be thirsty enough to drink any more soda. As an alternative to soda, serve them sparkling water with lemon, lime, or even a little orange juice.

Step 6:
Refrain from serving prepackaged meals. Although a few microwave dinners never killed anyone, serving frozen foods all the time is not healthy. Most frozen options have high sodium contents and are full of added sugars and preservatives.

Step 7:
Question advertising. Low fat does not mean low sugar. A lot of times to make up for the lower fat content, companies add sugar. When opting to buy a lower fat option weigh the positives and negatives. Sometimes to avoid added sugar, preservatives, and chemicals, the higher calorie/fat option may be the healthier bet.

Step 8:
Choose whole grains. White breads have high counts of refined carbohydrate. Instead of serving white breads and rice, choose whole wheat bread and brown rice.

Step 9:
Serve fruits and vegetables with every meal. Filling up on fruits and vegetables means not filling up on sweets.

Labels: Obesity, Tips

posted by Mr FX_is @ 6:43 AM

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